Posts by Steve Stroum
Leverage Your Marketing Budget
I’ve been in business long enough to remember the introduction of the fax machine, the word processor, personal computer, mobile phone, Al Gore’s internet, the tablet, smart phone, and all of the related software and apps. There has been no time period which has impacted B2B marketing more than the last 10 years. One phenomenon…
Read MoreFirst Rule for B2B Marketers
It has long been said, “In the real estate business the three most important factors when selling a property are location, location, and location.” In marketing, the three most important factors are: repetition, repetition, and repetition. Therefore, the first rule B2B marketers should never forget is that repetition creates sales opportunities. Why? Because repetition puts…
Read MoreStafford Manufacturing Featured in Design World
Technical summary of SHAFT COLLARS & LOCKING DEVICES– It is important to have innovative products and equally important to have an innovative and creative product publicity firm. That can make the difference between getting your products included in an article and having them featured and distinguished on the first page of the article. Venmark has…
Read MoreHe was no Ordinary Joe
We worked together every month for over 20 years until he sold his company in 1998. He owned Lee Engineering Company, Inc. in Pawtucket, RI and I helped him build the Presto Lifts and Stackers brand from under a million in sales to nearly $20 million. His name was Joe Herbert and he was not…
Read MoreBonefishing and Product Publicity
I’ve enjoyed bonefishing for many years in the Florida Keys, Turks and Caicos, and Belize. For a fisherman it is the ultimate. Bonefish, also known as the grey ghost, are challenging to catch and are ferocious fighters. You actually hunt and stalk them while they cruise the flats feeding. Seeing them is a challenge, as…
Read MoreEsco Tool Hits Another Grand Slam
It’s baseball season, why not use an appropriate metaphor? Four publicity announcements on one page of a leading publication and their website is a grand slam home run! We have been consistently illustrating through product publicity how Esco’s tools solve problems in the field since 1977. You can see how well this reader-centric approach works.…
Read MoreWhy Product Publicity Photos Fail
Ironically, the last step in creating effective product release photos is actually taking the picture. This is because the photograph should reinforce the main feature, benefit, or application of your product or service. What is it that your prospective customer will learn or gain from your product publicity? What’s in it for them? If it…
Read MoreStafford Staff-Lok Hinged Shaft Collar #3 in the World
The “World Industrial Reporter” which reports on the latest trends in global markets, logistics, trade shows, and supplier sourcing has posted results for the Top 10 Industrial Products of 2014 as viewed by their readers in order of popularity. The third pick for products reviewed over the entire year was the Staff-Lok Hinged Shaft Collar,…
Read MoreAn Exchange of Unaltered Meaning
While enjoying the sun, sand, and warm breezes on the beach at Key West recently, I saw an interesting exchange between a resort guest and an employee that reminded me of a seminar I attended way back in 1979 which dealt with interpersonal communication. A woman was standing about twenty feet away from me awaiting…
Read MoreWhat is Product Publicity Worth?
There has probably been more written about determining the value of publicity than any other element of the marketing mix. In a paper considering various publicity metrics, James L. Horton, wrote, “There are several ways to measure publicity value, but they largely ignore the process of persuasion and credibility of a journalist’s independent assessment. Publicity…
Read MoreBiggest Reason B2B Content Fails
According to an article in “Sales & Marketing Management” magazine, “a Forrester Research review of 30 business-to-business websites in six industries revealed that the majority fail to engage users with content. Interesting enough, the review revealed that the biggest problem with these websites is the majority of content talks about the company, what its products…
Read MoreLeverage Your Trade Show Investment
A client was returning from a trade show and while on the airplane, opened his briefcase and read some of the show product reviews in his leading trade media when he noticed the product news release we prepared for him. It had premium placement and jumped right off the page! He said it made him…
Read MoreWhat are the 3 Most Important Factors in B2B Marketing?
In the real estate business it has long been said, “the three most important factors when selling a property are location, location, and location.” In B2B marketing, the three most important factors are: repetition, repetition, and repetition. Why? Because repetition puts your products in front of prospective customers when their need arises and repetition reinforces…
Read MoreGrowth of Small Business & Free Enterprise
Growth of Small Business is Our Core value. Most of our clients, especially those small businesses we’ve been partnering with for nearly four decades have leveraged our work. To understand why we encourage them do that, here’s the reason I started Venmark in November, 1976. The following graphic resulted from a six week exercise with…
Read MorePublicizing Your Website is a Must
If you create a terrific website and don’t employ the best marketing tool in the mix to let your customers and prospective customers know about it, you’re making a huge mistake. Take advantage of this opportunity! Effective website publicity creates exposure in important media outlets, reinforces your brand, generates web traffic and sales leads, enhances…
Read MoreBuild Your Business by Being Distinct
On the wall in my office is a framed copy of a quote which was given to me by Manny Affler, a great client many years ago. He was in his 50s at the time and hired me multiple times for several years. He recognized that Venmark was a different kind of company. It was…
Read MoreDon’t Let an MBA Get in Your Way
In an interview, Kevin O’Leary from the successful television show “Shark Tank” said that MBAs drove him crazy because they have never built a business, are arrogant, and think they know everything. Well, I work with some very savvy clients who have MBAs and respect their achievements, but understand totally why he feels that way.…
Read MoreEsco Tool Featured in the International Magazine “Tube & Pipe Technology”
The ongoing Esco Tool product publicity campaign created by Venmark has supported their international marketing efforts for nearly four decades! In this issue of “Tube & Pipe Technology,” the editor chose to feature Esco’s end prep tools for offshore applications and used the photograph we created as lead for their entire section on Finishing and…
Read MoreEsco Tool’s Products Featured on Two Magazine Covers
Keeping Esco Tool’s products in front of the world has been an honor for me since 1977. During our last monthly meeting, I showed Matt Brennan, their president, the front cover of “Process Cooling” magazine’s 2014 Product Guide Issue which featured Esco’s Battery-Powered End Prep Tool for Welding Pipe. Then he said, “If you think…
Read MoreCommon Small B2B Company Marketing Mistake
S.I. Hiakowa, the semanticist and former United States Senator said, “A cow is not a cow, is not a cow.” In other words, not all cows are the same, even though they are all cows. The same applies to writers. Not all writers are the same, even though they are all writers. The genesis of…
Read More7 Reasons why Product Publicity Fails
1. The copy is filled with superlatives. Many years ago, “The Wall Street Journal” ran an article featuring the 20 words most likely to get a press release rejected. They included terms like unique, revolutionary, and world-class. You get the idea. An advertisement dressed up like a press release is still an advertisement! Lipstick…
Read MoreEsco Tool on Cover of Process Cooling 2014 Product Guide
This issue of Process Cooling includes product descriptions designed to aid in your quest for industrial process cooling equipment, writes the publisher. “You can receive more information by contacting each manufacturer directly. We’ve included phone numbers and web addresses to help you get information quickly.” He continued, “All we ask is that you tell them…
Read MoreEffective Product Publicity Requires Limits
You can’t develop a stent or pacemaker without imposing strict size limits on the envelope. What permitted the miniaturization of electronic devices were size limits imposed by product development teams. It is obvious in engineering and it is obvious to me with respect to sales and marketing. Hey, it seems obvious, but if you don’t…
Read MoreWhy PR is Becoming the Future of SEO
A recent article in INC Magazine entitled “Why PR is Becoming the Future of SEO” caught my eye. It was written by Adam Heitzman, the co-founder of a nationally recognized SEO firm. Mr. Heitzman concluded his article with “The moral of the story is this: Now, what Google seems to value most is what public…
Read MoreHow to Grow Your Business without spending a Fortune
I’m reminded of the story about my first writer back in 1977. I delegated a publicity project to him for one of our clients, a company called Custom Fabricators, Inc. of Waltham, MA. My writer drove by their facility twice when he went there for his first meeting. Why? Because his only knowledge of Custom…
Read MoreSome Very Smart People Make Very Stupid Mistakes
While catching up on some business reading Saturday morning with “Fortune Magazine,” an article entitled “A Visionary Tech Founder Returns” caught my eye. It was about Cher Wang. If you’re like me, you never heard of her. She was the co-founder of HTC, a Taiwan-based smartphone maker. Her name was bandied about with Steve Jobs…
Read More7 Content Marketing Facts You Can’t Afford to Ignore
These seven content marketing facts are frequently overlooked and implementing them will help assure that you will get the highest possible return-on-investment from your website and other marketing tactics. 1. Video content is 50 times more likely to rank high in Google search results and has a 41% higher click-through rate than plain-text results. (Source:…
Read MoreThe Secret to Getting Widespread Publicity
Over the years we have received numerous comments from editors and the key ingredient to all of their feedback is that Venmark International gives them press releases [product news and information] about products and product applications in a format that helps them create superior content. This idea of providing “solutions-based content” has been critical to…
Read MorePublicity Reinforces Vendor Relationships
“Hello John, this PR’s great! Very nicely done. You put a smile on a lot of people’s faces around here. As always, thanks for your support for Porex!” Highest Regards, Mike…” That e-mail to John Savikas, president of Interstate Specialty Products, Inc. was received after their vendor Porex saw his product in one of our…
Read MoreExploding the Press Release “Freebie” Myth
If you do too many press releases editors will get tired of giving you a “freebie” is exactly the wrong point-of-view about press releases. The fact is, that the secret to getting a lot of publicity is to prepare press releases about products and product applications that interest editors. If you prepare press releases with…
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