Posts Tagged ‘marketing’

« Older Entries

Grabbing Your Customer’s Attention

Monday, October 20th, 2008

Question from a reader: “How do I manage to get a person’s attention in this day and age with all the marketing and advertising that is thrown at a person?”

Answer: Good but tough question. I touched on book cover “grab” here on my site and I can elaborate a little more in terms of what works for me and what doesn’t in terms of the real world and the Internet.

1. In the real world and in the Internet, people will find you or your service through word-of-mouth, known and respected friends/Internet contacts, and lastly if they trust you social interaction websites. There isn’t any secret, if you do a great job with your business or service, word of mouth will get out and you will get business. Be realistic though. If you are trying to sell something that is in a niche, you won’t get either a lot of hits on a website or telephone calls in an office but the ones you do probably will result in sales if you are priced properly and you have something somebody wants.

2. On the Internet, go with images that convey your product or image cleanly and quickly. Personally I think that web marketing has gone overboard and people are thick skinned and immune to a lot of advertising. That is why you hear people complain that their ads don’t get traffic. I wouldn’t try any sneaky or hidden things either. If people like what they see, they will either try and buy it or not.

3. In the real world, you may want to advertise in local penny savers, possibly get cable television or billboard space. You can also trick out your car and turn your car or truck into a mobile advertising site but that can get messy and local zoning laws may prohibit that.

4.  Sometimes crazy works, sometimes it makes you look, well, just crazy.  I thought of dressing up in a giant book, getting a permit and walk around with a sign with my url in front of a busy shopping center this holiday.  While I have no doubt that I would get a lot of attention, some car honking and catcalls, I don’t think it would lead to more book sales or attention to my blog or tax preparation skills.  You never know though.  If I were to try the same thing with beautiful girls in bikinis with my url on their bodies, that may make more of a lasting impression.  When they would click through and see that there weren’t any beautiful women other than my daughter, Ari, and my wife, Sharren, they might feel that they were bait and switched.  So, the take away from this is watch what you are advertising.

These are just a few ideas to get you started (here is one more while I am at it). The bottom line to being profitable on this one is patience. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither were their shopping malls. Just remember too that in our current economic situation that people will still spend money on things they need and they may trim back on purchases for things that they want.

Kim Isaac Greenblatt

You are reading the profitable blog and Kim Greenblatt explains how to grab a customer’s attention.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Business | 1 Comment »

When Planning Marketing Changes, Surveys Can Help

Monday, October 13th, 2008

If you are planning any marketing changes, surveys, if done properly can help.  If they are done incorrectly, you might get bad information that has no bearing on your market.  When movie marketing people hold roundtables or screenings and watch the participants for their reactions, they are hoping that they will have a hit or if the movie is a bomb, where they might be able to salvage things by reshooting, editing, throwing in more special effects of things blowing up or changing a downer ending into a happy ending.

When it comes to making a profitable business decision,  you want to get a reality check and not what you want to hear.  Recently I was part of a book cover study group where I was presented with 16 cover choices for a potential book and I picked the one that I thought would sell the most covers.  It was entertaining but more importantly, it was relevant to the topic that was being presented.

I generally don’t have any celebrity spokespeople who can help me sell my books and even if I did, I don’t know how much street cred it would carry in the business world.  Having Paris Hilton marketing my books on Practical Money Making would be pretty funny and it might get a few novelty sales but I don’t think she is the person best associated with selling books.  To know for sure, I would probably have to pay for a study group where my target audience could be culled and polled to see if they would actually buy a book if Paris pitched it.

When you plan your own study groups, make sure that you know your target audience.  If it is too young for children, they may not get what it is you are trying to sell.  If it is something that is trendy, you better have a lot of pizzazz in your commericals or ads or at least show how important your item is and that it must be used in order to be hip.

If you are coming up with a new edible item, like food or soft/energy drink, be willing to give out tons of samples to get people’s opinion on the product. You may find out that peanut butter tasting energy drinks might sell very well to the peanut butter body builder set.

If you can, it is also good to do a small test market after the survey to see if what was discovered rang true. Sometimes people do tell you that they liked your product just to make you happy and so they can get paid.

When done properly and reviewed and taken with a grain of salt (or a dash of peanut butter), surveys can save you a fortune in development, marketing and distribution costs.

Kim Isaac Greenblatt

You are reading the profitable blog, by Kim Isaac Greenblatt.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Business | Comments Off

Inexpensive Marketing Gifts for Trade Shows and Clients

Monday, October 6th, 2008

Ah, the good old days of trade shows where companies would give you t-shirts, teddy bears, inflatable beach balls, designer wines – anything they could engrave or inscribe their name and product on. Because of rising costs, a lot of cool marketing freebies are a thing of the past.

In order to become profitable, it is a sad fact that you almost end up spending money.  One of the ways to attract business is to attend a trade show.  For a lot of people, in the current economic client that may not be a good way to spend your money but it is a great way to network and if you are looking to hit as many potential distributors or customers as you can, it may be money spent profitably.

In the attached video, I touch on the same information that I will talk about here.  I attended a special needs expo in Los Angeles today and they gave out pens and the wristbands that seem to be hot these days.  You know, the elastic plastic bands that mention the cause or company they are supporting.  The pens they were giving out promoted different agencies and had their phone numbers.  Two of the wristbands I received were interesting.  One was from Special Children’s Art, a group being directed by a Rett father who Sharren and I know where he goes out to schools and organizations and has children make murals, etc incorporating special needs children to interact and be part of the creative process.

I also received a wristband that was yellow, green, blue, red and violet promoting eating fruit.  Wild! It actually makes sense because kids will remember to eat one of every different color fruit to get all the different vitamins they need. Great marketing idea!

You basically don’t want to go nuts giving out marketing items for clients even though they could be considered a tax deduction.  Remember you still have to layout the cash to get the items and that is money that is out the door. Longtime readers know also that I am not a fan of running up meaningless deductions because the name of the game is to make money, not concentrate on tax deductions that really aren’t helping at best and raising red flags at worst.

If you are thinking about using flyers to paper car windshields you better check with local zoning first and the same thing with going door-to-door or getting permission to hand out flyers at malls.  If you are lucky you will get 1% sell through and out of that the people who call you may not use your goods or services.  Most of the time the flyers end up on the street aggrevating the parking lot attendants, the mall people but delighting officers who want to cite you for littering.

Magnets work great – they stick on the fridge and most people will remember you at tax time.  Calendars work well except after the year is over, some people toss the magnet or they start ignoring what is on it and it gets used to hold up their kid’s spelling test results.

Here is the video that goes along with this post.  Hope you enjoy it!


Kim Isaac Greenblatt

You are reading Kim Isaac Greenblatt’s blog, profitable, and checking out inexpensive marketing gifts for customers and trade shows.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Business, special needs | 2 Comments »

Do It Yourself Marketing

Friday, September 19th, 2008

One of the things that one has to do when they have created their song, movie, tv show, book, painting or mudhut is to be able to call attention to the artistic or business masterpiece.  I am a great advocate for do-ir yourself marketing.  It is usually inexpensive compared to other forms of advertising and it works for me.

Where do I market?  My website, friends, some family and sometimes I send copies of my books to different media outlets.  I have sent a few of my books, including my recent one, to Scott Mason, the head engineer for CBS radio.  Scott hosts an Open Line show on Sunday mornings and I figured it was worth the shot.  For the cost of a few copies of my books and postage, I may be able to reach some people. I could spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to a marketing company but unless they guarantee that I sell 10000 copies of my book I won’t be interested.

Granted, the people I reach may be 6 AM – 8 AM on Sunday mornings but marketing is marketing.  Once you get the word of mouth going, if you have a product of value, the item will sell itself.

For niche items, you need to advertise in niche related places or have a large enough inexpensive net cast to make people who share your interest for the niche (whether playing craps or making money) get scooped in, excited while reading your blog enough to want to purchase a copy of your book.

Don’t believe it?  My craps book has done quite well and it has only been out for few months.  Patience is the key and working a good marketing plan (with different types of media) is not only smart, but it can be downright profitable!

 

Kim Greenblatt

 

Kim talks about Do It Yourself Marketing at his blog, profitable.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Business | Comments Off

Market Price Point and Profitability

Tuesday, August 26th, 2008

One of the questions that I get asked is how do I determine price point for marketing a product. For something that there is already an established market for, say a book on a certain topic, the answer is straight forward. You price it with whatever else is selling close to that price in the market. You try to add value by presenting an engaging product or service that will be justified at whatever reasonable price that you put on it.

In the case of non-fiction books, the market sweet spot is arond $12-20 for something that helps a person financially or personally. For specific niche books, such as gambling, one can go higher because the potential return is higher if the person who buys your book or product uses it and it works. The extra $2-5 in the long run will be recovered quickly. It makes economic and profitable sense to charge a little more. The online booksellers will also discount accordingly if the book takes off.

For new products that hit the market the answer is a little hazier. First, the initial development costs have to be recovered somehow. It could be that the cost of materials that you are using is pretty steep. A good example is the introduction of new video game console systems. Whenever a new system is introduced, until the new chips and guts of the system can be made relatively cheaply, the new system generally gets sold at a loss. Take a look at the Playstation and Xbox systems when they first came out. Over a few years, as Sony and Microsoft find more competitive (and quality) manufacturers, the can lower their price.

The market sweet spot for gaming systems use to be $300-350 but has dropped because of money being tight to $175-250.

The bigger companies can afford to take losses initially on their developmental bleeding edge systems because they have income streams from other products. In Microsoft’s case they have their money coming in from the operating system sales and productivity tools. Sony has their media library and other entertainment hardware to sell.

You, as an individual or start-up person have to take into account the artificial or real need for your product in the price as well. If you are marketing a raygun that makes people live forever, you can charge a very high price because a lot of people would pay anything for immortality. If you are trying to market a can opener that sings the theme song from the Olympics, you will have limited success and seasonal issues since something like that would only sell once every two years (for Winter or Summer Olympics). You can’t also mark-up a can opener too much because people can get a similar silent product cheaper at their local dollar, thrifts or supermarkets.

Once a price point is established, you have to be flexible enough to lower it or raise it if your operating costs change or demand goes up. Look at oil. Gasoline prices rose or fell based on demand – real or perceived. The gas stations that kept their prices higher had less business.

Whether it is gas, can openers, immortality rays, video game consoles or books on Rett Syndrome, nobody gets something for free and it pays to price things appropriately.

Kim Greenblatt

Kim Greenblatt, in his blog, profitable, talks about market price point and profitability.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Business | 4 Comments »

Self Publishing and Self Realization and The Depression Word

Thursday, August 21st, 2008

I have just finished the edit for my next book, Practical Money Making-Surviving Recession, Layoffs, Credit Problems, Generating Passive Income Streams, Working Full Time or Part Time and Retirement.  As I start the post production process and the cover generation I realized that I used the “D” word in the book.

That’s right, I said it.  Depression.

Back in our great-grandfathers or for some of us, grandfathers day, in the 1920s, there was what they called the Great Depression.  The problem back then was that banks had over-extended themselves because of bad investments in the stock market and speculation.  In this day and age, we are hearing daily of more and more financial problems due to the housing bubble popping.

This is the time to start looking to how to make money during a depression.  It may not be another Great Depression but with inflation rising, interest rates flat, Home Equity loans frozen and the next shoe to drop will be credit card companies freezing lines, it is time to get income and expectations in line for the immediate future.

What will sell?  Well, I suspect my book will have brisk sales if I keep the price at the market friendly $15-20 range (it will probably go for $15 retail before online bookstore discounting) and people continue to look for extra ways to make money, invest their money and work to get out of debt. The price point for non-fiction is generally between $12-25 depending on the book and content.

Did I have some other self-realizations? Of course! Let me share my realizations with you, dear reader.

Look for businesses you can start or continue that will help people save money, something that they can do that will save their homes, put food on their plates.  This is going to be a rough ride for all of us and if the economic forecasts look true, it may be two to four years for the U.S. to get out of the slump.

In terms of investments, I would watch very carefully what I would be putting my money into because for at least the next few months, there is going to be turmoil with looming military conflicts on the Russian border, uncertainty over the Presidential elections and the bottom of the financial markets meltdown may not be over yet. I invite you to do your own financial research and come to your own conclusions.

Here is an important reminder to people starting a business in the coming months or years. People will still pay for something that they think they will need, so marketing will still have some affect. The reality is that they will not be able to go into debt anymore to buy the item they want so they will have to wait patiently and longingly like a kid looking at a new video game in a store window.

From what I understand, in some of the hotels in Macau, the island off of China, the big casinos do get a lot of people but a lot of them just come over with their bagged lunch and sit and look at the slot machines and gaming tables. That is shockingly similar to state line casinos here in the United States between California and Nevada. It means that just because there is something marketed attractively to a customer – and there is nothing that screams marketing like a slot machine – that doesn’t mean that they will have the money to use it.

Maybe they need to have lower cost slot machines or table limits at some of the casinos in Macau to accommodate their poorer players. Maybe the casino builders and owners are discovering that even high rollers and whales go through their own financial depression and not have enough money to go play at the casinos. Time will tell and for now, that is outside of my pay grade, folks.

The take away from this is that personal depression may result from financial depression but if you are aware of what is happening you can plan accordingly for it by adjusting your income expectations and turn your depression into a great self-realization impression!

Good luck to you and may you be profitable, happy, healthy and safe in all your ventures.

Part of all my book proceeds go to research finding a cure for Rett Syndrom and reversal of symptoms.

Kim Greenblatt

Questions or comments? Let me know about them! Thanks for taking the time to visit and for more information or to get back to the beginning of the blog, go here.

Kim Greenblatt, in his blog, profitable, dares to use the “D” word for the next few years financially-depression and changes it into a self-realization impression!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Business | 5 Comments »

Make Sure That Your Business Plans All Come Together

Wednesday, August 20th, 2008

If you have taken the time to write your business plan, prepare for your business, consider what type of business you want, you have figured out what tax issues you have for the state you live in, and now what?

Well, if things are going well, you should have your contingency plan in place and you shouldn’t be taking any gambles that you don’t have to. So, you start looking at what is going on day to day and what you can do to improve it. Make sure that your credit is in good shape because if you plan on growing at any time in the future, you may need to borrow money.

If you have enough money of your own, great. Most people though, even with money, find that their businesses need more than they generally have.

Don’t be locked in your plans. The marketplace changes now faster than ever. If you need to, plan with your staff, partners or stockholders for changes to stay profitable. If you find that you are losing money, it is time to step back and see if there is something that you change in your business.

Make sure that your insurance and bonds are current if you have them or need them.

Ask your customers how you are doing. They won’t be bashful. If you are doing a great job, get their testimonials. If not, see what you can do to improve your business and you will watch everything come together!

If you employ staff, ask them for feedback and try not to take it personally otherwise they will lie to you. If you have a bad rapport with your staff, think about changing it. If there are people who are working for you who really aren’t working for you – meaning that they are lazy, not taking their work seriously, you need to think about replacing them. There are plenty of people looking for work right now and there are a lot of good workers out there.

So keep your plans in order, make sure you are acting on them and review them. Your plans for your business will help materialize what your business has planned for you!

Part of all my book proceeds go to research finding a cure for Rett Syndrom and reversal of symptoms.

Kim Greenblatt

Questions or comments? Let me know about them! Thanks for taking the time to visit and for more information or to get back to the beginning of the blog, go here.

Kim Greenblatt is reminding you at his blog, profitable, to have all your plans in order so they can come together for you!

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Business | 1 Comment »

He Who Pays The Piper Calls The Tune

Monday, August 18th, 2008

I received an interesting e-mail asking me about changing products to suit customer’s needs. I am all for it. The old cliche, “He Who Pays The Piper Calls The Tune”, should be the watchword of the future but sadly, some people just don’t get to pick the music they want to. Consider that if you buy a computer, the operating system that ships with it may have bugs. It is not a final product. That may not mean it is a bad product – far from it, but it is the voices of the people who pay for the machines and software that complain and they should get what they want.

Voting with your pocketbook is one of the greatest strengths in the international capitalistic market that we are in. Oil prices have dropped because people have dialed back on their driving in the United States and decided to save their money. When the want to spend money, they want to try and do it on their own terms. When it came to gasoline, however, it had to hit a market hurt point where people could just not afford to pay the high prices. Well, extra oil has been pumped and there is at least (for now) a little more out there. Basic economics of supply and demand kick in here.

But what about if you are entertainment for somebody’s wedding? What if the groom, who is writing the check for your band, asks to sit in on the drums? What do you do? If you are a shrewd business person as well as musician, you ask the drummer to sit out a set and let the groom sit in.

Putting ego aside you will be part of a lot of pictures and possibly the band to be called for all the social functions for this family. One would think this is common sense in business but so many individuals and companies like to force upon their customers what they want them to have. In some businesses, it may make no difference but if it is something that you or I can modify, sure, let me try and change it up.

The companies that offer the most versatility will make more money in the long run because people will pay for what they want. People will find money to spend for things they want. Isn’t it a great idea then to give the customer exactly what they want if you can? Remember, if you don’t, there is another website, blog or store down the block waiting to fill in the niche for you!

Part of all my book proceeds go to research finding a cure for Rett Syndrom and reversal of symptoms.

Kim Greenblatt

Questions or comments? Let me know about them! Thanks for taking the time to visit and for more information or to get back to the beginning of the blog, go here.

Kim Greenblatt, in his blog, profitable, reminds people providing products or services that he (or she) who pays the piper, calls the tune.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Business | Comments Off

Star Wars victorious over Tropic Thunder?

Sunday, August 17th, 2008

As much as I wanted to go see Tropic Thunder, I was too tired from working the other day.  It is on hold as much due to my exhaustion as to my son’s desire to see the Star Wars movie instead.  So, the upshot on this is pretty much the way I expected it to go.  Normally I see every movie but in this case because of work obligations and time schedules, I have to pick and choose my movies.  Because Tropic Thunder chose a mid week opening such as Wed to try and get more box office money (and I am guessing to get a jump on Clone Wars) they may have had their shot at the golden ticket and it may be over.

I still would like to see the movie but I am not going out of my way to and it may be that I might forget about it because of the dearth of other movies coming out that I want to see.  That is a problem with the movie blockbuster model.  You have to make your money fast before the next contender zooms up on you and tries to get all the buzz and movie ticket money.

From what I read, Tropic Thunder had a decent first night opening of six million dollars or something close to that.  Whether it is good to enough of a start, I am going to hold off judgment since I think that the Star Wars fans are going to bury anything that hits the movies this weekend. 

If you have a good brand like Star Wars, you create your own buzz with the fans and certainly with a thirty plus year pedigree of marketing and product, I think any movie, controversial or not will not fare well against the Clone Wars.    So how was Clone Wars?

It was action packed, non-stop fun and adventure.  I hope it does well in the box office! 

May the Force and making money be with you!

Kim Greenblatt

 

To get back to the main blog page please click here.

Comments or questions? Post them below. Comments may be closed 7-10 days later so get your thoughts heard now!

Kim Greenblatt, in his blog, profitable, thinks that Clone Wars will be the Death Star for Tropic Thunder.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Business, special needs | Comments Off

Tropic Thunder Timothy Shriver, Chairman of Special Olympics and boycotts

Tuesday, August 12th, 2008

In the Rett Syndrome community as well as in other special needs communities, there is some buzz about Timothy Shriver’s op ed piece in the Washington Post.  Evidently in the upcoming film, Tropic Thunder, there will be exchanges where the actors talk about playing characters who have special needs and are called “retarded”.

Not having seen the movie nor read the script, I cannot say myself what is being said but I can say one thing.  It looks like there may be some decision to boycott the film by the National Down Syndrome Congress and the national ARC (if I have my information correct).  All politically correct heated debate put aside, how does this relate to business and being profitable?

Well, if enough groups get together to boycott a film, it won’t be seen.  It depends on the spending money of the groups as well as the total bad publicity – or perception of bad publicity that will be out there.   Remember the OJ book where he told how he might have killed his late wife?  

 In the previews, it shows Morton Downey Jr having undergone surgery to transform from a white man into a black man for acting.  Okay, was that a concession to also show how edgy and funny they are? I dunno yet. If this is part of the satire, I get it. That will help in the movie’s overall box office.

Readers of my blog know that I have an open mind and a sense of humor so I am going to refrain from saying anything until I see the movie myself.  I am not a hypocrite.  If it is funny, it is funny.

The problem is, I agree with Timothy Shriver that the movie is going after a group of people who can’t defend themselves.  I’ve had the same issue with Carlos Mencia.  Surprisingly, or maybe not so, I haven’t had this problem with South Park because they are truly equal opportunity offenders. 

I also don’t know what kind of agenda Mr. Shriver has and maybe he is mad because he didn’t get a shot at reviewing the movie. Again, I don’t know and it is beyond my paygrade, folks.

So, back to the business angle…

How much economic pull will this have on the movie if there is a boycott?  It is hard to tell because it may backfire and make the movie a big hit because it has been boycotted by all sorts of special needs groups.  People may go see it to see what the fuss was all about.  Remember, controversy gets people interested in seeing something.

If enough people don’t see it though or it dries up quickly, it maybe because it was a horrible movie, period. Maybe the satire is above people’s heads. I dunno.  Lately, when a lot of comedies are just over-packing their movie with lowest common denominator jokes hoping some will stick they are finding that people can get that stuff for free over the internet and they run away.  If the movie can generate $10 worth of laughs per person multiplied by 100 million people, with or without the special needs jokes it will be a hit, even if there is a boycott.

Stuff like this happens all the time. It use to be to become a hit in the United Kingdom you use to say something bad about the royal family to get banned from the radio and you would be a hit.

An interesting fact is that I was probably going to see the movie without all the attention being called to it. In the previews it looks like they are three clueless actors. In the roles they are playing you are expecting to hear nonsense come out of their mouths. My hope is that they don’t dwell on the special needs humor as one aspect of it.

Should we just ignore the protests and see what happens with this movie? You need to come to the decision yourself. As for me, I will see the movie for myself and make my own decisions afterwards.

Part of all my book proceeds go to research finding a cure for Rett Syndrom and reversal of symptoms.

Kim Greenblatt

Please feel free to spread the word, if you are a social site such as Technorati, http://technorati.com/.

Questions or comments? Let me know about them! Thanks for taking the time to visit and for more information or to get back to the beginning of the blog, go here.

You are reading from Kim Greenblatt’s blog, profitable on special needs, money and the Timothy Shriver op end piece about boycotting Tropic Thunder.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Business, special needs | 4 Comments »

« Older Entries