|
|
|
Harry Hoover - EzineArticles.com Expert Author
Harry Hoover is a partner in My Creative Team. He has 30 years of experience in crafting and delivering bottom line messages that ensure success for serious businesses like Duke Energy, Levolor, National Gypsum, North Carolina Tourism, Nucor, Premier, Rubbermaid, VELUX, and Verbatim.
[View Harry Hoover's Extended Author Bio]
[Display Categories] Sort By [Title] [Newest] [Oldest]
Harry Hoover Email Alerts
- Building Brands One Touch at a Time
[Business:Branding] So much of what we do as marketers today involves communication with digital media, that we forget how powerful the human touch can be in building a brand. In the old days, that is the 1950s and 1960s when you could reach all of America with a fairly simple media buy, you could build brand awareness primarily with advertising.
- Social Nets Vs Email
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Email-Marketing] Email is maturing. It has settled into its niche as an excellent longer-form instantaneous communication tool.
- Communicating in Tough Times
[Business:Advertising] A financial institution can improve customer confidence through advertising. It only makes sense. If the bank has the money to advertise, the perception will be, that it has the money to pull through hard times.
- Stop the Funeral
[Business:Marketing] Email is not dead, no matter what you have heard from other sources. So, let's stop the funeral right now. This much maligned business communication tool has its merits, even if it has been misused by misdirected and even malicious marketers.
- Double Dead - A Southern Murder Mystery
[Book-Reviews:Mysteries-Thrillers] Double Dead, the debut Southern murder mystery by Terry Hoover, has been called a "standout by any standard" by Mystery Scene Magazine. I agree and so do the American Library Association's Booklist and several notable mystery authors.
- Are You Buzzworthy?
[Business:PR] Buzz. Having people buzzing about your product or service is the dream of most marketers. Smart marketers want to ensure that the buzz is positive. Why don't more companies get good buzz, particularly now in our global, digitally connected world?
- Big Boy Marketing
[Business:Marketing] In working with our Fortune 1000 clients I have come to see that we all can learn a few things from these Big Boys. They may miss the boat on some things, but they get a lot right. Let's review what they are doing correctly.
- Advertising On Life Support
[Business:Advertising] Advertising is on life support but it is not dead. Although it seems that advertisers and their agencies are trying to kill it. When done correctly, it still has its place in the marketing mix. The problem with advertising, as in so many marketing tactics, is that companies launch ads before they really think their program through.
- Content Marketing - Google Style
[Business:Marketing] You no longer have an excuse not to develop and market content. Google has solved the problem for you with its launch of Google Sites, which provides a simple way to make information accessible to people who need quick access to current data.
- The Importance Of Content
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Social-Media] Ad-weary consumers are demanding more from marketers than the old fashioned chest-thumping commercial messages we have been dumping on them for years. So, what's a marketer to do? Instead of marketing products and services, an increasing number of marketers perform content marketing as a way to break through the clutter and the ennui.
- Get Trendy
[Business:Marketing] Every pundit is making predictions about next year's trends on which to capitalize. I've seen 2008 predictions about going green, going mobile, using out-of-home advertising, gaming, widgets and so forth. You'll find I have a different view from most. While they focus on the tactical trends, I'm still focused on the strategic approach which should drive your tactics. Not the other way around.
- It's Not Your Brand
[Business:Branding] Many marketers see their brand as an asset they own. Not completely true. I'm not arguing that the brand is worthless. I'm just saying you don't own it. You never have. And in today's web 2.0, social media world, you never will.
- Use Your Ad Agency
[Business:Advertising] Many agency people steer clear of clients who have never before utilized the services of outside creative resources. There often is a steep learning curve on how to properly utilize an agency most efficiently and effectively. But often even corporations which regularly use outside resources also regularly misuse them. So, let's review some best practices in getting the most out of your agency, no matter where you are in the marketing spectrum.
- Write Tight
[Writing-and-Speaking] Write tight is good advice no matter what you are writing, but especially today when you are developing search engine keyword ads. Here's why. The typical Google ad headline has a 25 character count maximum. Description lines one and two cannot exceed 35 characters each. Tolstoy and Faulkner would be in trouble. Let's review some best practices for writing text, or pay-per-click ads.
- The Wind Up & The Pitch
[Business:PR] Successfully pitching a story idea to the media is just good marketing. Follow a few simple marketing rules, then wind up and let 'er rip.
- Color Me Orange
[Business:Marketing] It seems that every major - and minor - corporation adopts blue or red for their brand identity color scheme. These colors may be "safe" but are not necessarily the best choices for your brand. Colors convey meaning in every society, including our own. Understanding the meaning of colors can help you communicate the right brand message.
- To Whom It May Concern Marketing
[Business:Marketing] Apparently there are some people out there who haven't gotten the word that the days of mass marketing are over. These troglodytes are still randomly pushing an untargeted, self-serving message on people. I call this To Whom It May Concern Marketing. I don't know about you, but receiving something addressed "To Whom It May Concern" sure gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling.
- Why PR?
[Business:PR] Public relations and advertising are both great ways to reach key audiences. However, I think PR should be the foundation upon which all other marketing communications tactics are built.
- Contact
[Business:Networking] Have you ever noticed how people you haven't talked with in years come out of the woodwork when they are looking for a job? They call it networking. I call it bad public relations. Staying in touch with people is important throughout your career not just when you need help finding a new position. People who develop strong contacts will achieve more than those who reach out only when they need help.
- Getting To Know Web 2.0
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Social-Media] Everyone throws around the term Web 2.0. They know about MySpace and Wikipedia because of the publicity surrounding them, but I'm convinced most of them don't have a clear grasp on the range of technologies covered by this term. Let's review the web services, peer-to-peer networking, blogs, podcasts and social networks that constitute Web 2.0.
- Optimize Your News Releases
[Business:PR] Today's news release is written differently than those from the past. It still needs to be newsworthy and it needs to sound like a human wrote it. However, you must include the right keywords in it to take advantage of the web. Let's examine some news release optimization techniques.
- Digitize Your News Releases
[Business:PR] Some say Ivy Lee invented the news release in 1906. But since its invention, a news release only rarely has scored anyone a placement in the New York Times. However, the news release is not dead. It has evolved into a powerful tool for publicity and driving web traffic. Written and distributed correctly, a news release can provide a real boost to your online PR program.
- 11 Ways To Promote Your Website
[Business:Marketing] There are many ways to promote your website from writing articles and linking strategies to SEO and enewsletters. This article reviews 11 ways to boost web traffic.
- To Be Creative-Be Brief
[Business:Advertising] Creative people work best when they are given limitations. I know that sounds counterintuitive but is it true. These limitations help your creative team members focus so that the message they develop will be relevant, impactful, original and true. So, how do you provide these limitations to your creative team: with a creative brief. Let’s take a look at how you go about developing one.
- Old Fashioned Marketing
[Business:Marketing] Every year we start seeing all the articles about what the new year will hold. Everything from politics to marketing is dissected and forecast. I like to take advantage of trends as much as anyone but you can’t let the new blind you to the tried-and-true. Let's get back to the fundamentals of marketing.
- Give It Up Again
[Business:Fundraising] It is estimated that Americans gave total charitable contributions of about $300 billion for 2006, up nearly 5.0 percent from the previous year. Individuals give the lion's share, but at this time of year many companies dig deep to make charitable donations, too. Not only is it the right thing to do, it is also the smart business thing to do.
- Pump Up Your Brain
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] According to Nobel prize-winning chemist Linus Pauling, the best way to get a good idea is to get a lot of ideas. Unfortunately, school teaches us to find the right answer, when actually there is usually more than one right answer for a problem. We need to be more child-like in our approach to ideas. Here are some exercises to help us generate ideas or to look at things from a different - and perhaps, childlike - perspective.
- Get Cre8tive
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] Every human is creative. However, you must understand that creativity and artistic ability are not one and the same. Once you get past that hurdle, it's easier to find your creative muse.
- Outside The Box
[Business:Marketing] Understanding psychology and human behavior can come in handy for the marketer, particularly those who operate at the retail level. There are a few tricks retailers use that play on your unconscious to relax you, or change your in-store behavior.
- Tell Me A Story About Me
[Business:Marketing] Marketers know that a story is a good way to engage prospects. But too often the marketer wants to tell a self-serving story about the company instead of about how the company helps the prospect or customer. Chest-thumping puffery does not sell. Tell me about how you can make me more money, save me some time, provide me work/life balance and I’m listening and more likely to ring the register. Otherwise, save your time and money because I just tuned out.
- Advertising 101
[Business:Advertising] You have your corporate ID package, a website and are doing search engine advertising using ReachLocal. You have an excellent PR program in place that includes an nTarget-based email newsletter, guest speaking and media relations. And, you are working feverishly to retain the customers you have. You are, right? Then, it is time to ramp up the marketing noise with advertising. From Professor Hoover's Advertising 101 file, here are a few things you need to ask before you launch that ad campaign.
- Let's Get Physical
[Business:Customer-Service] A lot of companies have gotten it right in the digital realm, only to drop the ball once you meet them on the physical plane. People show up to shop and retailers don't always have a good grasp of what to do with them.
- Medium Done Well
[Business:Advertising] You've determined that you are ready for an advertising program. The message is ready, the audience is selected. Now, which medium will deliver the best results? Well, a multi-media approach that surrounds your prospect is highly effective for rapidly building awareness. But you may not be able to afford a full-blown campaign like that. Let's examine the various media along with their pros and cons to give you a better sense of what may work for you.
- Media Gets Social
[Business:PR] Consumer content creation is the big deal online these days. There are at least 30 million blogs online, podcasts galore, as well as nearly 100 million photos available via Flickr. All sorts of new web tools have been developed to enable this new social media, as it is being called. PR practitioners and marketers need to know about and understand how to leverage social media, or be left behind. So, how does one take advantage of social media sites? You start with media relations and work your way out.
- Show Up For Success
[Self-Improvement:Success] Your minister of the church of marketing has some words for you to ponder today: if you want to succeed you must show up. Woody Allen has often been quoted - incorrectly - on this subject. What he really said was, "80 percent of success is showing up."
- 7 Steps To Building Your Personal Brand
[Self-Improvement] You can't build a personal brand until you do a little soul searching and research. Let's take a look at some things to think about when developing your brand.
- The New Brand You
[Self-Improvement] Personal branding is becoming even more important because your brand now has more permanence and it is easier for others to find out about it thanks to the Internet. If you have a blog, your brand is really hanging out there for everyone to see.
- Cooking Up A Press Kit
[Business:PR] Press kits, like any dish, may include different ingredients depending upon who will be consuming them. A good press kit can be used with potential investors or clients, just as it can for editors. The contents should be developed based upon your audience.
- Printed Press Kits: A Contrarian View
[Business:PR] Much has been said about the demise of the printed press kit. Online and electronic versions - pundits say - are the way to go. No editors or reporters want to receive printed press kits when they could have electronic versions. Right?
- Tell Me A Story
[Arts-and-Entertainment] Since the dawn of time mankind has been a sucker for a story. We may be wearing synthetics now instead of skins, but that one truth has not changed. Whether you are communicating with employees, customers or the media, a story has the most power.
- It's About Experiences, Not Logos
[Business:Branding] A lot of marketing experts (self-proclaimed) would have you believe that a logo and corporate identity package is all there is to a brand. Smart marketers, however, know that the brand is the sum total of what people think about your organization, and that it is expressed in every contact customers have with you.
- Go Local In 2006
[Business:Marketing] Local newspapers – long the primary advertising vehicle for small business – are on the decline in terms of circulation, readership and effectiveness. Because of this and the easier-to-use technology, local paid search is expected to grow 161 percent in 2006. This will be the year to take advantage of this marketing tactic to level the playing field for your small enterprise.
- Consider Media Lead Times When Pitching Stories
[Business:PR] You improve your chances of getting coverage if you understand the lead times of the various media when pitching story ideas.
- Marketing That Measures Up
[Business:Marketing] Businesses - no matter the size - need to measure the effects of their marketing so they will know what is working and to discover what needs improvement. There are many areas for which marketing is responsible, and in each are indicators of performance that can - and should - be measured.
- Give It Up
[Business:Fundraising] Americans spent more in two months on holiday items than they did all year on charitable giving in 2006. Giving to charity in the names of your clients instead of buying holiday gifts is a good way for a business to establish itself as an upstanding corporate citizen.
- Five Tips For Successful Brainstorming
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] Corporate brainstorming often fails because participants don’t enter into it in the proper spirit. Follow these tips and you’ll have better, more productive brainstorming sessions and creative thinking just might become a part of your corporate culture.
- A 300-Year-Old Bath - A North Carolina Vacation Into History
[News-and-Society] Rampaging Indians, yellow fever, pirates and drought would be enough to put most towns out of business. Bath – North Carolina’s first incorporated town – celebrates its tenacity in 2005, the town’s 300th anniversary.
- Ammo, Ammo, Ammo
[Business:Marketing] All the guns in the world do you no good without bullets. It is the same with media relations: You must have the right ammo to get publicity. Let's take a look at some PR bullets you may want to consider.
- Put Your Calendar To Work
[Business:Marketing] Every organization should create an annual PR and marketing calendar so that it can avoid the World Series' of the world, as well as take advantage of dates of significance. With a couple of months left in 2005, now is a good time to begin filling out your 2007 calendar.
- Six Tips For Perfect Email Media Pitches
[Business:PR] Your media pitches can go straight over the plate. With a little forethought, and a few tips, you can throw fewer balls and more media relations strikes.
- Marketing's Magic Bullet
[Business:Marketing] Hundreds of "consultants" make millions of dollars each year teaching seminars and boot camps, and selling newsletters about marketing's magic bullet - that one simple thing you can do to fill up your register with virtually no effort on your part.
People buy this tripe because they want "simple" and "no effort" ways to move their business forward.
- Ride The Gray Train To Increased Profits
[Business:Marketing] Something is roaring into the business community’s depot that has been building momentum for years. I call it the Gray Train. On December 31, 2004, the last Baby Boomer turned 40, pushing that train to full throttle. Marketers are missing the obvious and not-so obvious opportunities to grow their businesses with this appealing audience.
- What Your Customers Want
[Business:Marketing] Your customers don't know what they want. And to assume otherwise is folly. When you begin relying totally on customers to be your product development department, you are asking for serious trouble. It is behavior that you need to be learning about from your consumers. Ask them questions that will get to the heart of how they use your products and services. This is where their experience is crucial.
- Let It Ring
[Business:Marketing] Telemarketing has its place in the marketing arsenal. But telespammers - like their digital counterparts in the email marketing world - really make it tough on the legitimate follow-up telephone call from a company with which you have a relationship. Well, I'm mad and I'm not going to take it anymore. Here are some ways to combat telespammers.
- Customer Neglect
[Business:Customer-Service] What have you done for your existing customers lately? Probably not much, if you are like most businesses. I know that hunting new business is more of an adrenaline rush than working the business you already have, but it is not as crucial to your long-term success.
- Meet The Media
[Business:PR] Although media relations is not all there is to PR, it is a darned good, low cost way to spread the word. So here are a few media contacts to help you out.
- To Buy A Fat Pig
[Business:Small-Business] What does buying a fat pig have to do with your business? Stick with me and all will be revealed.
Does your business have a tactical and a strategic way to go to market? Let's go down to Mr. Hoover's butcher shop to see how it's done.
- Say What?
[Business:PR] As the comedian Steve Martin once said, "some people have a way with words and some people have not way." Increasingly, I am seeing information from companies, particularly in news releases, that makes no sense.
It's time for clarity in the corporate world.
- What We Have Here Is A Failure To Communicate
[Business:Workplace-Communication] Today's successful organizations are the ones which carry on open and honest communications with their employees. If employees know and understand the mission, they will help communicate it to customers.
- Calling All Carbon-Based Lifeforms
[Business:Marketing] Many businesses want to market to all carbon-based life forms. They won't take the time to really understand their audiences from geographic, demographic and psychographic perspectives.
- D-A-N-C-E With Me
[Business:Marketing] Recently, a client asked what he could do to help my business, but I wasn't ready with the answer. A lot of us probably miss these opportunities because we don't think through what we need and how to respond when someone offers to help promote us.
- The Writing Life
[Writing-and-Speaking:Writing] Because math was involved in all my other life choices, writing won me over. It was not easy lifting, but it has been uplifting.
- Press Releases: Not Dead, Just Evolved
[Business:PR] Mark Twain once said the rumors of his death had been greatly exaggerated. The same may be said for the press release. It’s not dead, but its mission has evolved. Those PR practitioners who are spreading these death rumors would have you believe that press releases should never be written, nor distributed. I take issue with this old-school thinking.
- Top 9 Reasons To Advertise
[Business:Advertising] I firmly believe that advertising is an excellent tool for rapidly building awareness of a company, its products or services. I believe equally firmly that you build a brand through public relations, not advertising.
- Cheap To Keep
[Business:Customer-Service] You've heard it all before when it comes to stats about customer retention. Acquiring a customer costs five to 10 times more than retaining one. Repeat customers spend, on average, 67 percent more. After 10 purchases a customer has referred as many as seven other people. So, if your focus is on acquiring new customers instead of keeping the ones you have, you are off the mark. Here is a brief overview on how to retain customers.
- Go Guerrilla
[Business:Marketing] Sometimes the best marketing ideas are the low cost, creative kind. So, let's look at some ways to go guerrilla.
- Great Employees = Passionate Consumers
[Business:Management] Companies spend millions of dollars each year identifying their brand, and then communicating their brand promise through various media. But they always forget their primary "media": their employees.
- 33 Reasons To Do A News Release
[Business:PR] News releases are not the best way to get major media coverage, but they can be used to increase the frequency with which your company name appears in the press. With that in mind, here are 33 reasons to do a news release.
- Now's The Time To Get Christmas Media Coverage
[Business:PR] Publicity seekers know that Christmas can provide a bonanza of media coverage. Every media outlet, it seems is cranking out a special edition on gifts for the winter holidays. So, Christmas is the time to get ink for your product.
- A Creative RIOT
[Business:Marketing] Relevant, original and impactful: that’s what my friend Creative Director Jim Mountjoy says that effective creative must be. With apologies to Jim, I have my own acronym because I think ROI is only 75 percent of the way there. Effective creative is a RIOT: relevant, impactful, original and true.
- Business Ethics: An Oxymoron?
[Business:Ethics] Public relations and business ethics go hand-in-hand because doing the right thing is always good for business.
- Marketing's Nuclear Weapon
[Business:Marketing] Three seconds. That's what you have to convey your message. Creativity is the strategic weapon that allows us to capture those few precious moments of attention from busy consumers in our increasingly competitive, time-crunched environment.
- A Successful Failure
[Business:Branding] A successfully positioned business sometimes doesn't win a new client. And that, my friend, is the point.
- Second Dose Of Marketing Vitamins
[Business:Marketing] Organizations often get stuck in neutral when it comes to marketing. Sometimes, you just need a kickstart. Here are 16 ideas to push you into high gear.
- Online Search: Small Businesses Level The Playing Field
[Business:Small-Business] Seventy percent of US households use the web when shopping locally, and about 25 percent of all searches are looking for local information. As more and more households make the switch to broadband connections, this trend will continue to escalate. And now small businesses have the ability to level the playing field with national competitors.
- One-A-Day Marketing Vitamins
[Business:Marketing] Is your business growing, or are you on a plateau in need of a boost to move up? I know that I always tell you it is best to have a positioning statement and a plan. But sometimes, you just need something to get you off square one. You need one-a-day marketing vitamins.
- Are You Newsworthy?
[Business:PR] Non-news professionals often have a hard time understanding why their ENORMOUS news announcement, creates barely a ripple in the media. Let's review the elements of news to help you improve your media relations hit rate.
- Hook Me Up With A Human
[Business:Customer-Service] Many organizations have digitized humans – aka carbon-based units - out of existence in their customer service operations. It is time to bring the human back into the process.
- Email Builds Brands
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Email-Marketing] Email - today's preferred business communication tool - provides you a simple, powerful, affordable way to develop, manage and maintain relationships as well as sell products and services. It's also a great way to build brand awareness, gain market intelligence, boost web traffic, gather prospect leads, and build loyalty.
- PR - More Than News Releases
[Business:PR] PR is much more than cranking out positive client fodder for the media.
- Slow Day? Create News
[Business:PR] Sometimes there seems to be no client news worthy of coverage. That's when the savvy PR pro digs deep into the old bag of tricks and pulls out one of these ideas to perk things up.
- What's The Frequency?
[Business:Advertising] Some marketing advice is timeless, and this list proves it.
- Top 7 Tips For Submitting Articles Online
[Writing-and-Speaking:Writing-Articles] Online PR in the form of website and ezine article placement can be a great way to build your personal brand, showcase your expertise, and improve your search engine rankings.
- Plan For Your Next Trade Show Appearance To Be A Success
[Business:Sales] Most people who consider trade show planning think of it in terms of logistics planning. But seeing the full potential of a trade show program for your company requires a different type of planning.
- Add Email To Your Marketing Mix
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Email-Marketing] If you are serious about adding email to your marketing mix, you should take email seriously enough to develop a plan for it.
- Do You Have Issues?
[Business:PR] Every organization has issues that could affect its operation. The following are some thoughts on issues management and some of the tactics available to us in this discipline.
- What's Your Op-Ed?
[Business:PR] Everyone has an opinion on something, and you can leverage the opinion of top executives to heighten the visibility of your organization.
- Top 5 Tips For Media Selection
[Business:Marketing] Marketers have a wide variety of media at their disposal. There are a number of options depending upon what you are trying to accomplish.
- Use The Neglected Weapons In Your Marketing Arsenal
[Business:Marketing] Your marketing arsenal contains some weapons you may not have considered.
- I'll Alert The Media
[Business:PR] There is something newsworthy happening at your organization right now. Here are some tips on how to tell your story.
- Marketing For Just Cause
[Business:Marketing] Cause marketing is a relationship between a for-profit and a nonprofit that brings in money and resources for the nonprofit, while providing credibility and goodwill for the business.
- Go Ask Alice
[Business:Branding] For businesses bent upon success, it does matter which path
you take. A positioning statement helps you chart your path
to success because it lets all your audiences - internal and
external - know where your organization stands in the battle
for your consumers' minds.
- Get Write To It
[Business:PR] The toughest thing about writing a news release is getting started. But writing doesn't have to be hard. Here are a few tips and tricks to help you beat writer's block.
- Tap Employee Passion For Business Success
[Business:Management] Meriwether Lewis set the stage for the Corps of Discovery’s success before one single “employee” had been hired. From the outset Lewis and Clark engendered a communications culture that brought in the right prospects, then kept morale high and increased the productivity of those eventually hired.
- Santa - The Brand
[Business:Branding] Every Christmas Eve, a burglar named Santa busts into homes around the world, but he has never been charged with B&E. He has one of the best, most positive brands around and it continues to inoculate him against any hint of impropriety, as it has for generations.
- Grandma Says...
[Business:PR] Southern grandmothers have often said, “there are only three times a respectable person’s name should be in the paper: when you are born, when you are married, and when you die.” This is the one area in which I part company with my grandmothers. Publicity is more critical today for the success of a business than it has ever been.
- Defining Moment
[Business:Marketing] Do you know your audiences? I mean really know them. Defining your audiences using demographic, geographic and psychographic elements dictates your marketing approach from a tactical perspective.
- The Brand Called You
[Business:Branding] The best brands always try to do the right thing, so that their reputations will remain unsullied. But beyond that they grow, evolve and get better with time, while maintaining their special qualities from the past. We all have a personal brand with social, cultural, intellectual, and personal needs that may not necessarily be addressed in our daily work. Address these needs and you begin to improve your brand. Here is my agenda for building your brand.
- Advertising Is Dead. Long Live PR
[Business:PR] Although I still believe there is a place for advertising as a brand maintenance or brand affirmation tool, I am convinced that to build a brand today, you need PR. At one time advertising did build brands. But this was in a simpler America. That America, sadly, is no more.
- Don't Be Incredible
[Business:PR] Public relations is all about credibility and trustworthiness. If you don't practice PR, then you are likely to be incredible.
- Be Patient? Nah, Let's Kill Something
[Business:PR] There's the old joke about the two buzzards sitting in a tree overlooking a highway. One responds to the other, "Be patient? I'm hungry. Let's kill something." Just like that buzzard, it is not in the nature of most marketers to be patient for business to grow. They want to go out and "kill something," too.
- Creativity And You
[Self-Improvement:Creativity] 95 percent of what we know about the brain, we have learned
in the last 20 years. So, your beliefs about creativity
were probably shaped by faulty information.
|
|
|
