Archive for the 'marketing' Category

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Media contacts for the Grand Rapids, Michigan area

Published on June 17, 2010 in communications, marketing and Tools. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , .

I needed to put this list together and though it would be useful for others who are trying to get their event, organization or project out in front of the Grand Rapids Area Media. Here are contacts and links to most of the area media outlets.

PRINT or NEWSPAPERS:

Grand Rapids Press

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Church Bulletins: Transitioning from print to digital

Published on April 20, 2010 in marketing and Social media. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Remember 1992 when Superman died in DC Comic’s #175 then re-appeared in various forms? Well, that’s kinda what we did with our church bulletin…

Old bulletin cover 8.5"x5.5" size

Old bulletin cover 8.5"x5.5" size

First off, we didn’t kill our bulletin. Some people thought we did, but that really wasn’t the case. We just changed the way we do church bulletins. In fact, the change seems to be doing a lot of good so far!

Here’s what we did.

We stopped one thing and developed three outlets that accomplish the same goal with greater efficiency, track-ability, and with huge savings in time and money.

  • NO — Big multi-page booklet bulletin handed out each week
  • YES! — Small “bullet” card with brief event info handed out weekly
  • YES! — eBulletin emailed out midweek with links to event signup and more info
  • YES! — A few copies of weekly “Info Sheets” available at Guest Services for those who don’t email.

eBulletin

We stopped making the 8.5″x5.5″ multi-page booklets that we were spending more than a dime apiece on each week. We reduced the size of the bulletin to what we call a “Bullet” (8.5″x3.66″). These Bullets are black/white (except for special occasions like Easter and probably Christmas) on heavy stock and cost us about a penny apiece.  The Bullet only has limited info on them and are blank on the back for notes if someone needs paper. For those die-hard fans of printed paper, we have a hard copy with an extended list of events, family info (deaths, births, & weddings) available at our Guest Services Desk…though these are getting fewer and fewer requests for theses just a month into the new system.  We also started a digital or “eBulletin” which is e-mailed out midweek each week and links people directly to more information about featured events or opportunities. See the archives here.

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Make Informed Decisions Survey Results

Published on April 1, 2010 in business, marketing and Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

We had 401 responses on paper survey cards that we gave to individuals all over the church and at church events. These responses came from a variety of ages, areas, and involvement levels. Almost all responses were acquired on site except for a group of 55 years and older who filled out response cards while on a bus trip.

1 ) Event/class/location you are at right now?

Various groups with age ranges from teens up to retirees

How You Heard

2 ) You heard about this event/class from…?

30 percent — bulletin

26 percent — another person

16 percent — from an announcement

Do you have Internet at Home?

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Twitter becomes a corporate tool for handling PR problems

Published on February 15, 2010 in marketing, Social media and Tech. 0 Comments

Here’s an example of how corporations are using Twitter to handle PR problems effectively!

Southwest, apparently schooled in its social networking knowhow, responded quickly and efficiently to the impending PR disaster, contacting Smith directly through its own Twitter account with tweets such as “Hey folks – trust me, I saw the tweets from @ThatKevinSmith I’ll get all the details and handle accordingly!

Read the whole story at Death + Taxes Magazine.

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Pricing yourself and your photography

Published on February 6, 2010 in marketing, photojournalism and Tools. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Pricing yourself and your work can be a difficult consideration, but there are some good tools and recommendations out there that can help you make a wise decision when you’re trying to price your own work, photography, design work, programing or whatever art or work you produce.

One of the best tools I’ve seen is the Cost of Doing Business Calculator by the National Press Photographer’s Association. Fill in the blanks and let it calculate a basic range. You can figure out a rate that best fits you from there.

Believing in your abilities and continuing to improve yourself is an important part of pricing. I know a consultant who gave an quote to a new client. When the client came back and said it was higher than what they wanted by more than double. He confidently let them know that they will get what they paid for, but if they wanted to, he would give them an invoice for the full amount and after the day of consulting they could write in whatever amount they felt his consulting was worth. They liked his confidence and his negotiation skills, and they flew him across several states for the job.

Johnny Truant actually inspired this entry with his article. It reads in part…

There are good and bad photographers. There are good and bad coaches. Which are you? If you’re good, believe it — and then hike up your pants and price yourself accordingly.Cutting prices works for commodities, but will not win you good clients. If you’re cheap, people won’t think it’s because you’re awesome and they’re getting a good deal. Instead, they will look at your bargain basement price and will assume that you suck. via You’re worth more than you think | Johnny B. Truant.

Besides the Calculator, there is a lot of material out there that can help you price yourself. Pricing is important. Read what Laurie said at Photopreneur.com:

If you’ve agreed to accept a lower price in return for the thrill of publication, how can you be sure that the buyer wants your picture because it’s the best he can find… or because you were the only person willing to supply it at that bargain rate?

Pam Newman gave these five questions that are great to ask when you’re in the process of setting pricing for yourself and your products.

Other references worth checking out on this same topic

Costs in producing photos

Pricing freelance photos

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The Washington Post Scrubs a Post about the Post : CJR

Published on February 1, 2010 in Social media. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Here’s an interesting article about the editing of opinion articles–which is what I consider a blog even from a news writer — in the Washington Post.

On Wednesday, Bill Turque, the Washington Post’s education beat reporter, posted an excellent blog item showing his readers a little bit of the inside game at his paper. It was titled “One Newspaper, Two Stories”—a title that, by the end of the day, would become more apt than Turque ever could have expected.

That’s because editors pulled the post off the site Wednesday night, replacing it hours later with a new, dialed-back version.

via The Washington Post Scrubs a Post about the Post : CJR.

So how much free speech is free when your own editors re-write and don’t indicate that they changed your work? Sure some editing is part of an editor’s job but an opinion article that no longer expresses the writer’s opinion seems to be off track.

What do you think?

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Learning from Coca-cola

Published on January 26, 2010 in marketing. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

The reason I like Coca-Cola is because of what Coke is. It’s not so much the taste of Coke, (unless it’s made in Latin America with REAL sugar cane). It’s not even the fact that Coca-Cola is available all over the world and has one of the most widely recognized logos of all times.

Maybe it’s because my Grandma has always liked Coke, especially when it’s in glass. Even if she has to pour it out of a can, Grandma likes her coke in a glass. So, we buy the classic Coke bottles that come out around Christmas for her to enjoy.

What gets me is the brand and personality of Coke. You know, there’s the curvy bottle, catchy simple phrases like, “Always Coca-Cola” and “Enjoy” plus the fun that the Coke people seem to have with what they do. Just watch this video and you’ll see what I mean.

I see examples like this and ask myself. How can I be as joyful of a brand evangelist of the things important to me as Coke is of their sugar water?

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Improve on the important things

Published on December 12, 2009 in marketing and photojournalism. 0 Comments Tags: .

I think APAD has an excellent point when it comes to self improvement.

I feel like photographers can really get caught up in tinkering with all the marketing material and periphery that goes along with being a professional photographer because, let’s be honest, it’s quite difficult to “improve your craft” and a lot easier to improve your letterhead. via APhotoADay Blog.

We can spend a lot of time improving our packaging but fail to improve our product. This builds great expectations among our customers but can lead to dissapointment if our actual product isn’t up to par.

It’s kind of like buying a boxed tube of toothpaste at the store. I expect the tube inside to be roughly the size of the box. When I open it and find that there’s a spacer inside to keep a small tube of toothpaste from rattling around, it doesn’t matter to me that the label said the right number of ounces. I still fee wronged because I thought I was geting more.

It’s fine to improve your marketing and packaging, but never neglect improving your product. It’s better to have your clients go away thinking they got more value than they expected than have it be the other way around. Why? Because people share their experiences. When something underwhelms or overwhelms them, they tell others, and word of mouth markeitng is one of the most powerful marketing tool around.

What are you doing to improve your craft/product today?

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Consumer revenge: United Breaks Guitars

Published on November 20, 2009 in marketing. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

In 2008, United Airlines broke Dave Carroll‘s $3,500 Taylor guitar. (Why he put it in checked luggage I’m not sure.) None the less, when he contacted the aireline about the damage them he was rebuffed and passed to someone else one too many times. In retribution, Carroll wrote a song…then posted it on YouTube and won fame as a consumer who activated the internet with a song that has over 6 million hits views so far. PR & Marketing for United…can you say, “ouch!”?

After they saw Carroll’s rant, Taylor got in on the opportunity with a good, although boring response.

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Circle(s) of friends

Published on November 10, 2009 in Social media. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Meaningful relationships are highly sought after treasures, but friendship is taking on a different meaning in a social media world where it has become a race to have the most friends who can be dropped like a bag of soggy chips.

Earlier this year Harvard Professor Greg Mankiw reached the limit of Facebook’s friend list after using his account “for the soul purpose of accumulating ‘friends’.” Then he promplty shut down his account (or at least tried). I don’t really care whether Mankiw wants to be on Facebook, but I think it’s an interesting example of how friendships have become a bulk commodity. Has social media turned friendship into more of a numbers game and less about real relationships?

Personally, Facebook is a tool for staying in touch with friends old and new, kind of how Christmas cards or family newsletters use to be. I use Facebook more as a means to stay in touch and share ideas now and again, but call me old fashioned…I’d rather you send an e-mail than post a message on my wall or send it through Facebook.  I am exploring ways to use Facebook for it’s great group and event capabilities which.

So, does Facebook enhance or water down the relationships in your life?  For me, Facebook makes me feel closer to people I haven’t seen in years, and it gives me conversation starters and tidbits of information (photos, videos, comments) about my nearby friends that comes in as good conversation starters when we hang out. So, despite the expanding connectinos to friends old and new, I think Facebook can do a lot for connecting friends. For actually building relationships, there’s still nothing like a good face to face conversation.

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