Make Direct Mail Part of Your Next Campaign

We’ve all had those days where we don’t even look at the junk mail and just toss it into the garbage. If you ask any consumer they will tell you they do the same, however they may not be telling the truth. Oftentimes people think they are “above” getting advertised to but in reality, we all love to be entertained and educated on the latest trends, products, etc.

So why this blog post on direct mail? Well, because frankly direct mail still works. We were thrilled to find out from our network that brothers, Rob and Bruce Felber, were featured in a postcard from the Cleveland Jewish News. The CJN sent postcards promoting their expanding business section to all their current and prospective advertisers. The image as you see here is a snapshot of Rob and Bruce’s article that ran in the March 21, 2008 issue featuring family businesses! The publicity we received from the article just doubled by showcasing us on the postcard. Good job CJN for using the power of direct mail, and thank you for selecting us as the leading image.

~ Michelle Hirsh, Felber & Felber Marketing

MAGNET Incubation Roundtable

Letter from Wayne Zeman, Vice President, Venture Development, Magnet

Dear Roundtable members, NEOinc Incubator Clients, TechLift Clients, County Loan recipients, CSM participants and other invited guests,

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!!!
Bob Felber’s session last June was such a huge success that we’ve decided to bring him back again. He’ll revisit and expand upon his program: "How To Effectively Use Public Relations During The Early And Middle Stages Of Your Company's Development."

As you all know, a huge dilemma that all early stage companies face is how to promote themselves when they have little or no money available. It’s the old “chicken and egg” problem—how do you get people to buy your product or service so you can generate revenue when you don’t have revenue to reach out to potential customers in the first place.

Well here in northeast Ohio we’ve got a great resource in the form of Felber and Felber Marketing who can give you practical, easy to use pointers on how to address this problem. Rob’s session will be a highly interactive presentation/discussion with plenty of time for questions. In this workshop, participants will learn how to determine the newsworthiness of potential stories, identify ways to interact with reporters and editors, discover the do’s and don’ts of working with the media and explore ways to effectively coordinate marketing and public relations tactics.

The program is scheduled from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. including time for networking from 3:30 to 4:00 pm with refreshments. There is NO COST to attend but attendance is limited so get your reservation in soon!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009
3:30 - 5:00 p.m.
Seminar Room
MAGNET Innovation Center
1768 East 25th Street
Cleveland, Ohio 44114

Please let Barbara know if you are planning to attend this inter-active session by Thursday, March 19

For more information or to confirm your attendance, please contact Barbara Paul at 216-432-5322, Barbara.paul@magnetwork.org.
Feel free to contact me if you have further questions at 216-432-4197, wayne.zeman@magnetwork.org.

2009 Entrepreneurial Qualities Survey

David Crain, also of Magnet, writes for online blog on Entrepreneurship and Positive Leadership. If you are an entrepreneur, he needs your help. Take the 2009 Entrepreneurial Qualities Survey.

Thanks and best of luck David.

The Social Media contest

Check out this cool contest from Jim Kukral, The BizWebCoach. Now this is putting your money where your blog is....good luck.

http://anyluckyday.com/contest-of-the-day-thebizwebcoach-membership

Denied, by LinkedIn

Denied, almost

So, you are now on LinkedIn and Facebook. Going a little wild with connections? I did too, until recently. LinkedIn informed me, somewhat politely, that I had gone overboard. See, some people told LinkedIn that they did not know me. (Yes, I guess there are a few folks still left).

Apparently, these ticked off folks tipped off LinkedIn with the “I Don’t Know” (this bloke Felber) button. Anyway, I had to agree to be more careful on invites. They sent me some nice tips as a result of my signing my life away (see below).

See, I was inviting interesting folks that I saw in groups we shared; mostly, it worked very well and I have met with people and made some great connections. Reminds me of the early days of email (anyone remember Cleveland FreeNet?). We sent everything to everyone; that was early spam, sans viruses.

But, be careful. I’ll be trying these tips so I do not get restricted from this great social media tool.

LinkedIn

Dear Robert,

We thank you for agreeing to comply with our policies and know that together we can maintain an outstanding website for all of our members.

We would like to share some tips for the acceptance of your invitations:

1. Editing the body of your invitation to prompt a recollection. This can be done when you arrive to the "invite page". At the bottom, you have the option to add a "personal note" which may be edited to reflect your personalized message.

2. Click on the "Get introduced through a connection" link if this person is connected to someone already in your network.

3. Add a photo of yourself so that members who may not recognize your name but would certainly remember what you look like.
The restriction has been lifted from your account. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact us.
http://www.linkedin.com/

Say No to Tchotchkes and Yes to Promotional Products

Our very own Bruce Felber was quoted in "Take Advantage of the Downturn" about why you should use promotional products during this poor economy. Check it out!

Cleveland's Advertising, Mar-com Industry

For those college students who think that if they want a career in advertising they have to move to Chicago or New York... you are wrong! We, meaning Cleveland, finally have the stats to prove Cleveland has a strong marketing-communications industry.

According to this article by The Plain Dealer, our industry employs more than 39,000 people in Northeast Ohio! You'll be shocked by the other stats as our industry is larger than any other industry in Cleveland. Yes, it out-ranks manufacturing, transportation, etc.

Thanks to Dick Clough and the Northeast Ohio Communication Advocates (NOCA) along with The Plain Dealer for conducting the research!

For more local advertising information, check out American Advertising Federation-Cleveland's new website: www.aafcleveland.com.

~ Michelle Hirsh, Felber & Felber Marketing

Something to hold close

If you had asked us, last quarter, "what will be the most popular service being requested from our firm during a recession", I would have told you it will be public relations. Although a slow burn, with the time it takes to build editorial relationships, story interest and content, for all that, publicity can and should be a more cost effective investment.

So, as we near the end of the first quarter of the recession to end all recessions (you heard it here first!), what are our client projects? Well, surprisingly, we are seeing a greater interest in direct mail, targeted dimensional promotion, print advertising, web and social media. Yes, we are very surprised! Except for web and social media, the rest of these projects are physical. You can touch and feel direct mail and graphic design elements. My only thought is that these are tangible. People are feeling more comfort in the products and services that provide a physical presence. PR is not dead by any means. It can and should be measured. Perhaps we will see a renewed interest as the economy improves.

What are you working on? Are you seeing the same phenomena?