I'm a fan of British Comedies (Last of the Summers Wine, Are You Being Served, Keeping up Appearences, and of course As Time Goes By). So you know that I like hokey corney humour.
One new television spot to watch out for is for the Tide Stain Pen (not sure of the official name of the product). It almost seems like a 30 second John Cleese produced vignet. Of course, it's so creative that I have a hard time remembering the product. I'll see if I can find a link on YouTube and post it on here this afternoon. In the meantime, be looking for it. I won't give away the details but you'll know it when you see it!
Monday, March 10, 2008
Thursday, March 6, 2008
You should be...
If you live in the great state of South Carolina you should be thankful. If you own a business in the great state of South Carolina, you should be doubly as thankful. I just returned from a Venture Capital forum hosted by the Greater Greenvile Chamber of Commerce and... WOW. There are so many great things hapenning (many of them under the radar) to encourage new businesses to blossom, and encourge those thriving businesses that South Carolina is the place to be.
Say what you will about our often backwards political system, or our somewhat unhealthy lust for pork smothered in your choice of a zillion different sauces... but you should be proud. Not only should you be proud, but you should be a part of it. Good things are happening and even better things are coming!
When you have a moment, make a leisurely click to www.sclaunch.org. You can see just the tip of the iceberg! (Or for those of you from SC, the tip of the nose on the smoked pig).
Say what you will about our often backwards political system, or our somewhat unhealthy lust for pork smothered in your choice of a zillion different sauces... but you should be proud. Not only should you be proud, but you should be a part of it. Good things are happening and even better things are coming!
When you have a moment, make a leisurely click to www.sclaunch.org. You can see just the tip of the iceberg! (Or for those of you from SC, the tip of the nose on the smoked pig).
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
More on Public Relations
Continued from yesterday's discussion on PR, here are the three main principles of PR that are widely accepted, and why they are important to you.
1. Your Story: If you don't come out of the box and clearly define your story, you leave the door wide open for someone else to do the job for you, and you don't have control over that. You should clearly and concisely define who you are and what you do, and most importantly what is your message. A great example of this is my church, Seacoast Church. At every service and at every event we are reminded that our main goal is to Love God and Love People. Simple... but very powerful. Now the great thing about defining your message and telling your story is you don't need to have the marketing budget of McDonald's or Toyota. So now that you have your story, what do you do with it?
2. KISS: Keep it simple stupid! Lay out your story in plain english. A fancy marketing message will certainly impress the stuffed shirts in your boardroom, but on the street to your customers and to the media it's the spin cycle, and will get no traction. Leave the spin cycle to your washing machine and tell your story in good, clear plain english without the fancy industry lingo.
3. KISS 2: Keep it short, stupid! Face it, it's year 2008 and we are what we eat... we are all fast cheap and easy. Your marketing message should be the same. Shakepseare wrote that "brevity is the soul of wit", and nothing is more true than when it comes to PR. Most news releases are sent via email, and if you can't capture the attention of the news desk editor in 5 words or less in the subject line you're doomed from the beginning.
To practice what we rpeach, here's a summary of PR. Before setting sail on the PR ship, define your story, who you are. Once you've established your story, learn how to communicate it in a very simple, quick and straightforward way. No amount of creativity can make up for a lack of clarity (unless of course you are runnig for president!)
If you're still baffled, take the advice of 70's singer Billy Swan, let me know... I can help. bo@mustardnrelish.com
1. Your Story: If you don't come out of the box and clearly define your story, you leave the door wide open for someone else to do the job for you, and you don't have control over that. You should clearly and concisely define who you are and what you do, and most importantly what is your message. A great example of this is my church, Seacoast Church. At every service and at every event we are reminded that our main goal is to Love God and Love People. Simple... but very powerful. Now the great thing about defining your message and telling your story is you don't need to have the marketing budget of McDonald's or Toyota. So now that you have your story, what do you do with it?
2. KISS: Keep it simple stupid! Lay out your story in plain english. A fancy marketing message will certainly impress the stuffed shirts in your boardroom, but on the street to your customers and to the media it's the spin cycle, and will get no traction. Leave the spin cycle to your washing machine and tell your story in good, clear plain english without the fancy industry lingo.
3. KISS 2: Keep it short, stupid! Face it, it's year 2008 and we are what we eat... we are all fast cheap and easy. Your marketing message should be the same. Shakepseare wrote that "brevity is the soul of wit", and nothing is more true than when it comes to PR. Most news releases are sent via email, and if you can't capture the attention of the news desk editor in 5 words or less in the subject line you're doomed from the beginning.
To practice what we rpeach, here's a summary of PR. Before setting sail on the PR ship, define your story, who you are. Once you've established your story, learn how to communicate it in a very simple, quick and straightforward way. No amount of creativity can make up for a lack of clarity (unless of course you are runnig for president!)
If you're still baffled, take the advice of 70's singer Billy Swan, let me know... I can help. bo@mustardnrelish.com
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
A politial statement...
I never planned on getting politcal on this blog, but what the heck. I had to share this email my wife (the liberal) forwarded me:
A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat, and amount other liberal ideals, was very much in favor of higher taxes to support more government programs, in other words, redistribution of wealth.
She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch Republican, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chats with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.
One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the need for more governmental programs. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father.
He responded by asking how she was doing in school. Taken a back, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her with no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't even have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying.
Her father listened then asked, "How is your friend Audrey doing?"
She replied, "Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies, and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She's always invited to all the parties, and lots of times she doesn't even show up for classes because she's too hung over.
Her father asked her, "Why don't you got to the Deans' office and ask him to deduct a 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend Audrey, who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be fair and equal distribution of GPA."
The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily fired back, "That's a crazy idea. How would that be fair? I've worked really hard for my grades! I've invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work. Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!"
The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, "Welcome to the Republican Party."
A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat, and amount other liberal ideals, was very much in favor of higher taxes to support more government programs, in other words, redistribution of wealth.
She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch Republican, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chats with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.
One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the need for more governmental programs. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father.
He responded by asking how she was doing in school. Taken a back, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her with no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't even have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying.
Her father listened then asked, "How is your friend Audrey doing?"
She replied, "Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies, and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She's always invited to all the parties, and lots of times she doesn't even show up for classes because she's too hung over.
Her father asked her, "Why don't you got to the Deans' office and ask him to deduct a 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend Audrey, who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be fair and equal distribution of GPA."
The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily fired back, "That's a crazy idea. How would that be fair? I've worked really hard for my grades! I've invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work. Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!"
The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, "Welcome to the Republican Party."
What is PR?
Public Relations sounds more like what Exxon must do when there is an oil spill, or the necessary evil of corporations to "spin" their story. I prefer to call those examples the "spin cycle". Public Relations is defined on wikipedia as the management of internal and external communication of an organization to create and maintain a positive image. Public relations involves popularizing successes, downplaying failures, announcing changes, and many other activities.
How does this apply to you, and why is it so important? Because it's CHEAP, and PRICELESS exposure for your business. Sure you can buy a 30 second spot during the evening newscast, but you can't purchase a story. To actually have the news anchor talk favorably about your business is one of the most powerful means of getting your message out. To have a news editor do a write up on your start-up business, your new employee that you hired, the new truck that your company purchased, the medical fair that is being held in your parking lot, and yes... a news editor actually picked up one of our clients press releases heralding the new carpet that was installed in their hallway (that one suprised me too!)
So how do you go about getting this elusive PR thing done? A shameless plug for Mustard N Relish, you can call us and we'll do the research, the writing, the distribution and follow up. But you wonder, how do you tie everything together in a nice neat little package that looks attractive to the media? Tomorrow, you'll learn the three principles of Public Relations.
How does this apply to you, and why is it so important? Because it's CHEAP, and PRICELESS exposure for your business. Sure you can buy a 30 second spot during the evening newscast, but you can't purchase a story. To actually have the news anchor talk favorably about your business is one of the most powerful means of getting your message out. To have a news editor do a write up on your start-up business, your new employee that you hired, the new truck that your company purchased, the medical fair that is being held in your parking lot, and yes... a news editor actually picked up one of our clients press releases heralding the new carpet that was installed in their hallway (that one suprised me too!)
So how do you go about getting this elusive PR thing done? A shameless plug for Mustard N Relish, you can call us and we'll do the research, the writing, the distribution and follow up. But you wonder, how do you tie everything together in a nice neat little package that looks attractive to the media? Tomorrow, you'll learn the three principles of Public Relations.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Auto Advertising... why we don't work with many car dealers
First, read this story from the Spartanburg Hearld Journal here:
http://www.goupstate.com/article/20080302/NEWS/803020355/1051/NEWS01
Now, what are your thoughts?
http://www.goupstate.com/article/20080302/NEWS/803020355/1051/NEWS01
Now, what are your thoughts?
Putting My Neck Out...
Sometimes you just gotta take chances. After all, being in business for yourself is a risk. Risk doesn't stop at turning on your open sign, you must take them everyday when you're running a business. So here is my risk... a challenge to you. I want you to write down on a piece of paper this phrase: "But... This is the way I've always done it!" Sound familiar?
What mediums are included in your marketing plan? Radio, television, outdoor, direct mail... maybe even (EGADS!) newspaper? Maybe you've dabbled in internet marketing? What about text messaging? At this time last year I would have poo poo'ed a text message campaign as hokey and pretty radical. Not today. And yes, it's probably outside your comfort zone and you're correct, it's not the way you've always done it.
In January we executed a trial text messaging campaign for a client. I was skeptical. We spent $500 to use the 5 digit text code of a radio station and they included a set of 15 second commercials to promote the campaign. Here's how it worked. The 15 second spot encouraged listeners to text a keyword (for example, FOOD) to the 5 digit text number, 24261. As soon as the listener hit SEND, a text message arrived back in their text message inbox with the clients message and call to action. For as small of a campaign as we did, I would have been pretty happy with about 50 responses. At weeks end we had over 150 responses! That's 150 people who had a text message with a tangible message that they could save and act upon, and some even forwarded to their friends! We also had captured their phone number for future text campaigns (since they opted in to the program by texting... and should the decide they no longer want to recieve messages, they can send the word STOP back to the same number and ithout hassle be deleted from the campaign.) I'm hooked. This is pretty strong stuff.
If you need to reach customers under the age of 35, this is your medium. And in addition to the traditional marketing opportunites that Mustard N Relish can help you with, we have a 5 digit text code at our disposal for your campaign. This is a quick medium to utilize... within 5 minutes or less your text campaign is set up and ready for use.
What mediums are included in your marketing plan? Radio, television, outdoor, direct mail... maybe even (EGADS!) newspaper? Maybe you've dabbled in internet marketing? What about text messaging? At this time last year I would have poo poo'ed a text message campaign as hokey and pretty radical. Not today. And yes, it's probably outside your comfort zone and you're correct, it's not the way you've always done it.
In January we executed a trial text messaging campaign for a client. I was skeptical. We spent $500 to use the 5 digit text code of a radio station and they included a set of 15 second commercials to promote the campaign. Here's how it worked. The 15 second spot encouraged listeners to text a keyword (for example, FOOD) to the 5 digit text number, 24261. As soon as the listener hit SEND, a text message arrived back in their text message inbox with the clients message and call to action. For as small of a campaign as we did, I would have been pretty happy with about 50 responses. At weeks end we had over 150 responses! That's 150 people who had a text message with a tangible message that they could save and act upon, and some even forwarded to their friends! We also had captured their phone number for future text campaigns (since they opted in to the program by texting... and should the decide they no longer want to recieve messages, they can send the word STOP back to the same number and ithout hassle be deleted from the campaign.) I'm hooked. This is pretty strong stuff.
If you need to reach customers under the age of 35, this is your medium. And in addition to the traditional marketing opportunites that Mustard N Relish can help you with, we have a 5 digit text code at our disposal for your campaign. This is a quick medium to utilize... within 5 minutes or less your text campaign is set up and ready for use.
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