Your Expertise Is Needed By the Media

Let's say for example you're watching the 6pm news.  The anchor announces the top story, which is about the economy, then introduces the reporter that will be doing the story.  The reporter gives us the broad strokes about key economic indicators and then there's a cut to her produced package.  First, there's an  interview with an economist, whose comments have been edited down to just a few salient points. Cut back to our reporter, who is now standing in front of a local restaurant.  The reporter begins explaining how some small businesses are thriving despite the economy.  The owner of the restaurant describes how she has paired a new service with select menu items.  The camera pans around the establishment, giving us a good view of the interior.  So although the story was about the economy, we met the owner of a local restaurant, learned something about the food and fare and we even got a glimpse of the ambiance as we watched diners enjoying their meals.

Have you ever wondered how reporters go about picking that regular person or business to feature in a news story?  Of course they have contacts, but these are often noted experts in a given field. But what about the woman that clips so many coupons that she spends about $10.00 a month on average for groceries?  Or the teen that volunteers for an after school reading program?  How likely is it that a reporter would have them in their contacts?  Not very.  But there's a great way for regular people and business owners to get this type of exposure by sharing their expertise. It's Help A Reporter Out, or HARO, the source repository that pairs over 30,000 members of the media with sources just like you.

Here's HARO founder Peter Shankman with a quick overview:



You can register for free, and receive three media opportunities a day delivered to your inbox.  There are other packages that offer more, but these costs.

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Another Way Technology is Leveling the Playing Field

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, in business, technology is really the great equalizer. Small and mid-sized businesses can compete in ways they never would have been able to just a few years ago. They can pretty sell anywhere they choose, tapping into previously unapproachable markets. If you sell soap, the Internet allows for a global client base. No longer do the mom and pops of the world have to sit back and dream about expansion. Anyone with a well-designed website that has quality shopping cart software, and the appropriate fulfillment and distribution systems can have the same web presence as a multinational corporation.

Marketing and advertising options have also greatly improved for SMBs thanks to technology. And the one device that I believe holds the most promise going forward is your cell phone. A great example is text marketing or Short Message Service (SMS). In fact, SMS marketing is one of the fastest growing marketing channels, and for good reason too. Mobile phones are everywhere; audience measures on mobiles are 9 times more accurate than the Internet, and 90 times more so than tv.

The benefits are quite significant; when a mobile user texts your business, it's to request information or participate in your offer, so that's even better than permission marketing; you can get started for well under $100; you can create promotionals that require a quick response--and get it; you can develop creative promotionals that require an action such as forwarding your text to a friend, and of course the mobility factor can greatly increase traffic into your place of business.

Are you currently using text marketing? If you haven't thought much about using text messaging in your marketing plan, then perhaps it's time to consider it. Send me your feedback.

An Advertising Opportunity that Small Businesses Shouldn't Miss: Pt. 1

Being in the business of providing marketing and advertising services to small- to mid-sized businesses (SMBs) and non-profits, I know all too well the hesitancy that many prospects have(whether they explicitly express it or not) about spending money on "those things" in a tough economy. But it's not just small businesses, large corporations are also cutting back on advertising and marketing. When reading trade publications or participating in online industry forums, it's apparent, everyone is feeling the crunch. Which also explains why many of the big agencies are now courting small businesses (which they once routinely ignored).

However, I tell propects and clients alike, that they need to advertise, because it's NOT a non-essential item. Personally, I believe when it comes to advertising, small businesses can actually use an economic downturn to their advantage. Here's why, most businesses cut back or stop advertising during a downturn. But if you continue to advertise, guess who comes to the consumer's mind first when it's time to make a purchase? Another advantage of advertising in a tightened economy is that you'll get a good deal. Most reps will be happy to negotiate with you.

But there's another reason to pony up your advertising dollar; online advertising. Online advertising is what many small businesses already use, and now a very interesting shift in the landscape is taking place. This shift, which I will discuss in my next post, should be cause for any SMB to get really excited about planning their next online campaign. But I'll give you a couple of hints, cost and customization.

I want you to watch the short video below from Borrell Associates. They're talking about their survey, 2011 Outlook: SMBs Become Everybody's New Best Friend (you can get the survey on their website, but it'll cost you). If you've never advertised online, you need to. Funny, it took a survey for the large agencies to learn what those of us who've been serving small businesses already knew, online advertising works well for small businesses AND it can be really affordable.

On a scale of 1 to 5, for small and mid-sized businesses, how important is having online advertising in the mix?

DIY TV Spots: Are They Really the Way to Go?

The best way to save money is to spend less. Whether it's the family budget, or the national budget, keeping a rein on spending makes sense if saving is your goal. But what about a small business, with limited resources, that wants to advertise on TELEVISION and keep costs low? First of all, good for them for not eliminating or drastically reducing the advertising budget. Ironically, many small business owners target their advertising budget when belt-tightening, despite the fact that advertising is the best tool for driving sales.

But if a company wants to run tv spots while keeping costs low, they have some options. One particular option that we'll look at today is to do it yourself. It goes without saying that just because you're frequently called on to bring your camcorder to family functions, won't guarantee that you are the best person to actually shoot your commerical. But if you decide to take on all the jobs necessary to make your commerical, be sure that you can be very objective about your work.

Here are the basic steps:

1. See what your competitors are doing. Watch for commericals for products or services that are similar to yours. See what you like or don't like. Think more about the concept, because on a small budget and running your own production (without any prior experience), you won't be able to replicate the more expensive productions. Make some calls to local advertisers and ask them how their commericals are working for them and ask for advice.

2. Plan. Establish your budget. Research costs to air your cmmercial There are many factors to consider here: Broadcast or cable tv? Will you have a 30 or 60 second spot? How often do you want your spot to run? What time of day or night? Identify your unique selling position--why propects should buy from you instead of your competition. Decide what your goal is: Is it to make people aware of your business or to promote a particular product or a sale? Or both? Be sure to include a call to action.

3. Write your script. First decide on the type of commercial you want. Will if be funny? Will there be someone on camera or will you only use still pictures or video with a voice-over. Will you be on camera or hire someone? Will you show the exterior of your business or shoot it on the premises? Write for everyday conversation is a good rule of thumb. Of course if your product or service is specialized or unique in some way then use easy to understand terminology. Don't forget to mention your website or have it (and your social media buttons) added in post production. Write and read aloud what you've written. Time your spot.

4. Produce and edit your spot. Again, you will not save money by using your camcorder--it'll cost you more because the results won't be broadcast quality. This means, you'll either have to hire a freelancer (not your brother-in-law), a production company, or use the production department of the televsion station that you'll be running your commercial on. Discuss post production with your videographer before production begins. Even if that person or company doesn't edit your commercial, get a recommendation, along with costs and be sure to check out samples of their work. Post production is not the time to leave your commercial entirely in the hands of someone else. You'll want to be in the editing suite to make decisions about what stays in and what gets left out of your commercial.

5. Buy your airtime. If you thought the first four steps were challenging, not quite. This is where the real challenge begins for the uninitiated. Your goal should be to consistently get as much airtime as possible in decent time slots. Don't buy the first thing that's offered to you. Negotiate, negotiate, negotiate. The television ad market is very competitive. They want cash, and you have cash, which gives you a great negotiating position. However, there are details about buying tv airtime that an experienced ad buyer would know, such as which months are cheaper to buy and the days of the month when the rates are better. Rates are even discounted per program. You can request this information from the station, and they are required by law to provide it within 72 hours. Buying time from a cable operator is actually easier and allows you to spread your money around (more channels), for less money than broadcast channels (but you should still negotiate). Just remember, you want as much saturation as you can get, therefore don't spread yourself over too many channels if it means that your commerical will only air once or twice a day per channel.

The process is not cost-free but you can save money by doing this yourself. On the other hand, today, production costs can be very reasonable so you can save time and more by hiring a company to handle everthing.

Would you rather shoot and place your own commercial or hire a company?

Insecure About Your Marketing Communications Strategy? Don't Be

The clients that I usually work with are small businesses and non-profits. My experience has been that when these clients are ready to spend money on advertising or marketing, they are ready. They know what they want to do, though not necessarily how they want to do it (which is why they hire a professional). About a year ago, I began noticing something that could present a new challenge--prospects and clients have become much more knowledgeable of marketing communications strategies.

For years, I've encountered clients that are very knowledgeable about leveraging traditional media, but now I'm finding that more than a few are knowledgeable about social media, mobile media, cloud based environments, apps, SEO and yes, even the importance of content. Which in and of itself is a good thing.

Naturally, when your bottom line is the bottom line, you want to make sure that every investment yields a return. You want to take advantage of opportunities to increase sales, retain existing customers, engage new ones or whatever your goal happens to be. But I suspect that some prospects are not just interested in maximizing their resources or getting the best return on their investment, but are feeling a bit like David in a world of advertising and marketing Goliath's. Mainly because there are so many strategy options, and they don't want to miss out on using them.

A good case in point is a former client from a few years ago (who I'll call Mike). Mike recently expressed an interest in working with us again. He said he really liked our work, but this time around, he wanted to expand his marketing mix. Mike is very much a hands-on guy. When we last worked together, he was involved in every aspect of his campaign. Which is great, he's a very smart guy. But during our recent conversation, Mike talked about things like "integration" and "multi-platform" marketing. And how certain he was that "having an app will bring in lots of business", and most importantly, how we needed to "do whatever they're doing now that works."

It's the "whatever they're doing now that works" that prompted a series of follow-up conversations with Mike. I needed him to know that we'd love to create a marketing strategy that compassed it all. But I also needed Mike to think more about his business, his market, his clients and his budget. My point was that what works for large corporations that are trying to reach massive numbers of consumers, or even small companies that offer very different services, won't necessarily work for his business (small and local).

I know he immediately understood, but remained unconvinced. Mike believes that his growth is directly tied to having a market communications strategy that encompasses as much technology as possible. He wants to do what industry publications, marcom bloggers and other so-called marketing gurus say must be done in order to have a successful campaign.

I don't agree. I still believe that first and foremost, successful campaigns have a few irrevocable elements. First the business owner must have extensive and realistic knowledge about their business, their brand, their market, their marketing/advertising goals and their budget. The people they hire must soberly take that information, interpret it, build upon it with research, develop strong messages, possess the knowledge to choose the appropriate channels, and the ability to measure effectiveness.

It's not that I have a problem with new media, technology or clients who know what they want. But I can see a new challenge emerging where potential clients that have been sold on the idea that they can't win without employing the latest marketing trend, will have to first be sold on the idea that successful campaigns are built on good old fashioned foundational elements.

As for Mike, he'll likely go with a company that will give him what he wants. They'll probably burn through his budget pretty quickly, but at least he'll be trendy.