Targeting Those Who Need Their Football Fix: Cell Phone Broadcasting

Got to hear how your college football team is doing, but you’re nowhere near a satellite TV and your radio is thousands of miles away from the local broadcast? No need to panic, just dial in the game on your cell phone. This service is provided by a company called Celecast (www.celecast.com).
 
Subscribers call a phone number and select the college football or basketball broadcast they wish to hear. Fans can be anywhere in the world and never miss out on the action of their favorite college team.

Can Minor League Promotions Work for Your Business?

Minor league baseball teams have a mission to sell seats, make money and have fun. Their library of promotions seems endless and their enthusiasm to try new ideas that are often controversial shows creative courage and zeal.
 
If your promotional “idea well” runs dry, visit www.minorleaguebaseball.com. You can access the 300+ minor league baseball teams’ sites to see how they’re attracting customers to the ballpark.

Influential Consumers Rely on the Internet.

Influential consumers rely on the Internet more than other media, according to a recent study. Through decades of research, RoperASW has identified the 10% of the population that shapes the attitude and behaviors of the other 90%. The firm studied over 3,000 washingtonpost.com users who meet the RoperASW definition of "influential."
 
These online influentials spend more time on the Net (not counting e-mail) than any other medium. The group said they would recommend that advertisers use the Internet (56%) and newspapers (56%) to reach them — higher percentages than any other medium.
 
The Internet is the first choice for online influentials when researching places to visit or things to buy, and two-thirds either forward advice or are asked about products and services by others.

Reward Your Most Profitable Customers.

Add a Creative Spark to Your Business.

• When you manufacture or sell a product that most consumers already have, what's next? How can you offer the customer something special that they do need — and will pay extra for?
   
  
• Let's take a plain old parking lot for example. What if a parking lot offered auto cleaning/detailing and oil changes. Or had extra security for those with high-end vehicles. Protection from the sun. Had heating and pre-starting procedures during the winter months.

Take a minute to brainstorm new products and services that specific consumers will seek out and pay extra for.
 

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Are You Prepared to Face the Media?

What if your next phone call is from a reporter? What if you're asked for your position on an issue? Are you prepared to answer concisely and with conviction so that you put yourself and your company in the best possible light?
 
Anyone who is likely to face the media in planned or unplanned situations should be media trained. Why?

• Increase control and confidence.
• Learn to recognize and respond to news when it occurs.
• Generate positive exposure for your company.
• Position yourself as a valuable resource for the media and source for expert commentary.

The key is preparation. Here are a few basic points that may be helpful in an interview situation:

• Keep your answers brief and to the point.
• Listen to the entire question before answering.
• Speak in terms understood by the non-expert — avoid industry jargon.
• Know your key message points and weave them into your responses.
• Focus on the positive.
• Have facts and figures ready to back your position.
• Be calm, courteous and honest.
• Never talk "off the record."
• If you don't know the answer to a question, tell the reporter you'll look into it and respond.

To learn more about media training, please contact me:
 
Bill Krenn
Vice President/Team Leader
bkrenn@thephelpsgroup.com

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Branded Message vs. the Offer in Direct.

Directing marketing's goal should be to create more brand experiences, not try to brand or position in the same way as image-oriented advertising. The best way to generate higher response rates is to introduce more people to the product. Surprisingly, brand-centric copy doesn't increase response.
 
Below are results for a company with a strong international brand. The target was $125 cost per sale. (Source: The Hacker Group)
 

Offer/Copy Platform	Cost Per Sale
Great offer, low brand message*	$48.67
Great offer, high brand message	$111.45
Weaker offer, low brand message	$271.43
Weaker offer, high brand message	$606.98

* "Low brand message" means relatively little
emphasis was devoted to branding.
 
According to Dan Hacker, this brand vs. offer relationship proved true in more than 12 head-to-head test situations for this company. (We've seen similar results from other companies.)
 
Remember, the prospect doesn't care about your company and your branding message. They may not care about your products and services. They only care about themselves: "What's in it for me?"
 
Cynthia Clotzman
Direct/CRM Coach
cynthia@thephelpsgroup.com

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Good News About Our Great Clients.

	The Robb Report magazine has selected our newest client, The City of Beverly Hills, as the nation's "Best Place to Live for Shopping." Referring to Rodeo Drive as a "three block-long roll call of the world's leading luxury retailers," the editors cite the city's concentration of opulent shops as their reason for bestowing this honor.
	City of Hope was named among the nation's top 50 medical centers for cancer treatment in the latest issue of U.S. News & World Report, which featured the annual rankings of America's Best Hospitals.
	"Voyage to the New World," the new Crystal Serenity's inaugural transatlantic itinerary sailing November 6, 2003, provides the perfect venue for the line's highly regarded Film Festival — a salute to motion pictures with a serious, yet entertaining look at the history of cinema and the stars of the silver screen.
	Santa Monica's Fairmont Miramar Hotel's Jazz By The Beach series happens Thursday evenings from 6 - 8 P.M. Join Doc Powell (August 21) and Steve Oliver (August 28) and experience the sunset from the Miramar's gardens while enjoying the music.
	The Foundation for the Junior Blind held its 8th Annual Summer Games at Camp Bloomfield, a 40-acre residential camp in Malibu. The event kicked off the 2003 camp season with more than 60 blind or visually impaired children, ages 5 -12. They competed in Olympic-style events such as track and field, archery and aquatics.
	The Inaugural Friends of George Graziadio Golf Tournament tees off October 13 at Mountaingate Country Club in LA. Persons interested in sponsorships and foursomes for the FOGG Tournament — named in honor of George L. Graziadio, founder of Pepperdine University's Graziadio School of Business and Management — are invited to visit the Web site at http://bschool.pepperdine.edu/FOGG/.
	Great American Group, the nation's leading asset management and disposition firm, has expanded its business significantly among companies within the recording and music industry. Major companies that it has recently assisted in re-financing include Musicland, Virgin Entertainment, Tower Records, Wherehouse Entertainment and Trans World Records.
	IndyMac Bank Homebuilder Division recently closed a $50-million construction loan to Corona Hills, LLC, which will provide funding for a master planned community consisting of single-family executive homes and an 18-hole Jack Nicklaus-designed championship golf course on a 1,032 acre site in Riverside County.
	Nine Panasonic variable frame-rate HD Cinema cameras were used to shoot the definitive music documentary, "Salute to the Blues," shot by director Antoine Fuqua at Radio City Music Hall. The special will air on PBS as part of the first event in the Year of the Blues, as proclaimed by the U.S. Congress.
	On August 27th, mankind will witness the closest approach of Mars to Earth in almost 60,000 years. And at 2:51 A.M. PDT "... Tahiti will be roughly the closest spot to Mars" according to the Los Angeles Times.
	Whole Foods Market opened its doors to the Santa Monica community on July 16, with a new store located at 2201 Wilshire Blvd. City officials, the press and hundreds of impressed locals attended. WFM is set to open their first Las Vegas store August 27.

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The Phelps Group is a marketing communications company organized in client-based teams of advertising, PR, promotion, direct and interactive specialists, delivering integrated programs from a full-feedback environment.

Our mission is to do great work for deserving clients, in a healthy working environment, to realize our clients' goals and our potentials.

Click here to link to our agency fact sheet.