Carlsbad Business Journal articles by Jeffrey Donnelley
December 7, 2007 on 11:08 pm | In Advertising, Marketing | No CommentsJul 01, 2007
Develop a winning marketing and advertising plan
Sep 01, 2007
Back to Basics: Marketing 101
Oct 01, 2007
Create an effective and meaningful marketing campaign
Nov 01, 2007
The art of interviewing advertising, marketing agency candidates
‘Tis the Season to Market Your Business for 2008!
December 7, 2007 on 7:05 am | In Marketing | 1 CommentThe holidays are here. Depending on what type of business you are in, that statement made you feel extremely happy and busy, or exhausted and desperate.
Marketing your business during the fourth quarter can be stressful and confusing. Is it worth it to spend time and money on advertising or public relations this time of year? Or should you hunker down for the winter and come out with the groundhogs in the spring? Here are a few tips for developing a marketing strategy at the end of the year for your business.
Consumer businesses typically do their best this time of year. For many companies, the fourth quarter is the only profitable part of the entire calendar. Many have been planning for the holidays since August. They already have their seasonal ads and e-mails ready to go, banners made and gift baskets stuffed. But wait, that isn’t you? Well, don’t worry, there are still some last minute tactics that can help.
First, use your circle of influence. Friends love to see other friends be successful, especially during the holidays. Next, use your business cards as advertisements. Handwrite an offer on your cards and hand them out at parties. Of course, there is always the post-holiday sale. Everyone likes a bargain.
Some business to business companies believe if they’re not selling turkeys, TVs or iPhones between Thanksgiving and Christmas, there is no reason to bother advertising. However, this does not mean to stop marketing. This time of year can be successfully used as a strategic planning and staging period for next year. I have found over the years that there are some clients who need to spend their budgets before the year ends. Some even book ahead for next year just so they don’t risk losing their funds. Holiday calls are a great way to reach out to old clients and new prospects to set appointments for January. You may use this tactic to survey your market and find out what customers want to focus on during the next year.
Online business is somewhat unique as cyberspace seems to have created its own calendar and it is always a selling season somewhere. Whatever you do, do not wait until next month!
For more information, call 760 Media at (760) 605-8133 or visit www.760media.com.
Integrating Online and Offline Media – All the Time
December 5, 2007 on 11:28 pm | In Marketing, Multi Media | No CommentsRecently, online marketing has seen a significant increase in coverage from the news and industry media. It appears that online marketing has finally become mainstream enough to pay attention to it. The new word on the street is that online marketing is the wave of the future, the big agencies are beginning to open online divisions and we should all be paying attention. HEY, wait a second! Haven’t we all been integrating online and offline campaigns for our clients since like, 1999? Isn’t that what web 2.0 was all about? Isn’t this all just regurgitated old news?
Apparently not. It’s been nine (9) years since our advertising agency jumped head first into online marketing with search engine optimization, pay per click, pay per view, link exchanges, popular links, contextual pop-ups then, blogs, social sites, rss feeds, trackable pr, blah, blah, blah, etc. We were all racing to get to the next online beak through marketing tool before the big powerhouses get to them first. It was the only way we could stay ahead of the fierce competition. Everyone was going online crazy! Now, all of a sudden, it appears that the small agencies are ahead of the curve and the big shops are trying to catch up. Hmmm. This is different.
So, now that we’re ahead, shouldn’t we be making oodels of money? Isn’t our intellectual property worth it’s own weight in gold? One answer — NOPE! It’s not until the mass media and their parent holding companies (ahem) decide, that it is actually worth anything, before it is actually worth anything. Now, sit up, look forward and pay attention. I’m only going to write this once (in this article)…760 Media does and has been integrating traditional and online media for nearly 10 years. This is not new stuff people. Try to keep up.
BTW – Has anyone heard about the new media idea of mobile phone marketing? Oooooh.
