Presentation is Everything

Presentation is Everything- and Everything is Presentation

 I am lucky to have many talented and creative clients. One specializes in packaging solutions. She can and has wrapped everything one can imagine from cars to a set of golf clubs. My catering client creates masterpieces with ingredients I can get- so why do mine never turn out like theirs? My wedding coordinator comes up with incredible touches that make each event feel like one- in a million. I work with artists whose works are found in international museums and art teachers who inspire the muse in students aged 5-to 100. My interior designer – well let’s say his homes and mine resemble each other in zero ways.

All of these have one thing in common- they know that presentation is everything.

Yes it sounds cliché but it applies to more than a gift box. You present yourself-your “brand”, your philosophies, your values with everything you say and do – and in other ways by not doing some thing.

Part of what we do for clients is to encourage them to see all their communications– from the message on their phone, to how their staff greet people; to all written communication ( off and online) as part of their presentation- their message- their mission.

In order to help clients fine tune that presentation, we get to ask a lot of questions.

Your competitive position – are you marketing (using all four P’s: Product, Promo, Price and Place) yourself as unique?

Your graphic identity- from website to business card- what does it really say about you?

Your events and associations- what do they bring your bottom line and do they strategically position you for the future?

At the end of the day- it is a lot to worry about and manage – this brand of yours. Everything you do in effect- affects it. That is where having a communications professional in your side frees you up to do what you do best.

Believe me- I can not make a great bow- but I know someone who can!

The music made me do it

The Music Made Me Do It

On beautiful lawns and in stadiums and auditoriums – you will hear echoed the sage advice to graduates- – Find what you do and the money will follow.

Well I think that is at least half correct- right away at least.

My philosophy to grads and to those Michiganders reinventing themselves – Find what you love- you may be doing it a long time. Find what you love to do- or the days are going to be really long. Find what you love- and get really good at it.

My first client when I started MarketWrite was my former employer. Music Hall was producing the then called (trust me and it is long) Ford Montreux Detroit Jazz Festival.  I spent many hours learning the ins and outs of jazz under the tutelage of my jazz professor (all due respect to Ed Love) Jim Dulzo-jazz critic and guru now overseeing the festival.

But there were days when I wondered if I had made the best decision. When you calculate the hours and the pay it was not a Donald Trump kickoff to a small business. You see working on a large event like the Festival takes inordinate hours. Lucky for me at the time I had no kids because there were many days I felt I lived there.

 But I Loved it. The Music. The Musicians. The Fans. The Team we were that worked and played hard.

I learned about hard work and the type of people you can count on- and the importance of always over delivering. I learned so many things about marketing and publicity that I use each week. It was an investment I made then and it pays me still today.

Did not know all that back then. I said yes to the hours and the pay…because I loved it. When you love it- you do it well and it pays you back.

Change the channel

Feed your head

Sometimes I take a break by getting outside, moving around, or putting on some fantastic music – really loud. Of course I work alone so I can do this. We can listen to the news incessantly (and I do) but maybe we can take a 30 drive and take a podcast with us that helps us develop a new skill. Sometimes I tune into a Canadian station in French so I can listen with another part of my brain (the one that took 12+ years of language.)

I find great strength in people who are optimistic. They are small business owners. They are my networking groups- both on and offline.  I also get inspiration from my clients. They may have lost funding or revenue (who hasn’t in this market?) and are making the difficult choices about allocating resources. They are not naïve- but they are steeled. They are seeking new sources of income, new ways to grow their business through collaboration, or identifying new niches or applications for their services.

Let’s be creative. Let’s try new things. It is the year to write our own headlines.

MarketWrite

“Stress test” your business

Imagine that someone came in to “stress test” your business. They are not part of your team or intimately knowledgeable about the challenges of the past six months. But they say the test results will be a “thumbs up or down” diagnosis on your businesses prospects.Scary? I think so. Helpful. Absolutely.

So I suggest that we apply this test to our businesses in this most challenging year- 2009.

I encourage my clients to constantly revaluate their business. Nothing is static. This is the year where nothing is taken for granted. Sacred cows- long gone. “That is the way we have done things” doesn’t pass muster.

Take the Stress Test:

Do you know exactly what part of your offerings are the most and least profitable? Armed with that knowledge you can make decisions. Where are you losing your profit? Maybe it’s time to collaborate someone who might be bale to provide that component? You do not necessarily stop doing those things that generate the least amount of any of profit- but you do need to call it as it is. If an event does not raise money but is a “friend raiser” that’s good to know. Know your costs, try to limit them, and then go make friends!

Find what I call your “sweet spot” (I was a pretty decent tennis player once upon a time) and expand on that. Sounds simple- but why aren’t you doing more of that, making more of them, selling more varieties of that? We might be chasing new and forgetting our strengths.

 Are you following or leading in your industry? Don’t know? Find someone to help you catch up on homework. Identify the trends and how they affect you. We are all so busy running our businesses that it is hard to take time to do the r/d that we did when we started.

Psst? What did they say? Do you know what people (customers past and present, your competition, and your prospective customers) are saying about you? You should be inserting yourself in the conversation. In fact you should lead it. There are so many ways to start a conversation- a press release, newsletter, blog, advertisement, an Op Ed, an invitation. We can “tweet”, IM, text or write on a wall. I recently “commented” on an article in a daily newspaper that omitted my client among a list of competitors in the industry. I brought to her attention something she might not have been aware of- reporters are snowed under too. Result? She just did a full page feature on my client.

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A long time coming

When I was eight my brother “hired” me to write a “column” in his family newspaper. He paid me and I wrote about things that would interest my 20 or so family members that received the missive.

When I was 13 I started a magazine during the summer as a way to keep in touch with my pals over the summer. With carbon paper to separate the 10 copies, I typed away about books, my pets and poetry.

So today many years later I start a blog. My intent is to provide a space to download some useful thoughts relative to my business- marketing and communications.

I love what I do. I love finding ways to bring attention to the messages that I work to advance. I have fabulous people in my life with whom I work. They are my clients, my associates and my friends.

My business and life partner reminds me that we live in interesting times. Today I can write on a blog and both my childhood friend in California and my clients in Motown can both read in real time.

Those who know me know that the line between my life and work is fine- in fact my home houses them both. So melissamarketwrite seems an apt title for the blog. I hope it is amusing, enlightening and informative for you to read.