Scotsman Media ADvice

Best (and worst) practices -- the best advice there is!

2012-02-27T13:21:00.000-05:00

This one is for the girls and boys on the front line, those out there building relationships with advertisers and prospects for advertising in our publications. It's a little bit like Dragnet...the stories you're about to hear are true, but some names have been changed or omitted to prevent embarrassment or lawsuits. These are just a few ideas and war stories that we can all learn from in today's hectic selling environment.

EXAMPLE 1: The fine line between use and abuse:

I shared this at our sales meeting last week. A good friend of mine who works for an area competitor sent me an e-mail, touting the benefits of doing business with one of her clients. "I'm sending this to all my friends. If you ever need (omitted) repair services, you should call (omitted). I know him and trust him and I'm sure you will too." I have no idea if her advertiser paid for this or if she was adding value or maybe just helping out a friend. All I know is (a) I didn't really mind receiving it even though (b) I never signed up for it and (c) was not given an opt out link. I don't mind being "used" a little...but I don't want to be "abused" either. I'll see what other e-mails the future brings but the lesson here is to be careful when crossing the business and personal address books in the interest of doing business with your clients. Be nice to your friends.

EXAMPLE 2: Ask questions before committing.

I know the person who made this goof, know him very well. His name rhymes with "me". Got in my car last week, drove 45 minutes to spend an hour with one of our representatives and one of her customers, helping develop a plan for their "spring campaign". (Then drove back, too). There are many things I am not very good at, but I think a do a pretty fair job of working with customers on a marketing analysis model and was pretty proud of the work I did for this client. What I didn't know (because I didn't ask) was that this customer runs the smallest ad he can and might bump up to the next bigger size based on our planning session. Bottom line: two of us invested the better part of a morning in a session that held little if any promise of growth, all because I didn't do my due diligence (nor did my colleague). Spend time with customers, call on everyone but invest quality time in direct relation to the results you might garner. Just makes sense.

EXAMPLE 3: If you don't have something good to say...

An auto sales pro I know shared a story about a salesperson for another print media outlet who visited their dealership recently. This person mentioned how well they were doing but pointed out that other area print outlets were not doing well to the best of his knowledge. He may have thought he was putting himself in a good light but the impact on the auto person was highly negative. I'm paraphrasing but the summation was "if the only thing good you can say is something bad about your competitors, then say nothing at all." Great advice...the salesperson didn't hear it, though. He won't get a chance to, either. Don't throw mud...you can't do it without getting your hands dirty.

I can't promise our advertisers that our salespeople will always be the answer to their needs, but I know we will knock ourselves out trying to find solutions. For more information, call us at 315-472-7825 or e-mail us at info@scotsmanmediagroup.com. Thank you!

Super lessons for the rest of us

2012-02-06T09:32:00.000-05:00

It's over! It's over! Giants win! Anybody win...please!

With all due respect to the Giants, their fans and any other related groups, I am so glad that the "big game" (as we who have no license must refer to it) is over. I love football, I thoroughly enjoyed the game. But there is happiness in watching the two week, non-stop, overdone media frenzy finally wind down to just one more day of post-game analysis. And then we can get back to our normal mundane media experiences.

For our purposes, the question of what is normal looms large. Two "super" points to reflect on:

1. Commercials -- an annual highlight of the game. What did you think? Is it me, or was the big picture of big game commercials a little lackluster this year? Or are our expectations so high at this point -- because we have been conditioned by past experiences -- that we expect to be bowled over (no pun) by every spot that airs?

2. Big money -- yes, those spots cost millions just for air time. Production costs must soar, too. Do polar bears really sell more Coke? Does the Dorito dog (my favorite, by the way) really sell more crunchy chips by burying the missing cat? Enough chips and soda to justify the cost?

There are likely no definitive answers to these questions. Only the sponsors can determine if they got the value they paid for, and building on their brand recognition is certainly a bigger priority for super commercials than just selling product. Thus, here are the takeaways for the small business people like you and me:

a. Careful not to overdo it -- most small businesses don't have the time and budget to over-promote an event. But too many e-mail blasts or Facebook updates or value-less coupons can have the same effect on your customer database as too much big game hype can have on fans.

b. Establish a marketing goal -- every campaign, every ad you do must bring you some value. But before you promote, be sure to establish a goal for the event and determine how you will realistically measure results so you'll know if you're on the right track or not. Whether you're selling your brand or hoping to move a specific product off your shelves, make it a measurable event.

c. Don't be missing in action -- I will venture a guess that part of the decision making process for Coke and Doritos is their past experience and the expectations of a loyal fan base. Their spots have become part of the big game experience and viewers might notice them as much by their absence as they do their presence. In other words, if you are considering changes in your media mix, always make allowances that some of your customers expect to find your ads where they currently do. If you move the ads you may lose some of the faithful you've attracted. Jumping around in the media can increase your expenditure and make it hard for your loyal fans to stay in touch with your brand and products.

Our ad staff at the Scotsman can help you plan campaigns and ads so problems like these never happen. Just give us a call at 315-472-7825 or e-mail us at info@scotsmanmediagroup.com. As always, thank you so much for your time!

Gut check -- I'm not so hot after all!

2012-01-25T13:03:00.000-05:00

Humility always wears well. I pray daily to be blessed with wisdom, patience and humility; folks who know me will likely say that I am still waiting for those prayers to be answered. I know I'm not a wise man. Wise guy, yes. Wise man, no. I also lack in patience most of the time but I do think I'm a humble kind of guy. Except when it comes to sales training. You see, I perceive myself to be kind of a hotshot trainer. Give me a couple of hours and a crowded room of sales types and I'll turn them all into passionate pros. How wrong I must be!

A professional colleague of mine spent a little field time recently with some of our sales staff visiting some of our best customers. He had nothing but great things to say about this experience...loved our people & loved our customers. But his final comment to me cut to the bone: "I don't know that I got a real sense of what the value in your product is, though." Ouch! Pain! We have very good salespeople, but apparently they don't have a very good trainer because today's message is all about value. A good manager should make sure that value oozes from everything a salesperson says. I didn't get that done.

I shared this with a co-worker who was quick to point out that the sample used to arrive at this conclusion wasn't very scientific; "these are our best customers...they know about our value already," he said. He was trying to make me feel better and I appreciate that. But we all need to appreciate that every customer needs to hear about the value we provide every time we have an opportunity to chat with them. That may be especially true of our best customers. We have all heard the stats on how much effort it takes to get new customers -- that same effort should go into keeping our current ones. Lord knows our competitors will be filling their ears with value statements so we should always be doing the same.

Our job at the Scotsman Media Group is to help businesses make the strongest value statement they can to their target markets. Give us a shout at 315-472-7825 or e-mail us at info@scotsmanmediagroup.com any time you need help making your value known. Thank you for being here today!

A little "religious education" to share

2012-01-09T10:52:00.000-05:00

Belated wishes for a happy and productive new year!

Here is my only prediction for 2012: some businesses and business people will have a great year, some won't and the rest will fall in between. Nostradamus I am not. But my prediction could be correctly made any year, boom economy or bust, because whenever two or more are competing for the same dollars, someone is going to come in first and someone is going to come in last. Where you come in is thankfully up to you.

For those who don't know my total background, I lead something of a double life; in addition to the business world I am also an ordained deacon in the Catholic Church. Don't worry -- a spiritual message is not contained herein, but valuable marketing lessons can be learned almost anywhere. Like your car.

I recently leased a new car for work and one of the "extras" is the standard three month free trial of satellite radio. I'm a big believer in free so I am making the most of the 90 days. Given my deacon life, I was especially interested when I flipped the dial past the "Catholic Channel." Now for those who don't know it, the Church has its share of, shall we say, marketing concerns:

1. The whole sexual abuse of children chapter of church history was mishandled and it has understandably turned some of the faithful away. Corrections have been made but it takes time to heal.

2. Church attendance for almost all denominations is down over the last 10 to 15 years, especially in the Northeast. Demographic and sociological shifts.

3. In spite of declining attendance, there are not enough priests to take care of the number of parishes and churches that exist, and closing and consolidating churches makes even more people unhappy.

Make you feel a little better about your own business fortunes? There are a lot of aspects to what I have briefly listed above but the bottom line is that the Church is making big efforts to re-engage their membership. Unfortunately, I'm not sure they know what's going on with the Catholic Channel. I listened for 15 minutes and decided that (a) if I wasn't Catholic I wouldn't want to be one after listening and (b) would I want to publicly identify myself as a Catholic after listening. I admit it just was a narrow slice of their programming but the two people casually chatting on this program were obnoxious, unfocused and flippant. And as anyone in business and sales has learned, an unfocused knucklehead can erase more goodwill in ten minutes than a competent marketing staff can achieve in ten months. And the public is happy to form an incorrect opinion of you based on knowing very little of what you really do.

The first of the year is an excellent time to do inventory of all your efforts: your signage, collateral material, advertising campaigns, marketing and customer service staff to make sure your message is put forward in a consistent, effective manner. And it's time to make one resolution: don't wait a year to re-evaluate it. Do it consistently.

Our Scotsman staff is ready to help you with your business needs -- call 315-472-7825 or e-mail us at info@scotsmanmediagroup.com. And, again, best wishes for a great 2012!

The New Math of Ad Success

2011-12-02T15:49:00.000-05:00

I was reminded yesterday during our weekly staff sales meeting of a simple formula that helps put a different light on why some ad campaigns work and others don't. I borrowed the knowledge from one of The Leadership Institute training modules (I figured it was OK to do so...I'm on the faculty, after all). Whether you're an advertiser or an ad marketing person, this is a necessary piece of your pie:

I x C x C = V

I stands for IMPACT. How big is the ad, especially in relation to what everyone else is doing? How big is the offer, both in terms of the physical size of the text in the ad, and in the size of value that it offers? 10% off a bagel isn't worth starting your car over...25% off interior satin paint is worth remodeling your home for.

C stands for CIRCULATION. How many homes, how many readers are you reaching? If you're selling pizza, you need homes close to your store. If you're selling life insurance you need a wider coverage area in that there are fewer prospects per neighborhood for a long term, bigger ticket purchase.

C number two stands for CONSISTENCY. How often do you grace the marketplace with your message? Are you consistent in the manner and method in which you grace it? Consistency builds recognition and top of mind awareness.

V is VALUE, value for the advertiser. Results equals value.

Here is where the math comes in. This is a multiplication equation. The more you stress each of the three variables, the greater your results will be. Let's use a 1 to 10 scale. If you run a big ad with a great offer (that's a 10) and you hit 50% of the homes in your market (that's a 5), but you run the ad only once (a 1) you get this:

10 x 5 x 1 = 50

Remember, the best you can do is 10 x 10 x 10...that equals 1000. Fifty isn't very good, is it? Increase the consistency to a 3 (run the ad two more times) and you get a 150...three times the results or value.

The most important thing to remember is to not fail completely at any one of the three...that would be a zero. Zero times anything is zero and there is no value in zero.

We're full of good ideas at the Scotsman...drop us a note at info@scotsmanmediagroup.com and see what we can do to add value to your business. Thanks!

It's my favorite holiday of the year...

2011-11-21T17:43:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving is, yes, my favorite holiday of the year. (Pardon the editorial slant of this episode). Thanksgiving has all the warmth and good will of Christmas without all the extra glitz and pressure. Why any holiday should have pressure is a question unto itself, but Christmas does. Why else would suicides and hotline calls go up dramatically in December each year? Thanksgiving has family, food, fun, football...and it is an All-American holiday. Thank the Pilgrims. Family first. Why then is American business trying so hard to ruin the day?

Black Friday is also an All-American institution and it was kind of fun to watch news coverage of the crowds stampeding into stores at 7AM, then 6AM and then 4AM...and now Thursday evening, 10PM. Some stores have opened all Thanksgiving day in recent years, like there is nothing special to the holiday at all. It's sad. One poor soul lost his life in a Black Friday WalMart shopping surge a couple of years back. Nothing is sadder than that.

Our friends at WalMart have used us to deliver their sale flyers each Thanksgiving, and each year we have been asked to sign a pledge/agreement to provide the utmost security of those flyers so that Black Friday specials would remain a national secret. And they meant business, too, if you were responsible for a leak. This year, WalMart leaked their own specials on their own site. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, I guess. Even 42" flat screen TV prices aren't special anymore.

Hats off to employees of Target and Best Buy who have organized online petitions asking their employers to have a heart and open Friday morning, allowing workers to have the whole Thanksgiving holiday at home. A valiant but futile effort; it's way too competitive out there in the market to allow anyone to get the jump on you.

In spite of my obvious disdain for all of this, I am thankful to live in a land where such things are possible. Where government doesn't tell business what they can or can't do. Where you have a thriving competitiveness, even in a sluggish economy. And where people can freely voice their opinion about their beliefs and not worry about ramifications, assuming those Target and Best Buy employees don't lose their jobs for speaking out.

We at the Scotsman hope you have much to be thankful for this year.

When you send a message, back it up with your actions.

2011-11-02T14:37:00.000-04:00

Haven't posted in a couple of weeks -- been a busy time, but it's back to the blog now.

It's a beautiful November day in Central New York. I did my usual Wednesday drive from our Fulton office back to Syracuse at mid-day and as I was coming to the stop at the end of the off ramp, a local homeless guy was there with his sign. I don't want to sound crass or uncaring, but I have often thought there is a well oiled network of these guys and they have the best corners and locations in town allocated among them on some rotating basis. Only one person works each corner and you never see the same guy in the same spot two days in a row. The man I saw today didn't look familiar but his sign did. What caught me, though, is that he didn't pay any attention to me as I slowed down to stop. He appeared to be texting on his smartphone. No joke. I watched carefully to be sure that's what he was doing, and it was. I don’t think it was an iPhone4s, but it looked pretty new. I have to be honest with you: it greatly diminished the effect that his "hungry and homeless veteran" sign had on me.

There are a lot of good folks out there who are in trouble through no fault of their own who need our help. And there are others out there who are waiting to take advantage of us. No surprise there. It happens on street corners and it happens in business every day. Does the message you send to the market clearly reflect who you are, what you do and how you do it? Does it reflect integrity and awareness, and can you back that up with your daily actions? If you hang your advertising hat on being the best in customer service, does your staff back that up by paying close attention to your customers? If you will pardon the comparison, do they blankly text on their cell phones as the customer approaches the counter or are they waiting to greet them and make their best effort to help? I had a customer call me yesterday to share an experience he had with a couple of our staff people recently. Good staffers, too, but obviously not at their best on this occasion. I was glad he called; often a customer who feels wronged just walks away and you may never know there was a problem. We got the chance to fix this one. How many get away without an opportunity?

We're coming in to the busy season for most retailers and professionals; let's make it one of the best. Call us at 315-472-7825 or e-mail us at info@scotsmanmediagroup.com if we can help you put your best foot forward. Thanks.

Holding on can be dangerous

2011-10-13T15:09:00.001-04:00

I learned a valuable business lesson today from my spiritual advisor.

I meet once a month with this person, and she is a pearl. If you don't have someone in your life who helps you keep yourself centered, whether you're a spiritual person or not, then find one right away. It helps, sometimes in aspects of your life that might first strike you as non-spiritual. Like marketing and advertising.

She related a story to me that was shared by a person who spoke at a conference she attended this summer. This was a Hopi tribal elder who taught this lesson by describing life as a very fast moving, deep river and we, of course, are all in the river. Where is the safe spot? Most people think it's close to shore where one could hold tight to solid ground and avoid drowning. But the river, like life today, moves so fast that those holding on to the edges are constantly buffeted and blasted by the force of the waves. Clawing away at the shore, fighting the inevitable flow is almost impossible. This causes pain, injury and fatigue. When the force of the current finally overwhelms you -- and it will -- you have no strength left to keep yourself afloat. The end is near for you.

The smart people let go of what they thought was safe and float out into the current, focusing on keeping their head above water and going with the flow. Be aware of those floating around you. Work with them, stick together and enjoy the ride. We all know life...pardon me, the river is not going to slow down; it's getting faster and faster every day. Not much we can do about it either, except to learn to work together and not fight the current. Use it to your advantage instead. Learn to swim in it, to use its force to move you ahead and you can be king (or queen) of the river, or at least your little part of it.

Apply the story. You can't keep doing what you've done in your marketing and expect to survive. Holding on will be the end of you. Embrace the new technologies and learn how to make the existing media work better for you in today's fast paced and sometimes troubled waters. Work with other partners who are moving in the river and can help you negotiate the rapids and falls. That's where we come in. Drop us a note if you would like to have a no obligation chat on improving your marketing plan, the one we can specifically build for you. Call us at 315-472-7825 or e-mail us at info@scotsmanmediagroup.com

Value -- it's a double-edged sword

2011-09-30T12:38:00.000-04:00

I had the opportunity to listen to Kevin Slimp last weekend, courtesy of Free Community Papers of NY which hosted Kevin for our annual publisher's conference. If you don't know Kevin, you should. He is the graphics guru for our industry and he is on top of everything it seems: best prices, best practices, best advice. Kevin talked a lot about the Groupon/Living Social/Daily Deal phenomenon in advertising. After great initial growth the fortunes of this ad medium, in general, are taking a hit. One big reason is that advertisers are learning that people who take advantage of their deep discount deals don't come back as repeat customers at regular price. They only buy the product when it's on sale.

New technology...same old story.

We had a good restaurant advertiser a few years back who did the 'buy one, get one" thing very well with coupons in our papers but wasn't happy that the same people came back time and time again with that coupon in hand. We got fired from the media mix for doing our job too well it seems. Advertiser not happy, newspaper not happy, and reader not happy that coupon is now gone. It's not supposed to work that way.

It all comes back to value. A business has to make a real value offer to attract customers today but they also have to learn how to market to the audience they attract and turn them into something more than discount shoppers. We in the media have to bring our expertise to the table to coach advertisers on how to make life long customers out of folks who respond to a coupon. It's about more than just selling them an ad. And both medium and advertiser have to recognize that today's shopper has changed, the market has changed and we have to learn how to offer attractive value that doesn't undermine the bottom line. Value should cut to the chase for our customers; it shouldn't cut us off at the knees.

New technology...same old story:

Take care of the reader with value, take care of the advertiser with valuable marketing planning and we in the media business will be taken care of as a result. Reader happy, advertiser happy and newspaper happy.

We at the Scotsman would love the opportunity to try to make you happy. Call us at 315-472-7825 or info@scotsmanmediagroup.com. Thanks!

Getting in "touch" with your sales process.

2011-09-22T16:59:00.000-04:00

I had the opportunity this week to spend a few hours at a seminar put on for printers who use digital printing equipment manufactured by a well known, large international firm whose name rhymes with Xerox. Don't want to give away any free plugs. The lesson learned that I'd like to share with you had little to do with their equipment but a lot to do with how all of us do business. And it was fascinating. Simply put, how many times does someone in your organization "touch" a sale? Phone rings and customer service person answers equals one touch. Gathering price information is another touch. Preparing a quote equals a touch. You touch it one more time when you write an order. And so on. In a workshop consisting of multiple small groups, the norm was about 40-plus touches per sale. The goal is to reduce the number of touches and streamline your process. Here's why.

Case studies show that companies that increased sales by 10% saw a 1% rise in their bottom line profits. But companies that cut their costs by 10% increased their pre-tax profits by 9%.

Final score: Accountants 1, Sales 0

I have to admit we could decrease our total touches if we tried and saved some dough, but most companies I know today are just like we are. Lean. Most of us have really been cutting costs for a couple of years at least and that can lead to an anorexic result in some cases. Especially if cost cutting harms your sales ability.

I think the trick is to be lean AND mean. You can't cut your sales and fulfillment process to the point where you no longer have the energy in your system to be aggressive. No one ever grew faster than their competitor by cost cutting. No one ever gained market share by cost cutting. No one ever came out stronger on the other side of a deep recession by just cost cutting. You've got to grab new customers, hold on to current ones and reclaim former clients to grow.

Growth is what we are about at the Scotsman. It may be through advertising in our Pennysavers, taking advantage of our commercial printing services or by adding one of our niche publications to your marketing plan. Contact us at 315-472-7825 or info@scotsmanmediagroup.com for more information. Thank you!

Reaching goals or avoiding pitfalls? It's all in a day's work.

2011-09-15T15:37:00.000-04:00

I had the pleasure of attending a meeting last evening of the Waterloo (NY) Business & Professional Association. It's the resurrection of an inactive merchant organization in the Fingerlakes community and, based on those in attendance last night, it has a much brighter future this time around. The folks there were passionate about their town and are working to attract new members and the Scotsman has pledged to help them do that. We put on a brief small business marketing presentation last night and will be doing a second installment in the near future.

When we do these presentations, the topic has little or nothing to do with our publications or products. We try to help local businesses find new ways to look at what they do and market themselves better. Sometimes that involves a Scotsman publications campaign and sometimes it doesn't. It's not about our success, it's about the business' success. In the case of a local Chamber of Commerce or merchant group, it's about group success because when the community thrives, everything thrives, including our business.

We give advice (ADvice, like the title above). I wish we had the chance to advise one radio advertiser that I happened to hear a spot from last Saturday. The date was September 10, the day before the tenth anniversary of 9-11. No explanation needed, I'm sure. The advertiser was a race track and they were hosting a demolition derby that evening. I'm paraphrasing, but it went something like this in a big booming radio voice:

"(Name of track mercifully omitted) will be ground zero tonight...the eve of destruction...!"

Ground zero? Eve of destruction? Really? Are ya' kidding me? If they were ignorant to what the date was, then someone in advertising should have reminded them. If they knew what the date was and went ahead with this anyway, then someone in advertising should have grabbed them by the ears and told them to stop! I shared this with a friend who is a race fan (I'm not) who tried to explain it away by saying racing is a different culture. Every race I've ever caught a glimpse of always seemed awash in red, white and blue patriotism. I think race fans deserve better and I think advertising people -- all of us, especially me -- should pray that we are on top of the situation every day for our clients. Helping them improve their marketing is our goal, but helping them avoid mistakes is our job.

We're not perfect at the Scotsman, but we're trying to be. That's why our Pennysavers reach almost 99% of the homes in our marketplace. Contact us if you'd like to know more: 315-472-7825 or info@scotsmanmediagroup.com. God bless America!

Can you replace lost opportunity?

2011-09-08T17:40:00.000-04:00

We experienced at least one washout weather day this past Labor Day weekend in the Syracuse area. I live up the road from a very popular local public golf course. The parking lot was completely empty this particular day, and I recalled it was just as empty a couple of weeks before when I drove by on a very rainy Sunday. That's a catastrophe to a golf course, when a summer weekend day or holiday gets completely rained out. It's not like a foursome will come back on Monday or Tuesday to play when their Sunday outing goes down the (storm) drain. It's business the course likely doesn't make up, like a ski area without snow over the Christmas holiday. It's opportunity lost, and through no fault of their own.

Every business has such challenges, when the forces of nature, a slow economy or similar acts of a higher power combine to close out what normally might have been a great business day or season. How do you get that chance again? Typically, a business has to do something to lure the make-up business to the door, and that probably involves added advertising investment, reduced margins from markdowns and loss-leader pricing and other extraordinary expenses. It's certainly not as profitable as the premium price charged to willing golfers on a busy, sunny Sunday.

Well, the answer to the question is really very simple, the kind of advice your Grandpa would have given. Save for a rainy day or, in our case, plan for a rainy day. We know the bad days are going to happen, we just don't know when or how bad they're going to be. Lessen the blow by marketing your business with a specific, consistent plan that builds steady success over the long haul. Give customers reasons -- value reasons -- to do business with you on a regular basis. You can rebound from the unfortunate acts of business nature much more quickly when you have a consistent base to deal from. Even then, if you have to hold a special event or sale your bottom line will better handle the temporary dent in your margins when you have a long term plan that makes sense.

I had this chat with a colleague who said this is a little like telling someone to deal with the flat tire by avoiding the nails in the road. It's unrealistic. The point here is that in today's pressurized, competitive marketplace, it's unrealistic to think you'll be successful without a plan in place before you begin your seasonal campaigns.

We have a staff of trained marketing people who want to help you develop a long term plan. Drop us a note at info@scotsmanmediagroup.com and thanks so much for checking in.

What's the difference? It's what different with you!

2011-09-01T14:19:00.000-04:00

First things first: our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by Hurricane Irene. There was a lot more impact on parts of Upstate NY and Western New England than expected, areas close to home for me here in Syracuse. Personally, my family was fortunate in a different sense: we vacationed the week before Irene on the Jersey Shore, another area that got hit pretty hard. We enjoyed a pretty dry, sunny week in the Wildwood Crest/Cape May area and it's there where we start today's advertising & marketing tale.

Seasonal vacation areas like the Shore really drive home the point on having an effective ad campaign. Think about it...the season lasts three or four months and the streets literally are full of prospective customers. Cars from Jersey, NY, PA, DE, CT, MA, MD, DC are in the parking lots of hundreds (maybe thousands) of motels, hotels and resorts. Most folks are there about a week, so as a business you don't have a lot of time to build a relationship with shoppers/diners/buyers who don't know much about you. You want them now! How do you do that?

Two part answer to the above question. First, use the media that hits customers where they are. Airplanes fly by the beach all day towing messages from amusement parks and restaurants. Limited opportunity so it's probably pretty pricey from an ad budget standpoint. Not many billboards -- interferes with the view. Everybody is listening to an iPod-like gizmo so forget about radio. We're all outside so forget about TV. I watched a man come into our hotel one day and refill a rack with stacks of brochures from all sorts of businesses in the area. And those racks are in every hotel, restaurant, drug & grocery store, gas station and more. My family probably picked up 20 to 25 of these; we used one coupon the whole week we were there. I'm glad I'm not a media buyer for advertisers in that market because I didn't see anything that looked like a sure-fire winner. I hope the locals have a better feel for it than an educated visitor like me.

The second part of the answer is easier. USP. I hit on this a couple of blogs ago. It's your Unique Selling Proposition...that which sets you apart from your competition. In summer vacationland, shoppers make decisions quickly on where to go, what to buy, where to eat. Businesses that point out great value and unique qualities that only they can provide -- and point them out clearly and concisely -- will garner the lion's share of the business. It's no different where we are. Look at the speed of everything today: computers, internet, smart phones and such. Shoppers everywhere are moving faster and making quicker decisions. Be sure your ad message helps them do that, and pushes your USP and value to the max!

We at the Scotsman want to help you develop your USP message. Contact us at info@scotsmanmediagroup.com. Thank you so much for taking the time today!

It's not about me & it's not about you.

2011-08-24T10:30:00.002-04:00

I have a confession to make. I hate Facebook. Not a smart thing to admit for anyone who claims to be a member of the media/advertising/marketing world today. Facebook is a juggernaut, an uber-site, a King Kong of social media. You have to be on Facebook. Have to!!! And I am, but it's painful.

Our Pennysavers, our Today's CNY Woman Magazine and everything else we do have a presence on Facebook. That's a very good thing, and your business needs a presence there, too. But for me, as a consumer, to follow any of these sites, I have to register as a user and it's only a matter of time before people I know find me. They want to be friends. So, okay, let's be friends. I don't want to offend anyone I really know by saying nyet to their request. But then it starts..."going to lunch now"..."chilling on the porch with my dog Snuggles"..."help me grow Brussels sprouts on my pretend farm". Your friends, your relatives, your spouse's friends and relatives, co-workers and more all bombard you with the minutiae of their lives. I'm sorry, but it makes me crazy. Thus, I stay away from checking and updating my Facebook info and am out of the social media loop. That's not a very good thing.

Where's this going? I must practice what I preach. I've got to learn to love new things. I can't decide what's good for our business based on what I like or don't like. Neither should you. I've been on any number of client calls through the years where the marketing decision maker says "I don't read your paper." So they don't advertise with us even though we reach 99% of the marketplace with weekly readership in better than 8 out of 10 homes, all independently audited information. Doesn't matter what you do. Decision makers have to be in touch with what their customers (and prospective customers) are doing/reading/surfing and make marketing decisions on the facts, not their own personal habits. There are so many options today for spending the ad dollar that research and knowledge are critical to making sound advertising decisions, more than ever before. And it's only going to get more complex as more options come to the table.

Our job at the Scotsman is to sell advertising, yes...but our success is based on your success, your long term success. We win when you do. And believe me, we want to win. Let's talk sometime about how we can help you make good decisions for your business and make us both more successful. Drop us a line at info@scotsmanmediagroup.com.

Thanks very much for your time!

Think big to be big(ger)!

2011-08-11T13:57:00.000-04:00

Scared? Some experts say we should be. Our national fiscal outlook isn't good, they say, given the debt ceiling carnival and the resulting stock market fluctuations. Down 600 points yesterday, up 500 today, down 400 tomorrow. Like many folks, the personal impact of the market on me comes via my 401k and one could go nuts trying to chase results by changing your options every day. Historically, you've got to ride it out to be successful long term. I just read a blog on the Observations website that quotes a study showing average annual stock growth, including dividends, to be about 9% per year when you look at 25 year blocks of time. Not a bad record and it's trackable.

Marketing your business with effective advertising works the same way. You've heard it before, but it merits mentioning again. Studies show that consistent advertising results in sales growth, especially when things are tough. The most famous study, one by McGraw Hill, shows that companies that maintain advertising when things tighten up improve their sales by 250%-plus as compared to those who cut back. Not a bad record and it's trackable.

When our local account managers explain this concept to local advertisers, we hear things like "I'm not a big player...those things are for the big companies, the national companies." Yes they are. But just like my little 401k, small companies need to follow the same advice that has made the big companies big. Make sense? Large, successful operations don't follow these marketing trends because they're big; they're big because they follow them. They understand that when things are tight, you build market share (AKA: stealing loyal customers from your competition) when you advertise consistently. When you get even more aggressive, the results multiply even more.

It's not as simple as just advertising, though, just spending money on print, electronic or other media. Ads today have to be creative, effective and really speak about value to targeted audiences. We can't give you stock market advice, but we can help you get the most value for your ad dollar and help you capture customers. E-mail us at info@scotsmanmediagroup.com if you'd like to explore the possibilities. Thanks very much!

Jim is the man...you wanna be the man, too?

2011-08-02T11:17:00.000-04:00

I'd like you to meet my friend Jim. He's from Pittsburgh, working as the sales training guru for a large group of papers, free and paid dailies and weeklies. I have the privilege of working with Jim in our national free paper association's training arm, the Leadership Institute. I fancy myself to be a pretty good trainer and presenter but the fact is that I'm not worthy to carry Jim's smartphone. That's because Jim is a true expert.

To say that Jim is well-read is akin to saying that fish swim a lot. This guy reads everything, and remembers everything he reads. He is adept at taking his acquired knowledge and applying it to everyday business situations to arrive at simple solutions that help people grow. How cool is that? He blogs, sends out e-mail "quotes of the week" to a growing list of followers, makes guest speaker appearances all over the country and does other things to spread his reputation. Best of all, he is just a regular guy with a genuine desire to help people. Everybody in our business knows Jim -- and everyone likes and respects him. He's our expert.

In a world that gets more choked with messages and media, Jim has found a way to separate himself from the crowd. My job, and the job of my colleagues here at the Scotsman, is to help you find a way to separate yourself from your competition. To build top of mind awareness among your target audience. To help you become recognized as an expert in your field and as a source of value to your friends and customers. It doesn't require anything more than a desire to grow your business, one neighborhood at a time. We'll help you develop your "USP" (see next week's blog on that topic) and then help you map out a plan to share it with the market. Drop us a note at info@scotsmanmediagroup.com for assistance. Thanks again!

Traditional methods still have a place in the high tech world

2011-07-26T17:19:00.000-04:00

I have a good friend who has an in at Google. This person has a close relative that works for the internet giant and it's always interesting to hear about the cool, innovative things they do there. Google is everywhere; things must be great for them, or at least I'm guessing they are. Everyone I know uses "Google" to describe search activities like we use "Kleenex" to describe tissues. Everybody googles.

Upon my arrival at work yesterday, I had a voicemail on my desk phone from...yes, Google! They had a deal going on "front page (I thought that was a print term?) availabilities for internet searches in our category in our area." We've never done business with Google before and I'm not sure how they found us, but they did. They're doing the same thing our sales and marketing people do each day -- trying to find solutions with new customers for the products they sell, especially when those products aren't selling as well as they'd like. So, please consider the following:

1. Giants like Google still have to be pro-active in their marketing approach. What about your business? The "I don't need to advertise" or "everybody knows me" routine some small businesses take is a fading myth they're selling themselves on, no one else. The market is full of messages -- you'd better shout yours out, too.

2. Traditional approaches -- getting on the phone and calling people you've never talked to before (you know, cold calls) still are necessary and still work when you do enough of it consistently. Advertising consistently makes those efforts a little less cold, and a lot more successful.

3. Turn over new rocks to find new business. Times are still challenging for most businesses. We've never considered Google advertising, but we are now. Take a different tack to try to stir the pot: consider a medium you haven't tried before or do something a little unusual with your message. Advertise in new areas or to new demographics that might spark new sales for you.

Sitting still and doing nothing leaves your market share exposed to those who are making the cold calls and spreading their word. Take a lesson from the big guys, the Googles, WalMarts, Fords and others of this world. Keep your message out there and make it easy for people to find you. We can help with that, by the way. Call us at 315-472-7825, e-mail us at info@scotsmanmediagroup.com or visit us online at www.scotsmanonline.com . Thanks very much!

A World Cup lesson for your business

2011-07-18T09:36:00.001-04:00

For most Americans it was a disappointing finish to the Women's World Cup; it's never easy when the "hometown team" loses in the finals of anything. But it is hard not to feel good for Japan. In a year of earthquakes, a tsunami and a nuclear catastrophe, having something like a World Cup soccer championship to cheer about must be a welcome respite for the Japanese. And our girls were very gracious in a narrow defeat -- makes you proud.

Twitter seemed to capture a lot of attention during the tournament. Barack Obama offered some pre-game encouragement via the social media platform (signs his tweets as "BO" -- a PR quandary). Notables like Lebron James and many others also tweeted their excitement and encouragement to our team during the event. I opened a Twitter account in its early days. I had one follower, a great lesson in humility. I don't do enough interesting, exciting things to make anyone want to follow me. But maybe you do.

When people are in the midst of a transaction with you or your business, make them aware of your Twitter account and your Facebook page...use the logos in your ads like the old days when print ads included the little Visa and MasterCard logos. Link the social media pages to your web presence (if your business doesn't have a web presence yet, Facebook offers a cheap and easy starting point). Sending messages about specials and coupons using these platforms is certainly easy, inexpensive and a vital part of today's media mix. A World Cup happens once every four years -- you can tweet your business excitement daily. But be careful about overdoing it -- sending a lot of messages -- especially ones that may not offer honest, exciting value -- can turn your followers and customers off in a hurry.

Need help with your social media and other marketing needs? Give us a holler at 315-472-7825, e-mail at mailto:info@scotsmanmediagroup.com or online at www.scotsmanonline.com . Thanks!

Are we or aren't we?

2011-07-12T16:59:00.000-04:00

I was just online looking at a chart showing the rise and fall of the national unemployment rate over the past two years. In April 2011 we hit a two year low but we've been inching back up monthly since then, just when we thought a turnaround was here. Many local business people we speak with each week believe it's just one sign that we're not out of the woods yet. Are we or aren't we still in a recession? It’s debated daily.

How about this question instead: does it really matter? Utility bill is due, kids need shoes, the family likes to eat every day...what economists and talking media heads tell us doesn’t change our facts of life. So, if you have a business that needs to grow ask your staff this question: are we or aren't we going to ignore what we can't control and make something happen?

There are a million "hot ideas" out there every day, but consistent growth comes from being very, very good at the basics of marketing your business:
1. Knowing what customers like and don't like (just ask them).
2. As a result, offering a product or service that's timely and competitive.
3. Providing something extra -- something that truly makes you unique.
4. Telling the market your story in a reliable way and consistent manner.
5. Measuring the results and fine tuning.
6. Starting back at number 1 again (and again and again and again -- it's a never ending cycle).

This is a very simple outline of what can be an intricate process. My colleagues here at the Scotsman can lend you a hand, especially with items 4 & 5. We'll ask some questions, listen to your comments and offer suggestions for making things happen. No charge. We're here to help you make good decisions for your business, not just to sell products from our business. Let us know if you'd like to chat, and thanks!

It's all about you.

2011-07-08T13:51:00.001-04:00

I will apologize up front for where this is going.

You had to go out of your way this week to miss the Casey Anthony hoopla. A beautiful little girl is gone and no one outside a small circle of sad people likely knows what really happened to her. That's another story or blog topic, though -- this one is about business. People (yeah, me too) were shocked when Casey was found not guilty of the most serious charges. It occurred to me, though, that twelve people who sat through every minute of the trial first-hand took less than twelve hours to arrive at their verdict. That's fast. What I knew about this case I knew through media coverage, and my first thought was "could the coverage have been that tainted that we all thought 'guilty' when those close by thought not?"

I don't know if we'll ever have that answer; this is a case where perception and reality could be very far apart. It's not the best comparison to start with, I'll admit to that, but think about the perception that you and/or your business carry in your marketplace. Do you know how customers and prospects really feel about what you do or provide? Does the word of mouth advertising you have going really tell the story you want to tell? We are all victims of perception. The world we communicate in is full of noise, confusion and interference. Our job here is to help you give a strong, consistent message to your market areas with a goal of building the consumer top-of-mind-awareness that you want built.

When dealing with your media partners, it always should be about you.

Questions or comments? Drop us a line at info@scotsmanmediagroup.com or call us at 315-472-7825 for assistance. Thanks for stopping by!

Mixed signals coming in for summer spending

2011-06-28T10:23:00.000-04:00

We've come across two different opinions in the past week as to what Americans are spending on this summer in the face of high gas prices, but the results are all positive.

A survey released by the Pulse of America, a research firm associated with the Scotsman's independent circulation auditor (CVC) showed that business categories involved in home improvement were going to see the biggest commitments in consumer spending this summer. For example, the survey -- taken during the second quarter of this year -- showed that about 32% of those polled were planning major building supply purchases this year and numbers for lawn & garden /landscaping were approaching 50%. Respondents said that high gas prices were translating to less travel this summer and people were going to invest in the home as an alternative to getting away.

Now today we learn from another source that travel is also high on the list of summer plans, this according to a survey released recently by global travel assistance company Mondial Assistance USA and its Access America brand of travel insurance. About 45% of Americans say they’re confident that they’ll take a summer vacation this year, up 5 points from last year, and up 10 points in the last two years. In all, Americans plan to spend $86.4 billion on summer vacations in 2011, and that's a 22% increase over last year.

Bottom line: people apparently plan on spending more this summer than they have the past couple of years. So what does that mean to businesses in CNY? Confidence is increasing, the pool of spendable dollars is getting bigger...but it means nothing if a business chooses not to be more aggressive in attracting additional customers. Even if you maintain your current marketing program, you'll lose share if your competitors go after the increase that's out there.

The Scotsman publications team is equipped with AdMall research to help you get a better feel for what's happening in your industry in the Central New York area. Drop us a line at info@scotsmanmediagroup.com or call us at 315-472-7825 for assistance.

Welcome to Scotsman Media ADvice!

2011-06-21T11:21:00.000-04:00

"Let me give you some free advice" is a phrase none of us likes to hear. It's usually the precursor of a scolding or warning...bad news. Today, we change all that. "ADvice" is a program we're kicking off at Scotsman Media Group where free is a way of life. Most people know us through the thousands of free papers we distribute throughout Central New York, something we've done since 1954. Our Pennysavers were primarily built through our relationships with small businesses. Today we continue to serve hundreds of retailers, professionals and service businesses each week with advertising and printing solutions. ADvice is a program to further support businesses with free seminars, blogs and resources to help them remain competitive in the marketplace.

Check in with us regularly and watch for news on upcoming seminars to help your business!