Create for Cash Blog - Creative Marketing

How to Be a Real Fan

I just got a nice letter from a fan of a movie I did with Dan Haggarty years ago. The movie was called “Elves“. It was a campy horror movie that was a B movie cult classic. I still occasionally get letters from people who have seen and appreciated the movie. It’s probably not for everybody, but if you like that kind of film, check it out.

The letter was detailed and not a carbon copy of a letter that’s sent to hundreds of people in a mass mailing. This got me thinking about how we connect on a personal level. Everyone wants to be appreciated and called by name. We want to know that someone took the time to learn something about us, whether it’s reading our blog or website, or in this case, watching my movie. In other words, be a real fan.

When I used to work in film casting it was always surprising to me when actors came in to audition and didn’t know anything at all about our company or any of the movies we made. One of them was an Academy Award winning film, but rarely did any actor mention it. I wouldn’t have cared if they liked it or not, but at least having some knowledge about what the company did would have been helpful.

So, who are you a fan of? Think beyond just the A list celebrities. I’m sure they already get tons of mail. Think about the people that you really admire who aren’t on the list. I’m sure, like me, they would appreciate getting a letter that shows that they know and enjoy your work. Be authentic and just speak from your heart. You never know if that person will think of you for a job or pass your information on to someone who could help you.

Read this about a special fan letter to an author.

Also, think about people who aren’t in the spotlight. Or maybe they are up and coming. Someone who does make it to the top will most likely remember that you “knew them when”. And even if they don’t, at least their autograph will be valuable.

Set Long Term Goals Instead of New Year’s Resolutions

Studies show that 20% of New Year’s resolutions are broken within a week and about 80% within the year. So, why do we keep doing it? I think the answer lies somewhere between habit and peer pressure. And I think that’s setting you up to fail from the start. Instead of rewarding yourself for doing something good, you’re going to be punishing yourself for breaking a promise. Even if the promise is to yourself and you never tell anyone what it is.

This is why I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. I would rather make long term goals and allow myself to fail… a lot. Because it’s through those failures that you learn the most. And you can’t be afraid to fail if you are trying too hard not to fail. If that makes any sense.

Blueprint for setting and achieving long term goals:

Check one thing off your list every day – One thing I’ve learned from being an entrepreneur is that you should always be making strides towards a bigger goal by accomplishing small goals every day. Even if it’s as small as just writing a blog post. It means you’re that much closer to your bigger goal. Achieving small goals gives you the courage and enthusiasm to keep going.
Prioritize your goals – I have white boards full of ideas, but there are only so many hours in a day. Make sure you prioritize them and do the most important ones first. Writing the great American novel might be on your list, but if you have to pay the bills, your career as a novelist will have to wait. That’s why I like to have long and short term goals. The pie in the sky dream ideas are still going to be on the list, but down near the bottom. [Read more…] about Set Long Term Goals Instead of New Year’s Resolutions

3 Ways to Thank Your Customers

The two most important words in the English language are “please” and “thank you”. You should be using them every single day. So on Thanksgiving weekend not only am I grateful for friends and family, but for all of the customers and clients I’ve had through the years.

It should go without saying that as a business owner you should have great customer service, but you should also make a point of thanking your customers personally. It really goes a long way. The Journal of Marketing conducted a study about the positive reinforcement of customers. They found that customers from one retail store who were called and thanked showed a 70% increase in sales. There was only a 30% increase when they were also told about a sale. [Read more…] about 3 Ways to Thank Your Customers

Prepare For Your Business Like You Would Prepare For a Storm

Hurricane Sandy, or “Frankenstorm” as it’s been nicknamed, is barreling down on the east coast this week. Home owners and business owners are boarding up in anticipation of a monster of a storm that is expected to last for up to a week.

Prepare your business

We never expect anything like this to happen, but the truth is that it does. The same thing can happen with your business, so you should prepare for it now. As a manufacturer I did think to prepare in case anything happened to the factory, like a typhoon or political upheaval. But I didn’t anticipate the price of oil going up so much (affects the price of plastic and shipping) or how bad the economy would become (not just here, but around the world).

Here are some things to consider when preparing for a natural disaster or one that hits your business: [Read more…] about Prepare For Your Business Like You Would Prepare For a Storm

Why Didn’t I Get Hired?

On my trip back east last week I shared a cab with a guy who had graduated from college a couple of years ago and was still looking for a job in his chosen field. He was in Washington, D.C. for a job interview, but said he didn’t think he got the job. As a business owner and someone who has hired a few people in the past, I could immediately tell why he didn’t get it. Unfortunately I think it may be a long time before he does get a job. And I’ll tell you why.

Why didn’t I get hired?

First of all, he was a very nice, polite guy who was dressed in a suit and tie. That part is actually ahead of many people I meet at job fairs who show up in jeans, T-shirts, mini skirts, and flip flops. So that wasn’t the issue.

He was well spoken and well educated. I didn’t see his resume, but if he graduated two years ago and hasn’t had a job since then, that resume is going to be quite thin. But that also isn’t the problem.

The very first thing I notice at job fairs after the dress code is the person’s attitude. I could care less if you have the best resume on the planet. In fact, I’ve hired plenty of people who were fresh out of college and barely had anything on their resume. But what they had, that this guy lacked, was enthusiasm, passion, curiosity, and creativity. I worked three jobs to start my business. I sacrificed nights, weekends, holidays, and vacations to put everything into the business. Hiring an employee is one of the biggest costs of running a business. As a small business owner I simply can’t afford to hire the wrong person. So I’m as careful as I can be about who I put on the payroll. And I don’t think I’m that different from other business owners.

Here are some issues that need to be addressed from the employer’s point of view. This is just from my own view of start-ups, which may be different from large corporations. [Read more…] about Why Didn’t I Get Hired?

Are You Creating Loyal Customers?

customer loyalty

I would be willing to bet that most people are creatures of habit. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, because when we find companies we like we tend to stick with them. That could be a brand of clothing or a type of car or the restaurants we frequent. And we usually tend to stick to our own neighborhood restaurants for various reasons.

So, when I found out one of my favorite restaurants had gone out of business, it was sad. This is where I spent many Thanksgivings and Christmases enjoying the holiday special of turkey and pumpkin pie. They were always creating loyal customers.

I went through the restaurant reviews and found out that I wasn’t the only one that felt that way. In fact, some of the reviews were quite interesting. [Read more…] about Are You Creating Loyal Customers?

My Week Without TV or Internet

I just realized it’s been quite a while since I wrote my last blog post. I’ve been on the road traveling and had no Internet access or even a TV. I think the last time I did this was years ago when I was backpacking through New Zealand. I didn’t exactly do it on purpose, but the places I stayed didn’t have either one.

Funny, I did have a phone, but no one called me all week. I was already getting to the point that I thought many people have stopped connecting to each other. And after stepping back and watching the world go by in my week without TV or Internet I realized I was right.

You would think by the way I’m talking that I was on a mountaintop in Siberia, but no, it was New York City, Washington, D.C. and places in between. I stayed in B and Bs and hotels in the middle of nowhere with no Internet access and bad cable reception. [Read more…] about My Week Without TV or Internet

To Whom it May Concern – Cold Emailing

Cold emailing. It’s kind of like cold calling, but without the really scary part where you have to talk to a live person and get rejected. Sometimes over and over again. Hiding behind an email may feel safer, but it’s less likely to get a response, especially if it’s not done right.

Cold email

I got a cold email today from a company that wanted me to hire them as a publicist. It started with “To whom it may concern”. Okay, already I’m going to delete it, but not before checking out their site. This is already more homework than they did on me. It just takes a few extra minutes to at least look through someone’s site before contacting them, especially when you’re asking someone to spend $5,000 a month.

If they had looked through my site they would have seen that I have quite a lot of PR already and just by Googling swiggies and publicity. My Linked In info comes up on my page along with the title of “publicist”. [Read more…] about To Whom it May Concern – Cold Emailing

Honesty in Business

On the way to walk the dogs today I dropped some money in the elevator. I was already at the end of the street when my neighbor chased me down to return it. She could have taken it. No one would have known. But that simple act of honesty really made my day. I already think highly of this new neighbor and will go out of my way to help her if she needs it.

Honesty in business

The same thing happened again the other day when I went to have a workbook printed at a small print shop in the neighborhood. The owner gave me a quote a couple of weeks earlier based on a printed sample I showed him. But when I sent it in on disk it turns out it was much cheaper than the previous quote.

He charged me the cheaper rate, but I really wouldn’t have known otherwise if he hadn’t been honest about it. I’m certainly not a big customer, but after that I will be a loyal one. And that’s one of the best reasons to be totally honest with your customers. They will appreciate it and remember it. They will also be more likely to spread the good word about your business either through referrals or testimonials. Create honesty in business. [Read more…] about Honesty in Business

Where There’s a Seller, There’s a Buyer

I was helping a friend clean some things out of the office the other day. He is a talent scout for musicians and had boxes of old demo tapes from the 70’s and 80’s. Just for fun I played a few of them to see what kind of musicians he turned down.

As the music played, he cringed and said it was some of the worst music he had ever heard. He never signed any of the artists and said to throw the tapes in the trash. Well, I hated to admit it, but I thought some of it was pretty good. What was I missing? I mean, I know I’m not an American Idol judge and really don’t know anything about the music industry, but I am a consumer and I did used to buy music.

I started wondering, if I liked it, I wondered how many other people in the world would have liked it too. Okay, so maybe the industry never released that music and it never made it on the radio or top 10, but surely there had to be a market for it somewhere. [Read more…] about Where There’s a Seller, There’s a Buyer