Who Do You Know?

So who do you know that will support and promote you and your business?

Your "Circle of Influence" includes individuals who will not only talk about your business but will give you referrals. These could be best clients, mentors, business leaders, neighbors, friends, family, etc.
(Click the link below to read more)

You should make it your goal to build your circle of influence and correspond with them monthly. A healthy list should contain between twenty-five to fifty names with contact information. If you don't have this list, then take a moment, open up an excel document and begin listing as many names as you can. If you find out that your list is small, then you'll have to begin networking to meet new people.

Go ahead and give it a try! You'll soon discover that referrals will come as you grow and nurture your circle of influence relationships.

-Ernie DiMalanta

Displaying a New Look!

So many things have changed in the past several months with Quest Marketing Solutions! We are excited to announce that we will be showing off our new look at the NEC Chamber Business Expo. For those of you who are unaware of the NEC Chamber we encourage you to visit them online at www.necchamber.org. They will be holding their first expo at the New Great Wolf Lodge in Cincinnati. For those of you who plan on attending, we would love to meet you.

-Ernie DiMalanta

Advertising Specialties Galore!

Have you ever thought of the use of promotional items and apparel as a part of your marketing strategy? If you haven't, thousands of vendors have...

A portion of our marketing team has just returned from a huge advertising specialties tradeshow in Downtown Chicago. Our goal: to check out the landscape of all that is offered in the promotional/apparel industry. And let me tell you that if you can think of a product, vendors have already thought of a way to place your logo on it. We saw everything from refridgerators, corporate awards, golf balls, pens, magnets, deck of cards, dog tags, apparell, tatoos, ipod cases, watches, roses, chocolates, nail polish, teddy bears, hats, lenticulars, radio coolers, bags, the list goes on and on. In fact... we had 2 full work days to visit every vendor and we only made it through approximately 75% of them. So...are promotional items and apparel worth your time? YES! However, you have to be strategic in your product selection and use. Here are a few good reasons why your company should use promotional items/apparel: (click link below to read more)

▪Branding your company
▪Providing your sales force with a high touch tool
▪Recognizing top performers within your company
▪Retaining top clients by offering a gift of appreciation
▪Offering as incentive for response


Just remember, be strategic with your purchase whenever you do decide to implement promotional items/apparel. Don't just get a pen simply because every other business has one. Or purchase the cheapest item you can find just because it's cheap... you often get what you pay for and it can reflect poorly on your company. Your marketing dollars are valuable...so choose wisely and execute with diligence.

What has your company used (regarding advertising specialties) that has/hasn't worked? Comment and share with other marketers.

-Ernie DiMalanta

Homearama...Branding Extravaganza!

Have you ever been to the Homearama? If you haven't, you should check it out... it's worth the price of admission. Unless, of course, the thought of being reminded about all your home improvement chores doesn't interest you!

The past couple of weeks the city of Mason, Ohio has been hosting this event. The Homearama is a builders showcase. Essentially, this event gives several homebuilders the opportunity to show what they can do if given limited boundaries... end result: Homes worth over one million dollars that can do everything but pay it's own mortgage.

One facinating aspect about this event is that it is a branding extravaganza...

It's amazing how many companies were vying for mindshare. The One Restaraunt and World of Dinettes slugged it out through the use of corrigated signs placed on the side of the road just before you parked. Over twenty home-related companies like Basement Living Systems and Pella duked it out in the big tent, of which you had to walk through in order to enter or exit the Homearama. BMW cars were parked in almost all driveways and greeted you as you exited each house. As you walked to and from your car, there were golf carts that picked you up...of course, they were sponsored by Union Savings Bank. And if that wasn't enough, all you had to do was look in the air and catch a glimpse of the Remax Hot Air Balloon!

Now granted, most of the companies that were branding at the Homearama were large companies. But did you notice, as mentioned earlier, that The One Restaraunt and the World of Dinettes were attempting to brand through use of yard signs? They aren't corporations... And yet they proactively tried to seize the opportunity to fight for mind share. What are you trying to do to seize the mind share of your target audience? How are you proactively branding your image in your prospects?

-Ernie DiMalanta

Insight from Sailor Jack!

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Cracker Jacks? You think of the yummy-in-your tummy, nutritious, carmelized popcorn morsels and peanuts right? Of course not! You think of the free prize inside... the secret decoder, tattoos, stickers, mini magnifying glass. Sailor Jack and his dog, Bingo knew their audience well. Most of us who grew up in a typical American home can all remember "the prize."

This brings up an important topic...

Soft innovations!

Seth Godin, author of Free Prize Inside, shares how soft innovations provide another way for business growth. "The clever, insightful, useful small ideas that just about anyone in an organization can think up. Soft innovations...can make it remarkable. They do this by solving a problem that's peripheral to what your product is ostensibly about. It's a second reason to buy the thing, and perhaps a first reason to talk about it."

Well there you have it...take time exploring the edge of your product or service and come up with several soft innovations. Who knows, you may stumble on something that works!

-Ernie DiMalanta