Sunday, October 14, 2012

If Felix Baumgartner can do it....

http://kck.st/WwsJcU

Hey Everybody,
How many people do you know that actually go after their dream.  Some celebrities such as Katharine McPhee and Debra Messing have, but for the majority, very few.

This is why I am so very proud of my good friend Chef Avi. After 35 years he is going after his dream in a turbo fury. This is a beautiful story of a man that has a passion for teaching, sharing Kosher lifestyles, playing the Piano for his three kids, directing TV programs and of course being a Rabbi.

It is hard to believe how much talent one person can have. This is why for the 25 + years we have been friends, I have pleaded with him to be in front of the camera, rather than behind it.

Now, with a few pilots " in the can", Chef Avi has a strong chance of being the next celebrity chef on the Food Network. This is not so far fetched, since JLTV has already requested him for guest starring segments.

If you would enjoy helping make someone's dream come true, click the above link and help spread the word.

Best wishes,

Don Tolep
www.dontolep.com

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Like Asking Obama's Mother

Why is it that people always want to pretend that they have a great referral for every category and situation.
Move into any new neighborhood and ask one of your neighbors who is the best blankety blank. They immediately will tell you "Oh, I gotta guy named Oscar. He is the best". " Just google him under this name. "
The funny thing is that person may or may not have ever even used the product or service.

So if they didn't ever experience the work or results, why would they give out the referral in the first place. To analyze this phenomenon we must examine human behavior and psychology.  It appears that it makes people feel good to be the "go to" guy or the neighborhood concierge. The only problem with this activity is that people sometimes receive really inferior referrals. 

From an advertising and marketing point of view, this is crucial and defines why you must also target and aim towards  the famous "INFLUENCER". Think of the world made up of three circles within one big circle. A tiny circle consists of new prospects interested in your product. The middle circle is your current customers and the large circle is the Influencer. Influence marketing is quite an art. It takes patience, frequency and a strong message that will resonate with emotion. 

Having a jingle that stays in people's minds, a hook line that captures an image in the minds eye or a storyline that connects, is what helps the influencer maintain top of mind awareness.  If you asked President Obama's mother to name a great furniture store that her son shops at, she probably would have a hard time telling you on the fly. However, if their was a creative message for a furniture store that played multiple times, the odds of her suggesting it would go up dramatically. 

This is not just a simple point of advertising working, but how a ongoing campaign turns non buyers into ambassadors for your brand, regardless if they are ever going to purchase your product or service. Try and remember to focus the creative of your message on how best to benefit the target audience, but don't forget about all the people that will never buy from you, but will gladly tell friends and coworkers how to find you.
www.dontolep.com

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Not Maria Sharapova or Megan Fox

Every once in a while I meet an exceptional human being. This is rare since I set the bar extremely high to make it into this category. But recently I meet a lady named Stacey.  A quick description of Stacey includes her age of 84 years on earth, works 12 hours a day by herself and generates more income and creates and jobs then  her much larger competitors. Constant award winner, Educator, Key Note Speaker and  written about in trade magazines etc.

What is even more amazing then her age, is that this terrific talent and casting agent is almost blind. Last time I checked, having decent vision, evaluating castings and head shots were important aspects of the daily job. The first time I met her, I almost fell out of my chair. How can this beautiful elderly lady be so sharp, motivated, intense and keen about her industry,even  at this stage of her life. Even famous actresses such as Elizabeth Taylor have not been able to keep up their craft at their later stages in their career, as this unique lady. 

Unfortunately, here in South Florida, I find the work ethic to be a bit lacking. If you disagree, drive along any major highway or busy boulevard to find a parking lot of cars at exactly 5:30. Even in my office, when it comes to 5:00 pm,  the whistle blows and the entire department is out the door like Gone With the Wind. Where is the fire? It comes down to the mental attitude of it can wait until tomorrow. Leave a message for someone and good luck if you receive a returned phone call.  Ask a co-worker to help you after hours and they will look at you like you have three heads. I think you get my drift.

My new senior friend works till all hours of the night, burns up the phone lines  and is so passionate about helping people, that she will probably live till 120 years old. If she can bust her butt the way she does, then why are people in their 30's and 40's doing their 9 to 5 "shift " and bolting.

DonTolep.com

Thursday, August 30, 2012

It can help

It appears that certain industries understand creative marketing and branding better than others. Here in South Florida, one of the fastest categories of rapid growth is the drug rehab, treatment and recovery centers.  These facilities charge thousands of dollars per week, yet spend pennies on the advertising, decor, food and furniture.

Since these treatment centers are popping up on every corner, one would think that they would pay careful attention to their image, message and use of creativity to make the phones ring.  From my research, the decision makers of these facilities place heavy emphasis on Search engine optimization and pay per click campaign ads. But forget that besides for the addicts themselves, many family members are the influencers of this family decision. Also, with the major quantity of denial in every family, CPC can not offer the necessary emotion needed to motivate someone to take action.

If it was possible, I would spend a lot of time demonstrating how quality traditional advertising can increase by word of  mouth. Think about it this way, when someone tells you abut a product or service that you never heard of,the odds of it sticking in your brain is limited. But when an advertisement has created an impression combined with a referral from a trusted friend, we have jackpot.

The world of substance addiction is absolutely fascinating.  There is tremendous stress and chaos for the family member dealing with a troubled,selfish addict. I mention this example to showcase some important points in marketing. Visualize three circles of different sizes. The first one is tiny and that represents the treatment centers new customers. The second circle is 30 times larger and it represents existing clients. Finally,  the largest circle represents influencers. Yet the majority of marketers focus all their efforts on the tiny circle being new customers and ignore the largest circle being the influencer.  I will go deeper in a future blog. DonTolep.com

Monday, August 20, 2012

The merger of social media and traditional marketing

As a marketer I am constantly studying, researching, testing and exploring the most efficient methods of engaging and motivating a new prospect.  The terrain is changing so quickly that it is extremely challenging to keep up.  Depending on the audience that you are trying to reach, will depend on how best to  design a strategy to make the cash register ring, while increasing the likelihood of these new customers to share your message and be an advocate of your product or service.

In order for an advertised product or service to go from zero to hero, many things must occur. Firstly, it sure helps that it is not under a rock and known about. This takes either public relations articles, radio,print or tv ads, along with other ancillary methods such as billboards or in banner videos on the web.  This is what I call forced awareness. With enough frequency and an emotional message, a product arrives on the shelf and becomes part of the thousands of other items for sale.
Unless an advertiser is prepared to stick with a strategy and insure they are not haphazardly throwing money around, traditional advertising may not be enough to get you where you want to be.

This is where the merger of traditional campaigns combined with  a social media style marketing can be beneficial. Why? When one peer contacts another with either a Recommendation or information, the power of trust engages. When a friend provides a reference of an item that was favorable, their inner circle is most likely going to give it a try. Once advertisers figure out how to drive consumers Through  this wave, social marketing will ignite. It amazes me how many major fortune 500 companies embarrass themselves using social media. It really isn't brain surgery, but lots of common sense and creativity. www.dontolep.com 

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Difference Between Cable and Broadcast TV advertising

I wonder if the typical tv viewer knows the difference between a cable network and a broadcast network. My bet is that they would not know the difference. Is ESPN a broadcast network or cable ? The answer is it is a cable network. If you are watching NBC, ABC, CBS or FOX, those are the four network stations on your dial. Anything else is a cable network or a local origination station.

So who cares? Well when an advertiser decides to purchase a TV media buy, it can make a very big difference. Let's take a look at a small one store Sports Merchandise retailer located in Fort Lauderdale.
If the owner decides to air on any of the above mentioned network stations, people from all over Miami and Broward county will see the commercial. One would think that is great and love the idea of tons of people watching the stores advertisement. But hold the phone....what is the cost per spot for this lovely benefit? The answer is a hell of a lot more than a cable buy. Common sense tell us that  a consumer will only drive a short distance for the product or service advertised. Advertisers must be honest with themselves that consumers have many other choice to purchase a similar product/service. Therefore,  it is way, way wiser for the majority of advertisers to air on a GEO targeted local area.  How great is that fact that this retailer can show his spot to just the viewers of Fort Lauderdale and keep his costs low. Not to mention, push out a lot more frequency to the community due to it's extremely affordable price point.

When I share with new prospects that you can advertise on a major network such as Bravo or the FX network for as little as $5 each, they look at me as if I have three heads. This is how numerous successful advertisers have dramatically increased revenue for their business.

Comcast has built a tremendous advertising machine for the small and medium sized business. They figured out how to deliver mega value to a business, by using the power of TV in  a extremely focused methodology.  DonTolep.com

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Who knows better?

When I go to visit my doctor, I listen to his advice and do not act like I know better. You will not hear me say to my internist, "yeah maybe, but I know my body for 47 years and will do it my way". Nor would I state to my nutritionist who reminds and informs me to eat more fruit, for me to come back with a "french fries are healthier". However, after more years than I would I like to admit perfecting my knowledge of advertising, I hear from the chief, cook and bottle washer that they know better in regards to how to develop their advertising strategies and materials. Huh?

There has got to be something wrong with this picture. I'm sure you will not be surprised to hear that when a prospect contacts my office requesting to advertise on TV, they are ready to get to the bottom line and move on with their day in just a few minutes.  This is way before a needs analysis has been performed, an understanding of their customer base, what works and what has not worked in regards to promotions, public relations, marketing and advertising.

This is what amazes me. These overly busy people are prepared to spend thousands of dollars on a campaign, with out even reviewing the basics of their business plan.  If I were to simply offer a cold price out of the blue with zero relevance to how and why I can help, then isn't the price just a number? What if they spent three thousand a month for sixth months, but brought in nine thousand a month in profits, how much did the campaign cost? With a successful campaign, advertisers are not shelling out another cost, but investing in the long term growth of their business with a healthy return on investment. 

Yesterday, in a meeting, my prospect shared that a bland, boring voice will not impact the commercial and it would not matter if  a professional voice over were to provide the voice of the piece.  Since my clients are really important to me, I walk a fine line of not sounding like a know it all, but attempting to increase their campaign ads with common sense and expertise. DonTolep.com

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

No No No, then maybe Yes

It appears that every week life gets harder. Some say it is due to the economy, some say it is technology, people working longer hours for less pay and many other factors. But whatever the reason why our community at large is cantankerous , we must determine what is  the best method to market to these frustrated people.

I find myself reaching out to perfect strangers almost every day. Obviously if it is a phone call, I have no idea what they are being interrupted from when they answer my call, but what happens practically 98% of the time is that they are prepared to hang up on before I even open my mouth. This has nothing to do with me, but the sheer volume of sales calls business owners and decision makers receive throughout the day.

Years ago, people would give you a courtesy 10 seconds of introducing yourself
and your product/service before they would decide whether or not to blow you off. But today, you don't even get the chance to say your name before the recipient is banging the phone down or closing a door in your face.

What made me sit down and write this article was an incident that happened the other day. A friend  that owns a restaurant wanted to create  a cross promotion with a musical band. The owner of the restaurant was interested in placing the bands info on their website, pay them handsomely for the talents, reward them with a time share in the Bahamas and a few other small perks. So as I was getting excited to create this win win crosss promtion, I picked up the phone for an introduction and set up a meeting. Instead, the leader of the band basically picked up the phone, said hello in a very gruff demeanor and hung up on me with a prepared "not interested in buying anything" routine robotic reply and slammed the phone on me. I stared at the phone for about 20 seconds and started to laugh.
This grumpy person did not know if I was going to drive over with a million dollars in George Washington's or sell him something. My guess is that he is so important, that he didn't need to extend an extra few precious seconds of his hectic life, to decipher why I was calling.

The moral of the story is try and give everyone the benefit if the doubt, even when you are stressed, since you never know what the person on the other end of the phone can offer you.

DonTolep.com

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Gotta Be A Better Way

I went to lunch today with the VP of Marketing for a major hospital here in Florida. Very educational. It appears that we can all learn to get along better, if we would just "walk a mile " in the other persons shoes. This means that when you can appreciate what the other person is going through, patience and understanding will manifest. From all salesmen, a routine complaint is voiced. The evergreen frustrating impossible to reach or why won't she call me back, after I left three messages gripe. This isn't just a self esteem issue, but a fact that when sales are not made, people don't eat. Not to mention keep a job. THEN.... The VP of marketing becomes annoyed that they are being stalked. You know the drill. The barrage of voice mail and email messages, facebook updates, in person office visits or any other potential way to get in front of them transpires. They scratch their proverbial head and ask themselves why the salesperson who presented three weeks ago won't leave them alone. What is wrong with these salesmen, can't they take a hint. I'm not sure why these marketing folks do not make their lives easier. All they would have to do is be honest and upfront with the salesperson when they call. The reason why sales guys continue to call, send emails, text and send carrier pigeons through windows is the belief there is a chance of closing the sale. Until the salesmen hear the phrase "please stop since we are not interested", expect them to continue calling. This system is so broken. My thoughts and wishes would be that when the initial meeting occurs, rather than filling the salesperson with empty promises, tell us straight. Not easy to look someone in the eye and not be the good guy, but it needs to be done, since nothing positive derives from avoiding and ignoring the inevitable. www.dontolep.com

Monday, July 9, 2012

"Tried it but didn't work"

I'm sure it is very difficult for certain small business owners to go to work and receive a large amount of cold calls throughout the day.  For example, a restaurant owner can receive calls in one day from reps selling Yelp,  Groupon, Valpak, Radio, TV, Billboard, long distance, online advertising and so much more.  It can be maddening. However, I find part of a successful business owners responsibility is to know how to separate the true offers from the rest.

For example, I offer local online and cable TV advertising on  a geo targeted basis. Our clients have seen double and triple digit return on investment figures.  They can partner with major brands such as ESPN and Fox News, yet, before I even get a chance to breathe and say hello, many prospects state they are not interested.  Not interested in what? 

There are times when the person will share the reason they are not interested is they have tried it before and failed. I find this to be absolutely ridiculous. Why? Firstly, all media buys are not created equal. Secondly, the :30 commercial that was produced may not have been memorable, creative or emotional.
Thirdly, perhaps they pulled the spot off the air to quickly. I have seen advertisers remove their ad in less than one month, due to the fact that it "wasn't working". The reasons can be vast.

Think about it for a moment. When someone goes to the gym for a few weeks, do they get ripped and strong. No.  So since they are not the next Arnold Schwartzneggar, should they quit. You get my point. This is where the expression patience is a virtue comes to life.

If you are one of those people that are in such a rush and claim not to be interested before hearing what the other person has to offer, perhaps you are missing out on the next best thing.


Friday, July 6, 2012

It's Not That Hard.

Every day I meet with owners of retail stores, Doctors, bankers, musicians, chefs, entrepreneurs and bottle washers.  It should come to no surprise that 98% of people really have no idea on how best to advertise their business. The vast majority of people will throw a little money into a radio ad, a bit more into a billboard, quit that after one month, try social media for two months, quit, produce a TV spot, quit after two months and so on. Others claim they can build a solid business on word of mouth only.  This is not a strategy. Neither is I cannot afford to advertise.  But yet, this is how it is done. WHY?
Well, in my opinion, most people are so busy, that they desire to just perform their main occupation. Then, squeezing a bit of focused concentration on marketing their business.

The major challenge with this concept is that when the phone doesn't ring, or no one comes to visit the store, you close up shop. Nothing can be more important that keeping your existing customers on top of mind and bringing in new ones daily.

Unfortunately, there are way too many people selling marketing products, services, ideas and concepts.  Now, if a typical advertiser were to build a house, would they start on the third floor loft, without designing a floor plan first?  NO! But this is exactly what people will do every day with their marketing plan.

Take the time and discover someone who can brainstorm, design and build you a sound marketing strategy based on research, experience and common sense. Oh and of course your budget as well.