Business growth — Grow Your Business in Dayton (Gybindayton.com)

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

February 3, 2012 By Peter DeMott Leave a Comment

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/

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

Filed Under Customer engagement, Customer Perception, Growing your business, more customers, REACH Magazine, The power of the mailbox Tagged With Advertising in Dayton, Bridal event, Business growth, Community tie-ins, Dayton, Dayton's favorite coupon magazine, Direct mail, Direct mail advertising, Grow your business, Incentive marketing, REACH Magazine, Reaching consumers, Target marketing, Tools for business, Wedding Planning Guide, wedding vendors

February 2012 REACH Magazine in Dayton looks exciting

January 25, 2012 By Peter DeMott Leave a Comment

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?

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

Filed Under Advertising in Dayton, Customer engagement, Customer Perception, Giving Back to the Community, Growing your business, more customers, More profits, REACH Magazine, The power of the mailbox, yodeal Tagged With Advertising in Dayton, Business growth, Coupons, Dayton, Direct mail, Direct mail advertising, Grow your business, Incentive marketing, REACH Magazine, Reaching consumers, Target marketing, Tools for business

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

December 30, 2011 By Peter DeMott Leave a Comment

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

Filed Under Business Inspiration / Information, Customer engagement, Customer Service, more customers, More profits Tagged With Business growth, Reaching consumers, Tools for business

TWO simple things you can do to make a significant difference in your business this year

December 29, 2011 By Peter DeMott Leave a Comment

I have worked with hundreds of businesses over the years and one thing is evident, those that have a plan, a calendar, and goals do better than those who don’t.

Are you drifting and directed by the tyranny of the urgent?

What happens when a business does not plan is that important opportunities are missed. Let me give you an example. If your business has a significant increase of activity in spring, that may be an important time to advertise for you. But, if you are distracted and have no plan you may miss important deadlines for this critical time in your business. For example if you wanted to advertise in REACH Magazine or Housetrends Magazine in April and you only just thought of it around the second week of March, guess what, you missed all the deadlines and the magazines are out being printed so they will arrive in homes as scheduled. Your competitors will have the advantage of reaping the rewards of timely advertising.

If you have no calendar so that you can look ahead, you will constantly feel like you are playing catch up. You will feel that many urgent matters are dominating your choices, but that the important things that can make your company grow (these things may be less urgent, but more important) get ignored or missed.

Here are the two things that I recommend

NUMBER ONE: Get a nice notebook and whenever you think of something that is a goal, WRITE IT DOWN.

NUMBER TWO: Get a blank calendar and transfer the first step for each goal onto the calendar well in advance of the target date.

These two things can have a significant impact on your business in 2012. When you write down your goals, your subconscious mind starts working on them. You will soon be putting an “x” by completed goals that you have had for years, but which in the past, you never wrote down. By having a calendar, you can add in things like publication deadlines and target advertising times for your business. As you look ahead you will find time to work on the important things for your business and you will be less stressed because you know what’s coming. You can keep urgent matters from completely pulling you away from the important matters and you will feel less stressed and more in control.

Getting closer to those you love

Here is another powerful idea. Every now and then when you go out to dinner with your wife, pull out your goals book and tell her some of the goals you have for your business this year. But, don’t stop there, ask her what goals she has and write them into your book as well. I do this with my wife and since we have two different careers, it really helps us to stay on the same page with each other. It can lead to some intimate and personal discussions about the future and where you are going together as a couple. Things like discussions about remodeling the kitchen or financing college for the kids or a vacation to a particular place can be written into your goals book to discuss further. Now from time to time, we are putting an “x” by completed goals that we both have shared together. Being a business owner does not mean that you need to grow apart from the important people in your life.

Goals can change

Goals in your notebook are written in stone. If you need to change them you can do that. Most goals have to be adjusted from time to time. I hear way too many people who say they can never write down their goals because they are afraid they may fail. What I have found is that some goals change because your direction has changed, others you realize are too lofty and you have to change them in some respects to make them achievable. There is nothing wrong with having lofty goals. The difference between a goal and a dream is the reality of writing down your goals makes them change, whereas a dream that never makes it on to paper is just a dream. It will pop up now and then as a dream, but it will slip away as you forget to work on it because you never wrote it down.

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

Filed Under Business Inspiration / Information Tagged With Advertising Calendar, Business growth, Gaol setting, Grow your business, Tools for business

Wedding Planning Guide inside REACH Magazine arrives the first week of 2012

December 29, 2011 By Peter DeMott Leave a Comment

If you cannot wait that long, you can go to this link and see more about the prizes and register to win.

Click on this graphic LINK: Win-a-wedding-package

Filed Under Advertising in Dayton, Customer engagement Tagged With Advertising in Dayton, Business growth, Dayton, Direct mail, Direct mail advertising, REACH Magazine, Reaching consumers, Target marketing, Wedding Planning Guide, wedding vendors

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

December 20, 2011 By Peter DeMott Leave a Comment

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.

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:

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.

Filed Under Customer engagement, more customers, More profits Tagged With Advertising in Dayton, Business growth, Centerville, Dayton, Dayton's favorite coupon magazine, Direct mail, Direct mail advertising, Grow your business, Kettering, Oakwood, REACH Magazine, Reaching consumers, Springboro, Target marketing, Wedding Planning Guide, wedding vendors

Daily deals with a couple good twists for Dayton Ohio

December 5, 2011 By Peter DeMott Leave a Comment

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

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.

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

Filed Under Advertising in Dayton, Customer Perception, Giving Back to the Community, Growing your business, more customers, yodeal Tagged With Advertising in Dayton, Business growth, Dayton's favorite coupon magazine, Direct mail advertising, Grow your business, Incentive marketing, Internet marketing, REACH Magazine, Reaching consumers, restaurant advertising, Social Media, Social Networking for Business, Tools for business

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

October 26, 2011 By Peter DeMott 1 Comment

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

Filed Under Advertising in Dayton, Business Inspiration / Information, Call tracking, Customer Perception, Growing your business, more customers, More profits, REACH Magazine Tagged With Advertising in Dayton, Business growth, Grow your business, Lead source tracking, Lead tracking

Bridal Event and Wedding Planning Guide for Dayton area vendors

October 25, 2011 By Peter DeMott 1 Comment

Plans continue for the Wedding Planning Guide inside REACH magazine in the Dayton market. Here are some of the details and link to pricing and ads sizes.

We have potentially between 35 and 50 vendor booths to give away to any bridal / Wedding businesses that want to participate. See the details in the link below. Here is my most recent update as more vendors step to the plate and participate it gets bigger and bigger.

Outstanding Wedding vendor promotional opportunity including massive print advertising, radio promotion and a bridal event.

Please review information about the Wedding Planning Guide inside the January edition of REACH Magazine. It will be reaching 260,000 homes in the greater Dayton market and there is an associated bridal event planned by the Event Connection for brides on Feb 4th & 5th.

Vendors who choose to participate in the Wedding Planning Guide will be given a booth at this event (first come, first served so respond sooner rather than later- Booths are 8×10, but larger displays can be purchased at additional cost). Booths are subject to available space. We are looking at between 35 and 50 booth spaces.

Learn more by reviewing this PDF document that discusses the details and shows various pricing options.

http://www.box.net/shared/85dsc9oj8ysv6s6glhjy

Do not hesitate to call me with any questions you may have. Peter DeMott 937-478-6222

Potentially thousands of brides will be registering on eReach.com to win the bridal package give away. Additional promotional opportunities are available to any vendor wishing to offer something toward the Bridal Package Give-a-way.

• Brides register to win Huge Bridal Package Give-a-Way

• Pull out section in the center of REACH magazine gives your ad lasting value

• Full color glossy display ads (no coupons) for every budget

• 260,000 distribution throughout the greater Dayton market

• Radio promotion of the guide and the event in the first two weeks of January

• Exposure to moms and dads, brides and grooms to be at a prime time / January and February of 2012.

All the brides that register to win the prize will be invited to the February event at the EVENT Connection. To be a part of that event, you must purchase an ad in the Wedding Planning Guide. The booth space is no charge for those purchasing an ad (again, subject to available booth space).

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

Filed Under Advertising in Dayton, Business opportunity, Growing your business, REACH Magazine Tagged With Advertising in Dayton, Bridal event, Business growth, Dayton's favorite coupon magazine, Direct mail, Direct mail advertising, Grow your business, Wedding packages, Wedding Planning Guide, wedding vendors