Magical Cruise Adventure Sweepstakes

To join follow the instructions to complete and submit the entry form to be part of this Sweepstakes.

Open only to entrants who meet entry eligibility requirements.
Winner selection will be conducted by random drawing from all eligible entries on or about January 4, 2012.

Grand Prize is a 7-night cruise for four (4) people to the Mexican Riviera on the Disney Wonder Cruise Ship. There will only be one winner!

Trip package includes roundtrip coach-class air transportation for four (4) from a major commercial airport near Grand Prize Winner’s residence to Los Angeles, ground transportation from the airport to the Ship’s Homeport, one stateroom aboard the Disney Wonder with a maximum occupancy of four (4) people, plus more.

For more information visit the Official Rules. Sponsored by Disney Destinations, LLC.

Small Business Strategies: Hispanic market is an opportunity

By Rhonda Abrams, USA TODAY

We're in the middle of National Hispanic Heritage Month, Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, and I've got a confession to make: Although my books have been translated into more than 30 languages worldwide, I've never had them translated into Spanish for the American Hispanic market.

That may make some readers of my column glad.

"Let 'em learn English," I can imagine you shouting.

The truth is, as a businessperson, I owe it to myself to take a realistic look at the opportunities in the large, vibrant American Hispanic market.

No matter how you feel about the hot-button issue of immigration, as a small-business owner you should not ignore the fact that Hispanics in the United States represent a huge marketing opportunity.

Like me, you need to consider reaching that market. And, like me, you don't necessarily need to learn Spanish or translate your marketing materials into Spanish.

About 83% of young Hispanics and 56% of Hispanics older than 18 speak only English or English very well at home, according to Pew Hispanic Center tabulations of Census Bureau statistics. That means you can reach large numbers of Hispanics in English — if you try.

Serving Hispanics can be a great business move.

A businessman I know had a struggling used-car dealership. Then, 25 years ago he targeted Hispanics in his community, including migrant farm workers, when no one else would. He learned Spanish, hired Spanish-speaking salespeople, and extended credit to customers when others wouldn't.

He became a millionaire.

This car dealer learned what many entrepreneurs have realized: Hispanics in this country have a lot of money to spend. The average median Hispanic household income in 2009 was $38,039. While that is less than the $51,861 for white households, it still means Hispanic consumers have money to buy your products or services. (While white is a race for U.S. Census purposes, Hispanic is an ethnicity and Hispanics can be of any race.)

More than 50 million people across the country are Hispanic, according to 2010 Census data. That's more than 16% of all Americans.

It's dumb to write off 1 in 6 people without even thinking about it. And that number is growing and will keep growing regardless of the immigration policies we adopt. By 2050, it is projected that Hispanics will be 30% of America's population.

Generally, Hispanic consumers are young: Hispanics' median age is 27, compared to a median age of 41 for non-Hispanic whites. These younger Hispanic consumers have families and homes, thus they need groceries, clothing and hardware. They also consume a lot of entertainment and gadgets.

If your company's customers are businesses, rather than people, Hispanic-owned businesses represent a huge business opportunity. In 2007, the United States had about 2.3 million Hispanic-owned businesses. And they generated a lot of money, $345.2 billion in gross revenues.

Those figures have almost certainly declined since the onset of the Great Recession in 2008. But Hispanic-owned businesses still have a lot of money to spend on business services, supplies, and equipment. They have to buy from someone.

Hispanics are a large market, but realistically, it's a challenge for a small company to figure out how to serve that market. The best way to get a piece of the Hispanic market is to go about it the same way you approach any other target market: Sit down and devise a marketing plan.

1. Assess your products and services. Is there any reason they are not appropriate for the Hispanic market?

2. Assess your competition. Who is selling your products or services to the Hispanic market now? Can you position yourself better?

3. Look for networking groups. You can join your local Hispanic Chamber of Commerce even if you're not Hispanic.

4. Advertise in local media reaching the Hispanic market. If you don't speak Spanish, advertise in English. Many English-speaking Hispanics read Spanish language publications.

5. Try translating some of your marketing materials or a website page into Spanish. You can hire translating services, hire Spanish-speaking employees or consultants, even hire a Spanish speaking student from a local college.

If you want to be stubbornly anti-immigrant, you can write off this critical market.

And, of course, you can build a successful business without Hispanics. But if you're a smart entrepreneur, you'll at least consider the American Hispanic market as you develop your growth strategy.

Now, can someone find me a good translator for my books?

Copyright Rhonda Abrams 2011.

Staples The To-Do's Done for Good Sweepstakes

Winners selection will be conducted by random drawing from all eligible entries on or about September 23, 2011.

Grand Prize: (2 winners) $5,000 awarded in the form of a check made payable to winner. Additionally, Sponsor will directly make a $5,000 donation to each winner's choice of charity in their community.

Note: For more information visit the Official Rules.

Ultimate Fan Room Giveaway

Enter the Ultimate Fan Room Sweepstakes by Frito-Lay, Inc. and Cabela's Inc.

Winners will be selected weekly from among all eligible entries received.

Grand Prize: (8 winners - 1 per week) Two Flat Screen 3-d HD Samsung TVs; one Home Theater System consisting of a Blue-ray disc/DVD player, front, surround, and center-channel speakers, sub woofer, composite video cable, ASC microphone, and a wireless rear speaker module; four Theater-style Recliner Chairs; $1,000 NFLShop.com gift certificate; and PepsiCo Snacks and Beverages awarded as coupons.

First Prize: (1,600 winners - 200 per week) $30 NFLShop.com gift certificate.

For more information visit the Official Rules.

Harley Davidson Free the World Giveaway

Enter Harley Davidson Free the World Giveaway ( Dec-1 )

Winners selection will be conducted by random drawing from all eligible entries on or about December 12, 2011.

Grand Prize: 2 winners of a custom Harley-Davidson 1200C motorcycle for winner and a trip for two to Milwaukee, WI

First Prize: A Rider’s Edge Class.
For more information visit the Official Rules.

The World’s Most Misunderstood Consumer Brands

The process of brand valuation is more an art than a science, or at least that is the conclusion of research done by 24/7 Wall St. The most well-regarded “brand evaluators” rarely come up with similar figures–except for among the very largest brands. Some of their opinions diverge dramatically.

24/7 Wall St. looked at the brand valuations and methodologies of BrandZ, Interbrand, and Brandirectory. The first two list 100 brands each in their public studies. Brandirectory lists 500. Each would defend its valuations which use different “black box” systems for calculating value. That is probably because all three charge hefty fees for their services.

The explanations for their methodologies are even more convoluted.

Here is what BrandZ says: “The brand value published is based on the intrinsic value of the brand – derived from its ability to generate demand. The dollar value of each brand in the ranking is the sum of all future earnings that brand is forecast to generate, discounted to a present-day value. Given the high volatility of financial markets over the past 12 months, the brand value is in some cases high relative to current market capitalization, reflecting true value rather than current market swings.” Where is the heart of that exercise? It is impossible to say.

Interbrands has three criteria: “1) Financial performance measures an organization’s raw financial return to the investors, 2) Role of brand measures the portion of the decision to purchase that is attributable to brand – this is exclusive of other aspects of the offer like price or feature, and 3) Brand strength measures the ability of the brand to secure the delivery of expected future earnings.” Without the exact data that Interband uses and details of how it is arranged to derive a value, it is impossible say how its process works.

Brandirectory describes its methodology this way: “The methodology employed in the BrandFinance Global 500 uses a discounted cash flow (DCF) technique to discount estimated future royalties, at an appropriate discount rate, to arrive at a net present value (NPV) of the trademark and associated intellectual property: the brand value.”

All three brand valuation companies admit that sales play a critical role in brand valuation. All three claim that their forecasts of future contributions of the brands to earnings are part of their proprietary analysis. All link brand value to the overall value of a brand’s parent company.

Again, the most telling part of the comparison among the three firms is that they differ very little on the 20 most valuable brands. Oddly enough, the best way to highlight the flaw in the three valuations methods is to look at Marlboro. Its value is ranked seventh best by BrandZ at $57 billion, 18th on the Interbrand list with a value of $20 billion and 499th on the Brandirectory list with a valuation of $2.3 billion. Marlboro is the primary brand of both Philip Morris and Altria. Altria has annual sales of $24 billion. Philip Morris sales are $67 billion a year. Even in the most cerebral and bizarre world, Marlboro could not be worth as little as $2.3 billion.

24/7 Wall St., to make its point about whether brand values can be fairly measured, looked at ten brands which are ranked high on one of the three brand value lists and much lower on others. We considered the brand value from the lists, the extent to which each brand is internationally known based on overseas sales, total annual revenue, and in many cases the age and durability of the brand.

Each of the brands on the 24/7 Wall St. list is not only a well-known name in the US but also in most places around the world. A review of the BrandZ, Interbrand, and Brandirectory lists leads to the conclusion that most brands are not valued properly. The ten we have chosen are particularly notable because the so-called experts have widely differing views on how much they are worth.

1. Xerox

Interbrand Brand Value: $6.109 billion

Total Sales: $15.2 Billion
% sales international: 46%
Market Cap: $14.2 Billion

The name “Xerox” has become synonymous with photocopiers, as well as the act of photocopying. The company, which has been around for more than a century, invented the first electro-photography plain paper photocopier. Xerox is in the top 200 of the Fortune 500, and remains a well-known brand around the world. The company’s revenue was more than $15 billion in 2010, with just over $7 billion coming in from outside of the United States.
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2. Yahoo!
Interbrand Brand Value: $4.958 billion
Total Sales: $6.3 Billion
% sales international: 33%
Market Cap: $21.4 billion

Yahoo! was one of the first major web portals. Founded in 1995, the company survived the burst of the dot-com bubble and remains valuable today. Yahoo! is the second largest search engine in the US behind Google. Yahoo!, as of 2010, had the largest market share of online display advertising in the world, according to JP Morgan. Of the $6.324 billion the company made in 2010, just over $2 billion was made internationally.
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3. MTV
Interbrand Brand Value: $6.719 billion
Parent Company Viacom’s Total Sales: $13.4 billion
% sales international: N/A
Parent Company Viacom’s Market Cap: $27.2 billion

MTV has grown into an international media giant since its beginning in 1981. According to owner Viacom, the channel reached approximately 99 million television households within the United States in September 2010. On an international level, MTV Networks’ operations reached approximately 635 million households in more than 160 countries in September 2010. MTV has also expanded into film with its MTV Films division, which has produced such popular films as Zoolander and Jackass.
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4. Heinz

Interbrand Brand Value: $7.534 billion
Total Sales: $10.5 Billion
% sales international: 62%
Market Cap: $15.6 billion

Heinz’s 57 is easily the most recognized brand of ketchup the United States, and is featured on most restaurant and diner tables in the U.S. While it is the most recognizable in the U.S., more than half of the company’s $10.5 billion in annual sales comes from abroad. Besides ketchup, Heinz sells a variety of condiments, including mustard, relish, and horseradish. The last of these was actually the first product Heinz produced.
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5. Kellogg

Interbrand Brand Value: $11.041 billion
Total Sales: $12.4 Billion
% sales international: 37%
Market Cap: $19.7 billion

Battle Creek, Michigan-based Kellogg was founded in 1906, and is responsible for some of the most popular breakfast cereals in the world, including Corn Pops, Corn Flakes, Crispix, Frosted Flakes, Raisin Bran and Rice Krispies. Kellogg competes with General Mills as one of the two largest breakfast food makers in the world, producing other extremely successful products such as Eggo waffles and Pop Tarts.
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6. Phillips

Interbrand Brand Value: $8.696 billion
Total Sales: $25 billion
% sales international: ~98%
Market Cap: $31.3 billion

Dutch-based Philips Electronics is one of the largest electronics companies in the world, competing against Sony and Panasonic. The company employs about 120,000 people around the world and sells merchandise in more than 60 countries. The company invented or helped invent nearly every modern form of media storage. Along with Sony, the company has been the go-to brand for the compact cassette, the CD, the DVD, and the Blu-Ray disc. The company also sells electronics, including a popular line of televisions and sound equipment.
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7. KFC

Interbrand Brand Value: $5.844 billion
Parent Company Yum! Brands Total Sales: $11.343 billion
% sales international: N/A
Parent Company Yum! Brands Market Cap: $23.76 billion

Originally founded in 1930, KFC is now one of the largest brands owned by Yum! Brands, along with Pizza Hut. According to Yum!, as of the end of 2010 there were 5,055 KFCs in the United States and 11,798 in other countries. A surprising 3,244 of these restaurants are in China. KFC has restaurants in 110 countries and territories worldwide. In 2010, Yum! Brands had a total revenue of $11.34 billion.
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8. Danone

Interbrand Brand Value: $6.363 billion
Total Sales: $24.2 Billion
% sales international: 75% or more
Market Cap: $28.6 Billion

Group Danone, the French food-products company which markets its products in the United States under the brand name Dannon, had sales of just over $24 billion in 2010. According to the company, Danone is “the world’s leading producer in volume of Fresh Dairy Products.” The company is best known for its yogurts and bottled water. It moved into baby food after purchasing Numico in 2007.
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9. Caterpillar

Interbrand Brand Value: $4.704 billion
Total Sales: $42.5 Billion
% sales international: 70%
Market Cap: $68.2 Billion

Caterpillar is the largest manufacturer of construction equipment in the world, with annual sales of more than $42 billion, more than 100,000 employees and 178 dealers. Caterpillar’s “Cat” brand is well- known among the public and construction firms alike.
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10. Adidas

Interbrand Brand Value: $5.495 billion
Total Sales: $17.03 Billion

% sales international: N/A

Market Cap: $18.45 Billion

Adidas, the German sports apparel company, had sales of just over $17 billion in 2010. The company is the second largest sportswear manufacturer in the world, behind Nike, and the largest in Europe. Parent company Adidas AG also owns the popular brands Reebok and Rockport.

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©2011 24/7 Wall St.

Just remember Velvet Eyes

An American Film Icon passed away today, Elizabeth Taylor. In the midst of the nice tributes are the attention seeking _____ (fill-in the blank) people who focus on the human things about her.  To those people I say look in the mirror and realize that your closet has a few (or many) items in there.  We all do! 

Now I can't argue these items.  Ms Taylor was sexually liberated in an era when woman "didn't have sex".  She challenged studios when they had the power.  She had a strut about herself when actresses were second to their male counterparts.  She even befriended Michael Jackson during a period when most were running from him. 

But her biggest contribution as a human being may be her dedication to the AIDS cause.  She brought in her powerhouse name and status to help educate during a time when ignorance about the disease and the disease itself was out of control. 

I don't know what it is to be in the spotlight every where you go.  So I am sure the anxiety of being on your game can take its toll on a superstar like Ms Taylor.  She was always elegant and classy.  So if you have anything negative to say why don't you say nothing.  If you don't know what to say, learn about her and then say a prayer for her. 

She may have been different but she did a whole lot of good.  So remember her as a great contributor to American society.  

Lakers, NBA are reaching out to fast-growing Latino market

The Lakers just scored a slam dunk in the Latino market.On Monday the team announced a 20-year agreement with Time Warner Cable to create the nation's first Spanish-language regional sports network, with the Lakers as its centerpiece, starting with the 2012-13 season.The groundbreaking partnership is just the latest in a series of efforts by the Lakers and the NBA as they reach out to the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population.

"If you're not able to connect with [Latinos], then where's your sport going to be in 30 years?" says Adam Jacobson, a Miami-based marketing strategist focusing on Latinos.The NBA, which has seen attendance drop for 14 of the league's 30 teams this season, has reached out to Latinos since 1995. But it began targeting the market with new focus 16 months ago when it launched éne•bé•a — Spanish for NBA — an initiative of Spanish-language websites and ad campaigns, specially branded merchandise and an expanded schedule of national Spanish-language TV broadcasts.The campaign will ramp up again this week during the NBA All-Star Weekend at Staples Center."We want to build lifelong fans. And you do that by building an emotional connection with your consumers," says Saskia Sorrosa, the NBA's director of Hispanic marketing. "We have a significant portion of our fan base that are Hispanic but we do want to grow that."Consider longtime hoops fan Billy Sanchez, a third-generation Mexican-American. When he got his first driver's license, he knew exactly where to celebrate: at a Lakers game."All I wanted to do was just go down to the Forum, find a scalper and buy tickets," he recalls. "And I did that quite often."Two decades and five NBA titles later, the team has left the Forum for Staples Center and Sanchez, 35, has no need for scalpers because he works in sales for his father's beer distributorship in the City of Industry and they have a luxury suite.

But his passion for the Lakers hasn't faded. "I've been a fan ever since I can remember," he says. "I watch every single game."Early returns suggest the NBA's campaign is working. The league says about one out of six NBA fans is Latino and this season the NBA's Latino TV audience has grown nearly 20%, drawing more than 9.7 million unique viewers on the six national networks that carry NBA games.Viewership is particularly strong when the Lakers play, a fact that was instrumental in bringing the Time Warner deal together. During last spring's NBA Finals between the Lakers and the Boston Celtics, the middle three games were seen in nearly one of every five Latino households watching television, according to Nielsen Media Research, and the audience for the seventh game was nearly twice as large.

"They're a popular team," says Sorrosa, who grew up in Ecuador watching Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls on TV. "The [Lakers] have a legacy. They have Spanish-language radio. They have a Spanish-language website."In fact, a 2009 survey conducted for ESPN found the Lakers to be the most popular sports team among U.S. Latinos, beating out baseball's New York Yankees and football's Dallas Cowboys. And in Los Angeles a Scarborough Sports Marketing poll showed 44% of Latino adults identified themselves as Lakers fans."The big change is that it's moved from the L.A.-born, acculturated Latino to the recent immigrant that's come from Mexico. [He] is wearing the Lakers jersey," says Jim Kalmenson, president of KWKW-AM (1330), the flagship of the Lakers' Spanish-language radio network for 15 seasons. "They've surpassed the Dodgers as the most important local franchise in the Hispanic market.

"Credit much of that to timing. KWKW's first season with the Lakers, when the team essentially bought broadcast time, was Kobe Bryant's rookie season. "Superstars just seem to draw people in from all cultures," Kalmenson says.Yet the Lakers, bucking the NBA's approach, insist they have built that huge fan base by ignoring ethnicity in a city that is nearly half Hispanic. "There's no discriminatory policies against or for any group," says John Black, the team's vice president for public relations.Black calls it a "commonsense approach," where marketing is not focused on any particular community but on the basketball court and through social media sites. A recent survey ranked the Lakers as the fifth most-popular sports social-media entity in the world. (The NBA, with nearly 10 million combined Facebook fans and Twitter followers, is No. 1, Fast Company magazine says.)Still, the Lakers do aggressively pursue the Hispanic market. Even before the landmark TV deal this week, the Lakers were one of 12 NBA teams whose games were heard on Spanish-language radio, and last March the Lakers participated in the league's Noche Latina program by wearing jerseys that read "Los Lakers" during selected games.

Sixteen years ago, the Miami Heat was the only NBA team that had an active outreach in Spanish.Now other teams are following that path.The Orlando Magic set up a Spanish-language phone line, staffed its offices with bilingual employees and is broadcasting 19 games on Spanish-language TV. The Minnesota Timberwolves, in a state with a Latino population of under 5%, extended their contract to offer selected radio broadcasts in Spanish. And in Phoenix, where nearly one in three persons is Latino, the Suns have reached out through Spanish-language ad campaigns, community events and cultural programs on game nights.

These grassroots Latino campaigns have a local impact, but it's hard to gauge their impact in growing the NBA's brand nationally. The league declined to give revenue figures for the Latino market. And ESPN Deportes doesn't even sell ad time exclusively for its NBA broadcasts, instead offering packages to sponsors whose spots will run during a variety of programming, including basketball games.In contrast, the Lakers were the focal point of a lucrative bidding war for TV rights — in both English and Spanish — before settling on Time Warner, a deal that will make the vast majority of Lakers games available on Spanish-language television.The Lakers are clearly an exception, because it is a rare team whose following spills beyond the immediate borders of its local market.And that is paying off in other ways, as well. The NBA's growing roster of Spanish-speaking stars — which includes Lakers All-Star Pau Gasol — helped lure overseas partners such as Spanish banking giant BBVA, which signed a four-year, $100-million sponsorship deal with the NBA in September.

Jose "Pepe" Mantilla, the color commentator on the Lakers' Spanish-language radio broadcasts, also tells about visiting his family in Oaxaca, Mexico, where, in the dusty town plaza, was a weathered basketball backboard with a Lakers logo painted on it. "That's amazing. Whenever you mention the word 'Lakers' people know what you're talking about. Anywhere in the world, anyplace where they speak Spanish.

"Closer to home, Rick Murillo, a 45-year-old Lakers fan from Alhambra, has been a fan from the team's Forum days.For him it's not a question of marketing or ethnicity. Or even winning. It's about loyalty. "My dog's named Laker," he says with a smile. "So I'm not going anywhere."

By Kevin Baxter
Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times

Marketing Excellence Inc getting the word out:Edison International scholarship opportunities

Marketing Excellence Inc has partnered in the effort to get the word out about Edison International scholarship opportunities to as many students as possible.


Edison International, the parent company of Southern California Edison, welcomes applications for the Edison Scholars program, which supports the study of math, science, engineering and technology.The Edison Scholars Scholarship program is a part of Edison's long standing tradition of investing in the future by making the dream of a college education a reality for deserving students.

In celebration of our 125th anniversary, Edison has expanded the program from 75 to 125 scholarships. In addition, we have made changes to our current eligibility requirements. Recipients are no longer limited to attending an accredited four-year college or university within our service territory. The program has been expanded to include attendance at any accredited four-year college or university across the U.S. Each selected high school graduating senior will be awarded a $2,500 college scholarship. Awards are renewable an additional three years for a total of $10,000, provided recipients meet all eligibility requirements.

The Edison Scholars application postmark deadline is March 15, 2011. Please encourage potential scholars to visit www.edison.com/edisonscholars for more information.

Please encourage potential scholars to visit www.edison.com/edisonscholars for more information. And please remember who told you.

Better Homes and Gardens $8,000 Sweepstakes

To Enter The Better Homes and Gardens Sweepstakes and for Official Sweepstake Rules click here

This is the season of giving. Tell a Friend about the sweepstakes and about us.

Sweepstakes for The Green Hornet Premiere

Prize: (1 winner) a trip for two to Los Angeles, CA to attend the “Green Hornet” premiere currently scheduled to take place on or around the week of January 10, 2011. The trip will include: (i) roundtrip coach class air transportation for the Grand Prize Winner and Guest which shall originate from an airport of MTVN’s choice nearest Grand Prize Winner’s residence to Los Angeles, California; (ii) choice of either (y) round trip ground transportation for Grand Prize Winner and Guest (to be taken together) between airport and hotel in Los Angeles, California or (z) car rental for three (3) days in Los Angeles, CA; (iii) two (2) nights hotel accommodations in Los Angeles, California for Grand Prize Winner and Guest based on double occupancy (meals, telephone calls and other incidentals and costs are not included); (iv) tickets for the Grand Prize Winner and Guest to attend the Event. (ARV $3,500)

Open to legal residents of the 48 contiguous United States and the District of Columbia who are at least 18 years old at the time of entry. Void in Alaska and Hawaii.

Winner selection will be conducted by random drawing from all eligible entries on or about December 29, 2010.

We'll be there so come meet us.

For more information visit the Official Rules. Sponsored by MTV Networks, a division of Viacom International Inc.

Disney's Wizards of Waverly Place Sweepstakes

Enter Stand Up For Fun Sweepstakes ( Dec-31 )
To join follow the instructions to complete and submit the entry form to be part of this Sweepstakes.

Grand Prize: (1 winner) four (4) day / three (3) night trip for winner and three (3) guests to Los Angeles, California to visit the Innoventions Dream Home at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA. Includes: [a] visit to the set of Wizards of Waverly Place to see the taping of an episode subject to availability, scheduling and Sponsor’s selection and discretion, [b] an opportunity to meet cast members of the Show. Talent subject to availability; [c] Resort/Taping transfers; [d] hotel accommodations at the Resort (one standard room/quad occupancy, including room tax) for three (3) nights; [e] ground transportation at the Resort; [f] 3-Day Disneyland Resort Park Hopper tickets for Group, including access to Disneyland Park and Disney’s California Adventure Park; [g] if winner’s residence is located more than 250 miles from the City, round-trip coach air transportation on a Sponsor-selected carrier between a Sponsor-selected major metropolitan airport near winner’s residence and a Sponsor-selected major airport in or near the City; but if winner’s residence is located 250 miles or less from the City, then round-trip ground transportation via a Sponsor-selected method between winners’ residence and the hotel; [h] airport/hotel transfers, and [i] one (1) Xbox 360 4GB Console with Kinect. (ARV $6,794)


Winner selection will be conducted by random drawing from all eligible entries on or about January 18, 2011. Open only to legal residents physically located in the 50 United States or D.C., and 18 years of age or older at time of entry.

For more information visit the Official Rules. Sponsored by Disney Interactive Media Group.

Search Engine Optimization: You Can Do It!

For quite some time many of our clients have been asking about Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO is simply doing "stuff" so your website appears early on a search results (page 1 or 2) when someone conducts a search related to what your company provides.

Unfortunately, that is about as thorough an explanation given by "providers" of SEO services. Even worse, that is the extent of the understanding of those that contract out for this service.

Here are some tips and tricks that anyone with basic website development skills can learn and do.

1) To improve your position on a search engine result, ensure your metatags, page titles and homepage text have the key (aka common) words or words that searchers will use to search for what THEY need.
Those should include the goods or services your company provides, the industry and markets your company serves, the name of your business and the location(s) served by your business. The more inclusive and specific the list, the better your position will be.

2) Another important key to getting on or close to page 1 of search results is the amount of links to your site. How do you achieve that? Blogs, social media, partner websites and cooperative linking with other sites will improve your position on search engines.

3) Update your homepage often. Web crawlers like finding new stuff. Web crawlers look through your site for key words and relevancy to searches. Thus when content is changed, it triggers newness. When you add new or change text and key words, your position greatly improves and starts move closer to the top of the list. Why? Websites with old text are thought to be inactive or abandoned. Search engines provide value if they give you useful results. So the search engine's approach is that newer stuff is better and more useful so it gets move forward on the search results list.

If you have any questions or concerns about your current website or your SEO provider, contact us.

Silly String, Now Silly Bands hhhhhhm!

Every once in awhile I am amazed by the creativity of some marketing professionals. Some winners of my "amazement award" are the Cabbage Patch Doll, Pet Rocks, and Silly String. The most recent winner is SILLY BANDS. We never sit in judgement of a product's success. If we did, we would be questioning the judgement of consumers and users. We would never do that. If they (consumers) want to buy it, marketers should market and sell it.

We sell Silly Bands and alot of them. The real amazement comes from how fast they are flying off our shelves. We have all kinds of organizations buying these things from Girl Scout Troops to teachers to restaurants. What the heck is the appeal? It is a rubber band molded into different shapes which is not too flexible. Once you use it for whatever reason, it loses its shape.

We don't get the product appeal but know there was a great marketer behind the buzz. Can anyone tell us the message(s) that started this success?

Best Practices: What to take into Account When Direct Marketing to Hispanics

Portada talked to Karen Habib, Hispanic Marketing Director, at Eclipse Marketing Services about best practices in direct marketing to the Hispanic population.The Objective (Hispanic or not)…."Ultimately, marketing campaigns – Hispanic or not – are intended to appeal to the consumer, presumably with a value proposition that will make him or her buy your product. In that sense, a Hispanic and a GM campaign aren’t that different.” says Habib.
…and yet, there are Worlds apart….

According to Habib, on the creative front, the Hispanic campaign must speak to the cultural sensibilities of the Latino audience and not just be about the offer. “By customizing our message to their set of values, we will be more successful, and marketing budgets can be more efficiently spent’, she adds.

Another major difference between the Hispanic and the General Market campaign lies in the segmentation process. There are many additional demographic and psychographic criteria that must be considered when doing Hispanic marketing: acculturation level, language preference, multigenerational household, for instance. “As the Hispanic market becomes more complex, direct marketing becomes that much more relevant – vital even to the marketing mix”, says Habib.

Advice to Marketers
Advertisers need to recognize that cultural relevance, demonstration of product value, and language sensitivities playa higher role in marketing to Latinos. Campaigns that focus on offer alone to drive the response may not be as effective, nor create the brand loyalty the marketer is hoping to achieve. Good direct response campaigns (TV, direct mail, radio) will elicit an emotional response, regardless of target. “However, we must remember that although Hispanics can trend to be more emotional culturally, they tend to over-index on researching products online than their GM counterparts. Hispanics want to make sure they are getting value for their purchases and if the purchase experience and product use is positive, they will become loyal”, Habib concludes.

Some Resolutions on Planning

Some Resolutions on Planning

By KEVIN VANN

As the calendar turns to 2010, business owners and managers should be thinking about resolutions, especially those involving effective planning.

Here are several types of planning that decision makers should consider critical for the year ahead.

Strategic Planning: Take time to research how to go about doing strategic planning and with whom. Perhaps the company can do it on its own, or perhaps it should hire a facilitator. In any case, set aside one or two days for strategic planning. This is one of the most critical blueprints every business should have, and it should be done at least once a year. This process should include owners and key staff members and perhaps outside consultants and independent parties as well.

Technology Planning: Each business should minimally have an internal staff member or an outsourced consultant to guide every company through the rigors of changing and updating technology. Time should be set aside for owners and key staff to be educated on a continuous basis. Technology will drive efficiencies, productivity, and revenue for most companies.

Employee / Staff / HR Planning: Each business today minimally needs either a staff person or an outsourced consultant to keep them up-to-date with the constantly changing compliance issues involved with having employees. Additionally, this planning model should include internal company issues, benefit packages, recruiting, retaining, and staying competitive. Any company that has employees should have a handbook minimally. The handbook should be reviewed annually.

Succession and Long-term Planning: Depending on the size of the company and the owner’s philosophy about life and business, succession and long-term planning for a company, the owners, and key staff should be a priority. If the owner of a company has done a good job addressing his or her own retirement and succession issues, then the company will continue to thrive. Fear of the unknown is the greatest fear, so the more effort the company puts into proper planning for the owners and key personnel, the better chance it has to continue. Even if an owner indicates an unwillingness to do succession planning, then certainly having a plan that indicates when and how to sell or liquidate the company is important.

Tax Planning: This has been pretty much accepted as an annual task by most business owners and key personnel; however, it’s still surprising just how many businesses make decisions, take on risk, and do business without properly understanding the tax consequences of their decisions.

Budgeting and Financial Planning: I just can’t imagine a business — or an individual, for that matter — not making budgeting and financial planning a priority on an annual basis. Unfortunately, many, many businesses fail to do annual budgeting and financial planning. The budgeting process should include solid projections relative to revenue, expense planning, and profit expectations. This planning should also include cash-flow projections that take into account what capital expenditures need to be made, how much debt will be paid down, or how much debt or equity will be required to run or capitalize the business. The budget or financial plan should include the company’s ‘wish list’ for the coming year, and typically that list includes the items or initiatives from the strategic plan and all of the other planning during the year. The budget should be the by-product of all of the annual planning that has been done.

PODCAST: What Great Bosses Know

This is a PODCAST on the subject of presenting and presentation delivery. No matter how good you are you can always get better.

"What Great Bosses Know". Click this link to check it out: http://poynter.podOmatic.com/entry/2009-11-05T10_00_15-08_00

360 Digital Influence | A New Communication Discipline

This an interesting post by our partner, Ogilvy PR Worldwide, on their website.

"The emergence of blogs, wikis and RSS aggregators has put the spotlight on new patterns of influence, and search engines are transforming how we find information in the digital realm. These technologies are just a part of a larger transformation of how people get information, what they listen to and who ultimately influences them.

At Ogilvy PR, we map these patterns of influence to identify who is influencing who, how word-of-mouth influence builds momentum, and who emerges in specific fields of interest as digital influencers. Given this insight and intelligence, we guide our clients through the thorny landscape of engaging in these dialogues and participating to build word of mouth online and offline. “Conversation” has become the new ‘earned media.’ We use new digital technologies to activate discussion and amplify our advocates whether they are more traditional influencers or mom bloggers online. We measure performance of all our programs including as word-of-mouth measures in order to optimize programs underway and report progress."

Source: Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide

http://www.ogilvypr.com/en/expertise/360-digital-influence

What is branding?

It is interesting how many non-marketing professionals use the term branding incorrectly. Branding is a powerful strategy and marketing objective. When implemented and created effectively, the brand can become a real competitive advantage.

Branding involves the analysis of four areas:

1. your capabilities relative to your competition for your target market and customers,


2. your marketing message that communicates your capabilities that are different and more desirable for your target market and customers,


3. the decoded marketing message understood by your target market and customers,


4. and, your target market's and customers' perception of your product and or service quality.

Branding is the mental and emotional connection that the consumer, customer, prospect or user of your product and or service has associated with your name. This connection could be good or bad.

A strong branding strategy is more than just creating an attention-getting advertising campaign or slogan. The communication campaign should infer a promise of a certain quality level. That quality level now becomes the expected quality for the consumer. So the company must at least deliver, but preferably exceed, that expected level of quality. The communications campaign should also position your company, product or service to differentiate it from your competition. The final component is delivering quality. That quality is the perceived quality of the customer. You must deliver better value, image, or solutions than what your competition can deliver. The use or your product or service will also convey a message and will help stimulate perceived quality.

If you miss the mark on any of these, you certainly do not have a strong brand and some might even argue that you have no brand.

Advertisers aiming dollars at Hispanics --Companies target Spanish media, community events

MIAMI - -- Halfway through Univision's top-rated variety show, "Sabado Gigante," host Don Francisco yells out: "Vamos a cantarle a State Farm! Musica, maestro!" -- "Let's sing to State Farm! "The audience swings into a snappy rendition of a song that praises State Farm Insurance -- part of the company's marketing strategy that is pumping more dollars into Hispanic marketing than ever before.

An increasing number of advertisers, especially consumer-product companies and financial-services firms, are reaching out to U.S. Hispanics and putting a larger share of their ad budgets into Spanish-language media and community-event sponsorships.

Earlier this month, video-game publisher Sega announced its biggest Hispanic marketing campaign with the launch of its latest Wii title, Daisy Fuentes' Pilates. Kellogg is adding "a touch of honey" to its Corn Flakes cereal to court Hispanic consumers who prefer honey as a natural sweetener. Fifth Third Bank, based in Cincinnati, is expanding its reach to Hispanics in seven markets -- including four in Florida: Orlando, Tampa, Naples and Ft. Myers -- with radio, print and online ads. The bank is also sponsoring local workshops to help consumers with their finances during the recession.

More than $5 billion was aimed at the Hispanic market in 2008, according to TNS Media Intelligence, an advertising market research firm.The amount was down slightly (0.08 percent) from the 2007 figure -- far less than the 4 percent drop in overall marketing spending, from $126.7 billion in 2007 to $121.8 billion in 2008.

As for State Farm, the Bloomington, Ill., company is spending more money to reach U.S. Hispanics this year than it did in 2008, says Mark Gibson, assistant vice president for advertising for State Farm. State Farm, regularly among the top 10 marketers to Latinos, spent nearly $58 million in advertising in Spanish-language TV, magazines and newspapers in 2008, doubling what it had spent in the prior year, according to TNS Media Intelligence. Though the insurer has marketed to Hispanics for the past decade, it accelerated its efforts three years ago when it began to sponsor "Sabado Gigante." Last year, it added the Fiesta del Jonron (a traveling home-run derby and Hispanic baseball hall of fame) and added the Latin Billboard sponsorship. State Farm agents sponsor bike-safety fairs and local baseball and soccer teams. This year's increased dollars will go toward traditional TV, print, online and radio advertising as well as event and sponsorship marketing."Consumers are savvy today. They understand when they are being advertised to," says Gibson." But you can take a relationship deeper when you can connect with consumers in ways they don't necessarily expect."

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