So many of my FB friends as well as customers are not on or don’t use Twitter. It is a mistake from a business standpoint, but also from a personal standpoint. Read this blog below for a well stated reason.
What is the One Terrific Reason to Join Twitter? | Jeffbullas’s Blog.
You can follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/Totalbroadcast
Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.
With the start of a new year comes new goals and new budgets. One bothersome question that small business owners wrestle with all the time is how much of your budget and/or income should be dedicated to marketing or advertising. The successful business will have an answer to this question. The failures will not.
Read this article from Businessweek then come back and let me enlighten you with more tangible information.
What Should You Spend on Advertising? – Businessweek.
A marketing expert said in a seminar I attended today that each business should dedicate 10-15% of their gross income to marketing. He correctly pointed out the few business actually do this. The Businessweek article says to look for examples from similar public traded companies and base your decision on them. Another way, they say, is to start at 5% of revenue and move your spending up or down depending on several factors. It’s assumed that “revenue” they refer to is “net-revenue” otherwise I can’t imagine them recommending that a growing business would spend so little.
In a blog entitled Marketing as a Percentage of Revenue Benchmarks blogger Jeff Grill provides far more detailed survey results on what other companies do, and thus gains credibility in my eyes.
Time invested in marketing/advertising must be factored in. And when doing so judge the time in terms of dollars. How much would it cost you to hire someone to do what you do? That’s the determining factor. Far too many entrepreneurs pay themselves far too little, and one should not base their calculations on such an unrealistic figure.
From my standpoint business owners and managers are no different from others and can get lost in the world of marketing, or social media; two not too divergent characters any more. Your time is best spent making money. Any “How-to” book on starting or running your own business will tell you this. Find a marketing expert who can demonstrate the success they will bring for you or the time they will save for you will ultimately make you more money, since you’ll be focused on serving your customers and making money.
Another great mistake made by small business is to pull back money from advertising when the economy softens. It’s exactly the opposite of what should be done. When dollars are hard to come by you need to increase your efforts to get some. Cut back elsewhere.
Total Broadcasting Service helps small business in so many different fields. we strive to be a one stop shop for small business marketing. Website design, Video production, radio advertising, and SEO expertise are our primary areas of focus. We’d be honored if you called us to assist your business.
Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.
“Imitation is the best form of flattery” -Charles Caleb Colton
Babe Ruth with Ty Cobb
In the annals of sports the names Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth carry weight. Their accomplishments and fame extending far beyond the baseball diamond. Cobb was considered the best who ever played the game. And then came Ruth. Ruth is generally recognized as the greatest athlete of the 20th Century (or at least Top 3). Both Cobb and Ruth were well-rounded in their baseball skills. Cobb could run the bases like no one before, or since. Ruth was a record-setting pitcher before being moved to the outfield in order to better take advantage of his hitting. Ruth and Cobb made their names as hitters.
What has always fascinated and bewildered me is that in spite of their prolific accomplishments at the plate Ruth and Cobb had no imitators. Since their time as icons of baseball in the early 20th Century no one else has come along emulating some of Ruth and Cobb’s unique styles. I see this a lot in life. People come along in various fields and do something different from what everyone else is doing and they accomplish great things. And…then…nothing. No one follows the Master. No one imitates that which well accomplished people perform and subsequently continue with similar success. I’ve often wondered why that is.
Ruth’s batting stance featured him standing in the batters box with his spindly little legs and feet together, holding the bat very low, his hands at about waist level. He then stepped into the pitch, raised his bat and unleashed a powerful swing using his entire body for greater force. His follow through left his body twisted in such contortion that he resembled a human barber’s pole.
Babe Ruth
Several aspects of this stance and swing have never been duplicated. And yet when he finished playing Ruth’s 714 career home runs were so overwhelming that 2nd place on the career home run list was Lou Gehrig with less than half Ruth’s total.
Because of the age in which Cobb played video and photo’s of his “style” are much more rare. But what is certain is that Cobb swung the bat with a split grip. He says it gave him better control of the bat, as you would expect by simple analysis and the laws of leverage. Instead of holding the bat during his swing with his hands near the bat’s base, side-by-side with each other or slightly overlapped like all other hitters, Cobb gripped the bat with one hand NEAR the base and the other 3-5 inches higher on the handle.
Ty Cobb with a split grip
He retired with 4189 hits in 24 seasons. In 500 more career games Pete Rose finally surpassed Cobb’s total, finishing with 4256. Rose and Cobb are the only ball players to ever exceed 3800 hits. Still, do you ever see a hitter swinging the bat with Cobb’s split grip? I watch a lot of baseball. I don’t see it.
For thirteen years I worked in sales for a 30-year-old company in Bellevue, WA before starting my company Total Broadcasting Service. I’m proud to say I led all the company’s 40+ person sales staff in annual sales for the last seven years of my employ. With all humility I set every sales record the company recorded and outsold whomever was in second place usually by 15-20%. My success wasn’t based on longevity as most of the company’s top sellers were with the company before I began in 1992. It wasn’t based on any kind of favoritism. Nobody would EVER have accused my Sales Manager or General Manager of grantingme any favors. My success came from a presentation style and from a manner in which I managed my accounts that was unlike anyone else. I always tried to share my methods with others. But few were interested, and none adopted them. It perplexes me to this day.
Many if not most of my sales accomplishments with my company and the one I worked for previously are done over the phone, inside-sales. The less knowledgeable would call it telemarketing. The profession is held by some in similar esteem as that of lawyers, politicians, and professional thieves. That might be an exaggeration. But the point is, recruiting people to the industry has been a constant challenge in the 20 years in which I’ve been employed in it. This in spite of a life and lifestyle which is the envy of many. But do as I do? Seemingly the answer is “not me”.
Are there a lot of Pablo Picasso imitators out there?
His Cubist style of painting was radical and became beloved; and he is renowned as THE painter of the 20th Century. Yes, some have attempted Cubist stylings. But they’re rare compared to other forms of abstract paintings. What about Steve Jobs? His over-emphasis on style contributed to Apple computer pricing far exceeding that of a computer with the more popular Window’s operating system. But that specific emphasis on style and appearance spreading to Apple’s other hardware products is a major reason Apple is now the richest company in the world. Any yet…do any other computer manufacturers place ANY emphasis on their hardware’s style and appearance? Not really.
And before I hear from detractors, I don’t equate me or my accomplishments with those of Ruth, Cobb, Picasso or Jobs. I’m merely relating personal experiences and observations that are first hand.
I could go on and on. It’s true that a “Master’s” uniqueness is part of what makes them special. But in measured accomplishments where a success approach is capable of being emulated it should be. Imitation may be the highest form of flattery. But all things considered, we should be flattering our most successful people more often. Is there someone in your field who far exceeds the accomplishments of the masses? My advice is to find out what they do and how they do it and copy or imitate as much as you possibly can.
Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.
Lead your industry with video. Call us.
Be Yourself on Social Media.
I joined Facebook with my personal profile page in May 2008, and some would say at that point a monster was made. The truth isn’t quite so dramatic and was in fact a slow evolving process. Now I’m very active on Social Media and a lot of it is for fun, but most of it is a calculated effort to promote my company Total Broadcasting Service, and recently my wife and my Advisor status with the direct sales company, AdvoCare.
The truth is the “monster” reference above refers to both my frequency of posts and my willingness to break some long-standing “rules” for business and networking. The big one of which I refer is “never talk religion or politics”. It’s long been believed crossing the line into those two subjects is a sure way to lose customers or potential customers. Well, I’m a happy example of how that “rule” is largely myth. And I’ve come to the conclusion that the politics and religion banishment from social media discussion or business and networking discussion is created mostly by people who are personally more reserved anyway.
Nothing is wrong with being more tightly guarded about your thoughts, actions, or beliefs. But those who are ought not unfairly judge those of us who are happily more vocal. After all, if everyone held ideas so closely to the vest and never shared them how would people learn and grow and solve problems. It’s the more boisterous in society who call attention to problems and those problem’s solutions.
Total Broadcasting Service is an eight year old company. We’re a radio advertising brokerage and audio production company that has added video production for internet marketing to our list of services. We experienced four years of growth after beginning operations in 2005, and then fell on hard times like so many others in 2009. We saw a lot of customers close their doors that year. Since then every year has gotten progressively better. And in 2012 we have recorded our best year ever in terms of gross income.
What I find interesting about this is the fact that 2012 was an election year and I made no secret about my support for what the election determined was a minority opinion. Not only was it a minority opinion nationally, but my Conservative politics was and remains an extreme minority opinion where I live and where most of my business originates from, in King County, Washington. So how can it be possible that my business has continued to grow and support my family with what amounts to an above-average income and life-style?
Stephen Colbert
As Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert demanded to know during the Chick-fil-A vs Gay Marriage controversy last Summer, “I’ve got to know what positions my food has taken on all the issues. For example, I love Carl Jr’s Western Burger. It must be anti-ObamaCare, because it is clearly trying to kill us. And whenever I go to Applebee’s, I insist that they only give me right wings. After all, you are what you eat. And now, you also believe what you eat.”
The absurdity of Colbert’s comment should be obvious. And to me the obvious conclusion I’ve come to is that most people don’t care about politics or religion. Traditionally poor voter turnout proves this fact. Studies showing only about 50% of Americans regularly attend church further proves it.
Like Adam Smith clearly enunciated in his seminal book, “The Wealth of Nations“,
Adam Smith
everyone cares about their own selfish interests. And that’s a good thing. Because in caring for our own selfish interests we as individuals and individual businesses are stronger and better able to serve specific customers and the general populace. Weak people and weak businesses serve very few. And in caring for their own selfish interests people care little about my politics or religion. They care about whether my business can make their lives better, something we constantly strive to do. And we strive with equal fervor for our Liberal customers as for our Conservative customers; for our Christian customers as for our Jewish, Buddhist, Atheist, or Muslim customers. Doing so is in our best interest.
My efforts on Social Media now include regular posts to my Facebook personal page, business page, and personality page. In 2010 I added Twitter and LinkedIn personally and for business to my Social Media promotional efforts. And in 2012 Pinterest began receiving our attention. And we are bloggers here on M Schuett blah blah blah. (We’re also on Biznik. But since they started charge money for even their most basic profile page we discontinued our subscription). Selfish advocacy of my political and moral points of view are frequent subjects of my posts. But foremost at ALL TIMES is merely to be interesting to as many people as possible in order to promote my business interests; Total Broadcasting Service, and in the past 3-4 months, AdvoCare health and nutrition.
AdvoCare allowed me and my wife to lose 30 lbs each in just 4 months.
Social Media experts will tell you that marketing through social media is not intended to get you direct business; but instead to keep your brand, product or service in the front-of-mind for potential customers. That’s true. But when you make yourself interesting on Social Media and are not afraid to “show a little leg” and make yourself vulnerable you gain credibility with even those who disagree with you. And in gaining credibility you gain direct customers. As we have. And we’re grateful.
Thanks for visiting. Comments are welcome.
December 11, 2012
Categories: Business, National Politics, Washington State . Tags: advertising, Advocare, blogging, Business, Carl Jr, Comedy Central, commentary, Conservatism, current-events, facebook, internet advertising, LinkedIn, marketing, networking, Pinterest, politics, religion and politics, social media, society, twitter, Wealth of Nations . Author: Michael Schuett . Comments: Comments Off