It's not about me & it's not about you.

I have a confession to make. I hate Facebook. Not a smart thing to admit for anyone who claims to be a member of the media/advertising/marketing world today. Facebook is a juggernaut, an uber-site, a King Kong of social media. You have to be on Facebook. Have to!!! And I am, but it's painful. 

Our Pennysavers, our Today's CNY Woman Magazine and everything else we do have a presence on Facebook. That's a very good thing, and your business needs a presence there, too. But for me, as a consumer, to follow any of these sites, I have to register as a user and it's only a matter of time before people I know find me. They want to be friends. So, okay, let's be friends. I don't want to offend anyone I really know by saying nyet to their request. But then it starts..."going to lunch now"..."chilling on the porch with my dog Snuggles"..."help me grow Brussels sprouts on my pretend farm". Your friends, your relatives, your spouse's friends and relatives, co-workers and more all bombard you with the minutiae of their lives.  I'm sorry, but it makes me crazy. Thus, I stay away from checking and updating my Facebook info and am out of the social media loop. That's not a very good thing.

Where's this going? I must practice what I preach. I've got to learn to love new things. I can't decide what's good for our business based on what I like or don't like. Neither should you. I've been on any number of client calls through the years where the marketing decision maker says "I don't read your paper." So they don't advertise with us even though we reach 99% of the marketplace with weekly readership in better than 8 out of 10 homes, all independently audited information. Doesn't matter what you do. Decision makers have to be in touch with what their customers (and prospective customers) are doing/reading/surfing and make marketing decisions on the facts, not their own personal habits. There are so many options today for spending the ad dollar that research and knowledge are critical to making sound advertising decisions, more than ever before. And it's only going to get more complex as more options come to the table.

Our job at the Scotsman is to sell advertising, yes...but our success is based on your success, your long term success. We win when you do. And believe me, we want to win. Let's talk sometime about how we can help you make good decisions for your business and make us both more successful. Drop us a line at info@scotsmanmediagroup.com.

Thanks very much for your time!

Think big to be big(ger)!

Scared? Some experts say we should be. Our national fiscal outlook isn't good, they say, given the debt ceiling carnival and the resulting stock market fluctuations. Down 600 points yesterday, up 500 today, down 400 tomorrow. Like many folks, the personal impact of the market on me comes via my 401k and one could go nuts trying to chase results by changing your options every day. Historically, you've got to ride it out to be successful long term. I just read a blog on the Observations website that quotes a study showing average annual stock growth, including dividends, to be about 9% per year when you look at 25 year blocks of time. Not a bad record and it's trackable.

Marketing your business with effective advertising works the same way. You've heard it before, but it merits mentioning again. Studies show that consistent advertising results in sales growth, especially when things are tough. The most famous study, one by McGraw Hill, shows that companies that maintain advertising when things tighten up improve their sales by 250%-plus as compared to those who cut back. Not a bad record and it's trackable.

When our local account managers explain this concept to local advertisers, we hear things like "I'm not a big player...those things are for the big companies, the national companies." Yes they are. But just like my little 401k, small companies need to follow the same advice that has made the big companies big. Make sense? Large, successful operations don't follow these marketing trends because they're big; they're big because they follow them. They understand that when things are tight, you build market share (AKA: stealing loyal customers from your competition) when you advertise consistently. When you get even more aggressive, the results multiply even more.

It's not as simple as just advertising, though, just spending money on print, electronic or other media. Ads today have to be creative, effective and really speak about value to targeted audiences. We can't give you stock market advice, but we can help you get the most value for your ad dollar and help you capture customers. E-mail us at info@scotsmanmediagroup.com if you'd like to explore the possibilities. Thanks very much!

Jim is the man...you wanna be the man, too?

I'd like you to meet my friend Jim. He's from Pittsburgh, working as the sales training guru for a large group of papers, free and paid dailies and weeklies. I have the privilege of working with Jim in our national free paper association's training arm, the Leadership Institute. I fancy myself to be a pretty good trainer and presenter but the fact is that I'm not worthy to carry Jim's smartphone. That's because Jim is a true expert.

To say that Jim is well-read is akin to saying that fish swim a lot. This guy reads everything, and remembers everything he reads. He is adept at taking his acquired knowledge and applying it to everyday business situations to arrive at simple solutions that help people grow. How cool is that? He blogs, sends out e-mail "quotes of the week" to a growing list of followers, makes guest speaker appearances all over the country and does other things to spread his reputation. Best of all, he is just a regular guy with a genuine desire to help people. Everybody in our business knows Jim -- and everyone likes and respects him. He's our expert.

In a world that gets more choked with messages and media, Jim has found a way to separate himself from the crowd. My job, and the job of my colleagues here at the Scotsman, is to help you find a way to separate yourself from your competition. To build top of mind awareness among your target audience. To help you become recognized as an expert in your field and as a source of value to your friends and customers. It doesn't require anything more than a desire to grow your business, one neighborhood at a time. We'll help you develop your "USP" (see next week's blog on that topic) and then help you map out a plan to share it with the market. Drop us a note at info@scotsmanmediagroup.com for assistance. Thanks again!