February 6, 2012

Wedding Package give-a-way in Dayton valued at $25,000 last day to register

The wedding package give-a-way that was promoted in the January edition of REACH Magazine is going to be given away this weekend. If you know anyone who will be getting married this year, make sure they go online TODAY (2/3/12) and register for free to win. They need not be present to win, but they might also want to attend the winter wedding showcase on Saturday from 11am-4pm.

http://www.daytonweddingconnection.com/win-a-wedding-package/

WinterWeddingShowcaseRegistrationLogo Wedding Package give a way in Dayton valued at $25,000 last day to register

For businesses wanting to learn about promotion to a very small target market review this strategy. The Event Connection is wanting to reach brides to be to promote their services and the services available at the Wedding Connection. Working together with other vendors who want that same audience, they put together a enter to win package that would appeal to that audience and marketed it in Dayton’s favorite coupon magazine, REACH Magazine. When the magazine hit the homes their registrations spiked and the phones started to ring with calls from brides and other  wedding vendors that wanted to participate. Some lucky bride will be winning $25,000.00 worth of gifts and services this Saturday. News of the prize and the event made the newspaper causing another spike in registrations on the online register to win page which also offers tickets to the event this weekend. Participating vendors will be given the email addresses of brides that register at the event tomorrow.

Peter DeMott • REACH Magazine in Dayton • pdemott@reachusa.com • 937-478-6222 • Dayton’s favorite coupon magazine

February 2012 REACH Magazine in Dayton looks exciting

It looks to me like we will hit another one out of the ball park with the February edition of REACH Magazine.

What are the things that will make consumers want to look through their REACH Magazine this issue? Why will they hang on to their REACH Magazine and review it often giving all our advertisers repeated exposure throughout the month?

The cover is fun and exciting:

As I’ve mentioned before, there are other coupon magazines distributed in the greater Dayton area that litter their covers with coupons and advertising. If you ask people why they like REACH Magazine the best, many times you will hear something like this, “REACH is like a real magazine”. What they mean when you ask them, is that the cover is appealing and they are willing for REACH to lay about their homes for a longer period than the other magazines.

REACH covers appeal to consumers and create excitement for the community

Another thing that you will notice about REACH Magazine covers is that we make an effort to create interesting seasonal covers that will appeal to consumers in the greater Dayton area. Some times it will be a family and other times it might be something like UD Sports or Wright State Sports, or the Air show. Whatever it is, our goal is to give that magazine a reason to lay around for many weeks in the home.

Here is the cover of the February edition / Isn’t this just FUN?

CoverGoRed February 2012 REACH Magazine in Dayton looks exciting

On the back cover you will see the 17th annual Dayton Heart Ball for the American Heart Association. Nice tie-in with the front cover.

Yo Deal • Local deals – local causes

The Yo Deal roll out in Dayton is also tied in with the American Heart Association. Each company running a YoDeal this month will have a percentage of their Yo Deal sales go to the American Heart Association and the Go RED for Women American Heart Association month of focus on women and heart disease.

Valentines Giveaway is fun and exciting for consumers

Also on the back cover is a register to win Valentines Giveaway including a romantic package at Homewood Suites by Hilton Dayton, Dinner for two at Carvers, two dozen red roses from Englewood Florist and a heart-shaped box of chocolates from Winans. The fun thing about this is that it is easy to register and we hand the gifts over to a local Dayton area winner here at our office. Each back cover of REACH Magazine in Dayton has something you can register to win. It’s another fun way that REACH Magazine connects with the community and with consumers.

Now for the meat of what consumers love most about REACH Magazine

They love what’s inside. This issue is packed with over 18 different food vendors from fine dining to pizza delivery, from Mexican restaurants to Chinese restaurants and buffets and Japanese steak houses. With all that food, consumers have a good reason to hang on to the magazine until the next issue arrives and as they look through the magazine deciding where they might want to dine out, they also see variety in the other kinds of businesses represented. There are jewelers, home improvement companies, various home services, automotive maintenance and repair companies, car washes, tanning salons, hair salons, recreation venues even plastic surgeons and dentists. Consumers never know exactly what is going to be inside their REACH magazine so everyone looks through the magazine. The bigger the magazine the more excited consumers are to look through it.

Advertising in REACH Magazine is easy • Use the power of direct mail coupons in Dayton’s most popular coupon magazine

Is it time to find out how REACH Magazine can help you reach the customers you want? Feel free to drop me a line or send me an email. Tell me they type of business you have and I will research through our archives in Dayton, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Youngstown and other markets to find similar businesses that are doing well in REACH Magazine. Then we can go over the zone map and various pricing and advertising options that make the most sense for your type of business and budget. It’s easy to become informed about this powerful direct mail advertising option so that you can make informed choices to grow your business in Dayton Ohio and beyond.

Call today and become informed about the REACH Magazine, Dayton’s favorite coupon magazine

Call today: Peter DeMott • REACH Magazine • Dayton, OHIO • YoDEAL Dayton • Housetrends Magazine Dayton • 937-478-6222 • peter@photosbypdemott.com • pdemott@reachusa.com

How can a REACH Magazine coupon grow your business?

There are several things that make sense for small businesses and the use of a program of direct mail couponing through REACH Magazine.

REACH cover May edition008 210x300 How can a REACH Magazine coupon grow your business?

Targeting: With REACH Magazine there is the ability to focus your advertising dollars on the people who are most likely to become regular repeating customers. Let me explain. If you run a promotion for your local business on radio or tv it is broadcast wide and far. Let’s say your business is in Centerville, Ohio and someone from Troy, Ohio comes down just to take advantage of the special offer. Based on the convenience to returning to visit that business location, what is the likelihood that the person from Troy will become a regular repeating customer? Not to good, right?

By sending your offer in direct mail (very popular with consumers) in a magazine that people enjoy receiving (REACH is Dayton’s favorite coupon magazine) to all the available addresses that are close to your business you (you pick the zones close enough so that if the consumer uses your incentive offer, he or she could become a regular repeating customer) you focus you dollars where they will do the most good for your business.

CoverWeddingcouple 213x300 How can a REACH Magazine coupon grow your business?

Popular Coupon Magazine: Our research has shown that REACH is the most popular of the Dayton area coupon magazines. By participating in REACH magazine you are much more likely to capture the attention of prospective customers with your incentive offer. We frequently have businesses run ads with us only to have people who live two blocks away come in to the store or business and say, “I never knew your were here!”

CoverREACHlittlegirl 214x300 How can a REACH Magazine coupon grow your business?

Saturation of your primary market: With the diversification of media today, it has become much more difficult for small businesses to reach their likely repeating clients using conventional broadcast media. Ten to fifteen years ago there were three or four primary TV and perhaps a dozen radio stations that people listened to and watched. Today you have Dish Network, Apple TV, Direct TV, Time Warner Cable TV, TV over the phone lines, and even TV over the internet. There are seemingly hundreds of radio stations and sources of listening pleasure with satellite radio, iPods, music from your cable tv or dish network and so on. Each station has fewer regular watchers and listeners than ever before. That is why there is more specialization to draw specific types of viewers and listeners. But, specialization which may draw a dedicated audience does not saturate prospective customers from a close geographic area.

Yet everyone still checks their mail every day and when the REACH Magazine arrives in the home over 95% review its contents and over 75% use at least one coupon each time it arrives in the home. When you mail an incentive offer in REACH Magazine a very high percentage of people within your primary market are going to see and be able to respond to your offer.

CoverGoRed 214x300 How can a REACH Magazine coupon grow your business?

Repetition: We find that as businesses continue to use REACH magazine, their credibility as a company improves in the eyes of consumers. Since people like REACH magazine, they tend to like the businesses that they see in REACH magazine. When they see the same company several months in a row, then they tend to think, “I’ve heard of that company ” and they are willing to pick up the phone or visit the location. If you ask consumers how often REACH magazine comes out, many times they will say,”Is it weekly?” The reason they think it comes out more frequently than it does (we mail 12 times per year) is that they open and look through it over and over while the offers are still good. Two weeks after the mailing comes out, a family still has to buy a pizza or wants to go out to dinner. They look through the magazine and have yet another opportunity to see your ad.

Many businesses who use REACH Magazine to promote their business tell us that REACH draws a better quality and a more loyal customer than many other forms of advertising that they do. I think it is because consumers like and trust REACH Magazine to put the best and most popular types of business in the magazine.

Research: If you are a small to medium-sized business trying to reach consumers in their homes, we here at REACH Magazine can search our archives of ads from all our markets to find businesses similar (or in some cased almost identical) to yours. We can show you ads that are regular repeating clients and we can carefully consider the incentive offers that they are running that are working for them. We do not have to reinvent the wheel. If something is working well in Cincinnati, or Indianapolis, or Youngstown or any of our other markets, it is more likely to be something that could work here. When I do my research I specifically look for ads that are regularly participating in REACH Magazine. This tells me that REACH is working for them, otherwise why would they continue.

So there are some thoughts on HOW REACH MAGAZINE CAN GROW YOUR BUSINESS. I hope my thoughts were provoking to you.

Peter DeMott • REACH Magazine • Housetrends Magazine • YoDeal • eREACH.com • pdemott@reachusa.com • 937-478-6222

FREE is good! Want some SEO Juice for your consumer oriented business in Dayton?

Right now, I can offer you some FREE SEO juice for your business.

We are in the process of rolling out several new online products through our eREACH.com which is the online version of REACH Magazine. eREACH.com has thousands of visitors each day. If your business is looking for consumers (not business to business in other words), I can offer you a profile page including a link to your web site, your physical address, your email address, and contact information for your business along with up to three digital coupons.

This easy thing will enhance your Search Engine Optimization for local searches in Dayton, Ohio

This easy thing will enhance your SEO for your website because of the traffic we get on eREACH.com and because your back links are something that Google looks for when ranking sites. Having your back link on a popular consumer website, gives your company website SEO juice to bring it up in the search engine rankings.

Thousands visit eREACH.com every day

Not only that, but consumers will see your company and, up to three coupon offers that they can redeem at your restaurant or store or with your service business. Your business profile will include appropriate key words for searching and finding your product or service on our site.

In addition, soon your digital coupons will be PUSHED out into the market so that consumers can find you on their smart phones and in various apps that promote coupons in the market.

Take advantage of this FREE offer today!

You can benefit from consumer popularity of Dayton’s favorite coupon magazine and all it will cost you is a bit of time and phone call to me:

Peter DeMott at REACH Magazine in Dayton 937-478-6222

FREE is Good!

Here is a portion of the page consumers could see about your business on eREACH.com:

eREACHbusinesspage 1024x648 FREE is good! Want some SEO Juice for your consumer oriented business in Dayton?

In addition to what you see here, we can include testimonials, a photo gallery, consumer reviews and a list of important key words and specialties that your business provides.

Peter DeMott • REACH Magazine in Dayton, OHIO • 937-478-6222 • pdemott@reachusa.com

Also: eREACH.com • YoDeal Dayton • Housetrends Magazine Dayton • 20 years experience in direct mail couponing and consumer marketing

Kick start your business this year by improving your sales skills – Ten tips to kick start your Sales Skills

iStock 000018211297XSmall Kick start your business this year by improving your sales skills   Ten tips to kick start your Sales Skills

Great little article about selling in Entrepreneur Online

It’s funny that some people have an aversion to sales, yet they do it every day if they are advancing in their business or in their careers. As small business owners, this is one area that you can always improve on and which will have a direct effect on your business’ growth and stability.

This is the link to the article in Entrepreneur Online. They always have great articles with links throughout that you can click for additional reading. Ten minutes from now, you will have a better understanding of the importance of sales to your business and several ways that you can grow and improve sales for your company (whether you are an employee or the owner)

Click on this LINK: Ten Tips to Kick Start Your Sales Skills

All the SEO in the world, all the advertising and marketing that you could ever do, all the networking and socializing to put yourself out there and make your phone ring will have little real value to your business if you don’t learn how to sell yourself, your product and your services to those who call.

As a REACH Magazine advertising sales executive with over 20 years experience my sales consultation delves into more than the cost of my advertising program and where to target your advertising dollars. Many times I work with businesses to help them fine tune other aspects of their business. Whether it is sales, how the phones are answered, or other day-to-day concerns, we will sometimes cover them in discussions to improve their business and help their business grow. If I get the phone to ring and it falls apart from there, I lose my client. As an experienced marketing and advertising executive I know that customer service in my business does not stop with the sale of an ad.

If you would like to learn more about REACH Magazine, or have a discussion about your consumer oriented product or service business and how it can grow and become strong, please give me a call any time.

Peter DeMott • REACH Magazine and Housetrends Magazine in Dayton • pdemott@REACHusa.com • 937-478-6222

Dayton’s REACH Magazine cover features photography by Mark Garber along with a wedding planning guide

Do you know someone who is getting married in 2012?

For all the new brides to be created over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, there is a special surprise on the cover and inside the January edition of REACH Magazine. Along with all the great coupons from restaurants and merchants and services throughout the Greater Dayton area, there is an opportunity to win a spectacular package of wedding services and gifts from local wedding vendors valued up to $25,000.00. The cover photograph is from prize-winning photographer Mark Garber. Mark is the most awarded photographer in the region and I think you can see why based one this cover.

Dayton January REACH cover Daytons REACH Magazine cover features photography by Mark Garber along with a wedding planning guide

Look for the Wedding Planning Guide inside your January REACH Magazine

The January REACH Magazine (Dayton’s favorite coupon magazine) has a wedding planning guide at the center staples of the magazine. You will also find out how you can enter to win the spectacular Wedding Package Give-away there. And if you are planning to get married some time in 2012, you will find various vendors that you may want to check out there as well.

“Hey Dad, I’m planning a $25,000.00 wedding, how do you feel about that?”

What a fun way to start out your wedding planning! If you win the package, walk up to dad and say, “Hey dad, I’m planning a wedding that will cost about $25,000.00, is that okay with you?”  Imagine the expression on his face when you tell him, “And you only have to pay for a new dress for mom, I won the rest!”

Don’t let anyone miss their chance for the wedding of their dreams

If you know someone who got engaged over the holidays or perhaps has been planning for some time and wants to win the wedding of their dreams, make sure that you send them a link to this post so that they can be on the lookout for the arrival of their January REACH magazine 2012.

REACH Magazine Engages with Consumers

We are always looking for ways to engage with consumers in the Greater Dayton market with our covers and contests. We had lots of fun putting this issue together and hope that everyone who knows anyone who is getting married in 2012 will be excited to look through this issue.

Click this link to register to win:

Twentyfivethousanddollarprize 300x171 Daytons REACH Magazine cover features photography by Mark Garber along with a wedding planning guide

Find out more about REACH Magazine, make informed choices about your advertising in 2012

If you would like to advertise in Dayton’s favorite coupon magazine or just find out more about it, feel free to call me, Peter DeMott at 937-478-6222 or email me at pdemott@reachusa.com or peter@photosbypdemott.com.

Daily deals with a couple good twists for Dayton Ohio

With a plurality of daily deals popping up at every corner, which one does a business choose in Dayton, Ohio?

There are the national companies like Living social and Groupon. Then there are all kinds of spin off versions of the exact same thing.

yodeal.com, local deals, local causes is coming to Dayton.

I will be posting more about this as I become more informed, but here are a couple advantages of yodeal. First off the business can get closer to 65% of every deal sold rather than the 50/50 split that most of the others offer. But, the big difference is that your yodeal is linked to a local cause or charity of your choosing and a percentage of every sales is donated to that local charity on behalf of you business. Not only does this do your soul some good, but the local charity can send the rally cry to make sure everyone notices your daily deal and takes advantage of it.

There is more to come, but for now I would encourage you to go ahead and log-on the yodeal with your name and email address. I will add more posts here as I learn more about the ins and outs of yodeal in Dayton. If you are a business wanting to do something a little different and possibly be featured in ads in REACH magazine, give me a call now. Peter DeMott 937-478-6222.

http://www.yodeal.com/dayton

YoDeal.com dayton Daily deals with a couple good twists for Dayton Ohio

Until I have some more information for you, here are some sample deals that have run in Cincinnati and some of the Charities that have benefitted.

YoDeal Local Charities benefit Daily deals with a couple good twists for Dayton Ohio

If you would like to learn more about Yodeal in Dayton, please give me a call.

REACH Magazine • Peter DeMott • 937-478-6222 • pdemott@reachusa.com

The latest from Mashable about daily deals that consumers love, merchants not so much.

I thought you would find this article interesting if you are considering running a daily deal of some kind for your buisness.

http://mashable.com/2011/10/31/daily-deals-infographic-3/

• Comments and graphs on popularity of various sites.

• Data on usage and repeat customer issues

• Suggestions

Satisfaction The latest from Mashable about daily deals that consumers love, merchants not so much.

How are your phones answered? It can determine if your business fails or flourishes

A friend of mine has a blog about the photography business. She explained that she frequently contacts other photographers all over the state and is somewhat amazed at how bad some voice mail messages can be. In some cases people speak to fast. In other cases they ramble. In some cases the messages are just difficult to understand. Here is her short post with some quick tips to improve your voice mail message.

Wootness TM on the web

As an consultant to many small businesses in my work as an advertising sales person at REACH Magazine, I have to analyze what needs to be fixed to improve the chances that advertising will work for my clients. If phones are answered in an unprofessional manner or if phones go to voice mail or answering machines, there is a good chance that no matter how effective my advertising is, the advertising will not work for the client. REALLY!!!!

I go one step further than Christine regarding voice mail

After you take Christine’s advice and make your outgoing message, short and sweet and understandable consider this.

If someone is calling you for the first time, it is almost critical for them to talk with a real person. How do you accomplish that as a small business? I frequently suggest that small businesses that do not have a receptionist to hire an answering service. For $20-$30 per month a small business can increase the effectiveness of their advertising investments by 100% or more.

Consumers and first time clients do NOT like voice mail

You see, todays consumers do not want to play phone tag with you. Consumers today are very busy and if they get a voice mail message on the other end of the line they also tend to have concerns pop up over the quality of the company they are calling. If someone calls you as a result of your advertising or after looking at your web site, they still do not know you and this increases the likelihood that the will not leave a message. With a REAL person answering the phone, more people are willing to leave a message. If your advertising brings you 10 phone calls, wouldn’t you like to receive more of them? Wouldn’t you rather receive 8 or 9 of them instead of 1 or zero? That’s how much difference having a REAL person answer the phone can make.

A good answering service will answer politely with the name of your business. They will explain that you are not currently available to answer the call because you are with another client or working on a project for a client. They will ask when would be the best time to call you back and they will politely ask for the phone number of the prospective new client.

Too many small businesses are under the impression that they actually receive most of the calls that come in

Another service that I offer for clients is call tracking. You’ve heard those messages that say, “this call may be recorded for quality assurance purposes.” when you have called various businesses. Well, as a small business, we can set up one of those for your advertising. You will be able to determine how many hang-ups you get from your advertising (many consumers hang-up on answering machines and voice mails before any message can be recorded).

You will also be able to determine how your phones are being answered because call tracking records every conversation for your review at a later time. Are your prospects being politely answered and calmly listened to or do your employees give them short shrift? You will know if your employees need more training or if you may even need to replace someone. If you “depend” on your voice mail or answering machine you will see just how much that is hurting your business.

Alternative message for outgoing voicemail

I like what Christine said about a simple and clear message for your out-going voicemail message. For small businesses that are unwilling to consider an answering service, I make one more suggestion. In the outgoing message, if you can do this it will improve the number of people willing to leave a message. I suggest that this short phrase be added to the message: “I am currently talking with another customer, but I should be able to call you back within a few minutes, could you please leave your phone number and I will call you right back.” For my small home remodeling contractors who refuse to sign up for an answering service, this can be effective. For example a roofing contractor might say, ” Thank you for you call, I may be on a ladder or on a roof, you wouldn’t want me to fall because I quickly answered my phone. Could you please leave your phone number and I will call you as soon as I am safe and sound on the ground?”

You can be creative with your out-going phone message, but you have to be clear an understandable as was mentioned on the other blog.

Your business could fail because of how you handle this one issue

I have had companies spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on advertising only to find out that they fell down in this one area. I might have one company that handles phones well say, “Wow, REACH is fantastic advertising…I closed this much business last month from the ad we ran!” Another similar type of business with a similar ad, but who falls down on this one area might say, ” Did that ad ever go out? I don’t think I got anything from my ad.”

As you know, businesses can fail because of their weakest link. In far many cases it is because of something so simple as how the phone gets answered. Such a simple thing to correct, but many small businesses fail because they don’t think this is that important.

It does not matter how good your advertising is. It does not matter how effective your SEO on your web site is. If your phones are not handled correctly, your business could fail.

Peter DeMott • REACH Magazine in Dayton Ohio • pdemott@reachusa.com • 937-478-6222

Guest Post: I’d like to buy that customer please!

buy that customer Guest Post: Id like to buy that customer please!

What?  Buy a customer?  Are you crazy?  It’s not like I can go to the Dayton Mall and pick one out off of the rack.  Actually, it’s less painful than shopping and I’ll show you why…

How are you bringing in new customers?

First let me ask you a question.  How do you bring customers into your business now?  You put an Ad in Reach Magazine, or on the radio, Daily Dayton News, you join BNI hoping that these strategies will magically bring you customers?   If you said yes pat yourself on the back because you are actively trying to grow your business and better the Dayton community.  What you are about to learn will help you get better customers; probably at a discount.

How much does a customer cost?

The first step is to figure out how much a customer costs you.  To do this let’s look at an example. You’ve spent $2000 on an ad campaign.  As a result, you had 200 people call you and 1 out of 5 of these ‘Leads’ actually buys from you.  If you work through the numbers it cost you $10 a Lead.  So it cost you $50 for a sale ($10/Lead X 5 Leads = 1 Sale).  In this example it cost you $50 for a new Customer.  That cost is called ‘Customer Acquisition Cost’.

Do the math

Now that you know it costs you $50 to buy a customer you also know how much you can spend on your specific marketing campaign.  You also know how many customer you need from that campaign to make your marketing an investment rather than an expense.  There is one more piece to this; the lifetime value of a customer.  Say that over the lifetime of their patronage, a customer spends $1000 with you and $200 of that is profit.  Now how many times would you invest that $50 to buy more customers?  Spend $50 make $150 – I like that math! Of course each business is different and you will need to plug in your numbers to make this work for you.

It really is that simple.  As long as you are making more per customer than your ‘Customer Acquisition Cost’ you are ready to increase your profits.  One last tip, test and measure EVERY THING in your marketing campaign.  Marketing after all is math and not every form of advertising works for every business. Talk with companies similar to yours that are using a particular form of advertising. Ask the sales person for references outside of your market (your competitor is not likely to tell you what his most effective advertising is) and do your homework.

I’d like to buy several today

I’d like one one-time customer, 6 Regular customers and 3 life-time customers please. Oh, yes and please deliver them to my business address express delivery.

MaryMiller Guest Post: Id like to buy that customer please!

Mary Miller works with businesses throughout the Miami Valley helping them to grow and increase profits and have a life too. By learning to focus your energy where it can do the most good as a business owner, you can start running your business based on the important decisions rather than letting your business run you. Thank you Mary Miller for your guest post on GROW YOUR BUSINESS IN DAYTON.

Mary Miller • ActionCOACH Business Coaching • marymiller@actioncoach.com • 937-723-0828 • Dayton, Ohio

Website: http://www.actioncoach.com/marymiller

Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mmillersnetwork

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mary-Miller-ActionCOACH/200386689983117