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Rebel Dealer - Eric Thibodeau, ex GM dealer, talk about social, email and video marketing

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College Football Trivia - Win A Free Email Template!

Answer this question right and you could win a free OnLetterhead email design with a 12-month license and get featured in next month’s BrandNews!

Q: In one of the closest races in Heisman history, what Quarterback lost by only 76 points in the 2000 Heisman voting?

Please email your answer to dm@onletterhead.com

One lucky person will be randomly selected from those who answered the question correctly. One submission per person. Eligible to current clients of OnLetterhead only. Submissions accepted until September 30, 2009.

Great Football Tailgate Recipes

Keep your football fans cheering with a great selection of football appetizer recipes, chilis, sandwiches and other football party foods.

Pepperoni Appetizer Recipe

This great appetizer idea will be a hit at your next party or gathering, or serve it with soup and salad as a delicious substitute for bread.

Container: medium bowl, mixer and 9×13 baking pan
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Serving Description: approximately 4 squares
Servings: 8

Ingredients
-   3 cups milk
-   3 eggs - beaten
-   3 cups flour
-   1 1/2 cups muenster cheese - shredded
-   1 teaspoon salt
-   1 dash pepper
-   1 dash oregano
-   1 package sliced pepperoni
-   Marinara sauce for dipping

Directions
-   In a medium bowl, combine milk and eggs.
-   Mix in flour with an electric mixer until smooth.
-   Add remaining ingredients and stir well to incorporate.
-   Bake in a greased 9×13 baking pan at 425° for approximately 40 minutes.
-   Cut into small squares.
-   Serve warm with your favorite marinara sauce. 

Barbecue Pork Ribs Recipe

Barbecue ribs grilled to perfection with a homemade sauce. A great recipe for football parties or back yard barbecues.

Container: Medium Saucepan
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Serving Size: 2 cups
Servings: 4 
 
Ingredients
-   2 cups ketchup
-   1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
-   1/4 cup molasses
-   1 tablespoon dry mustard
-   1 tablespoon chile powder
-   1 teaspoon cumin
-   1 teaspoon dried oregano
-   2 tablespoons bourbon or whiskey (optional)
-   fresh ground pepper to taste
-   salt/tobasco to taste
-   4 pounds pork spare ribs
 
Directions
-   Whisk ketchup with vinegar, molasses, dry mustard, chile powder, cumin, oregano, pepper and bourbon or whiskey (optional).
-   Simmer 20-30 mintutes, stirring often.
-   Add salt and tobasco to taste.
-   Brush on meat the last 5 minutes of grill time.
-   Set up the grill for indirect heat, medium temperature. Grill the meat, rib side down, until the bones protrude slightly from the meat, about 2 hours (may take more or less time, depending on rib thickness and grill temperature). -   Brush with barbeque sauce during the last 15-20 minutes of grilling so that the sauce carmelizes onto the ribs.
-   Serve extra sauce on the side.
-   Sauce can be covered and refrigerated for up to 2 weeks. May also be frozen.

Bacon Wrapped Smokies Recipe

Crispy and full of bacon flavor, these cocktail weiners are sure to please.

Container: small slow cooker, baking dish
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Serving Description: 4 weiners
Servings: 10

Ingredients
-   1 package Little Smokies
-   1 pound bacon
-   3/4 cup brown sugar
-   2 tablespoons vinegar
 
Directions
-   Cut bacon slices in half.
-   Wrap one piece of bacon around each smokie and place them seam side down in glass baking dish.
-   Top with brown sugar and drizzle with vinegar.
-   Refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
-   Remove from the refrigerator and bake in a 350° oven for one hour.
-   Remove from baking dish and transfer to a small slow cooker to keep them warm while serving.

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Back-to-School Marketing Campaign Ideas

Back-to-school is one of the biggest shopping seasons of the year so you don’t want to miss out on it.
Back to school marketing pays off in sales. Even if you’re not selling school supplies or clothing, there are lots of ways you can attract back-to-school shoppers to your products and services.

Here are some back-to-school marketing ideas.

1)Tried and true.
Back-to-school sales are a tradition now and can work well for you if you sell products that are obviously school related …. or obviously non-school related.

If the kids going back to school is going to cause your sales to slump, now’s the time for “last chance” sales. For example, a kayak rental business might offer “last chance” lessons and outings; a museum might offer discounted tours.

2) Reach for the tie-in.

If your products or services have no obvious back-to-school tie-in, you can still create one.

    * Whether selling services or product, a nutrition-related business might offer information on preparing healthy school lunches.
    * A business selling cleaning products might back-to-school market its products as great for cleaning dorm rooms and sell a special “student-pack” of products.
    * A watch repair business might run a “be on time for school” special.

3) Don’t forget the parents.

Back-to-school means different schedules for parents, too, and for some, more time to do things for themselves or things they’ve been putting off.

    * Personal care businesses, such as hairdressers, manicurists, and massage therapists can offer discounts on “they’ve-gone-back-to-school” appointments.
    * Restaurants could offer special menus and/or dishes to encourage patrons to come in for lunch.
    * Fitness studios and gyms could offer special workshops or session series in school hours.

The really great thing about targeting students’ parents in your back-to-school marketing is that your promotion can carry on right through September and on into Fall.

10 Low-Cost Ways to Promote Your Business

Business promotion is to running a successful business as practicing scales is to playing the piano well; it may not be a thrilling activity in itself, but you just have to do it! You should spend at least an hour a day on business promotion or planning how to promote your business (and more is better, if you can fit the time in)!

You promote your business by getting the word out. The first axiom of business promotion is that you have to do this consciously. You can’t rely on other people to do it for you, no matter how great your product or service is.

The second axiom of business promotion is that like every other aspect of your business, it’s a budgeted activity. But business promotion doesn’t have to be expensive. Here are ten inexpensive ways to promote your business; all most of these will cost you is some time.

1) Use every outgoing piece of paper, and every electronic document as business promotion.

You have business cards, but you also put out a lot of other documents in the course of doing business. Check these to make sure you’re using their promotional possibilities to full advantage.

For instance, business stationery is an ideal business promotion tool. Is your business name, logo, contact information (including URL if you have one), and slogan on your envelopes as well as on your letterhead? Or are your envelopes only printed with your business name and return address? What a waste! Your phone and fax numbers, your URL, and even a memorable slogan should be there, too. It’s not just an envelope; it’s a business promotion tool! You’re sending it out anyway, so why not make it work for you?

The same goes for outgoing faxes, bill payments, receipts; whatever paper you send out should carry your full company message. And don’t forget to make sure that your email has a complete signature that provides all your business information and a promotional tagline.

Electronic documents, such as email, are also easy to update with your latest business promotion information, whether it be a special price on your product or service, or letting people know that your company has won an award.

Articles and press releases are also excellent business promotion tools that you can use to promote your business inexpensively. Read on to learn what types of articles and press releases you should write and tips on where to send them to promote your business effectively.

2) Writing articles on topics related to your business expertise is an excellent business promotion technique.

Well-written articles can provide free advertising and build positive word-of-mouth. If you’re a realtor, for instance, you could write a piece on preparing your home to be shown. If you’re a Web site designer, you might write a piece about assessing Web site usability. The more specific your topic, the better. Write a short biographical note, or “blurb” about you and your business to go with the article. Then send it out!

Where? As the goal is to promote your business, ideally you’d like it to appear in a publication that your target audience will be reading. Realistically, you may have to send it to a publication that accepts unsolicited work from unknown authors. Magazines generally have a long lead time, so I would focus my first efforts on the ‘Net. There are an astronomical number of e-zines and sites with newsletters that are hungry for content.

One place to look for e-zines to send articles to is The Internet’s Best E-Zine Directories. E-zines also provide excellent advertising value; the trick is to find the right e-zine for your target audience. Freelance writing sites also provide a great deal of information on all kinds of publications that might publish your efforts. Make your research easier by starting with a great site that provides all kinds of lists and information on markets such as About Freelance Writers, or FreelanceWriting.com.

Newspapers are also excellent places to place your business promotion article, as they too have a much shorter lead-time than magazines, and are always looking for material. Try contacting the Business editor of your local paper and pitching your article. If this approach fails, you might be able to get your piece into the paper by sending it in as a letter to the Editorial section.

3) Sending out press releases is another great way to get some free business promotion.

The caveat to using press releases as a business promotion tool is that your press release has to actually contain information that is newsworthy, and be engaging enough to get people’s interest. Has your business recently expanded? Do you have a new product? Have you been involved in some promotional activity such as sponsoring a charity event? Have you or your company recently won an award? All of these are examples of “news” that you can capitalize on to get some free promotion for your business.

While many business people send press releases to newspapers as a matter of course, don’t forget about the Internet. Web sites like mine, for example, that specialize in providing business-related information, are interested in you and your accomplishments.

What else can you do to get some free business promotion? What about using Internet forums and freebies as business promotion tools or doing some buddy marketing to promote your business?

4) If you’re an Internet user, spend some of your online time on business promotion.

Posting messages in forums (a.k.a. bulletin boards) is a great way to make your business known to people you would otherwise be unable to contact. You can’t blatantly advertise your business on most forums, but you can show others that you’re a knowledgeable, personable individual and promote your business through your signature file.

Getting people interested in your business and perhaps attracting new customers works best if you choose forums that are business-related (such as my Small Business: Canada forum) or directly related to your business’s product or service.

The other caveat with choosing forums to post in is to check their level of activity; posting in a forum that doesn’t have much traffic or regular activity isn’t going to do much to promote your business.

5) Use buddy marketing to promote your business.

For example, if you send out brochures, you could include a leaflet and/or business card of another business, which had agreed to do the same for you. This gives you the chance to reach a whole new pool of potential customers.

You might also plan and carry out business promotions with complementary businesses. A pet store and a pet grooming business, for example, might use shared advertising, or run a contest together. This can considerably cut down the cost of business promotion, and allow each business to use promotion techniques that would be too expensive to implement alone.

6) Give out freebies as business promotion.

We’re all familiar with hearing or reading advertisements that promise that the first 50 people to visit a particular store will receive a free (____). You fill in the blank. It could be anything from a red rose through an ice-cream cone! We’re all familiar with this kind of spot promotion because it works. People love to receive things that are free.

Besides using freebies as business promotions, you can also use them regularly as customer “rewards”. For example, I recently had a picture framed; the framer had attached a free picture hanger to the painting’s wire, with a small card thanking me for my patronage. It’s only a small thing, which certainly didn’t cost him much, but as the customer, I appreciate not having to rummage through my home looking for a suitable hanger, and can’t help thinking positively about the service he provides. What small, inexpensive things could you give out with your product or service that will get your customer thinking good thoughts about you? Combining business promotion with customer rewards is definitely a win-win situation.

7) Promote your business on a talk show.

Your local radio station or cable TV station may have programs that are looking for guests - a great low-cost way to promote your business! Business-related programs are ideal. Find out who the host is, and approach him or her as willing to share your expertise on a particular topic.

Call-in programs are popular; you may be able to appear as a guest expert. If you’re a mechanic, you might offer to take call-in questions on car maintenance; if you operate a health store, you might market yourself as an expert in herbal remedies. Have your proposal clearly worked out before you contact the program host, and make sure the parameters of your appearance, such as details about plugs, are clear beforehand.

Promote your business by giving a seminar or presentation.

You have expertise that other people are interested in! (You couldn’t be in business if you didn’t.) Why not share that expertise and promote your business at the same time?

For example, a local carpet company advertises a free seminar on installation techniques for a type of laminate flooring. Participants not only learn how to install this type of flooring themselves, but are offered special discount prices if they wish to purchase laminate flooring. Another local retailer who sells goods made of stained glass offers courses on working with stained glass on-site.

If there’s no direct tie-in to your product or service, you can still give a presentation on a related topic. Nursery people or horticulturalists, for instance, often give demonstrations on topics such as tree-pruning, or slide shows of famous gardens they’ve visited. Although most of my business involves providing specific writing or training services to businesses, I give presentations on general topics such as “Promoting Your Business on a Shoestring”.

If it’s not feasible to present the seminar at your site, because you’re a home-based business or just don’t have the facilities you would need, arrange to give the seminar elsewhere. Many government-sponsored organizations, such as Business Service Centers and Economic Development Centers, and non-profit programs are always looking for experienced business people who are willing to give presentations. You may also be able to arrange to present your topic through the Continuing Education branch of your local college or university.

Scared? Start small and start building a name by making a presentation to one of your local groups such as your Home-Based Business Association or Business Women’s network. If public speaking terrifies you, I can’t recommend Toastmasters highly enough; this organization has helped a great many people get over this fear and be able to address groups of people.

That’s eight low-cost ways you can promote your business so far. But there are two more business promotion opportunities that you may not have considered yet; using your car and your non-business related activities.

9) Use your vehicle to promote your business.

Mobile business promotion isn’t just for white delivery vans. Where I live, one in every four vehicles has the name and phone number of a business decorating one of the windows or doors. Think of all the people who see your vehicle when you’re driving around - especially if you live in a place where people often get stuck in traffic!

You should be able to get a pair of magnetic signs from your local source for less than a hundred dollars. Or, for an elegant promotional look, you could order Promo Plates, which are quite inexpensive at $29.95 USD plus shipping and handling.

10) Promote your business through your leisure activities.

One savvy businessman I know relaxes by being part of a rock band. Guess what? Every time his band’s gigs are mentioned in the newspaper, the piece also mentions the name of his business!

You may not be part of a band yourself, but everyone does something for “fun”. Whether your chosen leisure activity is working on a Spitfire Restoration project, rock-climbing, or shopping, there are all kinds of ways to promote your business while you do what you love to do.

Where’s the harm in shopping or rock-climbing wearing a T-shirt that has the name of your business prominently displayed? Or in taking your business cards everywhere you go and clipping your card to the slip when you pay for a purchase by card or check? Get in the habit of doing business promotion wherever you go and you’ll be surprised how word-of-mouth builds.

If your leisure activity involves a group, you might ask if you can include your business information on all of their out-going paper, or ask if you can at least give everyone a brochure.

And with any kind of group activity, there’s always the opportunity to promote your business by letting other people know what you do and how it could benefit them. This doesn’t mean that you talk about nothing else, but there are bound to be chances to talk about your business that crop up during normal conversation.

These ten business promotion ideas are just some of the ways you can promote your small business without spending a small fortune. With a little experimentation and time, you’ll find out which of these ideas work best for you - and best get the word out about your small business.

Marketing Tips for Autumn Profits

Is your company’s marketing ready for Fall opportunities? If you plan to make a big splash about an early Fall event or promotion, remember that it requires four to six weeks advance notice at the least to prepare marketing materials without incurring rush charges. Even if you are expecting big things from the winter holiday season, the time to start the marketing machine is when the kids go back to school!

Why is Fall such a great marketing opportunity? Think of it as a side effect of the traditional business cycle.

End of year budgets: Some managers are cautious during the first half of the year, hoarding their budget. Then during the second half, they realize that year-end budget planning and deliverables are coming up, and the purse strings loosen to get key projects completed on time. This is especially true for companies with a “use-it-or-lose-it” budget approach, where managers have an incentive to spend down before the end of the year.
Ramp up for the holidays

It is a wonderful thing for business that so much of the world celebrates a holiday of some kind during the last few months of the year. Between October and January, almost everyone has a reason to buy gifts, stock up on special groceries and entertain. If your business sells gift items, food, entertainment services or home décor, this is the season to make sure everyone knows about you! You’ll need some extra marketing savvy to cut through the clutter.

New Year Budgets

Managers who ran out of discretionary budget before the end of the fiscal year just ending may be counting the days until the New Year’s budget starts and they can buy what they need. Make sure your business is top of mind by getting your message out early, before the holiday clutter. September and October are not too early for managers who are budgeting purchases for January.

End of year panic: Fall can be a moment of reckoning for managers who realize that there is more project left than there is calendar to complete it in. That can lead to forced spending on extra resources, productivity-enhancing tools and outsourcing to meet year-end deadlines. If your company can help with the last quarter crunch, start getting the message out in September!

Back From the Beach

Some companies take a break over the summer. They put projects on hold, and set few deadlines. Then, as soon as school reopens, managers are back at their desks and everyone is recharged and ready to get down to business. That can include making decisions about purchases that have been deferred over the vacation months. Early Fall is the perfect time to follow up on proposals and close those deals with fresh sales materials or customized direct mail pieces.

Get ahead of your competition by revving up your marketing engines in September. Use the pressure of the business cycle to your advantage, and market your goods and services relentlessly as the year counts down. By helping your clients have a successful year-end, you’ll also be doing your own bottom line a favor.

Gail Z. Martin

Content Creates Engagement

Engagement is the buzzword of choice when social media experts get together to pontificate. And while I agree that engagement, and ultimately action, is the payoff of social media, few social media experts talk about how it’s really created. Engagement is not really created by being a nice, genuine, caring and attentive sort of chap on twitter. It’s hard to create much momentum in any kind of social network without some of those qualities, but true engagement, engagement that leads to customers and partners, is created with content. Or, perhaps more accurately, engagement is created with engaging content.

I know you’re likely sick of me talking about the need to create lots of education rich content, but there’s just very few ways around it as a typical small business. Some exceptions, marry into lots of money and buy super bowl ads, get Miley Cyrus to wear your product on stage, or get Michael Arrington and Robert Scoble to argue publicly about the merits of your feature set – baring these, think content creation.

When it comes to effective social media use, I personally push towards using a great deal of energy and activity to create awareness for your content. So, of course if you’re to take this advice, you’ve got to have lots of content. Many people do little more than create small talk on social networks and then wonder why they can’t get an ROI for time spent. Most small businesses will be far better off if they look at their status updates on LinkedIn, Facebook and twitter, not as a way to tell the world about what they are doing (unless it’s creating content), but as a way to shed light on valuable content housed either within the particular social network or elsewhere online.

This means uploading videos to Facebook, creating events, such as webinars and optimizing them using the Facebook Events app, uploading PowerPoint presentations to Slideshare and using the Slideshare app for LinkedIn, and creating a quick hit point out of your latest blog post and pointing to it on twitter. That’s how engagement leads to orders.

I’m not suggesting that you don’t also have to make referrals, point out other people’s great content, and provide great answers to questions posed on that network – that’s just smart networking, regardless of the platform, and it’s also an important trust building function. But, at the end of the day, if someone, looking for a solution, can’t find that you have in detailed, multi-format, education based content, then social media participation for business purposes can feel like a big fat high school mixer.

So, if you’re one of those that’s determined social media is a big fat waste of time, then I’m suggesting that what you’ve really discovered is that your sparkling personality isn’t enough to make social media pay.

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Best College Football Plays of 2008

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