Posts by Steve Stroum
Earning the Trophy is What Feels Good, Not the Trophy
“Oh, that’s okay Johnny don’t feel bad.” That’s what a little league baseball player’s mother said after her son struck out with the bases loaded.
Read MoreProduct Marketing with High-Quality Press Releases
If you want to get top product news coverage in leading media outlets, then give editors high-quality press releases. Below, for example, 4 out of 5 of these free sample news items were provided by Venmark International.
Read MoreSticks and Stones will Break my Bones, but Names will Never Hurt me!
That was a popular phrase in the 1950s, when I grew up. “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” That’s how we were taught to respond to name-calling back at a time when personal freedom and independence were revered values.
Read MoreNiche Marketing Using Product Publicity Grows Your Business
To compete with big companies today, small businesses should target market niches. The challenge of competing with large companies who have broad product lines, leverage with the big box stores to get shelf space, and economies of scale is too great to compete on price. The most effective competitive marketing tool is product publicity. Product news…
Read MoreProduct News Releases for Better SEO
We Need Faster Horses. In marketing today, everything seems to revolve around “Search.” There is a huge implicit assumption, however. And that assumption is: your prospective customer knows what they need and are looking for.
Read MoreWhere is the Outrage on Campus Today?
Watching the news about excessive government snooping via phone and the internet and Eric Holder’s misinforming congress, I recall how we would have responded back in the 1960s when I was in college.
Read MoreProduct News Enhances Niche Marketing
“To be a successful smaller manufacturer today in the United States, you really have to find your niche,” according to Dan Lambert, Marketing Manager of Anomet Products, Inc., a small manufacturer of composite clad wire.
Read MoreSmall Business Embodies American Spirit
Back in 1978, there was a report published by the ninety-fifth congress of the United States of America entitled, THE FUTURE OF SMALL BUSINESS IN AMERICA. (Report No. 95-1810). In Chapter 3 was the following quote:
Read MoreMarket Research Using Product Publicity
When you have an opportunity to learn directly from prospective customers what they think about your products, I recommend that you listen and pay attention to them. Using product publicity for market research will allow you to get feedback from potential customers about your products. What follows is a true story.
Read MoreProduct Publicity for SEO
According to Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah in their landmark book, “Inbound Marketing Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs”, Google Ranking in search is based on two things: relevance and authority.
Read MoreWhen Making News, Position Matters
Flexaust Co., Inc., a leading manufacturer of flexible hose for a wide range of industrial, lawn care, and commercial applications, including floor care, recently acquired the United Electric Company. Known in the floor care industry as TUEC, the company manufactures vacuum cleaning attachments.
Read MoreDuring a Sales Presentation, Do you Take the Train or Drive ?
Have you ever noticed how much more you can observe about the countryside while traveling on a train versus driving? The same holds true in selling.
Read More7 Suggestions for Building a Successful Service Business
These suggestions aren’t hypothetical. I started a service business with a few hundred dollars 36 years ago and have earned millions in the process of helping my clients grow. Here are 7 suggestions that I have for building a successful service business: 1. Understand “Positioning” – Read “Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind” by Al Ries and…
Read MoreIt Takes B.A.L.L.S. to be an Entrepreneur
B.) BOUNCE BACK – As Jack Welch wrote, “We would also add two other qualities to the must-have list. One is heavy-duty resilience, a requirement because anyone who is really in the game messes up at some point.
Read MoreBold Assertion Helps Startup Create a Brand
He just started his business and arranged to get himself on the agenda as a speaker at a major electronics industry trade show in Texas. Naturally the exposure at the show was helpful and even generated purchase orders.
Read MoreAt Least Listen Before You Decide
This past week saw an interesting contrast in companies. Last Tuesday morning in central Massachusetts, I met with a small manufacturer who we’ve worked for previously. However, when I first met with the president a couple of years ago he warned me that his Vice President Sales & Marketing wasn’t receptive to new ideas.
Read More7 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Achieve Using Product Publicity
Most companies don’t take full advantage of their publicity opportunities and, therefore, waste a lot of resources on other elements of the marketing mix.
Read MoreFew Entrepreneurs Know What They’re Doing
Regarded by the Wall Street Journal as “The dean of America’s business and management philosophers,” Peter F. Drucker wrote in his book Innovation and Entrepreneurship that “Entrepreneurship is ‘risky’ mainly because
Read MoreThat’s How You Earn Someone’s Business
This morning, my wife called me and said that she had a flat tire. Some woman in the bank drive-thru line decided to back out at the last minute, rather than driving forward, and forced her into a curb to avoid a collision. Ten minutes later: flat tire.
Read MoreProud of our Police, FBI, and others
With tears in my eyes I watched the crowds cheering the police, FBI, and others after capturing the second suspect in the Boston Marathon terrorist bombing incident.
Read MoreExcessive Government Regulation is Bad for Small Business
In “The State of Small Business: A Report of The President” Transmitted to the Congress May 1985, Chapter 1. began with “The key word for the American economy in 1984 was growth, in terms of both employment and national output.
Read MoreSharpe Mixers Stirs up Widespread Interest with Folding Impeller
Sharpe Mixers of Seattle, WA knows how to mix it up! Their partnership with Venmark International has generated widespread exposure for their folding impeller in publications and websites serving industries ranging from food to chemical, oil, gas & petrochemical, processing, and water & wastes.
Read MoreAdvertising vs Publicity
I was watching the local cable news this morning while munching on toast and drinking coffee when the “journalist” mentioned that our Governor was “publicizing” a notice on billboards about casino gambling in Massachusetts.
Read MoreThe Internet Has Amplified the Power of Product Publicity
Inspiration occurs in many ways. For me, there was an article in “Advertising Age Magazine” entitled, “What Product PR can do for you in today’s advertising world.”
Read MoreAn Entrepreneur is not an Entrepreneur, is not an Entrepreneur
When reading people’s thoughts about entrepreneurs on LinkedIn, and the attributes necessary to be a successful entrepreneur, it occurred to me that “an entrepreneur is not an entrepreneur, is not an entrepreneur.”
Read MoreContent is King
“Content is King,” is more than a cliché. The one thing about content that hasn’t changed since Gutenberg and the first printing press is that content is “news and information” which is “of interest” to a readership or audience.
Read MoreSearch Optimization
I’m reading another book about attracting and engaging more customers by integrating SEO, social media and content marketing. The book is entitled, “Optimize,” by Lee Odden. Early in the book he writes, “To meet brand needs to engage customer
Read MoreConsistency Counts in Business and in Life
When one of my clients turned 35, he was experiencing identity issues. When I said to him, “Who hasn’t?” He said, “What identity issues do you have? You are product publicity, that’s who you are, it is as simple as that!”
Read MoreAbraham Lincoln Got It
As I listened to another campaign-style speech by President Obama lecturing Republicans about only wanting to protect the interests of the wealthy, relative to the “fiscal cliff,” I opened one of my favorite books, “The Forbes Scrapbook of Thoughts on the Business of Life” and found three quotations from Abraham Lincoln that are apropos.
Read MoreA Product Doesn’t Have to be New to be Newsworthy
Someone told me the word “NEWS” stands for information coming from the North, East, West, and South. It has nothing to do with the meaning of “new.” For over 36 years, I’ve specialized in preparing product news releases.
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