Marketing the Armed Forces

Fact #1: The Bush Fiefdom has made it clear that GWB's legacy will include a massive build up in US Armed Forces. Aside from wanting to send another 20,000 or so boys and girls to Baghdad, we all know that he wants to leave office with a US troop presence in half the middle-eastern countries, Africa, and who knows where else.

Problem is--there's barely enough National Guardsmen available for a hurricane in the US, no less Department of Defense enlistees that could occupy 1/4 of the globe.

Its not as if the Army, Navy, Marines or Air Force don't offer a great career building and a free education opportunity. OK, so the downside from joining up is that odds are high that before your tour is up, you'll come home with less baggage (i.e. arms, legs etc.). Or, if you have the same misfortune as a former US Marine that joined a private security company under contract to the US Govt in Iraq--you'll uncover massive corruption, blow the whistle, be enlisted by the FBI as an informant, and ultimately find yourself in Guantanamo for 3 months as a suspected terrorist.. (Yet another truly remarkable story illustrating the complete stupidity of upper management and the total lack of communication)

Anyway--ever see the last series of TV and print ads being put out by the various armed forces division? The worst, right? Of course they are...and of course its our tax dollars that are paying the media agencies tens of millions to send exactly the wrong message. When will they learn to appeal to today's audience???

We Train You To Be A Leader Skills. Before and after joining: quick shot of a teenager flipping burgers at Mickey D's..flash forward to him strolling in Navy formals past a brigade, all jumping to attentiona and saluting..

Education: Instead of you spending 100k on a 4 year college program, WE spend 100k minimum teaching you foreign languages, technology skills, special skills--all of which are in demand when you graduate and go back into the private sector.

Career Path: Once we've spent the 100k, taught you a wide range of skills--the job market is waiting for you. Flash image of solider turning his fatigues, and walking across the street (ok, its Main Street in Fallujah) to sign a contract with a private security company--which is under contract to Uncle Sam. But instead of getting paid $500 a week before taxes--you'll be getting $1500 a week.

We get your mind AND Body into shape. Throw in a few video snips of muscle toned guys and gals in green t's working out in a health club.. (not climbing ropes at Camp Lejuene!!)

If you believe that NSA or some other alphabet division monitors everything on the internet and focuses on "buzz words" like those included here---maybe some twit analyst has an uncle working at a media company and he can steal the ideas here and put them into action.

Integrated Advertising-Turnkey Solution

3 months ago, resident guru Jay Berkman spotlighted SpotRunner--a new, web2.0 enterprise servicing small businesses seeking an efficient, cost effective way to advertise via local network and Cable TV. The company's platform provides a menu of 15 & 30 second spot templates specific to your industry/business offering, then allows you to select from a menu of media stations, and time schedules that you want your ad to broadcast. You can build a TV campaign that runs for 4 weeks on multiple networks, runs your spot upwards of 100 times, all for less than the cost of a full page print ad in your local newspaper. And the cost includes the actual spot.

No surprise that the Dec 18 edition of the Wall Street Journal profiled this company within the Media/Marketing section...Case study: a florist that spends 100k/year on advertising (primarily Google Adwords) his two retail stores. He re-allocated 5k of his budget to SpotRunner and sales increased 20% in one month. Goes without saying what the florist has since done i.e. budgeting advertising.

Website Copywriting 101

You're a genius marketer and you know everything about the differences between copy that's appropriate for a website vs. copy that you incorporate into collateral...Then again, tips like those below might enlighten you..(courtesy of this week's edition of Startup Nation--but you don't have to be a start-up to learn from these 10 basic tips!)

Here are 10 website writing tips to help get you started:

• Address people directly as “you.” This personalizes your message and involves readers directly. Too many small business sites say “we” this and “we” that, never bothering to involve the customer.
• Write like you talk. Be friendly. Use contractions and expressions, just as people use in everyday speech. Use anecdotes. In other words, don’t be boring.
• Let your passion about your product or service come through in your online voice. Show that you believe in what you are doing.
• Testimonials are a powerful credibility tool for most small business websites. Feature them prominently. Place two or three of your best testimonial quotes or anecdotes up front. Sprinkle others throughout the site. Use them to reinforce specific points of your sales pitch.
• Keep your writing simple. Avoid jargon and overly-technical explanations, “corporate-speak” and excessive use of capital letters (boldface is better) or exclamation points. Clarity is key. Keep sentences and paragraphs short to conform to the short time you have a visitor's attention.
• Write tight. Cut unnecessary words. If you mean to say, “If there’s a problem,” don’t write “In the event of an unsatisfactory experience.”
• Talk benefits, not features — age-old copywriting advice that applies equally to the web. Will your product or service save me time? Make me money? Entertain me or make me feel better?
• Don’t plop a mission statement on your homepage. Most are boring and repetitive. Visitors don’t care.
• Build credibility with a guarantee or free trial. Show a small photo of yourself, and perhaps your place of business.
• Proofread everything at least three times. Spelling, factual and grammatical goofs cramp your credibility.

Ad Buying: The Basics

Courtesy of Denny Hatch's latest newsletter... As always, its the basic tips that demystify the process that experts often seem to forget (or over-complicate)

* Never hire a general agency to write, design and place direct response advertising. And don’t do it yourself.

* Before placing an insertion order for a direct response ad, learn everything you can about the publication as well as the readers and their behavior. Be sure that it regularly carries off-the-page ads, ideally for your competitors’ products. Put another way, if your competitors aren’t advertising there, chances are they tested it and it didn’t work.


1. Never buy retail. Only if you absolutely must have page 3 or page 5 of a major magazine should you pay full price. The reason: virtually all magazine publishers and reps negotiate and will sell space at up to 60 percent off.

2. One technique: Hang back until closing and then call at the last minute. Most magazines will take a space reservation up to 10 days after closing. Have the ad ready and the money set aside in your budget so you can move quickly and take advantage of a deal.

3. For budgeting purposes, start with a projected response of one order per thousand circulation and work down or up from there based on experience.

4. Use experienced direct response media buyers. Buying media wisely is a very time-consuming business. Prices, percentage points and response rates are constantly changing, and media buyers dedicate 100 percent of their time to being one step ahead of the game. In media buying, how you play the game greatly affects whether you will win or lose.