Marketing Strategies Blog by Peter Geisheker

Marketing lesson and going out of business

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Geisheker) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:30:00 +0000

A VOIP telecom company in Wisconsin is now out of business because they were too cheap to hire my marketing firm (or another marketing firm) to help them with marketing and advertising. I will not say their name to protect them but their cheapness and lack of respect for the vital importance of quality marketing and advertising put them out of business. Now their employees are out of jobs and there are probably many vendors they owed money to who will no be paid. And the money investors put into the company is now lost... all because they didn't think marketing was that important and they would figure it out themselves.

I had personally created a marketing strategy plan (localized internet advertising and local direct mail to their niche market) for them that was within their budget and would have brought them new clients and kept them in business and growing. But, they did not want to spend the money to hire my firm. And we are not talking about millions of dollars here. I think I offered to create and manage their marketing program for 6 months for about $20,000 (about the cost of a secretary). What is saddest of all is they said YES we can easily afford to hire you. But, their board decided to go the cheap route and try and do it themselves even though none of them was an experienced marketing professional. Dumb, dumb, dumb...

Here is the most important business tip you will ever learn. NOTHING is more important in business than marketing. Marketing is the life blood of a business. It is the heart of a business. It is the soul of the business. Without marketing, your business is nothing. Without marketing, you do not have a business.

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group marketing companies
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate!"

B2B appointment setter wanted

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Geisheker) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:43:00 +0000

My marketing firm is seeking a master B2B appointment setter to work from their home as a 1099 contractor to cold call CEOs to schedule appointments with our President.

You must have 5+ years of experience in B2B appointment setting and the ability to get CEOs on the telephone to schedule appointments. You must love cold calling and playing the game of getting past the gatekeeper so you can talk to the CEO. Please do not contact unless you are an absolute master at cold calling to get appointments and you can prove it. We only care about results.

If you are a master at cold calling and getting appointments, send your resume ASAP to peter@geisheker.com. Also, include a cover letter explaining why you are the world's best appointment setter and how we will not be wasting our time or money if we hire you.

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group Marketing Firm

Celebrity Endorsements and marketing

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Geisheker) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:31:00 +0000

My professional opinion about using celebrities to endorse a product or service is that it can be a smart business decision (i.e. lucrative) as long as the celebrity is popular and believable among your target market. Does your target market view the celebrity as somebody they admire? Do they trust the celebrity? Also, does your target market honestly believe the celebrity would use your product or service? Believability and trust are key.

You also want to choose a celebrity you can work with over several years. Repetition is key to advertising success, and having a celebrity pitch your product for only a short period of time (a year or less) is not a good idea. People want familiarity and a business only achieves that through repetition over time.

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group marketing companies
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate!"

How I use Twitter to market my business

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Geisheker) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:05:00 +0000

I use Twitter to market my marketing firm by Tweeting on "how to" tips where I write a short "how to" article on my blog (which you are reading right now) and then I link to it from the Tweet message I post in Twitter.

I also Tweet on marketing projects I am working on and sometimes I will ask for feedback on what people think of ideas I have for a project. I also use Twitter to announce new products and services my clients are offering. As a social networking tool, Twitter works best when you use it to help others by providing useful information.

Why not hook up with me on Twitter now. I am at http://twitter.com/geisheker

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group marketing firm
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate!"

top 3 social media marketing blunders

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Geisheker) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:50:00 +0000

Here are the top 3 social media blunders I see being made by mid-to-large companies:

1. Talking using cold dull boring business language that sounds like it was written by an attorney. Businesses need to loosen up and using communication that reads as if you are talking to your best friend. Give your social media communications some personality and show you are a real live person instead of the legal department.

2. Selling too hard! Social media is for conversations and building relationships - NOT hard sales.

3. Not giving information that is of value. To increase social networking results, give people a reason to talk about your company and refer others to you. Give helpful tips, resources, etc. Show the social networking world that you are a giver instead of just trying to promote your products/services. If you want to get more, learn to give more.

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group marketing firm
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate!"

Outside sales superstar wanted

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Geisheker) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 03:05:00 +0000

Sales Superstars Wanted $50k to $300k

Don't even call unless you are the best and can prove it. Earn $50k if you're average, $150k if you're good, and $300k plus if you're great. We are in the advertising agency business and we care much more about your sales ability than we do your resume. Young or old--if you have the stuff, we'll know. We will train someone who has everything we want (i.e., you're a sales monster).

Small base, but huge performance rewards to get you to $300k and beyond each year. Must be awesome at opening doors and getting appointments from a cold start. Must be highly self-motivated, a terrific presenter and communicator, and a barracuda closer. Come and build your own empire within our fine progressive company. We have a superb reputation and need real stars to bring in the best accounts.

Call us at 920-471-1638 and tell us why you are a superstar sales person. Do not send us your resume because we hire sales gurus, not resumes.

Executive Secretary Job

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Geisheker) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:41:00 +0000

This position has been filled.

The Geisheker Group Marketing Firm is seeking a part-time executive secretary/administrative assistant to work 20 hours a week from home as a 1099 contractor.

Here are the qualifications:

This is a part-time work from home job (20 hours per week). It is for USA residents only. You will help with project management, customer service, collections, and administrative duties. For this position you must have at least 2 years of experience as an executive secretary. You must have outstanding telephone and written communication skills. You must have a good working computer with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and a high speed internet connection. You must also have a reliable telephone. If you have experience working at an advertising agency, you just moved yourself to the top of our list and you should contact us immediately.

To apply, please send your resume, cover letter, and hourly pay requirements to peter@geisheker.com

How to make your first million dollars

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Geisheker) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:56:00 +0000

Here is a great article on tips from 49 entrepreneurs on how to make your first million in business. I am very proud to say I am one of the 49 entrepreneurs interviewed in this article. Check it out at...

http://www.toiletpaperentrepreneur.com/blog/how-to-make-the-first-million

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group marketing firm
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate!"

AAA poor customer service lesson

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Geisheker) — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 06:00:00 +0000

I am a member of AAA and I have used their service when my car would not start and I needed to have it towed. The service was great. I called the number and was immediately sent to a customer service rep to help me. Beautiful. This is how to take care of your customer.

You are saying, "hey wait, the title of this blog post is "AAA poor customer service lesson". What gives?" Here is my answer.

AAA mailed me a sales letter saying they were auto-renewing my membership using my credit card and I could upgrade by calling the 1-800 upgrade number they gave me. I decided I wanted to upgrade my membership to include my motorcycles and some other upgrade features, so I called. Here is where the poor customer service begins...

First, upon calling the number, I am put through menu selection hell. You know, press 1 for this, press 2 for that, blah blah blah. Okay, so after about 1-2 minutes of going through menus I finally get to the membership upgrade option. I press it and then a voice says it will be a 15 minute wait and I should go to their website. Funny thing is the sales letter they sent me stated I should call their 800 number to upgrade - NOT go to their website. Their website upgrade URL is not even printed anywhere on the sales letter. So now I am on hold and my valuable time is being wasted. So I hang up. Later that same day I call again hoping for better luck. No such luck. Same menu selection hell, same wait 15 minutes before I can talk to a live customer service rep. So, in frustration I hang up again. AAA had a customer who wanted to upgrade and give them my money but I was not worth their time to have a live rep answer the phone and take my order.

Now ask yourself, as a customer who is giving a company your hard earned money, should you be treated like this? Should you have to go through menu option hell and then be put on hold for 15 minutes so you can give a business your money? My answer is NO! I thought AAA was a great company with great service until I had to deal with this nonsense. Now I am not going to upgrade my membership and I will no longer recommend AAA to other people. And, I posted this blog which will likely be read by thousands of people who will rethink joining AAA. Rather expensive mistake for AAA, don't you agree?

Lesson learned is this: When you are a company it is an HONOR for you to sell your product/service to customers. People do not have to buy from your company. They owe you nothing. Therefore, when a customer wants to do business with you and give you their hard earned money, do not make them jump through hoops to buy from you. make buying from you as fast and easy as possible. And, if you own a company that treats your customers poorly, those angry customers can use the Internet with social networking (like I am doing here) to spread the word to millions of people telling them not to do business with you.

Hopefully AAA is smart enough to monitor their name as it is posted on the internet and they will fix their poor customer service for people wanting to become a new member or to upgrade their account.

I hope you learned what NOT to do in this blog post and AAA learns what they should be doing.

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group marketing firm
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate!"

Entrepreneurship questions

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Geisheker) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:25:00 +0000

I was recently asked to contribute to a list of the 50 most frequently asked questions about entrepreneurship and the answers. Here is a link to the article. Enjoy!

The 50 Most Frequently Asked Questions About Entrepreneurship

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group marketing firm
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate!"

How to be more productive

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Geisheker) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 12:29:00 +0000

My tips for working smarter this fall is to keep to-do lists of 6-items that you have to get done that day. The biggest obstacle in getting work done is constant interruptions and jumping from task to task without really completing anything. You look busy but nothing really gets done.

The way my employees and I work is every morning we each create a to-do list of the 6 most important projects we must complete that day before the day is over. Doing this keeps us all very focused on doing important work instead of doing unimportant busy work like checking email every 5 minutes and time wasters like that. The key is focus, focus, focus. It is hard but it sure works well and pushes productivity through the roof.

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group marketing company
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate!"

Marketing Trends for 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Geisheker) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:50:00 +0000

Here is what I see as the top trends in marketing for 2010:

1. Much more viral video advertising using videos on websites such as youtube.com and myspace.com.

2. Much more social media marketing using media like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and others.

3. More advertising focused on the growing Hispanic market. You will see more advertising that is in Spanish and commercials that have Spanish sub-titles for non-English speaking consumers. Overall, you will see more ethnocentric marketing.

4. There is going to be a much stronger focus on niche marketing as it is more affordable and profitable than mass marketing.

Your thoughts?

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group marketing company
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate!"

How to improve your business in 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Geisheker) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:50:00 +0000

Here are my top tips to help businesses make 2010 their best year ever:

1. Write down the goals you want to accomplish. The number one way to make your business grow and thrive is to write down measurable goals (i.e., I WILL generate $7.5 million in sales by December 31, 2010). Don't keep your goals in your head. Write your goals down in a place where you will see them every day such as your office white board. You want your goals to eat at you like a scratch you want to itch. Achieving your goals should be your company's primary focus.

2. Create better marketing materials. Understand that marketing is a war of words, and the company with the best words wins. If you are not working with a professional marketing copywriter to create all of your marketing and advertising materials, you are most likely losing the marketing battle with your competitors. Rarely does the best product win in business. It is almost always the product with the best marketing that wins. Therefore, for you to win in business, your focus must always be on having more powerful marketing words than your competition. Win the marketing game and success is yours.

3. Do not give up and lose hope! You are going to have ups and downs and you need to weather the storm. A big part of business success comes from how well you handle the bad days. Keep focused and stay positive that you WILL achieve your businesses goals no matter what.

4. Educate yourself. One of the keys to success in business and in life is reading “how to” books on business. Talk to any millionaire business person and you will find that he or she owns dozens if not hundreds of business books.

I owe all of my success in life to reading business books. Anybody who knows me knows that I am constantly reading business books on topics such as management, sales, and marketing.

If you want to greatly improve the success of your business and your life, it is as easy as reading 10 pages a day, every day. If you commit yourself to reading 10 pages a day from business books, in a year you will have read 3,650 pages! As an average business book is about 300 pages long, if you read 10 pages a day in 1-year you will have read 12+ complete business books. Think of the amazing business education you will give yourself by forcing yourself to read 10 pages a day.

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group marketing company
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate!"

retail marketing to reach new customers

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Geisheker) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 16:09:00 +0000

The best way for retailers to reach customers outside of their core target segment depends on their budget. For a small retailer (non franchise), the best way to go is with postcards that have a coupon printed on them. However, before blindly sending out postcards, the retailer needs to know the demographics and psychographics of the new target market they want to reach and that this new market can be profitable. For example, if you are a retailer that sells video games, you want your target market to be males within maybe 5-10 miles of your store who are aged 12 – 35. You do not want to send postcards to women who are senior citizens. This sounds like common sense but it amazes me how many businesses waste their money marketing to the wrong target markets.

To discover potential new markets to target, spend time researching who has purchased from you in the past. Look for patterns. When doing this research you may find that a group you never considered to be your core target market is actually a sizeable percentage of your sales. Using the video game retail store example, you may find by studying your past sales data that it is women aged 18-40 buying 35% of your games because they are buying games for their husbands, boyfriends, children, cousins, etc. Therefore, you would want to make a custom message for this market saying buy great video game gifts for the men in your life and use this 10% off coupon with you next purchase.

For larger retailers and chains, you need to do the same thing-- research who has purchased from you in the past and look for segments that make up sizeable percentages of your sales. Then, create custom sales messages to advertise to those segments via Internet marketing, social media, postcards, magazine advertising to the publications the segment reads, advertise on cable TV shows the segment watches, etc. The key is you need to have a custom sales message for each niche market (segment). Do not make the mistake of trying to create a one size fits all marketing message as different segments buy for different reasons and they have different hot buttons.

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group marketing company
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate!"

social media marketing

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Geisheker) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 18:04:00 +0000

A major question in marketing/advertising today is how much should a company spend on social media marketing and should a company reallocate marketing dollars from from more traditional media (radio, TV, print...) and use that money for social media marketing.

My view is that if a company can accurately measure its social media marketing and prove it is generating a higher return on investment and helping the company achieve its marketing goals better than another type of media, then yes, funds should be allocated to it. Whenever a marketing tactic is profitable, it should be used. That is just smart business sense.

However, my opinion is that social media is still very much in its infancy and should be used sparingly until better measurement tools are in place to measure its effectiveness and ROI. When choosing marketing channels for my clients, social networking is a piece of the pie, but it’s a rather skinny piece. My advice is to lightly test social media marketing and measure what the results are. Take small steps. If it works and it helps you achieve your marketing goals, great, do more of it. If it does not work, no problem as you are not out that much money and you can continue testing on a small scale.

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group marketing firm
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate!"

MTV Jersey Shore and Advertising

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Geisheker) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 23:54:00 +0000

Unless you live in a cave, you have probably heard about the wildly popular MTV reality TV show Jersey Shore. It is about a group of single 20-something men and women who are of Italian ethnicity who are living together in a beach house on the Jersey Shore. This is the same format as the other MTV "Real World" reality TV shows.

The Jersey Shore reality TV show is extremely popular. However, there is also a strong backlash against it by the Italian community saying that the show wrongly depicts Italian American stereotypes and uses offensive words like "Guido" and "Guidettes." This has led to advertisers being concerned about advertising on the show and some stopping their advertising.

Here is my view on Jersey Shore. What we have are 20-something American men and women behaving like 20-something American men and women. It has nothing to do with them being Italian Americans. I do not care if you are Irish, German, French, African American, Italian, Asian, Swedish, Dutch, etc. Single 20-somethings like to have fun, party, and try to hook up with the opposite sex. Welcome to human sexuality 101.

As an advertiser, if you sell to the teen through 30-something demographic, then advertising on MTV's Jersey Shore makes perfect sense and you should not shy away from it. Again, the cast of this reality TV show act and behave like normal horny 20-somethings (just as the 20-something casts of all the MTV Real World shows behaved, and the fact that the Jersey Shore cast is Italian American has nothing to do with it. The majority of red-blooded 20-somethings in American behave like this.

So advertisers get off your high moral horse and wake up to the reality of how 20-somethings behave. We are no longer living in the age of Leave it to Beaver so stop pretending like we are. If the viewers of Jersey Shore are your demographic for buying your products, then advertise with confidence.

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group marketing company
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate!"

Business Resolutions for 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Geisheker) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:07:00 +0000

The major business resolution I will focus on in 2010 is spending more of my time generating publicity for my marketing firm by providing expert marketing quotes to the media for business websites, blogs, magazines, newspapers, etc. Performing publicity work for my business does not take that much of my time (maybe 30 minutes a day) and the results are outstanding. In 2009 I was interviewed by over a dozen business magazines/newspapers which led to my marketing firm acquiring several new clients. This year my goal is to be interviewed by a minimum of 50 magazines and/or newspapers and I think that goal is very attainable. Performing this work and achieving my goal this will get my name and my company’s name in front of millions of prospects while building my reputation as a master marketing expert.

The number 1 area I want to improve in myself in 2010 is to be wiser at how I spend my time. I need to stop doing busy work that does not generate income (i.e. checking my email 25 times a day, playing on Twitter too much) and focus my time on the types of activities that generate income and growth for my company. This means delegating more of my non-income producing work to other employees (or outsourced contractors) and focusing my time on activities that grow my company – publicity, marketing, and sales.

Now that you have seen my business resolutions for 2010, what are yours?

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group marketing company
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate!"

Value Proposition Marketing Lesson

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Geisheker) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 21:39:00 +0000

Recently my marketing team and I were talking to a new client and we asked that client to describe what their business does. 40 minutes later the client was still describing what their business does.

Here is a huge marketing lesson for you: If you cannot describe what your business does in about 12 words or less, you do NOT know what your business does.

Marketing is about focus. Super-duper-mega-get-to-the-damn-point-focus.

And when you describe your business in 12 words or less, you should be stating the #1 benefit you offer your customers. That is your value proposition.

For example, when people ask what my marketing firm does, I say, "We help businesses get more customers and increase sales." You have to agree that you cannot get much more focused and to the point than that.

Now think to yourself, what is the #1 benefit your business offers to your customers and how can you describe that benefit in 12 words or less. This is how you focus your marketing, and in doing so, attract more customers and increase sales.

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group marketing firm
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate!"

Dental marketing on the internet

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Geisheker) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 17:25:00 +0000

One of the best ways for dentists to market their dental practices is to use search engine optimization (SEO) on the Internet. This is the process of getting your website ranked in the top results when a person conducts a specific keyword search in a search engine such as Google or Yahoo.

As dentists normally only provides services for a specific city or town, performing search engine optimization for dentists is actually very simple.

I have performed SEO for a local dentist in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and the results were outstanding. I did not charge him for this service as I wanted to conduct a SEO test to see what kind of results I could get with minimal work. Within about 2 months he had top 10 rankings in Google and Yahoo when a person went to Yahoo or Google and searched for "Green Bay Dentist."

I have to tell you that it was easy to get those results. All I did was add keywords and the city name to his website title tag as follows:

(title tag) Green Bay Dentist - XYZ Dental in Green Bay Wisconsin (title tag)

I also created a couple of outbound links from other websites that included his keywords in the anchor text (Green Bay Dentist). I created maybe 5 outbound links total that I pointed at his site.

I estimate that I spent 2 hours on this SEO project and it got him top 10 results and new clients calling. Was he buried in new business because of this? No. But he did get a steady stream of about 1-2 new patient per week from the website and over time those new patients added up. When you add referrals and new patients bringing in their families, it is a great way to build a dental practice. So SEO is a good marketing channel for dentists, especially dentists in large cities where many people are using the Internet to find a dentist. In a large city a dentist with top 10 search rankings may get several new patients each week.

So the moral of this story is that for fairly little work, a dentist can easily get top 10 search engines results and a steady stream of new patients from the Internet. If you are a dentist reading this article, you need to have SEO done for your website or you are missing out on a great marketing channel to bring new patients to you.

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group marketing firm
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate!"

employee creativity inspiration techniques

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Geisheker) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:55:00 +0000

As I run a marketing firm, making sure my employees are creative is extremely important. The way I help them become more creative is as follows:

1. Reward creative thinking with social recognition. Tell the employee what a great job they have done in front of other employees.

2. Show them how to get into a creative mindset - listen to your favorite music, go for a walk, flip through magazines, etc.

3. Brainstorm with them and get them exciting about the creative process. Make it fun. When something is fun to do, employees will do it. I make spending time being creative a fun process.

4. When an employee does an exceptionally good job with coming up with creative ideas, reward them by either giving them a cash bonus or buying them a gift.

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group marketing company
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate!"

business names ideas

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Geisheker) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 20:46:00 +0000

The key to creating a good name for a business is first and foremost to include a keyword or two of what your business does so people automatically know what your business does by reading your company name. For example, Kim’s Family Dental is obviously a much better name for a dental business than Kim & Associates.

When creating your business name, you want the name to reflect the service and/or benefit you offer and to include some of your personality in the name. People prefer to do business with businesses they see as being friendly and fun, and what better way to show your business is friendly and fun than by creating a fun name. Using the dentist office example, friendly names include Kim’s Happy Family Dental, Beautiful Smile Dental, Happy Smile Dental, etc. Make people smile when they read your business name. Make your name inviting. Have fun.

Here are five points to consider when creating a company name:

1. Include a keyword or two of what your business does in your business name. If people do not know what your business does, they will not do business with you.

2. In your name you should consider the results customers get from your business. If perfect teeth is what people get from your dentist services, consider a name like “Perfect Smile Dental”.

3. Try to make your name memorable. Be creative. Remember that you cannot bore customers into remembering who you are. Have fun. Show your personality.

4. Do not make your name too long or it will be hard to remember. Try to keep your name to four words or less.

5. You should generally not include your first and last name as part of the business, especially if you want to sell your business some day. It is easier to sell “Perfect Smile Dental” than “Kim Jablonski Dental”.

A good name is short, easy to remember, describes what the business does, is unique, and rolls off the tongue. When thinking of a name for your business, brainstorm and try to think of at least 25 different names. Then show those names to family, friends, co-workers, potential customers, current customers, etc. to see which name is liked the most.

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group marketing company
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate!"

Boycott Ringling Bros circus

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Geisheker) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:56:00 +0000

It sickens me that animal torture takes place in this world, and here is Ringling Bros Circus torturing baby elephants to teach them stupid circus tricks. If you have any heart whatsoever, you will boycott Ringling Bros Circus and tell your family and friends to do the same. Here is a slide show of Ringling Bros circus torturing baby elephants.

http://www.ringlingbeatsanimals.com/bound-babies.asp

Peter Geisheker
The Geisheker Group Marketing Firm

focus your marketing message

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Geisheker) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 17:16:00 +0000

In the outstanding business and marketing book, "Rubies in the Orchard: How to Uncover the Hidden Gems in Your Business" by marketing guru and author Lynda Resnick (the marketer behind POM Wonderful, Fiji Water, Teleflora, The Franklin Mint), Lynda makes a wonderful argument for the importance of creating a strong USP that focuses on the leading benefit your product/service provides. I could not agree more.

Lynda also states that you need your sales message to be brief and very to the point to provide maximum impact. She says a good way to do this is to create your message as if it were going to be placed on a billboard with people driving by it at 55 mph. That means making your marketing message about 5 words or less and those words must make a powerful statement. Again, I could not agree more Lynda! Too many companies when describing the benefit they offer have a sales message that is several paragraphs long, and sometimes, several pages. This shows a tremendous lack of focus. Lynda states in her book on page 110, "If your message is a paragraph long, you don't have a message--you have a paragraph." Read that last sentence again as it is one of the most powerful marketing lessons you will ever learn. If you want a marketing message that people will remember, keep it brief (5 words or less if possible) and the words you use must make a strong impact. Remember, you cannot bore your customers into buying.

Now go and buy the book "Rubies in the Orchard: How to Uncover the Hidden Gems in Your Business" by Lynda Resnick. You will learn a lot about marketing and entrepreneurship.

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group marketing company
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate!"

effective advertising

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Geisheker) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:57:00 +0000

If you want your advertising to be more effective, you must understand that the #1 purpose of advertising is to explain how a product (or service) solves a specific problem better than any other solution so customers want to buy your product/service instead of a competing product/service. Sadly, many advertising agencies do not understand this simple concept and create advertising that is for entertainment only and does nothing to show the benefits of buying the product/service being advertised. That is why so much advertising fails to increase sales for the product/service being sold and is a negative return on investment.

Another way of creating effective advertising is to put yourself in your customer's shoes and say, "why should I buy this product/service? What's in it for me? What major benefit do I get? Why is this product/service a good value?"

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group marketing company
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate!"

101 marketing strategies

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Geisheker) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:36:00 +0000

Click to download my free ebook of over 101 marketing strategies which also include an outline of how to write a marketing plan.

Enjoy!

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group marketing company
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate!"