Events Businesses Prove Lucrativ

First appeared in Ad Age

While publishers struggle to mine revenue from their core print operations, their events businesses are starting to look like a comparative gold rush.

In June, Fortune magazine is introducing a half-day London version of its three-day Most Powerful Women Summit. It will be the 14-year-old conference's first venture overseas, with an Asian iteration following in the fourth quarter. Fortune is also raising attendance fees on the summit's U.S. edition in October by $2,000, to $7,500. It's also holding an event May 7 that's tied to the annual Fortune 500 list. Trade Show Displays prove useful.

You can see the appeal from Fortune's perspective: Profit from events rose 63% last year and are expected to grow 55% this year, according to a Time Inc. executive. Its Global Forum -- typically held every other year -- will return in 2013, this time in China. The function could help double the event division's revenue from an estimated $15 million this year.

Fortune's stages attract speakers such as President Barack Obama, Warren Buffett and Facebook No. 2 Sheryl Sandberg, and streaming video means the various confabs can reach many more people.

They also give advertisers something compelling to buy other than ad pages.

"Events give you the ability to actually meet people on the ground, the ability to influence and gain thought leadership from others," said Esther Lee, senior VP-brand marketing and advertising at AT&T.

As more publishers succeed in the field, however, they risk a problem that has dogged traditional ad sales: clutter. When a business chooses to Rent Exhibits, clutter can be helped.

"There is truly what I would call an almost unmanageable proliferation of events," Ms. Lee said.

Some marketers are responding by getting more deliberate about where they invest, according to Elizabeth Baker Keffer, president of Atlantic Live, The Atlantic's events division.

"I am seeing the underwriter community starting to concentrate their resources," Ms. Keffer said. "Because of the plethora of events, they're saying, "Let's see which ones are working for us.'"

The Atlantic, whose activities include the Aspen Ideas Festival every summer, has "ambitious" growth plans, Ms. Keffer said. They include expanding its 3-year-old Washington Ideas Forum and two events, Brave Thinkers and The Atlantic Meets the Pacific, rolled out last year. Both events possibly utilized Wall Graphics.

It also has designs on Silicon Valley. "We have two [events] on the drawing board and hope to get at least one off the ground," Ms. Keffer said. "And our big hope is to do something on a global stage."

Events now account for 17% of The Atlantic's revenue, vs. 14% in 2009. That is a higher share than at most magazines, but that may change as publishers expand their event businesses more quickly than they can grow print.

The swath of print-affiliated extensions vying for audiences include the Women in the World Summit from Newsweek and The Daily Beast; O You! from O, The Oprah Magazine; The New Yorker Festival; The New York Times' TimesTalks; and the art-centric Creators Project from Vice Media and Intel.

Creators Project functions in New York, Beijing, Paris, Lyon, São Paulo and Seoul attracted more than 560,000 attendees last year, according to Vice. On March 17 and 18, Vice and Intel are hosting the project's first San Francisco event. Events like these need Custom Graphics.

And don't forget other players, including TechCrunch Disrupt, the D Conference from Dow Jones' All Things D website and broad-based conferences such as South by Southwest. AT&T is a big sponsor of Most Powerful Women and South by Southwest.

Some events charge for admission, while others depend entirely on marketer support. Sponsorship models also vary. This is true of Trade Shows Phoenix as well.

"We do many big, integrated programs where [an advertiser] will sponsor an element of the event and do parallel print and digital, and sometimes custom elements," said Jed Hartman, group publisher at Fortune. "In addition, some companies focus on different things, such as live events rather than print-and-digital strategies." These include Phoenix Exhibits.

If some of print's challenges are following publishers into the events space, at least some of its strengths are tagging along. Fortune's venerable brand and extensive reach, for example, help it garner prestigious speakers, large audiences and marketer support.

"There's no question that there are more events than there were, say, 10 years ago," said Andy Serwer, managing editor of Fortune. "In one sense we welcome the competition, and we're flattered that other people are coming to the space. Having said that, we have a big head start in many instances."

Marketers' move to concentrate their resources has benefited The Atlantic, an established brand with a well-defined following and more events experience than some, Ms. Keffer said.

"The competition, the clutter and events being commoditized is an issue," she said. "We focus on trying to remain unique -- even as the field has gotten more crowded -- by differentiating through our content."

New Sales Outlets a Big Deal for Small Businesses

USA Today

 

Robert Siegel uses his hands to create brightly colored porcelain clay ceramics. But it was his feet that came in handy when he first tried to sell his wares.

"I literally got started carrying things into stores and saying 'Do you like it? Do you want to buy it? Do you want to sell it?' " says the craftsman. "It was boots on the ground." He carted his pottery in and out of New Jersey and Pennsylvania boutiques, and had mixed success.

Some places were like, 'Get out of my store. Don't even walk in here carrying a product again — make an appointment," he says. But others were receptive: "Some stores said, 'We'll take you in on consignment.' "

That initial success gave Siegel the confidence to show more of his goods at craft shows, as well as launch an e-commerce site. His next expansion opportunity comes soon. A friend of his parents hooked him up with a Neiman Marcus home decor manager located in Beverly Hills. In December, Siegel will display his pottery at an event for select shoppers.

"It's a big opportunity," he says. "Hopefully Neiman's picks me up nationally and I become a full-time vendor."

Small distribution steps are a big deal for growing businesses. Each new sales outlet is a potential path to increased revenue and brand recognition. "It's one of those major milestones ," says Thom Ruhe, director of entrepreneurship at the Kansas City, Mo.-based Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which looks to bolster entrepreneurial activity. Companies can "can mark the day they made the leap."

Yet like many other successes in the life of a small business owner, it usually takes trial and error to determine the most lucrative sales path.

Entrepreneur Todd Greene says his first stab at selling his HeadBlade — a razor specifically designed to shave head hair — didn't turn out the way he had hoped. Greene brought 500 HeadBlades to a Venice Beach, Calif., sales booth. Eight sold.

Greene's takeaway: The touristy, entertainment-oriented ocean venue was a good place for selling pizza, t-shirts, sunglasses and novelty items — but not head shavers. He has since refined his distribution plan, and now sells his razors online and in the shaving aisles of major drug-store chains.

"My mission now is to keep growing," he says.

Sales stumbles are common as a company grows, says David Hennessey, marketing professor at Babson College. There are different factors to consider such as deciding where to sell the product and determining what profit margins will work. And there is always room for errors. Yet, Hennessey says: Do your homework.

"Use the research tools that are out there to determine market demand," says Kauffman's Ruhe. "See where there is interest and put your time and money there. You want to fish where the fish are."

Other tips on forming new sales channels:

• Get the company name out there:  Tweeting, blogging and posting comments on review websites are great ways to build brand recognition, says Joan Broughton, interim executive director at the National Retail Federation's Shop.org. Online buzz can pique the interest of customers and retail buyers who might stock the product in their stores. "Just put yourself out there."

• Prove that a product is wanted:  Creating an e-commerce sales site is a relatively easy — and inexpensive — method to build up initial sales for a product, says Rue. And those sales can demonstrate to wholesalers and retailers that the product is wanted. "You also want to try to show a little bit of traction," he says.

• Seek the advice of peers:  Kathy Kramer, creator of the Invisibelt — a flat-clasped belt that doesn't have a bulky buckle — says she often talks to other business owners who specialize in the woman's accessories market to get sales leads. "I reach out to companies similar to mine," says Kramer, who has sold her belt in stores, online and through home shopping channel QVC. "You have to have the attitude of 'I have no shame, I will hunt anyone down' " to talk about business.

•Check the competition:  See what sales channels competitors are using to get their products out there, says Rue. Shop.org's Broughton also says to check out competitor's e-commerce sites to glean information on what works for them. "Get a sense of what best practices are," she says.

•Tap into trade shows:  Family team Carol Abersold, Chanda Bell and Christa Pitts say that face-to-face interactions at trade shows let them better explain how parents and kids could utilize their now popular 'The Elf on the Shelf 'children's book and toy and trade show displays. ( Elf on the Shelf, a toy and book based on a holiday tradition in the Abersold household, was sold at 18 retail outlets in 2005. The product is now available in more than 10,000 U.S. and Canadian outlets.

•Know when to say 'no':  This family-run business had little financial resources at first, and the woman didn't want to take on more orders than they could handle. So they made a conscious decision to enter new retail markets at a slow, steady pace.

"We had a very strategic plan and didn't want to grow too fast," says Pitts. "We wanted to start locally, then build in our state (Georgia) and then expand to the East Coast. We had to grow in a way that supported our infrastructure. We had to be strategic in who we said 'yes' to."

Marketers get Creative, Targeting Hard-to-reach College Students

USA Today

Villanova University junior Courtney Chupka (left) of Chatham, N.J., hands a pair of free American Eagle Outfitters flip-flops to fellow student Nicholas Benenati, a sophomore from Miami. Chupka was one of a team of Villanova students dressed in matching T-shirts to promote American Eagle Outfitters on campus.

 

 

It may have seemed like just another freshman move-in day at West Virginia University. But for American Eagle Outfitters (AEO), it was D-Day.

Long before the new students arrived at their dorms a few weeks ago, the trendy clothing retailer had a detailed marketing battle plan specific to this Morgantown, W.Va., campus. Facebook updates promoted free car-to-dorm-room help with heavy stuff on move-in day — not to mention free flip-flops.

The savvy strategy wasn't executed by an American Eagle exec. It was overseen by 21-year-old Gina Damato, a WVU senior whose major is public relations. In her spare time, she manages a pizza parlor, writes for the school newspaper, snowboards and is a student rep for AE.

"College students are wary of old-school marketing," says Paul Himmelfarb, managing director at Youth Marketing Connection, which specializes in linking marketers with the college crowd. "You have to take a brand and incorporate it into the college lifestyle by peer-to-peer marketing."

Savvy college marketers have learned that they can no longer reach students by simply putting up posters, handing out samples and hanging ads from dorm room door handles.

That's why there are now nearly 10,000 student reps like Damato on campuses nationally. They are paid in cash, products or a combination of the two — up to $1,500 per semester.

New age of social marketing

Much of their work is via social media, such as relevant Facebook updates and targeted tweets on Twitter. It is detail-oriented marketing intricately tuned in to things vital and specific to student bodies at each of the nation's 4,100 colleges and universities — and in many cases to the individual student. So there is little wasted messaging.

If there were a college class for this, it would be New World College Marketing 101.

"College marketing used to be block and tackle," says Matt Britton, founder of marketing agency Mr. Youth, which recruits thousands of students nationwide. "Now, college students are immune to those tactics and expect something much more deeply intertwined in their lives."

These days, it's about reaching students where they are — which is mostly (but not always) on their cellphones or laptops. So the most sophisticated college marketers — from American Eagle to Apple (AAPL) to Red Bull— are increasingly turning to social media focused on students' wants and needs.

For brands like caffeine-stoked Red Bull, the college crowd isn't the gravy, it's the meat.

"Think about college life," says marketing chief Amy Taylor. "It's made up of five main activities: study, work, play, party and, if there's time, sleep. Our product can help with four of those five."

Students are a rich resource

Why reaching students on campus is fundamental for marketers:

•Students have money to spend, often courtesy of Mom and Dad. Discretionary spending by the nation's 19 million full- and part-time college students will reach $76 billion this year — up $2 billion from last year — Alloy Media + Marketing projects.

•Students will have more dough in the future.

•Students, particularly freshmen in their first extended time away from home, are developing brand affinities that can last.

But they're very clear about how they want to be reached by marketers. When college students were asked in 2009 how they want to get information on goods and services, 46% said the Internet, research specialist Student Monitor reports. That's up from 26% in 2000.

Where they're not interested in getting information: TV or magazines. While 59% looked to TV ads in 2000, that segment shrank to 44% last year. And while 42% depended on magazine ads for information in 2004, only 25% did last year.

Not everyone can be reached. Bijah Gibson, for one, just wants to be left alone.

The 21-year-old journalism major at Colorado State University in Fort Collins says that while it's hard to miss all the college marketing coming at him — he mostly ignores it.

"It doesn't affect what I buy," he says. "My friends have a much bigger effect on what I buy than what I see on some website or on a Facebook update."

Being a college student rep

But such exceptions don't slow down Damato, the student rep at West Virginia. Before her gig as ambassador for American Eagle, she repped for both Apple and Disney.

In return, Apple lent her gobs of computer equipment, Disney helped her get class credit for a six-month internship in Orlando and American Eagle sends her checks.

Damato says being a student rep has helped make her a big shot on campus. "I'm not only recognizable to students, but to professors," she says.

For Apple, she manned tables at freshman orientation last June — supplying detailed Apple product information to students and parents at a moment when many were most susceptible to purchase. Apple doesn't let her make the sale at the tables, but she refers students to an Apple site specific to her school and she gets a commission on each purchase made there.

Last fall, she organized Apple tailgate parties at school football games where students played Guitar Hero on Apple laptops in the parking lot. She posted Facebook updates on the tailgate fun.

But this fall, she's all about American Eagle.

She recruited 40 volunteers — mostly by arranging an AE donation for a fraternity's favorite charity — to work on freshman move-in days. She touted their services on the WVU Facebook page for incoming freshmen with updates such as: "Need help moving in: No worries. AE will be there."

Was it ever. Over six hours, her crew helped 100 freshmen move into their dorms.

And each of those freshmen got a free pair of American Eagle flip-flops (valued at about $15) and a store coupon for 15% off at the American Eagle store at the local mall. As an incentive to get them there quickly, the coupon was set to expire in 30 days.

"The motive is brand awareness," says Fred Grover, executive vice president of marketing. "Our target is a 20-year-old."

Here's what a handful of AE's peers are doing to also seek that 20-year-old on campus this fall:

•Red Bull. The brand sells more than 4 billion cans a year in the U.S., a lot of them to college students.

So it's no accident that Red Bull has an astounding 8.4 million friends on Facebook. That and Twitter are primary ways it communicates with students.

Also, when students returned to school this fall, thousands got sample Red Bull Energy Shots (2-ounce bottles that retail for $2.99) at college bookstores.

Red Bull has student brand managers on 250 college campuses who host — and promote via social media — events such as a recent student chariot race at the University of Georgia.

Red Bull also is active in mobile marketing. There are mobile games and phone apps produced by Red Bull — some of which are free. College students might learn via text message about where to get a free four-pack on a Thursday night, Taylor says.

•Hewlett-Packard. (HPQ) The tech company focuses its college marketing by campus. "We've got to be where the students are — on campus and online," says Lisa Baker, director of student education marketing.

HP student reps at Washington State University recently participated in the annual back-to-school music fest featuring local bands. HP student reps demonstrated HP laptops in the thick of the action and announced special HP deals for the 4,000 students at the event. Students who signed up for information there or on Facebook got free giveaways.

•Zipcar. Since launching its first student rep program in 2001 at Harvard University, the nation's largest car-sharing service now has reps on 50 campuses.

In the spring, Zipcar will set up fake beach scenes on campuses, complete with sand, beach chairs, umbrellas and swimsuit-clad students. Fellow students who stop to check out the "beach" also will see a poster with this pointed spring break reminder: "You need a Zipcar to get here."

Zipcar courts students via Facebook, Twitter and location-based social network Foursquare. "Students are accustomed to getting things on demand in the way they choose," says Zipcar chief marketing officer Rob Weisberg.

So it's no coincidence how much Zipcar's latest iPhone app appeals to college students: Zipcar members can use their iPhones to beep their car horns or even unlock car doors.

•Barnes & Noble.(BKS) In the past 12 months, Barnes & Noble College Booksellers has expanded from 40 college-specific Facebook pages to 636, says Lisa Malat, vice president of marketing.

"We need to go where the students live," she says. "We can't wait for them to come to us."

Fast Growth for Your Small Business isn't always Good

USA Today

Nick LaCava and his two business partners got sweet news this spring: O, the Oprah Magazine planned to tout their candy bars in the June issue.

The ensuing write-up was a mere 30 words. But its description of Chocomize's "luscious chocolate" whetted the appetites of thousands of people across the country. The small, New Jersey-based confectioner was hit with a dramatic rise in orders and an influx of calls and e-mails. Before the article, "we were probably getting around 15 e-mails and 15 phone calls a day," LaCava says. "After the magazine came out, we would get anywhere from 50 to 100 e-mails and phone calls a day, which made things really stressful."

The founders of Chocomize had anticipated a sales uptick, but they weren't prepared for the fivefold increase in orders. Then one of their chocolate-making machines gave out.

"It was like, 'Oh my God, we're not really sure about what we're going to do,' " LaCava says.

With some fast driving (one partner found a new machine and drove two hours each way to fetch it), and some quick thinking (they brought on college interns to answer calls and e-mails), they managed to survive the weeks of tumult that followed.

"We really had to really figure stuff out in terms of efficiency," says LaCava. "When things were pretty chaotic, we thought, 'We've got to try new things.' "

Rapid expansion can cause big problems for small firms. A huge rise in product demand — or overly ambitious internal plans to forge new sales markets, open satellite offices or hire more people — can easily topple a company. As many owners have learned, stretching too far too fast can lead to unhappy employees, strained client relationships and shoddy products.

"Fast growth is a double-edged sword," says Deam Roys, founder of Los Angeles-based Roys & Associates, which specializes in executive recruiting for mushrooming companies. "It's good because things are working. But if you grow too fast, things can really blow up."

Expansion plans sink

In the case of Jim Picariello's frozen treats venture, fast growth caused a business meltdown.

What was just an idea in 2006 — all-natural ice pops sweetened with honey — soon become an in-demand product. At first, Picariello would make the pops himself, producing 300 every two 11-hour days. But by 2008, his Wise Acre Frozen Treats firm had 15 employees and a 3,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Blue Hill, Maine.

Picariello needed more equipment to meet increasing orders, so he sought outside investors. After a handshake deal for $1 million, he assumed that fresh capital would soon come in, so spent funds budgeted for other things on new equipment.

Soon after, the stock market tanked, and the investor pulled out. Picariello spent the rest of 2008 scrambling to find other capital, but it was too late.

"I had to lay everyone off, including myself — and by January and February of '09, I knew it was done," he says. "I personally had to go bankrupt … and the bank came and took all the equipment and took all the formulas and trademarks.

"It was like living in a nightmare," he says.

Growing pains can range in severity, and they can happen in all stages of company development.

Even megacompanies can fall prey to the troubles that come with too-quick expansion. Toyota Motor's unchecked growth caused its leaders angst, and put lives at risk. The carmaker's rapid U.S. expansion resulted in safety issues and recalls, CEO Akio Toyoda said in February to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

"Quite frankly, I fear the pace at which we have grown may have been too quick," he said.

Toyota had traditionally focused on safety, quality and volume, in that order, said Toyoda, who is a grandson of the car company's founder. Yet, "these priorities became confused, and we were not able to stop, think and make improvements as much as we were able to before," he said. "We pursued growth over the speed at which we were able to develop our people and our organization."

Toyota executives — like many at flourishing companies — lost sight of the mission that paved the way for initial success.

Executives who become too focused on swelling revenue and increasing market share sometimes overlook what made the product or service special, says Mark Lange, executive director of Edward Lowe Foundation, a Cassopolis, Mich.-based non-profit that seeks to accelerate entrepreneurship.

Once those managers get overly fixated on a particular goal, "they often lose track of other important things," he says.

Anticipating results

That's where discipline comes in.

Companies need to strive for "sustainable growth" says recruiter Roys, who's helped more than 300 businesses prepare for expansion. "It's very good to grow, but you can't bite off more than you can chew, because that could bury your company."

Yet, it's hard not to take that mouthful.

Sometimes it takes strong internal reserve to hold back on an urge to sign a massive product distribution deal. Other times, the advice of a CFO, board member or business partner can help to pull in the reins.

"Seeing that brass ring could be a very seductive thing, but you need to decide what's best for you," says Bo Fishback, vice president of entrepreneurship at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Kansas City, Mo. The foundation focuses on entrepreneurship activities. "The ability to say 'No' to an amazing opportunity is something that very successful entrepreneurs have in common."

n some cases, the knowledge just has to come from learning from past mistakes.

The founders of Guidant Financial Group found out the hard way that it's better to expand their employee roster slowly and carefully.

"From '03 to '08, we grew from two founders, a laptop and less than $10,000 to an Inc. 500 company doing $12.5 million and employing 110," says David Nilssen, co-founder of the Bellevue, Wash.-based company that provides financing, IRA and 401(k) assistance for businesses.

But when the markets began to crumble in late 2008, sales fell. "As the markets declined, so did our business — and we found ourselves top heavy," he says. The result: two rounds of layoffs and about 70 employees losing their jobs

The firm is hiring again, but at a cautious pace. Nilssen says that company leaders realized the importance of becoming a lean, efficient firm so now they can get more work done with fewer employees.

"We certainly learned some tremendous lessons

Book Provides Invaluable Public Speaking Tips
Author Says That By Looking At Public Speaking and Seminars As A Form Of Marketing, Businesses Will See A Boost In Their Bottom Line
Story Posted at PR-Inside

“Sometimes it’s painful to watch these CEOs being interviewed on TV,” says author of 129 More Seminar Speaking Success Tips David Portney. “If they only had just a little bit of speaking training, they would be able to shed the aura of distrust that they give off.”

What’s a speaker’s biggest flaw? “I have 258 tips between two books that address a lot of flaws, but the one that many people are guilty of is not using their hands properly. It’s not always what you say, but how you say it, and a person’s body language does more to harm or help a person’s message than just about anything.”

Mr. Portney says that by looking at public speaking and seminars as a form of marketing, businesses will see a boost in their bottom line. “Today, people don’t want to see yet another advertisement. They want to see a person. They want a person to talk to them. Seminars and speaking make your business personal, and that in turn boosts bottom lines.”

David Portney has been training keynote speakers, and doing seminars, and every kind of public speaking you can imagine for over 20 years. 129 More Seminar Speaking Success Tips is his fourth book. He is also the president of the American Seminar Academy.

129 More Seminar Speaking Success Tips is Mr. Portney’s follow-up to his highly successful 129 Seminar Speaking Success Tips. It is currently available online and at booksellers nationwide. For more information, you can visit www.129seminarspeakingsuccesstips.com.

From The Chiropractic Profession: The Hottest New Marketing Trends
Original Story Posted at DynamicChiropractic.com



As the chiropractic profession enters the dawning days of the new health care economy, emerging trends and technologies present a host of compelling strategies that savvy chiropractic marketers will adopt to ensure their practice occupies the thoughts of today’s ever-more-cost-conscious and choice-savvy health care consumer.

Branding Your Practice

Creating a brand experience has moved to the top of chiropractic marketers’ priority lists. The American Institute of Graphic Design defines brand as “a person’s perception of a product, service, or company.” That definition has nothing to do with your mission statement, logo or tag line, or the color of the walls of your reception room. Instead, a brand is defined by the perception, good or bad, that your patients or prospects have about you and your practice.

Your brand experience is made up of the cumulative impressions your current and potential patients garner from their visual, verbal and experiential encounters with your practice. This encompasses a range of intellectual, sensory and emotional connections. Some experiences are controlled, such as your office environment, how you answer the phone, your advertising, the services you deliver and your Web site. An uncontrolled – but just as important – experience is the word-of-mouth about your practice. Strong practice brands arise from consistently excellent patient experiences that combine to form a clear, differentiated overall impression of your competence, capability and level of service. Savvy marketers will look at every impression in the context of and their overall brand experience.

Service. In the new health care economy, marketing is less about what you say and more about what your target actually hears. It has become essential that you learn the needs and aspirations of your patients and provide value through each communication. Let’s get back to basics and look at the difference between features and benefits.

Most inexperienced marketers are unsure of the difference and place a lot of attention on features instead of benefits. So what’s the difference? Features talk about your practice and the services you deliver. They talk about the finer details of your practice, such as your technique, level of education, conditions treated, convenient hours or ease of parking. Most people don’t care about features. Benefits tell patients what results they can expect from chiropractic. They explain how patients will feel and about the time and money they’ll save from chiropractic care compared to the alternatives. To achieve maximum impact, you must be sure that every message sent from your practice is benefits-focused. Do your patients the service of highlighting the benefits of chiropractic.

Going green. Every day, another major company commits to a sustainable future. It’s your turn. While it may not seem like a marketing strategy at first glance, you can be sure your patients will appreciate, expect and acknowledge your green efforts. The next time the opportunity arises, take the trash from your office out to the dumpster and look at how much material is wasted. Most of us don’t realize how much recyclable garbage our practice produces every day. A “green” plan is no longer a luxury or an option for your practice. This year, expect to add a symbolic new member to your practice team, a chief green officer (CGO). It’s time to take the responsibility to educate yourself and your employees about how easy it is to save money and resources by going green.

Here are just some of the ways your office can function in a more environmentally friendly way. Set a monthly goal to consistently lower the utility bill by 2-3 percent or reduce the office supply expenses by 15-20 percent. Go through the office and replace all incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent ones, which use less energy and last longer. By reducing paper waste in the office, you save not only money, but also some beautiful trees. Buy recycled office supplies whenever possible. Almost everything needed to run your office, from toner cartridges to paper goods to plastics, is available in recycled form and costs much less. Instead of just throwing away misprints or unneeded printed pages, use them as scratch paper around the office. Set a date by which you will make the commitment to go paperless by doing everything electronically instead of printing.

Get the Word Out

Now that you have established your brand and focus of your practice, you need to get the word out. Follow these fast-growing trends of marketing to get people talking about your practice and the services you provide:

Mobile: President Obama’s election campaign was one of the most talked about in history, not only because of the barriers it broke down in terms of race, but also because of the innovative ways in which it engaged with the electorate. In many ways, it was a turning point for mobile messaging, employing the most coordinated text-messaging, get-out-the-vote campaign in U.S. history. Mobile marketing delivers highly personalized and useful information when and where it is needed. More than 90 percent of text messages are read by the recipient, which creates the opportunity for an instant link between you and your patients.

Google “mobile messaging” and you’ll find an industry of companies that can help you implement an appointment reminder/patient messaging program that can send the text message of your choice directly to your patient’s mobile device. Be sure not to “spam” patients with nuisance messages; ensure that they opt-in to your service and do not communicate any HIPAA-protected personal health information. While still in its infancy, this up-and-coming technology deserves a closer look as mobile-phone improvements continue to create new communication and marketing opportunities.

Join the club. Not just for kids any more, 35 percent of adult Internet users now have a profile on at least one social networking site. Wise marketers will capitalize on the growing appeal of social networks like MySpace and Facebook. According to USA Today, social networking grew 93 percent from 2006 to 2008. During that time, Facebook grew 500 percent. Just as with every new communication technology, there are those who use the medium in overbearing, unwanted ways. Social networking sites are no different.

The key term here is networking; give and take. Social networking success stories have one thing in common: they’re all about the ping-pong effect. It’s you sharing information about yourself and your practice with dozens, and then perhaps hundreds, of potential patients. In turn, those people mention you to their friends. Like all worthwhile business relationships, online networks must be nurtured. Make the effort to do so, and you will reap the rewards over time.

Think narrowcasting. So, what’s narrowcasting? It’s place-based video displays that aim media messages and content at specific segments of the general public. Narrowcasting networks can be found in elevators, taxis, malls, supermarkets, gas stations, restaurants, health clubs, schools and now chiropractic practices. A recent Arbitron health club network study showed that 70 percent of members watch television while at the gym and spend an average of 40 minutes each actively watching per visit. You can turn the time your patients spend in your reception room, on adjusting or therapy tables and in your exercise suite into an educational opportunity by installing a digital information system that provides compelling, entertaining, informative programming that engages your patients while teaching them about how chiropractic can improve their lives and the lives of their friends and families.

Roll the video. Online communications are changing. Chiropractors are now sharing information about their practices using podcasts, online video and now live video streaming. With the Web evolving to also include these richer media channels, the savvy marketer must learn how to listen, understand and use the same media. Broadband penetration is 70 percent in the U.S., making streaming video a “must” marketing tool for your practice. According to eMarketer, an estimated 154 million Americans watched at least one video in 2008, and three-quarters of those told a friend about one.

Video provides you with an enormous opportunity to engage, educate and entertain your patients – the “Three E’s” of successful marketing. Chiropractors are producing specialized medical videos to help their patients get the most from their chiropractic experience. These video messages include virtual tours of the practice, welcome messages from the doctor, new-patient orientation sessions and even customized home-exercise programs, all streamed over your practice’s Web site.

Get in on the game. Gaming now permeates just about all of society, creating a fresh way to connect with patients. Millions of non-golfers are swinging virtual golf clubs in Nintendo’s Wii and playing guitar in virtual rock bands on PlayStations. Senior-citizen centers are buying Wii to entertain guests and connect with grandkids. Having fun in the workplace seems like an oxymoron. However, having fun at your practice is not only good for team-building, but also makes for more productivity. You can use gaming in the practice to give a fresh look to patient education, as you practice healthy biomechanics, and as a tool to make staff training more fun. People learn best by doing, and the opportunity for group interaction provided by gaming’s virtual environment can make the office a bit more enjoyable. It can also be used to show appreciation for work well-done. Work doesn’t have to be one big party, but a little bit can make the work day go more smoothly.

Take Action

As the pressure cooker of the economy heats up, chiropractors are well-advised to employ self-restraint to avoid the overhyped marketing opportunities that they, no doubt, will be barraged with as companies with less than the purest of motives move in to take advantage of the turmoil in the marketplace. My advice: Focus on measuring your success one satisfied patient at a time, and be an early adopter and market dominator by being the first to implement these marketing trends during the coming year.

Starbucks Seeks More Frugal Image
As Originally Posted to The Wall Street Journal

SEATTLE -- Starbucks Corp. Chief Executive Howard Schultz said the coffee chain would combat the notion that its drinks are expensive, as he outlined plans to weather an economic downturn.

At the company's annual investors meeting Wednesday in Seattle, Mr. Schultz railed against the notion that Starbucks -- where the menu includes beverages that can cost upwards of $4 -- is "the poster child for excess," pointing out that half of the beverages Starbucks sells cost less than $3.

"Starbucks has got to demonstrate to our customers and the marketplace that we can still be a premium brand and create a premium experience and at the same time create a platform for value," said Mr. Schultz.

He also said new efforts such as the company's Via instant coffee and its $3.95 pairings of breakfast sandwiches with drinks have received a good response.

Mr. Schultz spoke to a nearly packed auditorium in an event markedly more subdued than those in previous years that often included a big musical act and baristas on stage. Most of the efforts Mr. Schultz discussed had been previously announced, compared with past years when he used the meeting to introduce big new ideas.

After years of rapid growth, Starbucks is now focused on cutting costs, making its operations more efficient and introducing new products that might help increase sales at its existing outlets. Mr. Schultz said the company needs to adapt to a shift in behavior that has customers coming to its stores less frequently and brewing coffee at home.

He indicated the company will use more television advertising after years of using very little. He didn't address whether Starbucks's planned campaign is in response to plans by McDonald's Corp. to start advertising its new line of espresso drinks this year, but he said "it is not true that customers are going to fast-food restaurants" instead of buying their coffee at Starbucks.

The company also plans to reintroduce a promotion from last summer that offers some drinks for $2 to patrons who had made a purchase at a store that morning.

During questions from investors, one Starbucks executive said the company is working on a single-cup solution to be able to quickly brew decaffeinated coffee after recently taking decaf out of the regular afternoon brewing rotation at many outlets.