Venmark Client featured on Jay Leno’s Garage

By Steve Stroum | July 9, 2014 | Comments Off on Venmark Client featured on Jay Leno’s Garage

According to Dennis Aikman, Sales Manager of Alvin Products, a division of Dampney Company, Everett, MA, Jay Leno featured their innovative metal putty Lab-Metal on “Jay Leno’s Garage,” which was described by the editor of “Skinned Knuckles” magazine after reading Venmark’s publicity  article.

Products Don’t Have to be New to be Newsworthy

By Steve Stroum | July 2, 2014 | Comments Off on Products Don’t Have to be New to be Newsworthy

Exploding the myth that products have to be new to be newsworthy is the following full page in this June/July 2014 issue of Fabricating & Metalworking magazine. Featured are four different press releases prepared by Venmark International for ESCO Tool who has been publicizing products consistently for over 37 years! This news also appears online…

The Alternative to Growth is Death

By Steve Stroum | June 28, 2014 | Comments Off on The Alternative to Growth is Death

I’ve had many small business owners tell me that they like being small and don’t want to grow. Sound familiar? I understand. I own a small business too. But, businesses are organic. Like animals, plants, and people, the alternative to growth is death! It is as simple as that.   Several years ago, I had…

Why Work With Small Companies?

By Steve Stroum | June 5, 2014 | Comments Off on Why Work With Small Companies?

I was introduced to a young man who was starting a company. In the process of our initial conversation, he let me know that he graduated Carnegie Melon with an engineering degree. Therefore, I assumed he was smart. That said, he went on to ask me, “If I was so good at what I do,…

Ignite Interest in Your Products

By Steve Stroum | May 28, 2014 | Comments Off on Ignite Interest in Your Products

The squeaky wheel gets the grease and the internet is getting the most lubrication today for good reasons. Obviously, when people recognize they have a need for a product or service, they search for it online.  But, what about those folks who don’t recognize they have a problem? There are lots of them. As Henry…

Publicity for Commodity Created Tool Kit Sales

By Steve Stroum | May 15, 2014 | Comments Off on Publicity for Commodity Created Tool Kit Sales

It amazes me how many companies are losing out on terrific sales opportunities because they assume there is a linear relationship between what they publicize and what people purchase.   A great client, Malcom Company sells a line of plastic welding tool kits and I’ve been preparing innovative news releases about the kits for many…

The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding

By Steve Stroum | May 4, 2014 | Comments Off on The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding

In his book, “The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding,” co-author, Al Ries pointed out “The publicity message has credibility because it comes from a presumably unbiased source. Furthermore, you expect the media to tell you about things you’ve never heard of. That is what news is all about.”   When prospective customers read news about…

Venmark International Introduces Product Videos

By Steve Stroum | May 4, 2014 | Comments Off on Venmark International Introduces Product Videos

Developed to let companies take advantage of our expertise at communication through images, Venmark International has introduced a new standard product video service. Each product video is approximately 30 seconds and communicates the key attributes of a product very clearly in order to pique viewer interest and generate meaningful sales inquiries.   The genesis of…

Have You Ever Anointed an Employee?

By Steve Stroum | April 26, 2014 | Comments Off on Have You Ever Anointed an Employee?

I had a client who took advantage of technology and bought his assistant, Susan a beautiful Nikon camera.  It had every bell and whistle you could imagine.  Ironically, she was intimidated by it! My client, an engineer who “didn’t know what he didn’t know” was looking to save money on the cost of product photography. …

SEO is Only Part of the Marketing Mix

By Steve Stroum | April 18, 2014 | Comments Off on SEO is Only Part of the Marketing Mix

In marketing today, “Search” gets a lot of attention.  And it should.  However, there is a huge implicit assumption which is:  your prospective customer knows what they need and then search for it.   Henry Ford said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”   In other words, without a…