Organic, Auction or Guerrilla?
After reading a few articles by Dave Pasternak, Kevin Lee and Mark Simon--all executives with Did-It--it sounds as if search engine marketing is over the heads of the average business professional. After all it is advertising on search engines. If search engines have particular algorithms that guide them that must mean you need to know programming or statistics to make intelligent moves.
Kevin Lee writes in "It's 10 PM Do You Know Where Your Brand Is?", "...advertisers don't want to find their advertising on a site that's espousing a point of view that doesn't fit the mainstream..."
Dave Pasternak says, "The field is highly competitive and [there's] difficulty in succeeding with search," in his December 26, 2007 DMNews article.
Could it be that an advertiser has to follow the
Chinese Restaurant Model of Advertising? This model was used by America Online a 15 years ago and now is called guerilla and virile marketing. Chinese restaurants--without PC or Mac--know that their menus have to be distributed thickly within the territory they're willing to deliver. Shouldn't new and existing merchandisers do the same but cyber powered?
Of course, they should.
Pasternak recommends hiring a good agency and cautions that campaign automation tools to do it in-house are the diluted versions of what an agency uses in house (That's similar to the beef about hair care products used in salons vs. the same brand sold through retailers). Use them in good faith and know distributing postcards with your website prominently displayed by email, snail mail and P2P have to be in the mix.
Labels: cashless society, PR, search engine advertising, SEM, SEO, technology, virile marketing
Lonny Love, Airbrush Artisan and Entrepreneur
Lonny Love is an airbrush artist who started out spraying graffiti on walls. After many run-ins with property owners and police, he realized that he could make money from his art. He's been a professional airbrush artist for 18 years.
His canvases are t-shirts, sneakers, jeans, hoodies, "Tims", fitted caps and trucker caps. He quite talented and much sought after. Lonny's significant customer base are jewish people. He airbrushes at bar mitzvas and does vending at JCC events.
I watched him work his craft in a mall in New Jersey. He was always busy doing his art. Alongside him was Hope, his mate. She made and sold bars of soap and pie- and cocktail-shaped candles. She also put glittery messages on Santa caps. They had a good business, although they say business has been much, much better. Hope lovingly packaged her soaps and candles and restocked her display shelves. She kept her head to the grindstone to prepare those glittery Santa caps. When she's not doing caps, soaps and candles, Hope is braiding hair or doing manicures some place else.
Seeing the industry, cash and public apreciation, had me think about the youth and their career options.
Lonny and I chatted about it. There are options; no one needs to starve. People can consider airbrush artistry, candlemaking, soapmaking and eBay. Yes, eBay. Young people could walk through more affluent neighborhoods and pick up cast aways. After setting up an account. After setting up an ebay account, sell what's collected on through their store or an auction. The candles and soaps could be sold through vending or merchandising to smaller retailers. I mentioned that selling drugs and prostitution were unnecessary. Lonny said, "People do that because they're not thinking."
Lonny Love, commissioned artist and vendor, has been at this for 18 years. He says he's been all over. In fact, from December 24 through early January, he's in St. Croix working a festival.
A family friend visited him at the mall. They spoke about the economy. The quagmire of credit card debt and mortgage foreclosures across the nation. The friend described a dinner party wherein most of the couples in attendance were grossing six figures. The friend said three men disclosed that they recently lost their jobs. The friend encouraged Lonny to maintain his entrepreneurial endeavors. So the next time you see a vendor ask for some business advice.
About the Santa caps: they bought them at a discount store for 99 cents each. After glittering, they sold for $12.
Labels: airbrush artistry, arts and crafts, careers, credit card debt, graffiti, Hip Hop, lifestyle, mortgage foreclosures, society, US economy
Vendors' World
Some die-hard vendors invited me to work with them to learn the trade. I found that it is lucrative and a means to grow an empire. The empire is there only if you have a plan. Many vendors deal with the enterprise on its elemental level, though. It's a pity.
My days of traveling to suburban schools, churches and malls were eye-opening. I saw, on-the-ground, the state of the US' economy. Visitors to the shows deliberated over spending $10, $15 and $20 on items. Though the merchnadise was pricetagged, people hoped for a bargain. Even $5 and $3 rings were studied. The veteran vendors repeatedly stated, "Last time this year we made 2 to 3 times more." I noticed too much bashing of customer behavior--right within people's earshot. Forgive me, I learned to sell at a top radio station in D.C.--WHUR-FM. I stuffed media kits, updated rate cards, studied Arbitron ratings and went out with the AEs. There wasn't time for bashing clients; we were thinking of the presents to give them and ensuring spots aired when promised. Did these vendors know they were watering their crop with vinegar?
The beauty of vending is that it's unadulterated retail. You set up your temporary shop, turn on the credit card processing machine, consider your prices and do a lot of smiling at strangers. I was a very active vendor, helping people try on merchandise, holding the mirror and answering questions. The woman I vended for doesn't believe in mark up and mark down. I spoke to her about inventory but she doesn't mind that she holds stuff for years. Many vendors read books, talk on their cell phones or fix broken merchandise. One venue was a killer: 8 am to 11 pm. I didn't know I had the stamina. One night at 11 o'clock, a woman came over to me as I was about to cover the display. She had a blouse in her hand and searching for the right ear rings and necklace. Was she for real? Yes, after twenty minutes of laying different ear rings and necklaces on the blouse, she made her purchase with me. It turns out she was the mall manager.
Labels: business, lifestyle, society
Talking Shop is Natural in PR
A senior account executive for a
maverick firm that's making much waves in PR talked a little shop with me recently. He gave me different pointers on getting and keeping a job, client services and salary negotiation.
I asked about favorite spots where communicators go to unwind. He said that there weren't places like that because PR folks tend to keep a distance from one another due to the competitive nature of the business. "Everyone is after the same segment producer or reporter."
Well, I accepted that until I finally went to a
PRSA monthly social mixer. The admission fee is "the cost of your drink." It was at the
Arctica Bar & Grill. I arrived late but the place was still full of chatty people. Executives from
Burrelles Luce were a few feet from
Cision staffers. People from boutique to major PR firms schmoozed effortlessly. Piled on the pool table were copies of the latest
Bulldog Reporter--the newsletter that tracks the career moves of magazine and newspaper editors . If people thought about hording media contacts, then the ol' Bulldog,
Cision and
Burrelles Luce countered that move.
This event was about networking. It was going past the search firm to know your colleagues and the house they work for. After all, in PR, people tend to be recycled, promoted, and set up shop within the industry. Read the bios and you'll see the trail of agencies someone worked at to get to where she is now--in PR or a complementary industry. Well lest we get left in the shadows,
Planning To Succeed was promoted by yours truly.
I'm very glad I went to the mixer. The Arctica Bar & Grill serves great foreign ales on tap in 20 oz. glasses for six bucks. Of course
the company was cool.
Labels: ale, boutique PR firm, Burrelle Luce, business networking, Cision, media monitoring, media training, Planning To Succeed, public relations
