3 Marketing Tips For Success

Field_of_dreams_JPEGOne of my favorite movies is Field of Dreams starring Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones. Even though I’m not a big baseball fan, the fact that the players were able to realize their dreams makes it a winner in my book. And the line, “Build it and they will come.” puts the icing on the cake.

But in actuality, just because you build it doesn’t mean that people will come. Far too often, business owners, nonprofits and ministries have incredibly innovative events or products that fail miserably. Why? because no one knows that what they have to offer exists. It’s a common mistake that can be easily avoided. Here are a few tips to get you started in the right direction.

Determine your marketing budget.

According to the U.S Small Business Administration, “small businesses should allocate 7-8 percent of their revenues to marketing.

So, what if you’re not in a position to allocate this much to your marketing budget? Start with what you have and gradually increase your budget. Consulting with a marketing & media strategist will assist you in developing a plan that’s right for you.

Join the Party

One of the keys to your success is determining who your target audience is (age, gender, income,education etc.) and joining them. If your product or service is geared towards college students, find out where they hang out. Tailor your marketing efforts to their needs,speak their language and be the solution to their problems.

Keep Going

As a business owner, it’s vital that you have a continuous presence in the market for top of mind awareness. Some marketing efforts are free and don’t require a lot of time. It could be as simple as sending a thank you card to your loyal or first time customers.

You’ve put in the hard work to bring your dream to reality, don’t stop now. Make the decision to market and promote your business, nonprofit or ministry. Remember that by the time you’re tired of saying “We’re Here!” some people are just hearing you for the first time.

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A few years back, one of my colleagues and I were discussing areas that we wanted to pour our experience and passions into . During the conversation, I realized that throughout all of my years in media production and marketing, political campaigns had alluded me.

election 2014
Surprisingly enough,our first opportunity came right on the heels of this discovery. We joined the political arena in a mayoral race. The team was already in full stride by the time we came aboard. We hit the ground running placing media buys with existing TV and radio ads. Unfortunately, in spite of our efforts and our candidate’s hard work, we didn’t cross the finish line first.

Recently the opportunity presented itself again. Dr. James Beverly was running for his second term as State Representative. After meeting with Dr. Beverly, it was obvious that he possessed a genuine concern for the city’s growth and well being. He had worked hard over the last two years and had a vision for a new Macon. Being a part of making our city better felt right, so we joined him on the “campaign trail”.

Developing a marketing and media strategy for the Beverly political campaign resembled the procedure we normally follow, but there were some obvious challenges. This election was different in the sense that the primary was in May as opposed to July. Not only were we faced with encouraging people to vote, but we needed them to vote during a time when they were focused on graduations and end of the school year activities.
We met with Dr. Beverly and the campaign staff to determine how best to communicate his platform.

After analyzing his target audience we crafted two commercials that spoke to their needs and concerns as voters. Hands down we knew that we wanted to remain true to ourselves and run a “clean” campaign that communicated the facts, all the while maintaining integrity.

James Beverly for State Representative

James Beverly for State Representative from Hill Street Media on Vimeo.

Numerous media platforms were incorporated into the campaign including, social media, television, radio, transit advertising, direct mail along with others.

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Transit Advertising – James Beverly for State Representative

While we held down the fort on our end, Dr. Beverly and the campaign staff were knocking on doors…a lot of doors, rallying voters.

We were working to win and that’s exactly what happened! Dr. Beverly maintained his seat with approximately 60% of the vote.

Congratulations State Representative James Beverly, we’re confident that you will do us proud!

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Class Is In Session

As a student, I told myself, “I’ll be glad when I get out of school,” much more often than I care to admit. However, it didn’t take long for me to come to the realization that in order to grow and compete, I had to resolve to become the ‘eternal student’.

A few months ago we partnered with Scott’s Health Mart Pharmacy www.scottspharmacy1.com to create a radio campaign.  Dr. Bryan Scott ‘took us to school’ concerning the benefits of Probiotics – organisms such as bacteria or yeast that are believed to Chalkboard for Blog postimprove health.2013-05-22 18.27.45

( www.webmd.com)

Yes, you heard right, a pharmacy that advocates the use of natural supplements to improve your overall health.  We love it!  While they most definitely prescribe and compound medications to aid those with health issues, they actively promote using natural supplements to avoid illnesses.  It’s like a double punch in a really good way.  Their efforts prove that they’re not just a business, but are genuinely concerned about the well-being of the community…hence their tagline, “Caring for you and about you.”

So you see, while we’re partnering with our clients to provide their media and marketing needs, they give us great insight into their careers. Because of them we are healthier, more financially sound and are up to date on the latest fashion trends (wink).  In essence, for the Hill Street Media team… class is always in session.

Scott’s Rheumatoid Arthritis Radio Campaign

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Change Lanes

The other day was one of those “hit the ground running” type of days.  I was on the road at 6:00am heading to Atlanta. Traffic was flowing rather smoothly until it came to an unexpected crawl.  I was surrounded by traffic, but my lane (the middle lane) was running slower than slow.

As soon as there was a break in the traffic, I hopped in the left lane to go around the truck in front of me and immediately realized that traffic wasn’t that congested at all.  I just needed to change lanes.

Are your advertising and marketing efforts stuck in traffic?  Have they become stale or better yet stagnant?  Maybe you need to change lanes and try a different approach.  If you’ve always used newspaper to promote your business, try television, mobile media or a social media campaign.  You might even want to consider sponsoring a community event.

A simple change in platforms could place you in front of an entirely new audience resulting in new clients and increased profits.

Traffic

Changing & Growing!

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