If you want to develop effective, efficient and affordable marketing strategies to help take your small or medium-sized businesses to new levels of growth and success, read on:

What is marketing?

Marketing means many different things to business people. To small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) it often means advertising, sales,  networking or an expensive website with bells and whistles that the owner doesn’t understand nor need.

In virtually every case, it means expense — sometimes substantial expense.

I continue to be amazed at how much so many small and medium-sized businesses — the very entities that are the lifeblood of the economy — struggle with marketing themselves effectively. When I engage with them as consultant or coach, i invariably find that they have all kinds of misconceptions about what marketing is, what it can help them do, and how to implement it in a way that gets maximum results for minimum cost.

Let’s spend the next couple of posts helping cut through some of the marketing fog that has left so many entrepreneurs blind.

Peter F. Drucker, the father of modern business management, said that the purpose of any business is to create and keep a customer.  That’s marketing, folks.

What marketing is really all about is simple, though not necessarily easy:  It means is understanding all there is to know about your business’ capabilities, customers, competitors, and the overall market, then figuring out how to present yourself to the right person, at the right time, with the right offer, at the right price to get that customer to choose to do business with you.

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The golden PR opportunity that everyone ignores

by Eddie Reeves on October 16, 2009

Want to gain notoriety in the news media?

Want to get exposure you to the most important people in your city?

Want to position yourself not just as a smart and knowledgeable expert, but also as one who cares deeply about the health and well being of your community?

Want to do all that in a way that cost you virtually nothing?

If you answered “yes” to those questions, then authoring guest columns on the op/ed page of your local daily newspaper could be for you.  Having interesting pieces published there is one of the best opportunities for gaining notoriety in the news media.

So what’s an “op/ed”?  While many assume the term is shorthand for “opinion editorial” the term actually stands for “opposite the editorial page”, which is where these guest columns are published.  Usually found on the next-to-last page in the first section of the newspaper, the op/ed page features essays and opinion pieces from national political columnists, politicians and other pundits deemed to be authorities on the issues of the day.

They don’t get as many readers as the front page or the sports section, but what op/ed pages lack in numbers they more than make up for in quality: The editorial and op/ed pages are read deeply by the community’s top political, business, cultural and civic leaders.

Editorial page editors, who decide what appears in these pages, are always on the lookout for local voices to add to the op/ed page, and a well-written piece that offers a fresh perspective on a timely issue will frequently not only find its way into print, but will often be positioned prominently on the page.

Here are four tips to make your op/ed column successful:

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The Bailout Blow-Up One Year Later: Has Washington Learned the Communications Lessons?

October 14, 2009

This  month marks the one-year anniversary of the Capitol Hill blow-up of the financial bailout bill, one biggest political debacles in recent memory.
On September 29th of last year, the bill pushed by former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and congressional leaders from both parties went down in flames in the House of Representatives.  [...]

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Secrets of successful media relations: Number 4 — Stick to the “big three” requirements of reporters.

August 16, 2009

Okay, now it’s time to get down to the nitty-gritty of successful media relations.  It’s time to actually contact the journalists who you want to cover your story.
Remember the lessons from our first three installments of this blog series:  You talk to reporters only AFTER you have ensured that: You have a newsworthy message (Secret [...]

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Secrets of successful media relations: Number 3 – What’s your story?

August 11, 2009

Okay, you’ve come up with a newsworthy topic (Secret #1) and you’ve decided upon the specific media to target (Secret #2). Now it’s time to focus on developing a strong message that will not only get the news media’s attention, but get it in a way you want.
What’s the secret to doing that? Tell a [...]

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Secrets of successful media relations: Number 2 – Aim to please!

August 6, 2009

This is the second in the series “Secrets of Successful Media Relations” (Okay, so I waxed a bit dramatic with the title, but, hey, you’re reading it aren’t you?). 
Let’s do an experiment: Quick, think of the last time you sat down and watched any of the Sunday morning political talk shows on the national TV networks?
Tough, [...]

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Secrets of successful media relations: Number 1 – Make real news!

August 3, 2009

Okay, I admit it, I’m biased: Of the various strategic marketing methods, my favorite is proactive media relations.
Partly because of my press background, but mostly because it is so effective, I love working with the media to help ensure proper news coverage of my clients.  A well-executed media relations campaign can take your brand to the stratosphere.  [...]

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Buzz on a budget: Three sure-fire ways that businesses can get good publicity inexpensively

July 28, 2009

Small and medium-sized businesses are always under pressure to do more with less, but in this tough economy they often have to do more with almost nothing. Fortunately, there are some smart but cheap ways to generate favorable attention that will help the cash register ring. Here are three that I have helped my clients [...]

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Do the smart thing: Communicate more to engage your people during tough times.

July 26, 2009

Okay, executives, entrepreneurs, government officials, nonprofit managers and anyone else who leads people: It’s time to get smart about your communications.
In a today’s ultra-competitive marketplace, organizations have to be fleet-of-foot, constantly driving up efficiency and driving down costs, all while improving customer relationships.  This is especially true in times of economic difficulty.  Engaging line and support staff [...]

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Want to maximize the effectiveness of your strategic media relations? Follow these five “musts”.

July 26, 2009

A reporter friend recently told me that he overheard two of his colleagues commenting on how much they appreciated my work as a media relations professional.  These two grizzled journalistic veterans would usually stick their tongues in cup of hot broken glass before they would praise a PR guy, so I deeply appreciated their sentiments.
I [...]

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