Billboard Rules of Thumb

I was driving to the airport Saturday morning enjoying the traffic-less ride and I couldn't help but look at the billboards. I have a Journalism degree with an emphasis in Strategic Communications (advertising). I had to learn how to design print and radio ads, create a comprehensive campaign and include a call to action with nearly everything.

The billboards I was seeing on the side of the road were terrible. Not only did they not follow convention,

Billboard: bad example

you couldn't read them. It wasn't just one billboard, it was on one particular stretch of I-435 outside of Kansas City. Sometimes designers and ad agencies can get creative and throw all caution to the wind, but no matter whether you're going to follow proper convention or not, you must have these things in ANY billboard ad you design:

• Make sure text is readable - I use the "eight words or less" rule, but if you're not going to follow the rules, people have to be able to read your text at a quick glance.
• Brand or call to action - if your goal is to brand, make sure your logo is prominent and viewers would have no trouble identifying it was from you. If your goal is to call people to action, make sure they could act within the confines of their car going at 65+ MPH.

Billboards can help achieve multiple goals in your marketing mix, but if people can see something at a quick glance, it won't help achieve anything. 

Napa Earthquake: Event Planning Emergency Preparedness

What do you do when an earthquake happens and you're hosting an event? Your problem solving will likely kick-

Furniture moved from quake.

in as you try to keep your guests calm and decide what the next steps are. I had 27 people at the Napa Andaz when the earthquake hit at 3:20 am Sunday morning. 

Here are some tips to keep in mind while planning any event.

• When you contract with a venue, ask them what their emergency procedure plan entails for a likely disaster in that area of the country (California: earthquakes; Midwest: tornadoes; East Coast: hurricanes; etc.)

• Once you sign the contract, identify your contact in case of emergency and have their phone number programmed into your phone.

• Have a list of the attendees’ names in multiple places. If you can’t go anywhere without your phone, make sure you have access there.

• Have the attendees’ phone numbers programmed into your phone.

  

  Bathroom mirror shattered.

• If disaster strikes, direct people to the appropriate place (based on the emergency procedure plan) and take roll, using the list you have.

• Assess and address any injuries immediately.

• Make contact with your emergency contact and wait for further instruction.

• Stay calm. If people haven’t been in that type of situation before, it can be extremely frightening and they may take cue from your demeanor.

The Napa Andaz did a fantastic job of helping to get our guests accommodated at a different hotel in the area because of the damage. Their employees came straight to the hotel without being called in to help serve the guests. Because they had to evacuate the hotel, I wasn't able to get my silent auction items packaged up and shipped out. The hotel offered to do that for me; even though I'm sure it's the last thing on their minds after this disaster.

Book Review: E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber

I haven't read an E-Myth series book since 2004, but thought it was time to re-read the classic small business book. Owning Etap Communications and a start-up (PlanMyTournament.com) means I'm constantly running in different directions. This book outlines processes and steps to take in order to create quality processes that are repeatable by writing things down in a step-by-step list.

Creating a process for everything helps when I take vacation or am sick. It's time to really expand on the number of processes we have in place so as we market Etap Communications and bring in new business, we have an established program to easily integrate new staff members.

Michael Gerber's The E-Myth Revisited goes through the story of Sarah, a pie shop owner. Even though he describes the process and business principles through a B2C format - you can easily see a connection for B2B. This is a great read, and re-read, and a Top 10 business book for business owners in my opinion.

What Will Our Marketing Teams Look Like in the Future?

Hardly anyone knew in 2003 that social media would be a main channel in our marketing mix today. How do you go about predicting the future of marketing then? By realizing that adaptability and flexibility are keys to staying on top of marketing.

With an internal marketing team, you'll work together with other departments to collaborate on ideas about how to reach your target consumer. It won't be limited by just members of the marketing team or by a marketing team title. By ignoring traditional boundaries, you'll be able to receive feedback from people who deal with different aspects of the business and varied interactions with customers. Keeping the group open and accepting all ideas (no matter how silly) can really help bring forth a solid marketing idea. Hey, you don't know if 20 years down the road everyone will be receiving their information on Google Glass or if we'll regress to beepers as our preferred communication method.

As far as learning that information, we'll keep doing the same thing we've been doing. Understanding our demographics and psychographics; listening to our customers and watching their behaviors; and making our products and services better and more valuable for our customers.

Make a List to Accomplish More

I'm one of those Type A people. I like making lists and checking them off. Even if there's something I accomplished and realized I left off the list, I will add it to the list just so I can check it off. I'm not sure if I feel so accomplished at the end of the day because I actually completed things or because I have a list that reflects something more tangible. Here are some ways I use lists to help me accomplish more things each day:

• Create a running list in a notebook - this will help with the "feeling" of accomplishing more when you can see all of the things you've actually done
• Create a day-by-day to do list - segmenting the items that are top priority each day can help ensure you get more important tasks completed
• Create an hour-by-hour to do list - this is the most effective type of list for me because I can segment out how I'm going to accomplish the things I want to each day

No matter what type of list you create, physically writing things down will help increase your chances of actually getting it complete. Don't forget to keep the list handy and accessible as well. If you don't have the list available, you likely won't know what you're working to achieve.

You can also read the book "Getting Things Done" by David Allen. He points out ways to actually get things done by incorporating efficiencies into each day.

Book Review: Ten Steps Ahead

I'm always looking for new business books when I'm at the local used bookstore. I had struck out recently by reading a book from the early 2000's that was already out-of-date so I was glad to see Ten Steps Ahead (2011) in the clearance area. Erik Calonius presents some different attributes on business visionaries of both past and present.

He does a great job of incorporating already widely-known principles, such as emotional intelligence and visualization. The most interesting part for me was the part on luck. I consider myself very lucky in my personal and professional lives, but it's not what I would typically think of as pure luck. Pure luck doesn't really exist (the planets can never really align). It's not only hard work that goes into luck, as Calonius describes, but a positive attitude and calculated intuition.

In addition to the luck section, I also really enjoyed his personal interview anecdotes that brought a closeness to these past and present visionaries. Great, quick read.

Book Review: Six Pixels of Separation

This book by Mitch Joel focuses on the power of blogging and podcasts. Even though the book was
published five years ago, and there is some outdated references to social media, blogging is still relevant today. As with any online medium, content is still king.

In the book, Mitch gave many anecdotes with the success of his blogs and podcasts. One success story in particular connected two people in a town in Australia as they were both connected to his podcast. Although I don't listen to podcasts, they are still going strong and are being consumed.

I prefer to go straight to YouTube and I think this year, many businesses are going to be integrating YouTube into their social media mix. YouTube videos are now easily accessible with your mobile phone as podcasts once were with your ipod.

As technology, social media and online conversations continues to evolve, videos, blogs and podcasts will be part of this evolution. No matter what though, content will continue to be king!