Posts by Steve Stroum

Still Crazy After all These Years

With deference to Paul Simon, you know you’re doing the right work after [41 plus years] if you still get excited when one of your clients is featured on the front cover of a leading publication! Over breakfast, I was catching up on reading and shouted “yes” when I saw Laser Research Optics on the…

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7 Must Have Character Traits for Entrepreneurs:

There has been a great deal written about this topic over the years and based upon my experience working with entrepreneurs for nearly a half-century, I thought I’d offer my observations. Two things of which I am certain are that “Your greatest strength is always your greatest weakness” and regardless of your degree or title,…

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Have You Tried Using Grass?

Many years ago I was visiting my folks in Florida and they had a pond in front of their condo. As you may know, that’s not unusual for those retirement communities down there. So, one day I was fishing for bass in the pond. I was using a rubber worm that I brought from home…

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Clients are Like Spouses: Tell Them You Love Them

I was enjoying lunch with a Professor from Babson College and discussing a couple of book ideas when he asked me, “why do you have so many clients who have been working with you for 40 years? There are three reasons, I told him: 1. “I clearly and simply explain what services I provide and…

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Product Publicity Leads Directly to Sales

A funny thing happened the other day after walking into my regularly scheduled meeting with Ray Secour at Alliance Scale, Inc. and showing him the January 2018 cover of “New Equipment Digest” featuring publicity we created for a wireless crane scale that he distributes. I love showing clients this kind of valuable exposure! Just as…

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PRODUCT PUBLICITY CREATES GLOBAL SALES OPPORTUNITIES

Product publicity programs for companies seeking exposure for their products in specific regions around the world to replace or support their advertising and marketing programs are available from Venmark International of Wellesley, Massachusetts. Venmark International Product Publicity Programs target specific regions around the world to help clients take full advantage of product publicity to find…

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PIPE BEVELING MACHINE DESIGNED TO ENHANCE WELD INTEGRITY

A portable pipe milling machine that sets up fast and provides precise, perfectly square bevels on either torched off or rough cut pipe for better weld integrity is available from Esco Tool of Holliston, Massachusetts. The Esco Wart MILLHOG® is a portable pipe beveller that sets up fast using a self-centering draw rod assembly which…

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Manufacturing Principles Yield Better Product Publicity

If you’re a manufacturer or distributor and want more OEM sales opportunities: pay attention. Most companies are I-centric with their “advertising” and try to tell their whole story instead of focusing on the problems of potential customers. I’m using advertising as a generic term for publicity too. The first manufacturing principle that a design engineer…

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Exposing the Biggest News Release Myth

In this publicity entitled, “Custom Sapphire Optics,” we’re telling a story by emphasizing clarity with a creative photograph. It is not coincidental that we used a kitten as a prop since kittens are one of the most viewed and shared photos on the internet. As a product publicist I’m creating a story. A visual story…

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Trump: Dumb as a Stump or Sly as a Fox?

In the 1960 election, John F. Kennedy capitalized on the new media of the day to capture the presidency and sustain his popularity. He recognized the power of television and the importance of winning the debate visually as well as substantively. That was accomplished by his dark blue suit, makeup, and lighting. It was an…

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Why do you get up in the morning?

“A man’s got to have a reason to get up in the morning.” This was a favorite expression of my uncle, an extremely successful entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and philanthropist. In fact, what got him up in the morning for the last 10 years of his life was giving away much of his fortune.  He said…

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Only one Marketing Tool Combines Outreach- and Inbound Marketing

In B2B inbound marketing, the three most important factors are: repetition, repetition, and repetition. Why? Because repetition puts your products in front of prospective customers when their need arises and repetition reinforces perceptions about your products and company. In other words, repetition gets attention, builds brands, and most importantly populates the internet with content about…

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The Great Power of Underestimation

In 1976, Sales Development Associates blasted onto the advertising scene with a disruptive approach which most misunderstood and many underestimated. I know the story because it is mine. I was 28 years old and started the company from a spare bedroom at my folks’ house and then six months later moved into our office building…

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Think Outside the Box to Get More Product Publicity

My brother owned an auto parts business and like most small business people the last thing he wanted to do was sit around and chat with salesmen. He didn’t have the time, but didn’t want to alienate his vendors either. In the auto parts business, salesmen liked to stop in a chat and it took…

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Marketing Amplifier Brands Your Company & Produces Enormous Inbound

Bill Gates said, “A fundamental new rule for business is that the Internet changes everything.” Is this true for marketing? According to the American Marketing Association, “Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization…

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Product News Produces Maximum Marketing Leverage

If you’re in the market for a new car, “Motor Trend Car of the Year” carries a lot of weight. The influence of editorial is universal and applies equally for those of us involved with industry and technology. “The Research & Development Top 100” awards and similar editorial  “product reviews” have a great deal of…

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Publicity is a Powerful Marketing Catalyst

Marketing will continue to play a greater role in B2B, but not just “inbound marketing.”  Marketing defined is “all activities involved in taking a product from manufacture to market.”  This, naturally, includes branding, distribution channels, research & development, promotion, advertising, content creation, blogging, SEO, and the rest of the marketing mix, not the least of…

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Product Publicity for Commodity Created Widespread Web Content & Sales

Malcom Company sells a line of plastic welding tool kits and I’ve been preparing innovative news releases about the kits for over 20 years. The tools combine heated air and pressure to weld plastic and can be used for repairing tanks and vessels, automotive bumpers, personal watercraft, canoes, snow mobiles, you name it. Virtually anything…

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The Forgotten Role of Product Publicity

There is so much emphasis today on digital marketing and communicating directly with your prospective customers that it is easy to overlook a major role that product publicity plays in the media. That is, for content creation, data gathering and dictating the future editorial focus of a media outlet. I remember the day, early in 1977,…

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Stafford Manufacturing was Featured on New Equipment Digest’s 2016 Industrial Products Guide Cover

Stafford Manufacturing, a leading maker of shaft collars, couplings, and innovative mechanical components, was featured in New Equipment Digest’s 2016 Industrial Products Guide.  We’re proud that the news release and photograph we created at Venmark International to communicate their message was so well received.                      …

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Entrepreneurship and Product Publicity

Peter Drucker, recognized as the dean of America’s business and management philosophers by The Wall Street Journal, wrote “Entrepreneurship is ‘risky’ because so few of the so-called entrepreneurs know what they are doing. They lack the methodology. They violate elementary and well-known rules. This is particularly true of high-tech entrepreneurs.”   I believe this assertion…

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Create Global Sales Opportunities with Product Publicity

According to the United States House Small Business Committee, International trade is a critical component for the long-term growth and viability of small businesses and the U.S. economy overall. In 2012, total U.S. exports reached $2.2 trillion, which is nearly 14 percent of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product. Those exports helped support nearly 10 million…

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Are You an S.O.B?

There was nothing remarkable about the small industrial building as we drove into the company parking lot. It was a brisk November day back in 2007. The leaves had already been raked and the walkways were well groomed. What prompted the memory of that day is Thanksgiving. I’m always prone to reflection this time of…

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Niche Marketing is About Problem-Solving

We’re all conditioned today to believe that “content is king on the web” and there is a lot of truth to that expression. There is also truth to the fact that there is a lot of content on the web that sucks! Good content is critical and people want to read about how to solve…

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Listen to Your Customers and Solve Their Problems

When I received the October issue of “Fabricating & Metalworking” which featured FABTECH 2015 I was thrilled to see our client, Esco Tool featured in the section entitled “Tube & Pipe Fabrication.” There are many reasons for Esco Tool’s success. Chief among them was the philosophy of Al Brennan who purchased the company in 1975.…

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Stafford 3-D Shaft Collar System Featured in Power Magazine

A product release about Stafford Manufacturing introducing SPARC (Stafford Prototype and Repair Collar), a rapid prototype and repair collar system incorporating 3-D printing, prompted the editor of “Power Magazine” to request more information. This product release was part of a consistent publicity program we’ve been producing for Stafford since 1977 when they were a small…

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Is Fake Web Traffic Costing You a Fortune?

The cover story on Bloomberg Businessweek was entitled, “Fake web traffic will cost companies more than $6 billion this year. An exclusive investigation into the bots that ate your ad budget.” Then you flip to the article itself and see another headline, “Marketers thought the web would allow perfectly targeted ads. Hasn’t worked out that…

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International Marketing and New Business Development

Jeff Immelt, CEO of GE said, “I run an American company. But in order for GE to be successful in the coming years, I’ve gotta sell my products in every corner of the world.” That doesn’t just apply to huge conglomerates, it applies to small, privately held companies too. Small companies are frequently intimidated by…

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