Hoover ink PR      •     Thinking    •    Volume 5      •      Issue 3
 


Hello,

Are you spending enough on marketing? Is your organization getting enough ink from the media? Let's take a look at these questions this month in Think.

Cordially,

Harry Hoover
harry@hoover-ink.com

PS - did you download your copy of my Purple Paper, One-A-Day Marketing Vitamins ?

  
Ink Briefs
Bulldog Reporter contains great articles and interviews of journalists about what they like and don't like. If you are practicing media relations, these are your customers. Listen to them. First, here's a piece about email pitching. This is excellent advice from the producer of the Dr. Dean Edell radio show. Next, I recommend this article on getting more ink.


Who are the most admired companies in America? The envelope, please. General Electric tops the list of companies with the best reputations, followed by FedEx, Southwest Airlines, Procter & Gamble, Starbucks, Johnson & Johnson, Berkshire Hathaway, Dell, Toyota Motor, and Microsoft. Find out more.


Writing effective news releases is not hard, but they must contain some news Duh! GotoMarketStrategies features a good piece on its site about the basics of news release writing.


I like direct marketing in digital or analog form. DM is a highly cost effective way to reach specific target audiences under the radar. In other words, your competitor can see a full page ad immediately but has a tougher time tracking down your direct marketing hits. MelissaData offers some tips on improving your DM.


Random Hoover ink links: Overture View Bids Tool, and Marketing Experiments Blog.


Guerrilla Marketing Research: Marketing Research Techniques That Can Help Any Business to Make More Money


Our Book of the Month is Guerrilla Marketing Research. Click on the image above to find out more.
About Hoover ink PR

Hoover ink PR helps position businesses that are serious about their success. Then, we craft and deliver bottom line messages that ensure it.

Who are we? We're a marketing communications firm with more than 26 years experience in providing services to financial, high tech, real estate, tourism and consumer products
companies.

From employee relations and media relations to collateral material and e-newsletters, we develop the programs and communication tools that will differentiate you from your competitors. And that's the bottom line.
 

To Spend, Or Not To Spend

A number of surveys indicate that companies aren't spending enough on marketing. Some marketing geniuses would have you believe that you must spend at least five percent of revenue in order to be spending "enough" on the marketing function. In truth, marketing spending fluctuates wildly by type of business. Industrial business-to-business firms average about one percent of net sales, while consumer packaged goods companies spend upwards of 10 percent of net sales.

In my humble opinion, the surveys are asking the wrong questions. They should be asking:

  • what are your business objectives?
  • who are you targeting?
  • what is your competitor spending?
  • based on these factors, how much must you spend to achieve your goals?

Consider what you know about your current customers in terms of demographics and psychographics. What are their lifestyles like? What are their media habits? This is important information if you want to "clone" more customers like the ones you already have.

Next, how did you acquire your good customers in the first place. It's a solid bet that the new customers will come to you much the same way your old ones did.

Now, think about your marketing needs in terms of a pyramid. At the base are the must-have items that no business can do without: logo/corporate identity, stationery - including thank you notes, collateral material, and website. At the next level is your public relations program, pay-per-click marketing, and direct marketing. This could include direct mail, as well as email marketing.

For most companies - I believe - advertising sits at the top of the pyramid. Unless you are completely new to a market or you have wildly aggressive branding and marketing objectives, advertising sits on the back burner until you have all the fundamentals in place and cooking optimally.

These rules are not set in stone. Each organization will be a little different, but you can use them as a guide when trying to determine just how much you need to invest in your own marketing program.

 
 

How To Be A Great Radio Guest
 
Radio - despite changes in media habits - still is a great way to get in front of a lot of people. As a radio talk show guest on a national program, millions could hear your message. Talk radio listeners tune in about 20 percent more than the average radio listener.

Being a great guest takes some work on your part. Let's review what you must do in order to attain great guest status.

Be Available. Journalists of all stripes complain about not being able to reach sources when they need them. With radio, it is not just a 9 - 5 job. The great radio guest will show up whenever he or she is needed.

Be Conversational. This goes beyond your ability to carry on a good conversation. You must speak clearly, concisely and in terms the average listener understands. Start throwing around business-speak like "that's not in my wheelhouse" and get booted off the show before it starts. In fact, don't talk like that when you are not on radio!

Be Ubiquitous. It was true when I was in radio and it is still true today, radio people follow their print brethren. If you have been quoted by a news magazine or newspaper, radio producers are more likely to have you on. And, help producers locate you. Make sure you have an online presence and that you have your media clips accessible so producers can determine if you are the right source for them.

Be In The Moment. If you are out pitching yourself, take advantage of the news cycle. If there is nothing happening currently that ties your expertise into the topic of the day, then wait. Your day will come.

 
  Hoover ink PR   •   704-953-3406   •   Harry@Hoover-Ink.com