I'm a marketer...

I was just reading some blog entries this evening and came across one that really hit home with me. You see, I'm a marketer...I love it...it's a fun gig. But what I really love is building companies. Anyone who knows me knows that I've made a career out of building companies and selling them off...it's a wonderful life! Being there from the inception to the development, the maturation and then exiting before it gets old and stale...what a great time!

The other thing about me, however, is that I'm a student of history...I especially admire the Robber Barons of the "Guilded Age"...that period between 1865 and 1900 where many fortunes were made through hard work, ingenuity, and hard business practices (not to mention the absence of personal income taxes). I've had many a debate with people about the "evils" of the Robber Barons (people with names like Gould, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Durant, and Harrison) but the one thing that nobody can deny is that these men left something in their wake. A bank, a railroad, a university, a steel mill, oil refineries, etc. These men left a legacy of employment that would serve hundreds of thousands, nay, millions of American families for decades after their deaths. Then comes my burning question...have any of the companies that I've had a hand in building provided for anything more than for those immediately employed..will they be standing 10 or 20 years from now? The answer is most likely, "no." My son asked me one day, "daddy, if you win the lottery what will you do with the money?" I honestly didn't know beyond the typical "pay off the house," "go on vacation," etc. But now I know. I would sink whatever I could into a manufacturing company that would have the best odds of continuing like those manufacturing companies of yesteryear. I would seek to rediscover what our forefathers knew about an honest days work for an honest days pay. I would do all I could in order to create a legacy of employment that would exist long after I'm gone. Perhaps that's already happening with this current company that I run now...perhaps my son will take over the helm one day, employ hundreds of people...then again, perhaps not. But there's just something that tears at my soul when I see "manufacturing," the engine that built the world's greatest super-economy, gone from our American landscape. I'm proud whenever WPM and/or iAdvertizing get to work with a company that actually produces a good, solid, fairly priced product right here in the States. Manufacturing is who we were in the past (right up until recent history), and if that becomes totally lost, marketing won't hold very much luster for me anymore. So I guess I'm here saying (not unlike so man others before me) Let's do all we can to support those who create, craft, build, innovate, and employ...and in so doing continuing a long rich heritage that we can certainly embrace and be proud of. I'm now a "buy local" guy...and I'm not a trendy person..(just ask anyone who works with me)

Best Always,
Dave J.

My Type of Politician

By nature I'm not a political being (I'm in advertising) but it occurred to me just the other day that our politicians could use a little creative thinking (like our designers provide us) when it comes to their jobs and the performance of their required duties. Hypothetically speaking, if I ran for office, I'd use a lot more common sense than I'm seeing exhibited by our current gang of elected officials. Now, before I tell you what I'd do to correct the situation let's begin with some basic assumptions:

1. That our elected officials are there to represent US as citizens. That's their job description, period.

2. That our elected officials are citizens of the United States, just like those they are chosen to represent (again, US common folk).

Now, as I told my wife the other day if I ran for elected office in Washington I'd go for one term and do two things. The first thing that I'd do is run on a platform of COMPLETE REPRESENTATION. Meaning that my political views would be, should be, and are otherwise irrelevant. What I think or believe would not matter in the least. My understanding of representative government is that I'm NOT being put in place to further my own personal or ideological agenda, and therefore, what I believe should NOT count. Instead of staffers manning phones and taking down messages that our current representatives never see and/or pay attention to, I'd set up a website that would contain the following:

a. Every bill on which I would be voting

b. The official language of that bill

c. Lay person language/interpretation of that bill (for those non-lawyers out there)

d. What that bill means to the people I represent (both upside and down)

e. A set of buttons: vote - [] yes [] no

With this straight forward (and very easy to implement) approach every voter's voice could and would be heard. We have the technology to do this now, unlike even a mere decade ago. Oh, and for those of you saying "what about those without computers?" Guess what, Internet Cafe's, Public Libraries,etc... all have computers with Internet access for the public. Access is not an issue. And as a representative I would then cast my official vote "yes" or "no" based off of the direct response from the people in my district. No middle man so to speak...just the unbridled will of the people being conveyed directly and unfiltered to their chosen representative. And yet another benefit...there's a record so I could be held accountable. Did the number of yes or no votes from the website log correspond with my voting record? Holy cow...you mean my constituents could hold me "ACCOUNTABLE?" Say it ain't so! (Oh and by the way, there would be another staffer or two to verify the addresses of the people responding so no "stuffing the ballot box" so to speak). Politicians who employed this would NEVER have to defend their decisions on voting. It would be a simple matter of votes, one way or the other...very binary!

Secondly...I would go to Washington to officially bring to the membership a motion for the 28th Amendment of the Constitution. This amendment would read something like this:

The Congressional and Executive Branches of the United States government shall pass no law, binding upon the citizenry of the United States, that shall not be equally binding to all members and staff of Congressional, Executive, and Judicial branches of the United States government.

It would pass folks...I'd love to see the politician face his or her district voters and try to explain WHY they did not vote for a Constitutional Amendment that made them equal to us. It simply would not happen.

Now I've mentioned these two items to several dozen people over the past few weeks...both Democrat and Republican alike, and not one of them said "that's a bad idea Dave...as a matter of fact most of them said, "Run Dave...I'd vote for you on those platforms." Now if someone as mentally challenged as I am can come up with a solid idea for both absolute representation and equality between government and citizens why aren't others? Have you heard one politician espouse either of these ideas...if so, please let me know. I want to support him or her.

Best Always,
Dave J.

AMAZING ARTICLE

I had the following article sent to me by a friend who is also in the advertising business. He looked it over and with what's being reported came to the same conclusion as me...that if indeed we will be able to see the various "real time" importance and/or relevance of one social topic compared to another we and our clients can adjust strategies "on the fly" with greater accuracy and results.

Enjoy
Best Always,
Dave J.

Watching the Internet Think
By John Brandon
- FOXNews.com



The Web is an organism, and science can graph it. Through mesmerizing, flowing images and pulsing charts, new Web sites show who’s talking about which topics and how the Internet is connected -- even which colors are popular this season.

It's literally the pulse of the Web. Want to try it for yourself? Here's the best sites to visit.

Digg Labs
No one can match Digg for monitoring the hysteria of the moment -- links can soar to 5,000 Diggs in just a few days, and no one really knows why. Digg Labs helps you get a visual handle on the hoopla.

There are six labs, but each one taps into real-time Digg information. It's not experimental -- these are real Diggs from actual users, but the method of showing the data is unusual. Stack drops small tiles onto a graph that slowly builds into popular Diggs. Swarm is like a beehive where actual digg topics latch onto one another, following the progression of anonymous users.

Arc is - as you can guess - a group of Diggs that move around a circle. Larger text sizes means hotter topics. Big Spy -- perhaps the least useful tool -- shows larger text sizes for the most popular topics. And Pics is all about popular photos and graphics. (Be careful with this one at work, it can show you pornography on rare

Knowing that these tools can drain your Internet connection of all life and vitality, Digg Labs will pause automatically if you leave them open in your browser for too long.

Google Trends
Google Trends lets you compare terms such as "Barack Obama" and "Sarah Palin" to see who is more popular on the Web, and there's an interesting way to visualize the answers: When you search, you can view a bar chart with spikes that shows not only search topics (such as "Tiger Woods") but commentary from real posters on the Web, what Google calls real-time search. These comments include blog posts, social networking updates, and Twitter status.

"As the amount of information on the Web grows, the need for new ways to parse that information grows too," said Dylan Casey, product manager at Google. Casey explained that graphing tools give you the big picture, just as a ski resort might report on average monthly our yearly snowfall levels. The averages help you plan your ski trip beyond just knowing how much it snowed in the last week.

Using Google Trends, it's possible to see a graph over a historical period too -- say, for three years -- to see if the topic is becoming more popular. This could help a golf club manufacture plan a new product -- or a new advertising campaign boost interest.

Microsoft Pivot
Presented at the TED conference recently, Microsoft Pivot is a remarkable tool that lets you research Web information in real-time with a simple bar chart -- and it's a great way to watch Wikipedia.

Normally, Wikipedia entries are self-contained -- you can look up Barack Obama and read his biography, for example. But what if you wanted to research his accolades? Pivot shows you he was the Time Magazine person-of-the-year. You can then "pivot" this data and see every person-of-the-year, or click filters to see only African-Americans. This type of data exploration just isn't possible otherwise.

"Anything visual is more immersive," explains Brett Brewer, the Microsoft general manager in charge of Pivot, which is part of the Live Labs project. Pivot presents data in a way that makes exploration easier and leads to amazing discoveries. This kind of visualization uses a stock set of data -- say, Sports Illustrated covers or Wikipedia posts -- but could be used for any live data on the Web, such as accident reports. Pivot can show mortality rates, for example, letting you pivot the data to see in real-time that young men die in more car accidents than women.

Trendistic
Twitter.com has become a news outlet of sorts -- people tweet on topics almost immediately after they occur, and sometimes during the event itself. That's what makes Trendistic.com so valuable: the site shows the pulse of the Internet, including the most popular celebs, news topics, and gadgets. Are people talking more about the NBA or MLB?

Sociologists study these patterns by performing surveys and interviewing people (read any of Malcolm Gladwell's books, including his latest) but Trendistic is a picture into the soul of the Web. For any term, you can also see real tweets and start following what they say from your own Twitter account.

Cosmic 140
Another chart that shows Twitter trends, Cosmic 140 is the creation of Information Architects a Web design firm. The map -- which has not been officially released -- is amazingly complex, showing a "cosmological" chart that shows the most important Twitter users and how they are all connected to each other, starting with the three Twitter founders.

Explains founder Oliver Reichenstein, "We chose Twitter because (unlike Facebook) it allows us to access specific data and it features a lot of high profile people that define the new nodes based on tweets per day, number of tweets, and tweet content."

Trendrr.com
Trendrr.com, like Google Trends, shows topics as trends on the Internet, but goes a few steps farther. For example, the service can shows trends in how people are commenting on YouTube videos or track individual terms and phrases on Twitter. Broadcasters might use it to find out what people are saying about a new TV show, based on Facebook updates, Twitter comments, and actual usage data. In some ways, this is better than Nielsen Ratings system because it tracks real-time posts and commentary.

"People can use graphed Web info as a tool for business intelligence, to gain deeper market insights, for research or to keep tabs on an industry, product, and term," says Mark Ghuneim, the CEO at Wiredset, the marketing and strategic planning company that created Trendrr. "By visualizing Web data in graphical ways we can glean more important insights, faster."

Amazing

This past week, while on vacation (yep, actually took one) I was thinking on the value of social networking. I have come to the conclusion that one of the most valuable services we offer here at WPM/iA is our social marketing service where we handle the day-to-day details for our clients. The reason being...IT'S TOO TIME CONSUMING! I mean, between two Twitter accounts, a blog, personal and corporate Facebook accounts and a LinkedIn account profile it a wonder that I have any time during the day to get business done. So, the question then becomes one of priorities...run the business or provide content to all the different profiles out there. And I'm guessing that it's not any different for other business folks out there. And now, just today, I read about "Bubbling" (see excerpt from AdAge)

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- In India, thousands of consumers are going from tweeting to bubbling. A hot new social-networking service dubbed Bubbly, which is essentially a voice-based Twitter, is quickly gaining popularity among Indians. And thanks to Bollywood celebs being early adopters, Bubbly is growing and with virtually zero marketing spend.

So, with this new "turn of the crank" set to slam onto America's shores within the next year the question becomes crystal clear. Obviously there will be wave after wave of new technology to keep us ever-connected to one another, but which ones will be most effective and not take up too much time out of my day. I hope I'm up to the task of determining the correct path, not just for myself, but for our clients. Looks like I've got a lot of homework to do!

Best Always,
Dave J.

Calculating Your Ad Budget

One of the best pieces I've ever read about calculating an ad budget was passed on to me in early 2003. Rather than using the old 5-6% of sales measure for creating my ad budget, I've used the following formula and it's been terrific!

First, before starting (and I know this is business 101 for most of you but please bear with me.

MARGIN is Gross profit divided by Gross Sales Volume

MARKUP is Gross Profit divided by Cost of Goods

Be sure to plug in MARKUP, not MARGIN when figuring your ad budget. Let's say that you have a business averaging 100% markup (keystone) or in other words a 50% Gross Profit Margin.

Take that and multiply the average markup by your cost of exposure...for most businesses the cost of exposure is = to a percentage of your projected sales. I use 10%.

So, if my projected sales are $300,000 per quarter the ad budget calculation looks like this:

30,000 x 100% = $30,000

Now, take that $30,000 number and subtract out your cost of exposure..your website, storefront, rent, etc. for the quarter. Let's say that's $7,500.00

$30,000 - $7,500 = $22,500 and there's your ad budget for the quarter.

if, however, my average markup is only 86% it would shake out as follows:

30,000 x 86% = $25,800

$25,800 - $7,500 = $18,300 remaining for ad budget.

It's a simple formula and while not every simple formula such as this is going to fit every business you can modify it so that it can provide a "make sense" number for you in these otherwise very confusing times...and if nothing else, you have a firm number in mind when shopping for the various marketing/advertising options out there that you can choose from. I do hope that this helps...it's what I use and it hasn't failed me yet!

Best Always,
Dave J.

Different Size, Different Strategy...

Most of today's business leaders have been told since their days in college that to market their business successfully they need to "not step on toes." Now, on the surface this may seem like (and actually be) sage advice, however, I have a different take. If you're a smaller player in a niche market why not go BOLD. Let it be known that you're Christian, or Muslim, or African American, Native American, Traditional, Progressive, Conservative, etc. Make some noise...This is your chance to differentiate yourself from others and bring people that are like you to your door. And for those of you who are skeptical consider this well known mantra of advertising/marketing..."people buy what they know," and if they're comfortable with your belief system, point of view, etc. that's a touchstone that will engender feelings of comraderie that may just get them to use your service and/or buy your product rather than that of a competitor who has not planted their flag in the ground. If you're a smaller player, really, what do you have to lose? Just something to think about as you position your company and your corporate message for 2010 and beyond. Wishing all of you a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!

Best Always,
Dave J.

Happy Thanksgiving and The Scrantons

I took this holiday weekend to rest and relax with my family. But as so often happens, after 4 days we all needed some "alone time." My time was spent reading on my favorite subject...the industrial rise of the American Super Economy from the 1840's through the early 1900's. This weekend's reading included the history of the Scranton Group/Family (Scranton, PA) who founded one of America's earliest and most successful iron works, rail lines, and towns in the wilderness of Lackawanna Valley, PA. For any entrepreneurs out there who may read this blog I encourage you to look up the story of the Scranton family/group. These men had vision, but encountered obsticles ranging from poor site location, difficult materials sourcing, political haggling (town of Wilkes Barre didn't want them) to the cry from Socialist leaders to re-distribute the wealth they amassed. Now, one thing should also be noted...most of the Scranton group died in abject poverty. Only three of the original 8-10 group members had any money at all when they died. I don't tell you about this story to impress you (as if I could) regarding my reading selection, but rather to impress upon other entrepreneurs that all of the headwinds we encounter today were also present in 1840! As we go forward into 2010 it will be important to realize that we are not alone in the challenges we face. Men and women of vision who have come before us also encountered issues of a similar nature and that were no less troublesomme. For those of you who have plantd your flag in the ground and staked out your claim, I salute you and wish you all the best today and always!

Dave J.

8 Items for business success :58 seconds to read

Want to be successful? ...sure! There are tons of books and/or online informational sites that can give you "keys" to success. But when it comes down to it, the following 8 items will serve you just as well (in a broad sense) as anything out there. I've spent my life building companies and these following items have played the major part in every success I've had. Pay attention and satisfy these simple requirements and you'll be well on your way to building a successful/profitable business.

Your product and/or service must be fully developed and ready to roll out

Too many business professionals are in such a rush to get to market that they roll the vehicle off the line before all 4 wheels are firmly in place. Keep the news of your launch to yourself and very few others beforehand if you're worried about the competitive conditions in the marketplace...finish up the offering, THEN LAUNCH!

Your product and/or service must fill a need for "the masses."

Old adage in the food business..."feed the masses (think McDonalds) and you'll live with the classes - feed the classes (upscale dining) and you'll live with the masses." It's the same with any product or service. The broader the need or want for what you have, the more upside potential.

Your product and/or service must be priced fairly

More important than ever these days...with people watching their pennies and the availability to price compare over the Internet you had better have done your homework on what is fair to charge.

Your product and/or service must be different and/or better from other solutions currently available.(Have a unique value proposition...don't have one? Come up with one...otherwise you're just more "white noise" in a busy marketplace)

I cannot stress this one enough. If you're not the first into a particular competitive set you'd have better built the better mousetrap and have done so in such a way as people are going to recognize that it's better. And you'd better have a good one sentence "grabber" that will convey the unique/better nature of your offering!

Your marketing must answer the question as to how your product and/or service, in some way, makes the consumer's life better.

Everything we purchase answers this question. Whether it's the clothes you buy that you believe make you look slimmer, the truck that has enough payload capacity to get your jobs done, the home that's in the right neighborhood/school district, to the church that has the pastor who's message really feeds your soul. Each and every selection/purchase we make we "feel" as though makes our lives better. Customers must readily be able to determine how your product and/or service makes their life better. Only then will they purchase!

Have a strategy for getting the product and/or service and subsequent value proposition in front of the masses. (repeatedly and effectively)

People won't buy it if they don't know it's there...DUH! (no, seriously, there are people out there who don't realize this...I'm not kidding...hard to believe, I know. But they're out there - and we wonder why 80%+ of new businesses fail)

Realize that in marketing the message is more important than placement and frequency. (It's more about what you're saying and if your audience can relate)

I can go out and say iAdvertizing is great, we do, x,y and z for you...blah, blah, blah, but if I say. "iAdvertizing clients make more money..even in this crappy economy!" You get the idea...

Follow through ...Work, work, work! the above items and you're well on your way!



Best Always,
Dave J.

ConnectionForce - PRESS RELEASE

Connection Force™ – Throwing Back the Curtain on World’s First Web 3.0 Sales Interface Solution!
In today’s social media market, new service puts emphasis back on Relationships

(Research Triangle, NC) ConnectionForce™, the new leader in sales call interruption management, is pleased to announce the launch of its proprietary new service for Office Managers and Buyers to manage the interruptions unexpected sales people can make on their day.
“ConnectionForce was born from the fact that no vendor management system currently exists for the small to medium sized business; let alone a way to facilitate the salesperson engagement process,” said Neal Clark, Co-Founder and CEO of ConnectionForce. “Moreover, we found that the businesses which could dedicate the fewest resources in determining what was new in the marketplace (through unsolicited sales calls) got bombarded the most. We created the ConnectionForce system for businesses to accurately determine whether an outbound sales professional was offering them something of value while at the same time reducing the frustration level that accompanies numerous daily sales solicitations.”
ConnectionForce was founded by a team of sales professionals who, over the course of many years, had both observed and experienced the frustrations that existed between office professionals and the sales pros that called on them daily. The driving force behind the ConnectionForce system was to ensure that valuable information being offered by sales professionals was making it to the right people in a manner that is both efficient and friction free. With the launch of ConnectionForce office managers now have a full online toolbox from which will spring features designed to save time, money and frustration.
“When we heard that ConnectionForce allowed us to still review potentially critical information offered daily by sales professionals that call on our office, and do so in a manner that is respectful of everyone’s time, that seemed like the elusive “win-win” that everyone talks about but so few find,” said Mike Petilli of MVP Insurance.
Bill Davis of Team Nimbus, a business consulting company, was quoted as saying. “In today’s business environment it is all about managing relationships. Whether it’s the use of Twitter™, Facebook™, LinkedIn™, etc. businesses everywhere are scrambling to better manage their existing relationships. ConnectionForce, while not a social media site moves companies towards that same ultimate goal by enabling businesses to better and more efficiently manage perhaps the most important relationship of all – that between the inbound sales call and the office personnel who field such call.”
For more information about ConnectionForce please go online and visit us at www.connectionforce.com/tour or contact us directly at (919) 803-6115.

Original iAdvertizing Launch Story Link

I don't know why this hadn't been up but today I was finally able to find our original Launch Story from the end of May. Was a nice interview by WRAL, and might be a fun look for those (both inside and outside) of the company. Ahhhhhh memories....

IAdvertizing Launch

It's All About Being "Real"

In today's fast-paced world we're all searching for the next turn of the crank when it comes to marketing/advertising. Social Media is certainly up there in terms of a buzzworthy candidate, however, whether we're using social media, e-meetings, e-mail, telephony, etc. we need to be ultimately REAL in portraying ourselves to others! Let people see who you are...give them the electronic firm handshake, look them in the eye, convey real likes, dislikes, ambitions, motivations, etc. - really let them see who you are. If they do business for any period of time with you, your real self is going to come out anyhow. (better to let them see who you are right from the start) So, don't look at today's bevvy of indirect communication formats as a means by which to avoid or hide putting yourself out there (some people do). It's actually the perfect way to let your "real" self shine through. And ultimately that will attract the types of customers who think like you and will provide the best "fit" for your business!

The "Joke" Theory of Marketing

You know how you'll go to a party...you're standing around a group of people making small talk...really kind of boring, right? Suddenly someone says "I've got a joke," and everyone begins listening. They're intent on hearing something to break up the ho-hum conversations they've been having with the others. The person starts the joke, and you realize, "I've already heard this." And almost immediately, without thought you'll resume the conversation you were having before the person announced that they had a joke. If the joke had been something you hadn't heard before, you'd have been paying attention for the duration.

This is the same thing that happens with marketing messages. If you have something that people have already heard and/or is predictable they'll keep their attention elsewhere. In other words, there can be no interest without mystery. A couple of examples:

People will make time (even those that hate football) to watch the Superbowl just to see something new, funny, and creative. (Budweiser almost always gets my vote for funny creative...kudos to their creative shops)

Another would be the rise (and fall) of Reality TV. Audiences were drawn to it by the millions just by the thought of seeing something "unscripted." Then, when they came to realize that much of it was indeed scripted they began to turn away...essentially, the punchline of the joke was already a "known."

We humans need to be approached in such a way where there is a captivating story line, where there is anticipation, where there is a unique feature of the campaign that mesmerizes us.

So, as you develop your value proposition and delivery methodology don't go telling the same, predictable joke...keep the approach fresh, and keep us wanting more of your message, and subsequently whatever it is you're selling!

Who's minding the store?

Through eighteen years of sales and marketing, I've had contact with countless small business owners...or at least with the people who answer the phone.

Today, I conducted an experiment...I made a few phone calls, to get a read on who it is who's answering business calls these days.

I made ten calls, here's what I got:

1 call went directly to a voice recording telling me my subject was out of the office, and would return July 20. That's good information...if today wasn't July 27.

3 calls were answered by people who barely spoke English. OK, I get it, we're a diverse society...I have no problem with that...but if you're doing business in Wisconsin, and the person receiving calls for you does not speak English...you have a major problem.

2 calls ended with me hanging up, because apparently there are no human beings there, only voicemail options. Forget it. If I need more information before I make a purchase...you'd better have an actual person in your building.

1 call went to an answering service. I took that as a good sign, until the person spoke. Please folks, if you're being paid to take business calls...try not to sound 15. "Um, ok, so, Mike should call you back, or you want to call him back, or what?"...just didn't move me in the direction I'm sure Mike would have preferred.

This leaves me with the Lonely Three. Three of my ten calls were handled by well-trained individuals who listened to my needs, asked appropriate questions, and directed me to the person best-suited to serve me.

I understand how small this sample was, but I have a feeling I'd have reached the same conclusion even if I'd made a thousand calls. Many, if not most, small and medium sized businesses are losing sales because the person answering their phone is not up to the task.

Honestly now, hasn't the economic downturn hurt you enough all by itself?

Is there any chance poor phone skills are costing you money?

Now, I've really seen it all...

Now I've seen it all...and trust me, in this instance I'm thankful! I just got off the phone with a former iAdvertizing.com client and during the course of the conversation he said that he had some extra time (he has a business partner so he doesn't shoulder all the load) and asked if we were in need of some additional representation in his city...now, that's cool! I've known this client for some time and he's a consumate businessman...more than that I've grown to trust his judgment. The fact that he would consider working with iAdvertizing in some capacity speaks volumes to me. It's validation (for me) that we're on the right path. I love days like this when I get feedback that I'm otherwise not expecting or searching for. A client that wants to become part of the gang...that's nice!


www.iAdvertizing.com

Birth of a Startup / Importance of Your Business Plan

You've started a company...with a friend, a co-worker, a spouse or other relative...it really doesn't matter who...it's going to be someone you're close to or have had a working relationship with in the past. This is the first stage of the life cycle. You will have meetings around the kitchen table, at Starbucks, over dinner, and/or spent countless hours on the phone with each other. You will spend weekends together, become close(r) with each other's families and friends. In other words you'll be in each others hip pockets. Then there will come a divergence of ideas...count on it. This may be philosophical, financial, ideological, etc. It may also be brought about by the addition of other people to the corporate mix. Whatever the reason it will be emotional as you've spent so much time as a "team" (to the exclusion of many other things) that you'll be headed into uncertain waters. You may question the partnership, the percieved value of the players, the direction of the company...it can be a really tough time. It's at this moment your business plan HAS TO CARRY YOU. You have to have faith in the groundrules and milestones you set in the beginning. This is the time your endeavor is moving from caterpillar to butterfly all in one move. It's the "make-or-break" for many a young exectuvie team. Trust in each other, the team that has been built, and most importantly don't lose focus of why you started the company in the first place. This is why your business plan is so terribly important!

Wal-Mart Leaning

Just saw an article that talked about how Wal-Mart is leaning on marketing to cut costs. With the iAdvertizing.com model we've put in place here at WPM, I cannot help but to think this totally validates (on the grandest scale possible) the new a-la-carte, fixed-rate model that our team has put in place in order to help companies of all sizes save money on their ad-spend. It's nice to get it right every once in a while :-)

The Beginning ...

I sat at my son's computer on Dec. 26th, 2008 and came up with the idea for iAdvertizing.com I thought to myself, "what a great day it must've been over at Apple when they came up with the thought behind iTunes. Someone could actually come in to their website and instead of purchasing an entire CD for $12-$15 dollars, (when they only wanted 2 or 3 songs) they could simply choose those 2 or 3 songs and pay only .99 cents for each - saving themselves the difference." Now, since THE WPM GROUP (our full service agency offering) is virtual, with all designers and staff working across the nation from their homes I figured that we could do the same thing for the advertising world. With the economy circling the drain and businesses being squeezed from every direction (supply and consumer price side) we realized that there is really NO SHORTAGE of marketing NEED, but there was a server shortage of businesses willing to pay for the long-term agency retainer style contracts. So, with the help of our management team and designers we were able to develop a fixed pricing list and otherwise commoditize each of our marketing agencies' service offerings. This would allow business owners, marketing officers, etc. to come in, choose only what they want and/or need and not have to worry about whether or not their advertising/marketing dollars were being used effectively. On top of that we decided that we'd offer evey business a free service that they could use, even if they didn't purchase from iAdvertising. That service was a free, real-time, automated quote feature. You see, for far too long traditional advertising agencies have cloaked the cost of services in a shroud of mystery. We felt as though the time for complete transparency had arrived. So, with the launch of iAdvertizing we made it so that anyone can come to our menu of services page, begin clickng on the items they want and then, off to the left side, they would see a real-time total appear. This would allow them to move forward with a baseline number from which to compare with other marketing options they may investigate. We felt as though this was the best way to do business and from what we've seen to date, so do our customers.