It's almost Spring and boy have things changed since the Winter began only several months ago.  The economy is showing signs of possible life, the darling of the car industry is in serious trouble and a relatively forgotten part of the Caribbean has captured the attention of the world.  Another thing that has changed is how successful businesses connect with clients and I would like to help guide you through these changes in my blogs this year.   In this blog, we start that conversation by chatting about advertising.

One of the biggest changes of the past few months has been how the public consume information and what media they use.  People are looking for more targeted content and media than ever before.  This media is convenient with content that is very specific. Therefore, successful businesses will respond to those changes. However, a recent trip to a local supermarket has shown me that too many people are still stuck in their old ways of doing things. This is especially true when it comes to advertising.

Advertising is an important tool when it comes to promoting a business and connecting with clients of the past as well as potential new clients.  This has not changed. Despite this, advertising has received a bad name in many business circles because of the frustration people have expressed over getting sucked into bad advertising arrangements.  I encourage you not to be the next victim but rather use advertising to its fullest potential.  So, let's look at some tips.

First, take a good look at what type of customer you want and what type of client makes sense for your business.  For example, a massage therapist is probably looking for clients who can afford their service or have an insurance plan that will cover treatments. These people are usually professionals and businesspeople.  Therefore, it does not make sense for a massage therapist to advertise in a magazine that does not target that audience.  It's just a waste of money.  Instead, the massage therapist should be looking at a media option that specifically has the desired target market ideally both online and in traditional media form.

Second, decide on how much money you want to spend on advertising each month keeping in mind that newer companies should spend a higher percentage of revenue than more well-established firms.  For example, it is not uncommon for new businesses to spend 15% of their revenue on advertising.  The best way to determine what percentage of your revenue should be set aside for advertising is to look at the standard advertising-to-sales ratio for your field.  You can find this answer online or through a consultation with a professional like myself.

Third, find out what advertising opportunities exist today and there are many who can offer the right solutions that fit your budget. Then, get a good sense of what each offers before making a decision.  Remember to choose the option that makes sense for you.  For example, the New Brunswick Business Journal would be a great advertising option for someone offering a product or solution for a business because of its business-oriented audience.  Another example would be DiningPick.com. This online advertising opportunity specifically targets people interested in cooking, alcohol and eating out.  Therefore, it's a great option for businesses interested in these people.

You truly need to be targeted with your advertising dollars today if you want to succeed and avoid the frustration others have experienced because targeted advertising is the only way advertising will find you clients.  It's like inviting people to a party. People will only come if it is something they know about and something they are interested in attending.   

Please feel free to contact me anytime.

Mark Taylor, a public relations specialist, is owner of Fredericton-based Delora Media.  You can contact Mr. Taylor by emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or logging onto http://www.deloramedia.com/

Analyzing efforts is important for any business, especially during a challenging economic time.  The ability to measure the results of work helps a business professional know how well they or their staff are doing and how things can be improved.  The information found through analyzing efforts also helps a business know how well money is spent. This is why all businesses should analyze their communications efforts regularly and there is a great Internet-based communications tool available today to do just that.

I always tell my clients that there should clearly decide on what the goals are before they start any communications work.   For example, what is the target audience and how do you want them to respond to your effort? The answer to this question will create the benchmark for how the business professional can measure efforts.

The business professional should then review work done with their communications representative and decide on how well it met the goal of the business professional.  If you don’t have a communications or public relations representative, work with your sales person or marketing representative. During this process, it is important to understand how everything connects in the world of communications today. For example, media coverage of something your business is doing will usually result in people taking the time to learn more about your business on search engines such as Google. That means they will find out more about your business through whatever the search engine leads them to. Therefore, it is important to have an attractive website that will inform people about your business, entice people to release information about who they are and make them want to come back to the website again and again. If you can ensure this is the case, your website will take on the role as a member of your sales and marketing team as the traffic to your website will yield qualified leads for your salespeople to pursue.

This effort should be assessed with the lessons learned from it built into the plans for future communications efforts.

One of the greatest tools in analyzing efforts is something called Google Analytics. No, Google is not a client of mine. However, this free program will track how people are finding your company’s website and how they are responding to it in relation to your goals. It will provide you with a variety of useful information in great detail ranging from what search terms on search engines people found your website through to what pages on your website these people visited broken down on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis. Google Analytics also provides a number of useful features to help you analyze efforts and create even better communications efforts.

Let’s not forget that communications is crucial to any business as it helps a company respond directly to needs of clients and potential clients plus it helps the business achieve and maintain a high profile in the public that will make life easier for sales and marketing staff.  This results in improved sales and marketing efforts, better sales leads and a better return on investment for marketing dollar which has been the case for the clients that Delora Media has worked with.

Look. Time and money must be invested wisely in order for a business to be successful. Therefore, all business professionals must invest in communications. They should then take the time to decide on the communications goals for their business, develop a measureable plan to meet those goals, implement that plan and then analyze results while creating a plan for the next step.  Fortunately for us, the good folks at Google have given us a great tool to help us create and execute communications efforts that will maximize return on investment and lead to better sales and marketing results.

I recently came across something on Facebook that I thought I would share with you since it is such a great idea.

A country market in Michigan called Mildas CornerMarket has setup its own Facebook account that now has more than 1,000 friends who this business interacts with very often. They answer their questions, display products and offer news. It's definitely an impressive number that any business would love to have.

One of the other things this business has done is install a cash register cam section on their Facebook account that allows customers the option of having their photos taken with a caption underneath explaining who they are and why they visited the business.

This business has made great use of Facebook for marketing and communications purposes as it meets the exact desire of people using Facebook to find new relationships and make 'new friends'. Their cash register cam also offers some fun for customers as well as makes them feel appreciated and shows others who are the people visiting Mildas CornerMarket and why they are visiting.  In addition, Mildas CornerMarket specializes in ethnic foods of which much are Lithuanian (the owners have Lithuanian roots) and they attract a large audience from the Lithuanian community who enjoy these products and it is only little bit of what they are doing. As you know, making customers feel appreciated and building relationships that turn into long-term clients is exactly what you want to do in marketing. Mildas CornerMarket has done an excellent job of doing this through Facebook. This effort has resulted in a following in their immediate area as well as abroad who will turn into walk-in clients and clients of their products that can be shipped to other destinations.  

Facebook is something that has not gone away so it is a reality you need to pay attention to. It is also something that can be adapted to fit the marketing needs of any business. Mildas CornerMarket has done a great job to adapt Facebook to fit its marketing needs and I encourage you to do this as well. The only cost is time and it will pay off.

Please contact me anytime.

Mark Taylor, a public relations specialist, is founder of public relations firm Delora Media. You can reach Mr. Taylor by emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it