Tony Note: reprinted from chapter 7 of Mind Capture: How You Can Stand Out in The Age of Advertising Deficit Disorder (2008 Morgan James).

I’m often asked by non-profits and cash strapped startup businesses to assist them in their marketing and promotion efforts. I’m fully aware that will usually entail me listening to a long litany of reasons from the business owner or Executive Director that low cost marketing techniques are challenging to find such as,

“We have such a limited budget, where do we begin?”

“We have no money for marketing.”

“We can’t seem to get any media attention or publicity for our compamy, cause, event or announcements.”

“XYZ Foundation gets all the money and recognition.”

I’m a huge proponent of giving back to worthy causes. I call this enlightened capitalism and you’ll see it get more and more press because it has a lot of incredible benefits for everyone involved.

The comments I listed above that I often hear from startups and from far too many people in the non-profit world test my patience and overall mental health greatly for three major reasons:

#1. They’re often positioned as perceived roadblocks that are impossible to get around

#2. Many times it’s an excuse, because many folks in non-profit land in particular have this sense of overwhelm or are afraid to get marketing feedback, look at new ideas and think like an entrepreneur.

#3. I’m a solutions based person and this attitude is often a sabotaging and self-fulfilling prophecy unless the business or organization is truly committed to change and trying new initiatives versus hiding behind excuses.

When I do agree to offer assistance or advice to a group or cause I immediately point out a few strategies that a non-profit can use to jump start new life into the organization. Let me now share with you Ten Great Benefits of Cause Marketing.

#1. You’re helping an organization that you truly believe in

#2. You have a direct hand in helping others

#3. Many times it can be fun and you learn more about your community

#4. It strengthens the image of your business and employees in the public eye

#5. Great publicity for the cause and your company or organization

#6. Generates a feeling of goodwill towards the non-profit and your business

#7. You often meet movers and shakers in the community

#8. Great way to rally employees to share and give back to others

#9. Tax benefits by donating money, products and services

#10. Often times the positive exposure and feedback from tying in with a local non-profit is more cost effective and memorable than advertising

Tony Rubleski
Mind Capture
616-638-39121
www.mindcapturegroup.com

I love lists! They serve to remind us of things we need to do or may have forgotten. To satisfy this passion, I’ve decided to devote one eletter marketing lesson per month devoted to 12 things in 2012 you can do to improve your mindset, marketing, and management of your career or business.

To get the ball rolling, let’s look at twelve great ways to stay in front of your customers in 2012!

#1. Make more offers to them. Yes, marketing 101 for many readers, however, a buyer is a buyer. They’re already sold on us, so make it a goal to add more value, save them time, and allow them to spend more money with you.

#2. Mail handwritten thank you notes. Timeless, yet so few people do it.
They connect with people and are always appreciated and remembered.

#3. Set up a Fan Page on Facebook. It’s gotten much easier and it’s also a low cost way to engage, share, and promote your message to your biggest fans, referral partners and prospects.

#4. Use an eletter. Educating and keeping people informed is a non-negotiable. If your business is out-of-sight, it’s also out-of-mind and that’s not a good place to be.

#5. Have a contest. People love a challenge and being rewarded for their time, effort and input. Make sure you offer cool prizes that get people excited, talking, and thinking about what you and your business.

#6. Host a client appreciation event. It’s amazing the positive impact these have with customers when planned and thought out properly. Don’t be cheap, have fun with the event and also look to partner with key suppliers and referral partners to help co-promote and fund the event.

#7. Step up your community outreach. When your visible people take notice.
Encourage your people to become active within the community and causes that they are passionate about.

#8. Have fun with your marketing and communications. If you get people smiling, you often get them buying. Incorporate fun into your marketing and reveal this positive shade of your business. Most businesses are boring and often forgotten.

#9. Do theme related promotions. Tap into what people are talking about and build a bridge with your product or service promotions. Piggyback on key trends, holidays, sporting events, and other calendar related opportunities. Hint: In 5-weeks it will be Super Bowl Sunday.

#10. Share good news. Let people know about the positive things going on within your business, your employees, and customer’s lives. Again, people seek out and enjoy good news.

#11. Join groups, clubs or associations they’re in. Networking is essential. From trade groups, chambers of commerce, to local service clubs, there are a wide range of options for you to congregate and become active within groups that your best customers are members of.

#12. Thank customers daily for their business. Similar to point #2, we must never take business for granted. The customer signs our paychecks. In the age of digital and intense competition, they have lots of options and can easily choose to go somewhere else if they feel their patronage and referrals are being taken for granted.

Tony Rubleski
Mind Capture
616-638-39121
www.mindcapturegroup.com

Well, it’s that time of year again for football fans: college bowl season. From car companies to credit cards, corporate America and colleges from across the land unite and become allies to promote their names, brands, prestige, hype, and oh…I almost forgot, play a game called football.

College football is always a hot topic of conversation, especially with proud alumni from competing schools, but as a marketing professional and student of persuasion, I’m always intrigued as to why people get so fired up and create debate when there are so many other competing options for time, attention, and priorities.

With that in mind, here are three BIG marketing lessons from college football as we enter the season of highly hyped and promoted Bowl games.

#1. Cash is king. Companies of all shapes and sizes spend major money sponsoring everything from naming rights, half-time shows, to other game related promotions in the constant battle to build their brands and force their way into the mind of fans and competitors.

Universities who typically pride themselves as being institutions of “higher learning” and separate from business reverse course during football season and seem to quickly forget why they exist and partner with current and newly created Bowl Games for one central reason: money.

Yes, school pride (Go WMU Broncos – BBA, 1994!) is a major reason cited and spoken by University brass for being a part of a Bowl game, but don’t be fooled by this blanket response as being the main one. At the end of the day it’s not only about pride, but the cash. Football is a huge business in the U.S. and major money maker for many colleges. With a range of revenue streams from merchandise, ticket sales to TV related Bowl payouts; the colleges use the gridiron as much more than a football game with rivalries and school pride, but as a source of revenue.

Now, I’m not saying or implying that this is good or bad, but the fact is universities will often look the other way when publicity and large amounts of money, even from companies they’d sometimes never consider endorsing, are placed before them.

#2. Conversations engage and pull people in. Colleges also love Bowl football games for the conversations they build amongst alumni, current students, and prospective new students and possible ‘blue-chip’ football prospects weighing their university against others salivating to recruit them.

I have to laugh out loud each season how the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) committee denies fans a playoff system and rely on hype, polls, and biased coaches votes to generate massive amounts of publicity, press, passion, and heated conversations. Do you really think the BCS cares or are willing to listen to fan concerns? Are they secretly laughing behind closed doors?

I pose these two questions as they are instructive to look at from a marketing perspective. With so much competition for people’s attention, free time, other sports, money, and other sports many organizations would trip over themselves to have this kind of buzz, attention, and debate. It’s fascinating to see the rabid college fans because they’re really the ones who help co-create the problem and opportunity for the NCAA. Like a two-sided coin they are one in the same.

#3. Controversy is their biggest marketing ally. If people are talking about, debating or giving attention to the way the BCS system determines rankings, bowls, and the national champion, this is a HUGE benefit to the sport. It generates interest online and offline with alumni, football fans, the media and more importantly the sponsors who shower the NCAA with huge money.

Yes, a playoff system is done in almost every other sport but at the beginning of each season the NCAA turns a blind eye from Division 1 football. You may not like the way the system is, but the more people are talking –even arguing- the more attention the games are given by sportscasters, the fans, and sponsors.

Tony Rubleski
Mind Capture
1-800-420-1450
www.mindcapturegroup.com

It’s been awhile since I reviewed a book and the new book Steve Jobs by famed biographer Walter Issacson is engaging, powerful, and big as it clocks in at 571 pages. I recommend you pick up the book, bring an open mind and prepare to get into the head of a modern day Thomas Edison.

I wanted to take a minute and share with you three key lessons from the book regarding Steve Jobs that I found particularly interesting and noteworthy.

First, he was the master at seeking out great people. As Apple began to grow in the early 1980’s, Steve’s ability to attract the brightest talent ranging from engineers, designers, to advertising pros, was one of the major reasons I believe he was able to push Apple to think of constantly innovating and never getting too comfortable with previous successes.

For a company to go it alone with restrictive company policies and average talent is not only foolish, but often a breeding ground for mediocrity and little, if any, long-term innovation.

By pushing talented people beyond their norm, Apple continually set the standard for cool new products and established a culture where being several steps ahead of the market and consumer demand was expected day in and day out.

Secondly, Jobs was passionate about Apple. Steve never seemed able to settle in and stop creating. Good enough was simply not acceptable in his world. His ability to push people to the edge of their limits in pursuit of a major goal under intense deadlines is also what made Apple such a prolific company.

Issacson, who interviewed Jobs several times while writing the book mentions that Jobs was notorious for ripping on competitors because he often felt their standards of quality, design, and ease of use were simply not worthy for the marketplace.

Microsoft is brought up several times in the book in the classic “love/hate” scenario as Jobs completely disagreed with Bill Gates on many industry standards.

Finally, Jobs was a master at being able to focus. Many Apple employees coined the term “reality distortion field” for describing Steve’s obsessive drive when shooting to hit an almost impossible deadline. This again, was his leadership ability to push people around him beyond what they thought was possible.

For example, on page 119, Debi Coleman who worked on the Mac project sums it up best. “He reminded me of Rasputin. He laser-beamed in on you and didn’t blink. It didn’t matter if he was serving purple Kool-Aid. You drank it.”

To end this article, I’ll leave you with a part of Jobs’s final interview with biographer Walter Issacson a few weeks before his death found on page 570.

“What drove me? I think most creative people want to express appreciation for being able to take advantage of the work that’s been done by others before us…a lot of us want to contribute something back to our species and to add something to the flow…We try to use the talents we do have to express our deep feelings, to show our appreciation of all the contributions that came before us, and to add something to that flow. That’s what has driven me.”

Tony Rubleski
Mind Capture
1-800-420-1450
www.mindcapturegroup.com