4. Networking. From seminars, leads groups, luncheons to business expos and various business and community committees, there’s absolutely no excuse for not being able to meet new contacts, referrals and people who can help you with ideas and additional ways to grow your business.
The old adage, out of sight, out of mind, is so true when it relates to networking. The chamber gives your several different venues to meet new people. My entire career I’ve utilized the power of networking in my home chamber’s ranging from serving as co-chair of the ambassador league to sponsoring and speaking at different events. The positive outcomes on the bottom line and great people I’ve met that’ve provided me with their wonderful products, services, and ideas has also been a big plus.
5. Low cost advertising opportunities. As far as visibility at the local level, a chamber offers a wide range of affordable advertising options and sponsorship packages for just about every business or non-profit, ranging from newly established firms to existing. I’ve bought and sold traditional media and I can tell you it’s not cheap. For the price of a few ads within a major media, you can often sponsor an entire program with the chamber, give a short commercial about your company, meet new prospects and follow up with the list of attendees who may have a need for your offering. This is a wonderful way to hold your marketing dollars accountable and see them working hard right before your eyes.
A common area to get low cost or free advertising is submitting updates or news briefs for possible inclusion within the chamber “Member News’ section of the newsletter. Amazingly, a lot of members do not take advantage of this wonderful free marketing opportunity provided with their membership. The chamber is always on the lookout for member related news. I make it a goal to get over a small news update or announcement at least every two to three months to the three local chambers I’m a member of because I know most of the time it will get printed and read by key people in the business community.
6. Advocacy. A foolish belief among large companies, especially national retail outlets is that they’re too big or not local enough to care about getting involved or joining their local chamber of commerce. A few things they should think about: Are their employees and customers local? Are taxes and school systems important to finding and retaining a high quality work force? These are key areas that the chamber researches, lobbies and routinely discusses with local and regional government units, politicians and the media to keep people up to date on central issues of importance pertaining to their membership and the community.
What happens to your local employees and customers does have an impact on your business even if you’re a national chain. In addition, to missing out on networking, sponsorship and other business building news and benefits, I think it looks incredibly tacky if four or five local businesses are active in the chamber and a national firm in the same market area won’t even join. In my mind this sends an incongruent message to the market when the national company claims to be ‘a good corporate citizen’ but they won’t join and get involved with their local chamber of commerce.
7. Money saving discounts. If you fully leverage the cost saving discounts ranging from health insurance, office supplies, to discounted phone service to other items your business currently uses or will need, it’s not uncommon for a small business to easily find enough savings in the first 30-60 days upon joining with endorsed providers or member to member discounts to recoup most, if not all of their membership dues. Being a small business owner, I can attest to the fact that being a member of the chamber and shopping around for discounts and services available makes joining achievable for any company regardless of how limited their marketing budget may be.
Well, there you have it! Seven great reasons to join or get more involved and fully leverage the benefits that your home town or regional chamber of commerce can provide your business or organization.
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( 3 / 1316 )In a world loaded with marketing options and information overload I’m often asked by new and existing business owners for a simple, inexpensive way to increase their local visibility and marketing efforts to produce more opportunities and sales. Without a doubt, I always ask a stunningly simple question, Are you a member of your local chamber of commerce? I get one of three answers:
1. Yes
2. No, but tell me more
3. We used to be a member
Now I know every person has opinions but I’d like you to take a moment to read this brief article to discover seven reasons why I strongly feel that every business and non-profit organization should be a member of their local chamber regardless of the size of their organization, marketing budget, years in business, or even if they’ve heard or possibly had a negative chamber experience in the past.
1. Visibility. Yes, you’ve heard it said time and time again, that out of sight means out of mind. This is not a smart strategy for any business, especially when times are good. A market can change quickly. As Jim Collins says, good is the enemy of great. This is a great statement, but I’d like to add to it as it relates to marketing and. Good is the enemy of great, but often times complacency and short term thinking are the enemy of sustained marketing breakthroughs.
Let’s look at a real world example of chamber complacency in action. Having worked with hundreds of chambers throughout North America, I’m simply baffled that within many communities how few real estate agents and automotive sales reps are either non-existent or barely active within their local chamber. In these two highly competitive and crowded markets you’d think these folks would do anything to stand out from the competition and fully leverage the chamber to get an edge. Nope. It’s as if they have no idea the local chamber exists and how it can benefit their business.
2. Access. Unless you’re crazy or like consistent rejection, no one enjoys making cold calls all day long. It’s a painful, tedious process that often wastes far too much time and mentally drains even the most upbeat and friendly person after a while. When you join a chamber and actively get involved you’ll discover that meeting prospects who may have an interest or who can refer you to key contacts you’re trying to reach, is a huge benefit of membership. From being on committees, serving as an ambassador, or attending specific events where prospects are likely to be, you’ll find yourself in situations where you can identify and meet decision makers face-to-face versus making cold calls.
3. Ongoing training and education. Unless you have the luxury of a training budget or can afford to bring in local, regional region or nationally known experts on different topics, trends or key areas of expertise, I firmly believe that there is no other organization in America that delivers cutting edge, relevant and timely programs at such an affordable level for business and non-profit leaders as your local or regional chamber of commerce. By spreading costs among fellow members through registration fees and sponsorships, members can stay updated, informed and educated at a bargain price.
In the next post, I'll share with you the other four reasons to be a part of your local chamber.
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( 3 / 1307 )We welcome this month marketing and promotion legend Raleigh Pinskey to our offline newsletter ‘A Captured Mind’ newsletter. If you still haven’t subscribed send me an email directly (tony@mindcapturegroup.com) with the subject line: “Newsletter info”
Here’s a short excerpt from an article on why it’s important to understand the media as it pertains to marketing – enjoy!
Please the media and you’ll experience successful PR, branding, publicity, marketing and public relations. Take the time to understand and please the media. Honor their wants, needs, desires and agendas and you will be the recipient of a successful relationship. Don’t, and the cold shoulder will be yours.
I find it amazing that people ask me, “Why should we spend time understanding the media? Or learning about pleasing the media. Aren’t they there to understand and to please us? “
Media seekers are spoiled by experts who tell their audience that the media has lots of empty space and air time, and they need lots of copy to fill it. And, if we provide them with branding, marketing and publicity material they will report on it. That we can just sit back and rack in the big bucks from all the coverage they will get.
This is not true. If your information doesn’t fit their audience they won’t cover it. If your subject matter is not interesting or timely, entertaining or empowering, emotionally charged or controversial, why should they take the chance of losing their audience? Just because you were told they need to fill up the space? They don’t need to fill the space. They need to attract and keep readers who will buy from the advertising pages.
The more you know about the individual media, about their expectations, needs and requirements, the better your interaction will be. The more coverage you will experience. The more exposure you’ll get for your branding, marketing and public relations efforts.
My advice, learn everything you can about the inner workings of the media mind. In other words, heed the saying, “when in Rome do as the Romans do.” Knowing exactly what is their job is critical for getting done what you need them to do for you. Understanding this will keep you out of the fire and off the list. The “I will never talk to them again” list.
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( 3 / 1290 )It happened again. Another public figure busted and disgraced before our eyes. I'm not here to pass judgement but pass along a powerful marketing lesson this recent scandal teaches.
You Must Use Evidence or Proof In Your Marketing!
With the constant barrage of poorly crafted, cliche sales pitches and marketing messages we usually assume there's a catch or a gotcha. Add our distrust for the moving parade of high profile people getting popped for dumb behavior and it's no wonder we're so cynical about what people say.
I look at a lot of ads and 95 out of 100 lack serious proof or evidence to justify any reason to believe or trust what the advertiser's saying or trying to sell.
Here's a quick checklist of 10 powerful Mind Capture tools to aid you in proving your case within all of your marketing efforts :
1. Testimonials
2. Case studies
3. Pictures of clients or your product in action
4. Lists of key clients
5. Strong guarantee
6. Years in business
7. Awards, certifications, or industry accolades
8. Positive industry articles
9. Feature articles written about you, your product/service or anyone within your organization
10. Top 10 reasons or benefits sheet that describes your biggest strengths you provide customers
In the age of distrust it's easy to stand out from the sea of competition.
1. Do what's rights
2. Provide superior service - rare these days
3. Prove your case and use these 10 points as your guide
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( 3 / 1269 )Why are so many marketing messages online and offline ignored? I got this question a few times this week from a couple of clients and I dug into the archives to post a key reason: A weak or non-existent headline!
Let's explore how you can benefit by knowing several proven types of headlines and powerful words to include in them.
Stay with me for a minute and I'll quickly share a few ways that they can help revolutionize your business, career, and income.
Different types of headlines: To help you write headlines that get attention, let’s take a look at the different types of headlines you can use, how and when you may want to use them, and actual examples of headlines that were successful.
*The News Headline. If your product or service offers something newsworthy, announce it in your headline. Examples of this could the introduction of a new product or improvement of an existing one. A few words you could use in this type of headline: New, Announcing, Introducing, Finally, Just Released, Now, At Last.
EXAMPLES:
“Now! Own A New Car The Easy Way…$50.00 Down And $99 Per Month”
“New Diet Burns Off More fat Than If You Ran 21 Miles A Week”
“Announcing…The New Camping Gear That Will Make Your Next Trip Easier”
*The Guarantee Headline. Guarantee headlines state a desirable benefit, and guarantee results or other benefits. If you offer a powerful guarantee, let your prospects or customers know by stating it in the headline.
EXAMPLES:
“Play Guitar In 7 Days Or Your Money Back”
“If You Wait More Than 15 Minutes To Receive Your Meal – Lunch Is FREE!”
*The How To Headline. These two words – “how to”, are very powerful words. You can never go wrong using a How To Headline. (Over 8,000 book titles start out with How To) How To Headlines promise your prospect a source for information, advice, and solutions to their problems.
EXAMPLES:
“How To Win Friends And Influence People”
“How To Get Your Resort Bragged About”
“How To Form Your Own Corporation Without A Lawyer For Under $50”
*The Reason-Why Headline. With the Reason-Why Headline you give your prospect specific reasons why they should read your ad. They are effective because they contain facts and specific numbers. Reason-Why Headlines don’t need to include the words “reason why”. You can use “38 Ways”, “7 Steps”, “5 Secrets”, etc.
EXAMPLES:
“38 Fun And Easy Ways To Earn $500.00 Next Weekend”
“7 Steps To Financial Freedom”
“7 Reasons Why It Would have Paid To Answer Our Ad A Few Months Ago”
*The Testimonial Headline. The testimonial Headline is just what it says – it uses a customer testimonial for the headline. With this headline, you get your customers to sell for you by talking about the benefits they received.
EXAMPLES:
“I Lost My Bulges…And Saved Money Too”
“How I Retired On A Guaranteed Income For Life”
“We Saved Over 37% On Our Bill Each Month And The Service Has Been Outstanding”
There you have it! Several types of headlines you can use for any kind of circumstance or market. Each headline type works well on its own or it can be combines with the other headline types.
Time’s up. Until next time, keep 'Capturing' minds!
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