Posts by Steve Stroum
Support “Made in the U.S.A.” with More Than Lip Service
I received an e-mail recently from a wonderful client, Abby Robey, the marketing manager of Xuron Corp., Saco, Maine which read, “Steve – Thought I’d share this with you… Abby.”
Read MoreJob Shops: Show off Your Products, not how you Make Them
Over the years, I’ve publicized products for hundreds of job shops. And the owners always want to talk about their equipment and show pictures of their latest machining centers and dedicated employees’ hard at work.
Read MoreWestfall Featured in Three Markets
One of the most exciting aspects of being a product publicist is seeing my clients published in multiple markets during the same week.
Read MoreCreativity Requires Limits
You can’t develop a stent or pacemaker without imposing strict size limits. 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.
Read MoreAdvertising and Publicity Go Hand-in-Hand
The best approach to staying healthy is a holistic one: an approach which recognizes the importance of the whole and the interdependence of all parts. If your job is stressful, you need to get regular exercise and enjoy a healthy diet to counteract the stress.
Read MoreBe a Giver Not a Taker
The best publicity approach is one that satisfies the needs of the media. When writing press releases, too often, people are trying to get “a freebie.” Something for nothing is exactly the wrong attitude! Publicity is not free advertising.
Read MoreHow to Create Sales Opportunities
It doesn’t matter how effective a salesperson you are, the events that stimulate a prospective customers’ buying behavior are outside of your control.
Read MoreA Writer is not a Writer is not a Writer
Recently I visited with a prospective client and after describing my work as a publicist, she asked me what other types of writing I do? This marketing director in a small company said that she was looking for one person who could do every type of writing for her.
Read MoreLook to Your Sales Team for Publicity Ideas
A few months ago, one of my clients told me that he had a major competitor who was having delivery problems. That gave rise to the question, “could we use publicity to take advantage of that weakness?”
Read MoreSmall Business IS America
“The essence of the American economic system of private enterprise is free competition.
Read MoreWhy is Product Publicity so Misunderstood?
This is a complicated question. As a society, we value expensive things. If a car costs a lot of money, we assume it is better than one that is cheaper. The same holds true for clothing. A full-page, full-color advertisement is very expensive, therefore it must be better than free publicity. Wrong!
Read MoreMarketing Objectives Don’t Change, Marketing Tactics Change
In small business, especially B2B, our marketing objective is typically twofold. We want to become identified as a problem solver and to generate quality sales leads for our sales team. And we want to accomplish these two major objectives in the most cost effective way.
Read MoreHow to Write a Product News Release
There are thousands of articles written about “how to write a press release or product news release,” and it is no wonder why. Product news releases, when properly prepared, can result in tremendous publicity coverage.
Read MorePress Releases and the Internet
There’s a huge difference between writing and distributing a press release and preparing the proper publicity materials. If you think writing a press release and distributing it on the PR Newswire or some other electronic Web distribution service is all that is necessary to get top notch publicity, then you need to read on.
Read MoreA Massage With a Message About our Economy
We sat down together in a cozy room on a small sofa with a fireplace in front of us and a table with a selection of teas and two massage therapists. Our “couples massage” would begin with a twenty-five minute foot massage and cup of green tea. She began massaging my wife’s feet and asked…
Read MorePublicity Evens the Marketing Playing Field
The greatest attribute of product publicity is that you cannot tell the size of the company from a product news feature. We’ve had one-man companies on the front covers of leading publications and front pages of leading websites, right next to the biggest companies in the world. From a marketing standpoint, it truly evens the…
Read MorePublicity for Commodity Created More Tool Kit Sales
Malcom Company sells a line of plastic welding tool kits and I’ve been preparing innovative news releases about the kits for about 20 years. The tools combine heated air and pressure to weld plastic and can be used for repairing tanks and vessels, automotive bumpers, personal watercraft, canoes, snow mobiles, you name it. Virtually anything…
Read MorePeople buy on Emotion and Justify Rationally
Today, more than ever before, sales are made emotionally and justified rationally. Oh, I know, I can hear it now, “Today we’re more sophisticated and have more information available to us.
Read MorePublicity Enhances SBIR Commercialization Opportunities
Moving from Phase I to Phase II of an SBIR is a challenging prospect. Typically, less than half of all Phase I contracts successfully make this leap.
Read MorePublicity is More Persuasive and Believable than Advertising
On August 2, 1976 there was an article in “Advertising Age Magazine” entitled, “What Product PR can do for you in today’s advertising world.” One of the key points the author of the article made was, “this unprogressive idea that product publicity is a fringe function may well be costing billions of dollars in lost…
Read MoreDampney Paints the Town
There’s a specialty coatings manufacturer in Everett, MA who has provided high-performance, high temperature protective coating solutions throughout the world since 1917. At Venmark International, we’ve been helping them tell their story to the right audiences for several years.
Read MoreA Business Model That Makes a Difference
What he observed for about 20 years was the consistency in my business and how successful my clients have become. An owner of an advertising agency called me several months ago with the idea that he might want to buy Venmark International.
Read MorePublicity is Free, That Doesn’t Mean it has no Value
When I first got into business for myself, the stakes were high and I learned to control the variables. I knew about outsourcing and as a sales professional, I knew about preparation.
Read MorePublicity in the Internet Age
The amount of information and misinformation on the web is remarkable. With respect to publicity, especially product publicity, quite frankly, the misinformation is astonishing.
Read MoreEntrepreneurs and Accountability
If you react to a negative situation by thinking, “what did I do wrong?” that is a natural entrepreneurial ingredient.
Read MoreDo you know the three Most Important Factors in 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.” For marketers, the three most important factors in selling products and services are:
Read MorePublicity Made the Company Look Huge!
My writer drove around half of Waltham, as he described it, trying to find Custom Fabricators, Inc. Why? Because in his mind he was looking for a big factory, a facility consistent with the widespread exposure the company had been receiving in leading publications as a result of our work.
Read MoreProduct Publicity Return-on-Investment
I was doing one project per month with Charleswater Products and playing a key role in their marketing efforts. When I arrived for one of our monthly meetings back in the early 80s, my client, George Berbeco, who owned the company, announced that he wanted to do three projects per month.
Read MoreEntrepreneurs: the Real American Heroes
I don’t understand why the entrepreneurs who take risks and become successful are vilified as rich businessmen and looked down upon by our democratic elite leaders. (Actually I do, but that’s another story)
Read MoreWhy Work With Small Companies?
Several years ago, I was introduced to a young man who was starting a company. He mentioned that he graduated Carnegie Melon with an engineering degree and went on to ask me, “If I was so good at what I do, why do I work with small companies?”
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