Pardon me while I rant about our schools

Yet another battle for Pasadena Schools.  Call it Measure CC, or the Pasadena Unified School District Parcel Tax, this is about more than just education or taxes or how wasteful or stingy our school administrators are.  Detractors make it sound like the argument is all about waste (although that waste was not apparent to the outside management audit commissioned by the cities of Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre). And if it were all about waste, certainly these concerned citizens would roll up their sleeves, volunteer in the district and eliminate that waste.  But it’s not; they won’t, and I don’t want to waste ink.

No, measure CC is about community, and this community in particular.  Pasadena has a long history of doing things our way.  Making our own goals, raising our own funds and yes, rolling up our own sleeves to get things done.  Even Measure CC’s most ardent detractors have to admit our schools are improving. They say it’s because we’re following the State’s lead, which is laughable on so many different levels. It’s because Pasadena parents fought long and hard to make them better!

Pasadenans won’t be told what we can and can’t do. When there’s an emergency we respond. When we’re told something is impossible, we do it anyway. In the ‘90’s when our libraries were in jeopardy, and in danger of closing, we rose up, taxed ourselves and kept them open.  When Old Pasadena had fallen into decay so dire that you couldn’t walk down the street alone. Recovery was “impossible,” so we cantankerous band of business people got together and, yes, taxed ourselves to make things better. Anybody been to Old Pasadena lately?  Even in this economy, the shops are lively; the streets and alleyways are clean and safe, and family fun can be found around every corner within our twenty-two block district.

If the whiners about waste really want to help, come on down.  Everyone willing to roll up their sleeves and fix what’s broken is always welcome. However, until that unlikely day, here’s a reality check.  Some things are worth working for.  Some things are worth paying for. And our children and our future? There are two of them. 

When is Free Advertising Worthless?

In a word, never.

In fact, Word-of-Mouth (WOM) advertising is the most valuable kind of advertising, and it doesn’t cost a cent. That said, there are companies that spend millions in PR and social marketing trying to generate it. They have to, because bad word-of-mouth will kill a bad product or even the company that makes it. Think about the last movie campaign you saw. Previews in the theaters. Ads on TV. But if your best bud Ben says the movie sucked, you’ll avoid it like the plague. Hence movies can do millions on the first weekend and die the next.

Mom and pop businesses generally don’t have millions to spend on those kinds of campaigns, so they just struggle along providing good products, outstanding service, and great customer care. That’s how they generate word of mouth, and that’s a good thing. But they need more. They need basic, tell-prospective-customers-you-exist advertising. An invitation to the party if you will. If you don’t invite people to come, there won’t be any mouths to say a good word for you.

Which brings me back to the question of when is free advertising worthless. And to some people the answer can be “always.”  Never and Always? How can that be?  The answer is perception.  Whenever a merchant thinks advertising is worthless, it is. Perception is reality.

Old Pasadena Management District (OPMD) offers its merchants thousands of dollars in advertising exposure for free. Not only does OPMD hold regular events to bring customers into the district, they send out newsletters and flyers informing merchants of  what is happening, when it is happening, where it is happening, and even how they can benefit from it.  But they don’t stop there.  OPMD has a website that attracts tens of thousands of visitors, and our merchants are listed on the site for free.  They can describe their business, their hours, their directions, their specials, and a link to their OWN website, for Free!  Even if they don’t have a website of their own, OPMD will give them a page which can display their logo and photos of their businesses. Did I mention it was for free?

So why would anyone in their right mind ignore thousands of dollars worth of free advertising? More than likely, it is exactly because it’s free. Free has no worth. It takes time and trouble to send in information, take pictures, create special offers, write down hours, and why take valuable time for something that has no worth. They don’t see any reason to use it, and probably never will use it.

A case in point of perception.  Last year, OPMD reacted to the depressed economy and drop in charitable donations with a first ever Restaurant Week Event.  All of the participating restaurants were asked to create Restaurant Week specials, post their menus on the OPMD site for free, and feature the free Restaurant Week Posters in their windows and the “Special” menus at their entrances and on their tables. Those that did saw immediate increases in business.  Business at Le Grand Orange and Elements Café nearly doubled! However, there were participating restaurants that failed to create specials, didn’t post their menus online or feature the menus or posters in their establishments. Most of them saw a drop in business.  Go figure.

I think the perception of “free” as “worthless” did them in.  However, this year our track record of success may well change that perception, and I fully expect participants will take note of what worked and what didn’t. Actually their perception of “free advertising” may not change, but the “simple equation for a profitable outcome” will certainly override any misgivings they might have.

So, in retrospect, maybe the answer to the question, “When is free advertising worthless,” is: whenever you don’t take advantage of it.

The Branding PowerPoint (as requested)

After a very well received Branding and Positioning seminar in South Pasadena, we are posting the Powerpoint presentation. It is little more than a slide show for those who like a little side of tongue in cheek with their information. However, when I posted this on Youtube, I received a little criticism about the lack of sound. For those of you who attended the presentation (and their friends), this first video is for you... quiet though it might be.




However, I felt absolutely horrible that anyone could have felt so cheated by the lack of sound in the presentation. So I recreated it with the help of my very good friend* Boots Randolf. Please enjoy the "sound."  :-)




Who ever said Branding and Positioning can't be fun?

*Never actually met my good friend Boots Randalf, but I love him (and Yakety Sax) all the same.

BRANDING A SMALL BUSINESS

Suzanne Marks, Pasadena Advertising’s comely CEO, just gave a seminar on "Branding" to the South Pasadena Chamber of Commerce.  The audience members, by and large, were small business owners. They were concerned that since the big stores spend so much money on branding, they had better learn about it too.  However, branding and positioning efforts (for those who like semantic hair splitting) are usually reserved for large, impersonal corporations.  Branding is what gives the company a face: a personal connection that clients and customers can hold onto.

The business owners’ concern is understandable, as John Costello of Procter & Gamble fame once famously explained, “A brand image signifies a relationship with the customer.  It is the company’s most valuable asset.  It’s also the main differentiator, the best defense against price competition and the key to customer loyalty.  Competitors can copy your features and benefits, but they can’t steal your image.”

That said, giving a face to a small business is infinitely easier than creating a “face” for a corporation, because the business is, well, small enough to have a face built in, usually the owner's face.  The salespeople's faces.  And, the personal relationship is, more often than not, is actually personal – directly between people.  So branding techniques are ... well, simpler.  Take a shower.  Dress for work. Open your shop for business. Smile and make your customers happy.  Annnnnnnnnnd: Congratulations.  Your branding is done.

Okay, not quite. You also have to know who your prospective customers are. You have to design your store (and your signage) to appeal to them, and they have to see your appeal from across the street.

You have to pick a location where your customers would likely be and would like to be. You have to make your shop their home.  That’s all a part of your brand.  And you have to give your current customers the best product or service possible to build up the most powerful, long lasting brand advertising possible – Word of Mouth.

Then there’s that other advertising – the kind outside your store.  That's something you need to think about.  You have to be consistent and reinforce the image of your store, yourself and thereby your "brand" in everything you do. However, with the advent of social marketing, your advertising just got a whole lot cheaper.  With a web page, email, Twitter, Facebook and a blog, you can give directions, post hours, gain fans, thank old customers, entice new customers, post online coupons, showcase new products and services and reinforce your brand. And update it whenever you want.

All in all, a pretty hard working advertising medium that's worth all the work you put into it.