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Kodak and Celebrity Apprentice: Lessons Learned?

I don't know if you watch Celebrity Apprentice on TV, but a recent show featured the two teams trying to come up with a campaign to promote Kodak's new printers.

This article tells what happened and gives a viewpoint different from the outcome of the winning team. I agree with this writer. Yes, the mighty Kodak (who we know is "re-filming" itself) chose the wrong winner. "Gene Simmons Knows Best"

The assumption is that the Kodak people making the choice had a clear idea of their immediate objective. If they were choosing "immediate" results, maybe they made an "ok" selection.

Personally, I would have voted for the Simmons team. In my experience, as well as here, the real conflict comes when someone's immediate sales goals don't quite align with the larger overall company strategy.

And Gene is an overall concept kind of guy who also has the demonstrated ability to nail down the details. He is the kind of concept guy who makes you really think about what you are doing.

I'm really glad this article reminded me to ask some basic questions first. Quite a lesson!

Have a comment? Click here to have your say!

Super Bowl Advertising Dreams for small businesses

As a small business owner, you might look to the advertising on the Super Bowl XLII Feb. 3, 2008 as guidance for your own advertising efforts.

"Just How Super is the Super Bowl?" gives you an insider viewpoint - brand by brand - on what kinds of return the 27 advertisers expect to get.

You'll find the telling analysis about the difference between "being noticed" and "being chosen" in the last paragraph of the article.

Wouldn't it be amazing if we small business marketers could play in this arena? While none of us have that kind of money, it's still fun to dream.

How would you handle that kind of advertising challenge for your small business? And how can you apply these examples to tell your story?

Have a comment? Click here to have your say!

A comment about online privacy and tracking

An excellent article about online privacy and tracking in today's New York Times Technology section headlined F.T.C. to Review Online Ads and Privacy prompted over 140 comments by 4 pm today on this sensitive issue.

By tracking which sites people visit online, advertisers figure those site visits constitute someone's area of interest. Then they can send more relevant targeted ads onto that particular screen.

Yet, when you go to the supermarket, no one really knows if the purchases are for you, a family member, a friend, as a gift, etc. So even your supermarket discount card isn't completely accurate. But it is better than nothing.

Advertisers are willing to risk offending their audience in order to get their message across. And if the intense comments posted to the article are any indication, they have succeeded.

The real point is that the advertisers are closer to hitting their target than they would be by advertising the item or service to a much more general market. And, from the advertiser's point of view, a "good guess" easily beats "random" time after time.

Our web page has some ideas on marketing research for your small business. Click here.

Want to make a comment? Click here.

A creative advertising idea for promoting yourself
at trade shows and other events

A small business owner we know came up with a wonderfully creative advertising idea for promoting her company.

She goes to lots of trade shows and got tired of advertising other companies who give out those big "literature collection" tote bags that always have a business logo on them.

So she, along with everyone else, wound up walking around the show advertising the sponsoring company.

In a flash of creative innovation, she figured why not advertise her own company and small business logo embroidered onto her own bag she could carry around? After all, the people at the shows were related to her field of endeavor.

Enough was enough and this trade show attendee went to get her own bag made, embroidered with the small business logo of her own company.

What a great idea, she thought. But she found it was difficult to find someone to create just one bag, since most companies that do that sort of thing all had minimum quantities of 50 or more.

After an exhaustive search, she did discover a custom embroidery supplier who would apply her own logo onto just one single tote bag for about $20.00 additional.

While she hasn't gotten any direct business just yet, it has turned out to be a fabulous conversation starter. But most of all, she feels great about advertising her own business instead of someone else's.

And that's a big confidence builder for her small business in today's environment where people willingly and openly advertise major brands on t-shirts, jackets, caps and other promotional items.

So why not promote your own small business logo, especially at trade fairs where people of similar interests gather and are in a receptive mood as they consider doing business with others.

This savvy woman is right on target with her creative advertising idea for small business.

Want to comment? Click here.

resources and links to advertising sites

useful resources and links to advertising for small businesses.

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Newspaper circulation - why it is down and up!

Even though the print circulation of newspapers is reported to be on a general decline, that doesn't mean they have relinquished their local impact.

Actually, it has become even greater because most newspapers have expanded their influence as they re-purpose their written material on their new web sites.

This means readers could see your message twice - once in print, and the other on the web site. Especially if you have a good public relations story.

Most readers who have abandoned the print version have turned to the web version.

It's all part of the trend to more on-line information as people's readership habits change.

Yet there is only so much online reading the human eye can tolerate.

My prediction is print publications will keep on going - perhaps in a more concentrated form - despite a forecast at a conference this week that all media will be electronic in 10 years.

That's certainly an overly optimistic statement.

What's your viewpoint? Click here.

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On Word of Mouth Marketing, The NY Mets and Mustaches

You see it over and over again in advice to small business advertisers....profitable advertising happens when you can use two or three basic techniques in the right combination.

There are a few places you can count on for great examples. One is the "In Advertising" column by Stuart Elliott who writes for the New York Times. The lead story is always fascinating because it examines an unusual advertising problem / solution.

The thinking behind the advertising strategies and techniques the professionals utilize can get your creative juices flowing.

Just consider what would you do if you were faced with solving that particular question.

Today's insight combined word of mouth marketing, the NY Mets baseball team and mustaches. Click here to read the column. What a buzz!

Comments? Click here.

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