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Advertising & Small Business
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Reflections on Christianity |
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Road Rave |
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Random Acts of Ryan |
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Travel & Adventure Tales |
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About the Author |
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Your Brand, Charlie Sheen, and President Obama
03.10.11
Twitter Marketing
"For the marketer, Twitter offers a chance for their brand to be a newsmaker."
of the Ol' (Face)book
02.24.11
Facebook Page Marketing
"As with many other tools in life, there are right and wrong, efficient and inefficient ways to use tools."
02.03.11
Cultural Relevance
"So, how are you adapting your business model to stay relevant to culture?"
for Your Brand
01.20.11
Vehicle Wrap Tips
"Your vehicle can take your message places it never would go otherwise; make sure it's taking the most effective, attractive message."
12.01.10
Prospect Selection
"Not all clients are created equal, even if they can keep you equally busy. Most of us want high-margin, headache-free work; the challenge is how to attract that work."
12.23.10
Marketing Goals
"None of us are beyond growth, but we can grow beyond our own momentum. Surprise 2012 by showing up ahead of expectations."
12.10.10
Design Faux Pas
"Seriously, here's a list of things not to give your clients and prospects in your advertising."
11.12.10
Engagement Marketing
"So, how do you engage the individual in your marketing?"
10.29.10
Brand Spectrum
"If you want premium retail results from your services, implement premium retail tactics. If you want to develop a low-margin, high-volume workflow, give buyers and sellers premonition of such proficiency. And if you're somewhere in the ambiguous middle, never . . ."
10.15.10
Business Card Design
"The business card as a medium isn't dead, but yours has to come alive to survive the digital age. If you overlook the value of your business card, so will your prospects."
09.16.10
Branding Your Face
"Don't kid yourself: if your looks don't get you a free lunch, they probably won't get you business."
09.01.10
Relational Marketing
"Discover who you are, and spend your time with folks who like people like you."
a New Dimension
08.19.10
Dimensional Mail
"The more our media goes digital, the more power a tactile medium like direct mail will have, especially hand-written notes and unconventional pieces."
of the Pie
08.05.10
The Trilateral Equilibrium
"You and your firm don't have to be the fastest and least expensive and most exclusive."
07.22.10
Strategic Partnerships/Referrals
"Sellers will discover whether or not you're uniquely competent to help them—optimally, long before auction day."
07.01.10
Company Promotion
"If they wanted their property to be sitting next to random acts of other assets, they'd grab a booth at a flea market."
Do You Good
06.17.10
Quick Response Codes
"You can let the world know that your clients get not only the best in current marketing practices but also the next generation of promotion."
Really Worth?
05.13.10
Efficiency Tracking
"Capitalism allows supply and demand to set our prices. But efficiency allows us to set our wages."
04.29.10
Online Social Networking
"If you want to succeed at online social media, play by the same rules that help you win offline. Listen to people; engage with them; add value to relationships."
04.15.10
Brand Dissonance
"Not every auction can be a a feather in your cap. But you have to be careful to limit the time your cap is collecting change on the sidewalk."
03.31.10
Brand Evolution
"What's your metric for relevance? Do you measure success or growth? There's a difference."
03.18.10
Leveraging Brand Uniqueness
"Are you evoking something that makes prospects stop, think, and maybe change their preconceived expectations of your industry?"
03.05.10
Headline Choices
"The public knows what we're selling when they see it. If they don't, they probably aren't prospective bidders."
02.18.10
Postcard Efficacy
"Why not just sell them on the sizzle, and get out of there? Postcards help you do that."
(Your Online Listings)
01.31.10
Online Auction Advertising
"Sell the facts, and find as many facts as possible about what you're selling."
01.21.10
First Advertising Impressions
"Somewhere, James Carville is blurting, 'It's the mailer panel, stupid.'"
01.07.10
Photography As Branding
"Be intentional about your auction photography; otherwise, it might be your brand nonchalance you're capturing."
Marketing Suck?
12.08.09
Strategy Analysis
"If you want to make money, you'll need your marketing to be an income generator—not an expense."
12.03.09
Co-branding
"Corporate America has been employing this tactic for decades in advertising, packaging, and public relations. But few entrepreneurs unleash the marketing boost into their small business strategies and practices."
to the Streets
11.19.09
Vehicle Wraps
"For a company looking for local or regional customers, there's no medium as ubiquitous as public roads and parking lots."
[for Auctioneers]
11.06.09
Digital Outdoor Advertising
"Digital billboards can now convert high traffic areas into prime auction advertising environments."
to Your Client
10.21.09
Proposal Strategies
"Build your proposals around the potential seller—not your company."
10.03.09
Logo Treatment
"You probably already know that a brand—your company's public image—is way more than a logo. But you probably didn't know that your logo can be more than a logo."
09.24.09
Stock Photography Selection
"Even if the images you acquire are free, you're wasting brand capital when you buy the wrong ones."
09.10.09
Media Selection
"Not all media are created equal."
The Not-so-silver Blogging Bullet
08.27.09
Blog Writing
"Treat the reader as your friend, and they'll stick around for more of your stories. Better yet, they'll forward them to their other friends."
What Kind of Blogger Are You?
08.13.09
Blog Planning
"Once you know who you are and embrace it, you're better equipped to pursue your piece of the readership pie."
07.30.09
Multi-platform Branding
"If you want maximum value for your brand, when you try to trade it for transactions in the marketplace, you need to treat the Internet like you do other media."
07.09.09
Variable Data Printing
"What if I told you that five years from now, the way your direct mail is currently distributed will seem as inflexible as a CD and as inefficient as mix tapes?"
A New Hybrid
Marketing Tool
06.25.09
Aerial Photography Innovation
"Early adoption of this tool in your advertising can make your prospects more likely to depend on you rather than your less-progressive competitor."
Won't Die
06.09.09
Direct Mail Effectiveness
"As more and more of our media intake goes digital, I hear entrepreneurs ask if paper mail is worth the cost."
Running Into My
7-year Niche
05.28.09
Targeted Marketing
"As you brand your firm toward a specific specialty or market segment, you will similarly start to thin the audience to whom you need to advertise."
05.14.09
Online Social Networking
"You can be successful without facebook. facebook just makes success a community benefit."
04.28.09
Learning by Teaching
"While internships by nature provide practical education for aspiring undergrads, the process was not without lessons for me."
Advertising Lessons From Speed Dating
03.05.09
Courting the Customer
"If this environment sounds intimidating to you, know that your advertising has an even more intense courting process. Your marketing media gets less than ten seconds to grab a customer."
Using Expectations to Your Advantage
02.06.09
Overcoming Stereotypes
"No matter the size of your company, you can meet and surpass expectations by looking at your company through the skeptic’s eyes."
4-part Direct Mail Harmony
12.29.08
Successful Direct Mail
"If you get one part of the deal out of whack, it takes away from the maximum impact of your advertising and may even bring negative reaction to your well-intentioned work."
Making Your Advertising Work Harder for You
12.11.08
Marketing Efficiency
Article to be published (from assignment) in January edition of Auctioneer magazine.
Highway to
(Web Traffic) Heaven
11.19.08
Leads-generating Web Sites
"Until you use both sides of Al Gore’s electronic interstate, you won’t know the full potential for more robust and (even) easier web marketing."
Buying Credibility to Build the Expert Brand
11.05.08
Advertorials
"Establish yourself as a source for answers, which later may grow into a source for solutions."
Newsletters & Fruitcakes
10.22.08
The "Expert" Brand
"The primary function of the newsletter is to inform the reader in a way that establishes your company as an expert source."
When Change Trumps Different
10.07.08
Brand Patience
"More than likely, you will win those votes the way Beltway insiders do: exploiting your establishment."
Can a Recession Help Your Brand?
08.28.08
Value Branding
"If you can establish yourself as the value brand during a recession, you will accelerate into growth periods faster than your competition."
Undressing in Public: Font Fashion
07.31.08
Font Choice
"Fonts are the clothing your message wears."
Bean Stalk Strategies
07.16.08
Small Business Promotion
"You don't have to have a big company's budget to look like one."
My Favorite Margin
(From Outer Space)
06.24.08
Message Presentation
"Margin concentrates our attention, maximizes our energy, and builds our priorities. It allows us to do more with less. It is the Wizard-of-Oz magic that makes the most of what we already have."
Fair Advantage
06.12.08
Award-winning How-to
"Advertising awards can build your company's identity; but a professional, recognizable, and consistent brand in the marketplace is far more likely to build your company's revenue."
Do Shotgun Advertising Weddings Make Sense?
05.27.08
Direct Mail
"People buy properties, not auctions. Don't rely on the sale method to compensate for the deficiencies in your marketing."
Night Makes Right
04.19.08
Photography Concept
"The public is accustomed to MLS-style curb shots; anything you can do to shake their visual expectations will make your advertising more memorable and attractive."
Exit Strategy
04.09.08
Message Simplification
"So, if your message has only five seconds or even (somehow) ten, you've got to work efficiently to successfully communicate."
Marketing Can't Buy Brand Integrity
03.11.08
Brand Integrity
"You've probably heard the adage, "Fake it 'til you make it." I guess there's some wisdom there, but I've never adhered to that."
Your Seller's Ambassador
01.29.08
Intentional Marketing
"I get asked regularly why I design things the way I do or use the media biplane productions recommends. I don't mind answering those questions, because I've usually answered those questions for myself in the past."
Got a Milk Mustache?
11.29.07
Brand Management
"Nothing builds brand recognition faster than consistency. Not even repetition."
Extreme Makeover:
Logo Edition
01.22.08
Logo Revamp
"Answers to your questions: why the change, why now, why this look, why outsourced design, and why logoworks.com."
Accelerating Between the Jersey Walls
11.28.07
Brand Simplification
"Success can't be encapsulated in an easy proverb or single piece of advice, but I tell them all the same thing."
Paying for Perception that Pays
11.15.07
Brand Perception
"From marketing to retail design, from product to service packaging—companies that design around the buyer stand a better chance to gain market share, make profits, and brand themselves as high-value companies."
Projection Guides Perception
10.20.07
Brand Projection
"I love to brag on my customers. I love being part of a small business' growth—especially when they're competing against larger firms."
Tunkey+Turnaround=
Trust
09.01.07
Fulfillment Partnerships
"I'd challenge you to find a better one-two combination—let alone one in your local business district."
Prospect Mapping
07.22.07
Audience Selection
"In this information age, we expect to be able to tap big brother to find out the kinds of people who buy the stuff we want to sell. Like a Minority Report database, there should be a record of people who are thinking about buying our stuff."
Upgrading to First Class
07.22.07
Premium Visual Stimuli
"While I'd rather spend sellers' advertising dollars by incorporating more media rather than fancier direct mail pieces, sometimes your property and/or company may need to look award-winning to get it sold."
The Standard Question
07.20.07
Media Research & Mixture
"This research—this pursuit of feedback and new media—is a constantly moving target. But those who stay at the front edge of it will have the profit advantage over those who stick with the status quo."
How Much is Too Much Information?
07.13.07
Information Balance
"Prospects not willing to expend the energy to follow their interest online will probably not expend the energy to purchase, either."
The Advertiser That Cried, "Wolf!"
05.09.07
Arvertising Integrity
"Advertising integrity will build your brand in a culture that rarely fully discloses reality but flocks to companies that do."
05.07.07
Press Releases
"Newspapers are losing money across the nation; some experts/consultants suggest they be allowed to operate as nonprofits to help save them in the internet age. So, they don't want to give away free advertising."
04.24.07
Market Research
"Pursue cultural trends not just competitor reconnaissance, and you will have competitors trying to figure out why you lead market share."
Whose (head)Line is it Anyway?
03.21.07
Buyer-Centricity
"The hardest part of advertising is remembering whose paying for the advertising. Because advertisers write the checks, too often they forget that customers pay for everything."
The Importance of Importance
03.20.07
Branding
"Don't spend the few seconds of attention-grabbing you have in American Culture on information that won't matter until after the decision-deciding headlines."
© 2006, 2007, 2008 biplane productions, inc. & ryan george