resources
Budget to increase profit.
How to be a room shifter.
Compelling stories sell.
One-size-fits-all—except when it doesn’t.
Choose your words carefully!
Where did the curiosity of our youth go?
There are plenty of tools at our disposal at any given time, and we have to know when and how to use them to fix our clients’ problems. You’re running your business and it’s not necessary for you to understand how to apply those five critical tools we use in our business . . . you just have to know who to call.
What is happening in the sports world that applies to those of us in business and industry?
Through the years, I’ve shared my professional background in television advertising sales. As a salesperson, I kept a close eye on the annual Emmy Awards. The more awards our shows won, the easier it was to sell commercials to advertisers – plus it was more fun to brag when you represented a network affiliate that won a big haul.
It’s one of the most powerful sources of information in the world. One could make the argument that Google is the most influential resource known. Its impact is hard to measure, but the company remains omnipresent.
What is happening in the sports world that applies to those of us in business and industry?
Each of us have discovered that people are fascinating. We simply need to take a little time to get to know them and then listen to what they have to say. That’s a big part of the challenge. As leaders we run from a tasks to meetings to challenges to solutions mindset. Unfortunately, it’s all too rare when we sit and just listen to people.
So often in business a great deal of time is spent focusing on what we’re writing and that’s important. At the same time, it’s important to evaluate the appearance of what is written. Taking a closer look quietly makes a difference in the way copy is presented.
Recently I learned of a fellow business owner who wanted to start doing some advertising. His company had been busy for years, but recently his business had slowed down significantly. The phones weren’t ringing. The orders for work had stopped. Enter the “famine” phase of the feast-famine cycle in commerce.
And just like that, the holidays are already here! As you frantically hang the stockings with care or try to meet those 2022 goals before the new year, it's important to slow down this holiday season both in and out of the office. With these simple tips on how to unplug from work during the holidays, you'll be ready to enjoy the full experience of this season.
The headlines are ever-present. Every day you see a story about how hard it is to find employees. For a while many thought it was the fault of the stimulus checks or people not wanting to work. Some leaders in certain industries, point to the slow downs in immigration and access to those who work in professions which are woefully short-handed.
We read about providing great customer service, but when you’re on the receiving end, man does it feel good.
Over the past five years we’ve built nearly 70 websites. Some have been from scratch, but many are conversions of sites that needed updating, a more modern look and feel, or to better reflect the shifting work our client is now doing.
I remember one in particular where our client insisted over and over that the information on their current (dated) website would simply transfer over to the new design we were doing. No matter how often we asked, we got the same answer. They would not need new copy. When we showed them...
About twenty years ago, in a city far from where my agency is located, I learned a valuable life lesson.
Gathered with me in an old room with dated furniture on a cloudy fall day were 12 people who I’d never met prior to that week. A few days before, we went through a tryout of sorts, and that was also a strange experience. I always wanted to...
Business routines are backwards these days. It used to be I’d build a relationship with someone, then they would become a client. Now, clients decide to trust us to help them and then at some point afterward we begin...
It's basketball season and I love basketball – more than most anything. So it’s a good time to write about basketball.
However, March of every year brings one specific activity that breaks this pattern. They are called "Brackets".
Editor's Note: While this is a genuine example of Bruce's fine parallel parking skills, there was no witness to how many tries it took him to get it right.
It was probably a motivational speaker or maybe a magazine, but sometime well before the internet was a regular part of our business day I heard someone say, “You can always do more than you think you can”.
On two different days last week – Monday and Thursday – the temperatures in the middle of the day here in the Greater Roanoke Valley reached 38 degrees.
Can you remember the first time you saw the ocean or the grit of the sand between your toes?
Early in my career I worked directly for six different sales managers over a period of about two years. It would have been easy to be distracted by all the various routines, demands, and processes each wanted me to employ as I was getting started in the advertising business.
Sometimes it gets to the point where the pile can get so large you simply have to do something about it. Sometimes it’s just one big item. You know what I’m talking about.
A few weeks ago my company had one of those bursts that often accompany a fast growing organization. On Monday it was confirmed B2C Enterprises would be handling all the marketing for a local franchisee of a major national company.
It was late in January – four years ago – when my adopted hometown got news that was about as bad as people could imagine. It was a real gut punch to hear...
Unless you are one of a few devout underground music fans, the group Portugal The Man probably hadn’t passed by your ears prior to...
About a year and a half ago we hired a business development person at our marketing and advertising firm. It was a big step for me since prior to that time...
What exactly is marketing and how is it different than advertising? The answer is often like the reference to the oldest, biggest, revenue-generating internet business, “you know it when you see it”.
Have you determined the core drivers in your marketing plan? Most of you have or, if pressed, could likely list them. Yet, I’m guessing that newest gadget, social media channel, or fad is distracting you from improving your core strengths. Facebook is a prime example.
Nothing against the communications and marketing programs at colleges and universities…I’ve had the opportunity to address many students and have met with many interesting professors and teachers.
It was probably 2003 and I was working at BusinessVoice in Toledo, Ohio. I had one of those little desk calendars with quotes on it, and while I can't remember who said it, I clearly recall the daily message saying "The problem with life is there's no soundtrack."
I spend a lot of time on highways watching the mile markers fly by. As I’ve written before, being on the road gives me an opportunity to really think and process. One of my more recent trips reminded me how timing and order play an important role in not only our personal lives but our business lives.
Finding the most effective way to get your message in front of the right audience is essential. However, using the same advertising mediums you've always used is not a surefire way to grow your company anymore. Once you're confident of where you'll advertise, it's time to figure out what to say to your clients, patients, and prospects.
Most of us skip ads on TV, complain about them in the newspaper, fuss about them on billboards while driving down the highway, change channels when they come on the radio, and get irritated when they pop up on a favorite web site.
Recently a friend invited me to a very interesting wine dinner. I'd never been to one before and didn't really know what to expect until I got there. Basically, the winemaker...
In the almost five years that I've been writing these monthly newsletters, I've repeatedly expressed that the most valuable advertisement interrupts the consumer. Successfully designed ads pull attention to your product or service in a creative and memorable way.
It's your identity. It's your way of sharing yourself with the world - who you are, what you do, why you do it. It sets you apart from everyone else and brings you to the forefront of their mind every time they come across it
It’s a great example of the power of interruption. You can actually see the difference. Perhaps as you review your next advertising sample or work with your creative team you will see this same snapshot and identify it with the power of simplicity.
In normal conversation it’s considered rude. In the middle of our work day it’s a barrier to accomplishment.
When it comes to marketing for your business, monsters aren't the best advice-givers. In fact, their insights are quite terrible! When our monster-handling team at 5Points Creative heard about the Marketing Monster's "12 Holiday Marketing Mayhem Tips", we had to...
Kitchens in the ’70s and ’80s had this appliance. It was a hit in suburban households for decades and an omnipresent part of the home back in the olden days.
How do most of us get along without the Trash Compactor now? It’s hard to say, but it’s been decades since the average home has been built with one of these contraptions – at least as far as I know anyway. Back then, the homeowner would...
A budget is a plan.
That’s all it should be.
Let’s be honest at the start of 2020 people were not calculating how to incorporate the adjustment that would come from a worldwide pandemic. No matter what type of industry in which you operate, there were far-reaching ramifications and everyone had to adjust. The budget situates you for success, growth, and should allow you to figure...
From all accounts, Zoom calls are going to remain a part of the business day.
For years companies ran WebEx, Teams, and other video conference meetings, but it wasn’t until 2020 that we all started playing in that arena on a regular (read: daily, or even hourly) basis. That shift was startling to many...
Business routines are backwards these days. It used to be I’d build a relationship with someone, then they would become a client. Now, clients decide to trust us to help them and then at some point afterward we begin...
It’s fascinating when a client says something to me that I’ve already thought or said myself many times. As if hearing the idea for the first time, their comment hits my head (or my heart) and drives home a concept chock full of value. That’s exactly what happened to me during a recent Zoom call with a client.
We were talking about their media plans and how they suggested we approach their strategy for the coming season. We were working through their goals, their budget, previous success, and some new ideas to...
This fall, out on a walk, I noticed a house in my neighborhood that provided the perfect picture for what we tell our clients. It was so appropriate I decided to snap a picture. Hopefully it isn’t your home. I’m hoping it can illustrate an important point about your business. Think ahead.
Thinking ahead is good advice for...
For the past decade, I’ve noticed something that seemed kind of odd to me initially. Over time, I continued seeing this pattern and I figured it was time I identified it.
Some of the smartest people I know own companies, invent products, or find a better way to accomplish a goal. They are brilliant at what they do and have built a product or service based on some sort of genius technological solution. The work they do takes...
Years ago, I wrote about the value of “going where the eyeballs are” when it comes to advertising. It’s an age-old axiom, but as you evaluate your place in the business community, it’s one that deserves a little closer examination. If you have...
Over the years people have asked me how I decide what to write about in our monthly columns. Often it is noticing something basic and then pondering how it fits into marketing or business operations.
I have a teenager, which means I have to deal with the constant cycle of updating, repairing, and replacing of mobile phones. My normally sure-handed young man occasionally drops his...
Before I became a business owner eleven years ago, I was a sales manager. Before I was a sales manager, I was a seller out in the field. Early on I decided I didn’t ever want to be...
Around 15 years ago I spent a day in Northern New Jersey making sales calls with a consultant. I like new places and, while I had driven through the region, I had never really spent any time there.
One of the things wise people encouraged me to do was to meet with people to help me see what possibilities existed out there and to better understand what made me special, valuable, and unique.
As sellers and account managers we are a reflection.....When they’re doing great work it shows naturally through our demeanor and plays out...
My Dad is probably the biggest fan of my writing – and sometimes my biggest critic. I’ve seen the statistics for this monthly piece and most of you who receive it actually read it. Some of you may muddle through it while others...
Where did the curiosity of our youth go?
You’re always marketing. There’s no rest. It doesn’t matter if you are a start-up, a tech company, a retailer, a home services expert, or anything else. Whatever you do in business or industry, you’re always marketing yourself.
It’s been well documented in past B2Seeds that I wasn’t the best math pupil. In fact, I never even made it to high school calculus. It certainly didn’t help that we weren’t allowed to use calculators on tests. I do remember wondering why I had to work out those problems by hand when my calculator could do it for me!
When I started this company 14 years ago, Public Relations wasn’t a focal point of our new firm. Back in those days, we farmed out press releases, press conferences, and even media training. My background was in the television media business, so I was more focused on the advertising side of things in our industry.
Some of the best ideas are stolen (may I more politely say borrowed).
Over 30 years ago I was a TV sales manager who called on business and ad agencies in Michigan. One agency founder had a fun title on his card, and I remembered that. Fifteen years or so later, when I started my company, I decided I wanted to have some fun with our titles, as well. Internally we all know what we do, but externally, we like to poke a little fun at the formal titles and let our experience and sunny outlook shape the language that distinguishes us.
Over the past five years we’ve built nearly 70 websites. Some have been from scratch, but many are conversions of sites that needed updating, a more modern look and feel, or to better reflect the shifting work our client is now doing.
I remember one in particular where our client insisted over and over that the information on their current (dated) website would simply transfer over to the new design we were doing. No matter how often we asked, we got the same answer. They would not need new copy. When we showed them...
A budget is a plan.
That’s all it should be.
Let’s be honest at the start of 2020 people were not calculating how to incorporate the adjustment that would come from a worldwide pandemic. No matter what type of industry in which you operate, there were far-reaching ramifications and everyone had to adjust. The budget situates you for success, growth, and should allow you to figure...
From all accounts, Zoom calls are going to remain a part of the business day.
For years companies ran WebEx, Teams, and other video conference meetings, but it wasn’t until 2020 that we all started playing in that arena on a regular (read: daily, or even hourly) basis. That shift was startling to many...
Late last year something happened in my business’ sales cycle and it got me thinking.
To support another organization, I placed a call to a friend of mine whom I had known for about a dozen years. In the course of the conversation about this other topic, he asked me about marketing and advertising. He wondered how we help clients...
The year was 2003 and sequels were all the rage – The Lord of the Rings, Matrix, and Terminator movie series were topping the box office. Speaking of Terminators, it was that year that Arnold Schwarzenegger became California’s Governor too. The government was...
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