JoTo Ism


Friday, December 30th, 2011

JoTo – Ism: Don’t wait until next year to create your Holiday promotion!

From KJ’s mailbag…

Dear Karla Jo,

I have noticed that promoting during the holidays could be very difficult. Everyone and their brother is online, offline, off the wall, etc. selling their spiel. Should I just not promote right now, it seems like a waste.  What should I do?  I want to do better next year.

Signed,
Don’t Want to Waste My Money Next Year

 

Dear DWTWMMNY,

Here are a few tricks to cut through the noise…

One of the best things you can do is communicate to your clientele during the holidays.  Yes, everyone is promoting during the holidays, but you can too – if you are B2B, many of your clients are able to take tax write-offs for certain services before the end of the year.  You should capitalize on this by letting them know that you have specials or packages to help them pre-pay for products or services to be delivered in the new year.

In healthcare, people can use their Flex plans, cafeteria plans, and etc. for elective services and their insurance benefits for non-elective services before their benefits run out at year-end.  You should let them know this and allow them to come in for examinations to see what they might need.

Don’t stop communicating to clients/customers because “everyone else is – remind them that YOU also have Xmas specials – gift certificates are great for stocking stuffers.

Also, stay in touch with your clients/customers by educating them on your industry, services and products.  Like financial planning or estate planning – articles of interest of what people usually run into during this time of year, or what they should plan for right at the beginning of the year.  People still need information.

And don’t forget to wish your clients Happy Holidays – let them know you are thankful for their business and continued patronage…be sincere and acknowledge them for being such GREAT clients/customers!  You can also offer bonuses to them for being your clients – a value added product or service that you can tack on to a pre-paid package – or just a free report on how to make the most out of their XYZ service/product, etc. or maybe a Facebook sweepstakes where you give away some item or service when they like your page.

Don’t be afraid to communicate during the clutter – do so, because if you do not, they will forget about you with all the OTHER communication they are receiving.  Figure out how to be original and unique – even be proactive and say that you know they are getting more communication from other retailers and businesses these days but you did not want them to forget about YOU!

Hint: Write out what your holiday program will be for NEXT year now.  Write it out and how it will be executed.  Figure out the date you will start the promotions – you want plenty of time so you can cut through the clutter.  (JoTo starts executing our Holiday promotions on October 14 every year.)

If you do this, next year your Holiday promotions will pay off – watch and see!

Much Love,
Karla Jo

Tags: ,
Posted in PR Slogans and Maxims | Leave Comment

Monday, November 14th, 2011

JoTo – Ism: The role of Public Relations

We have put together a fantastic white paper on the role public relations plays in your marketing plans. I have selected a couple of choice bits to whet your appetite…

 “A common misconception about Public Relations is that it is completely separate from marketing; that effective marketing can be done without PR2.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  These two subjects are actually intrinsic to each other as they both ultimately have the same goal—a positive result from the public, whether it is in the acquisition of acquired admiration, trust or respect, or whether if it is in the form of product interest and purchase.”

“It applies to dating or marrying someone, it applies to selecting a school for your children, it applies to voting for a politician (although you are still likely to be disappointed with a political choice at one time or another—the reason being that politicians often misapply Public Relations by lacing their PR with “white lies” or in some cases with blatant distortions). In the end they are always found out. So, remember, always be truthful in your PR as well as in your marketing.”

You can read the earlier blog post here:  Corporate America’s Most Common Corporate Misunderstanding – The Relationship Between PR and Marketing

Tags: , ,
Posted in PR Slogans and Maxims | Leave Comment

Tuesday, October 11th, 2011

JoTo Ism: PR creates street cred

Street Cred – (~Urban Dictionary)

  1. commanding a level of respect in an urban environment due to experience in or knowledge of issues affecting those environments. He’s been thru it all.   His street cred is undeniable.
  2. your “coolness” factor

Ahhh you gotta love our JoTo-Ism’s. Carrying the torch for PR is not a lonely job – especially when you have clients that get their marketing boost from your public relations program.  Check out some of our fantastic clients below who are making waves in the media.


Winter the Dolphin hires an attorney: Johnson, Pope, Bokor, Ruppel & Burns is the largest law firm in Pinellas County. It was no surprise when their Intellectual Property Litigation Attorney, Frank Jakes, was asked to represent the CMA dolphin, Winter, in contract negotiations for the major motion film, The Dolphin Tale, that was filmed here in Clearwater. Johnson Pope Goes to Hollywood was the PR cry that garnered them quite a bit of press before the movie premier! Here’s just one of the articles:

Winter the dolphin has lawyer to protect her trademark

BNI West Central Florida makes the news: Sales people just love PR because of the credibility it supplies. There is nothing like showing a prospective client an article or series of articles to get in good. Take BNI West Coast Florida as an example. Rather than having to explain how BNI provides a unique business referral service, their team just has to pull out this article that explains it all. And it reaps credibility because someone else (the Gulf Coast Business Review) is telling the story for them.

Replicable Recipe


Tom Fleming bought two BNI franchises with 13 members in 2003.
In less than a decade that number has swelled to 1,600. Photo by Mark Wemple.

 

Water’s Edge luxury condominiums know PR: And how about Water’s Edge that effectively used PR to build relationships and tenants before they started selling and during the process – they are now sitting at 70% sold (in just over one year). Take a look at the news clips that take you through the entire process.

YouTube Preview Image

YouTube Preview Image

YouTube Preview Image

If you ever wondered what are the key ingredients to a good PR program? Well, hiring the right firm that understands your company of course. Check out this article:

7 Tips on How to Choose a Professional PR Company

 

Ahhh you gotta love our JoTo-Ism’s. Carrying the torch for PR is not a lonely job – especially when you have clients that get their marketing boost from your public relations program.

 

One of our clients, Johnson, Pope, Bokor, Ruppel & Burns is the largest law firm in Pinellas County. It was no surprise when their Intellectual Property Litigation Attorney, Frank Jakes, was asked to represent the CMA dolphin, Winter, in contract negotiations for the major motion film, The Dolphin Tale, that was filmed here in Clearwater. Johnson Pope Goes to Hollywood was the PR cry that garnered them quite a bit of press before the movie premier! Here’s just one of the articles:

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Fun PR Videos, Pictures and Sites, PR Slogans and Maxims, What's HOT in Tampa Bay PR | Leave Comment

Friday, September 9th, 2011

JoTo Ism: Wining awards creates better customer service

We asked JoTo CEO Karla Jo Ciotti her thoughts on how best to promote and publicize how your customer service to the public and the media. Here is her response:

2011 Fast 50 Hockey Logo

“AWARDS!!!  Apply for and get awards, send press releases out on awards, your new-and-improved customer service line – how it is saving money for your client, but giving better service, testimonials on the website, testimonials in your marketing collateral, case studies on the value of your products and services to SHOW you are SERVICING YOUR CUSTOMERS.

“And don’t overlook the employee aspect of customer service.  Treat your employees well, have well-documented policies and procedures and make those known to them; don’t play favorites and validate them when the work is well done.  A happy employee force CREATES a happy customer base = GREAT PR. And that is priceless!”

Tags: , ,
Posted in PR Slogans and Maxims | Leave Comment

Thursday, June 30th, 2011

JoTo Ism: compiling your mailing list

  • List Construction, aka Construct Your List!

Your mailing list is the lifeblood of your organization. Your strength and growth depends on the quality and size of your list. Earlier in this issue we described how to maintain your list so that you get the results you want but how do you get names on your list. Yes you can buy names, but you have to be very targeted and follow the SPAM laws to the “t” – and you have to know how to market to lists like that so you get a return (that’s our expertise by the way).  One of the things you can do to start out is to build your list from your customers and prospects you have gotten through networking, prospecting at the close of sales, referrals, etc.

The first thing you need to know about building any list is that you don’t want to violate the Anti-Spam Act. Therefore all subscribers have to have the ability to opt in (asked to participate) and opt out (ask off your list). Fortunately, if you are doing it yourself most of the do-it-yourself bulk mail providers have this attribute built into the application automatically.

Constructing your list does not have to be an imposition. It can be created relatively easily if you follow a few simple pointers.  In fact here three key steps to creating a successful mailing list.

  1. Make them want to join up: There are a number of ways to do this and get folks to opt in. special offers, gifts, newsletters, recipes, whitepapers, reports, etc. You should know your target market and know what they would want (that is where market research comes in.) Provide them with the right offer so they want to join up.
  2. Easy does it: Make the signup process easy to do. Don’t make them jump through hoops. You can collect information later, but right now a name and email address will do. This is list building 101.
  3. Don’t send stupid stuff:  How many times have you received an offer from a company for something you already own or the offer has absolutely nothing to do with you? Don’t send your customers stuff they don’t need or want or is irrelevant. Send them what they need and they will be customers for life. Segment your mailing list as much as possible so you really are sending the right stuff to the right peeps. They will love you for it.

JoTo is prepared to help you with your email marketing. Our program provides for list growth and lead nurturing including advanced database segmentation so you can drill down to your exact publics. We even help you find your exact target markets and get them to opt-in to receive info and offers from you.  Check out this video featuring Jamie Sene our Lead Generation & Internet Marketing Specialist:

www.jotopr.com/email-marketing

Tags: , , ,
Posted in PR Slogans and Maxims | Leave Comment