Would an App Be Profitable for Your Business?

There are a lot of Quad State businesses looking at the efficacy of an app adding to their bottom line. Sure an app would be a sexy addition to your business, but is it going to pay for itself?

We haven't written much on apps for a few months at the QSBJ, and yet our app network of app developers are enjoying some nice growth in their upticks in their business. Hence, we thought we should get with the program.

A Network of Quad State App Developers?

Yes, indeed. As most digital folks, the people in our network whom we 'bother' for app technology updates and information for a variety of industries all seem to be doing well.  And as many Quad State digital folks, their business doesn't all come from our Quad State region. Digital stuff can be done across the world.

But let's look at some fundamentals in app development.

We can create our own app!

Yes, that is true. With the platforms currently available, it is possible that you can create your own app--if you really want to. But there is a learning curve, and the learning curve doesn't start with technology. It starts internally. Let's get to the basic question first.

What Can an App Do For My Business--Really?

Now if you just go around and gather some ideas from your staff, you may come to the wrong conclusion--to build or not to build. Either decision can be the wrong one for your business if you are not thorough in your exploration of this question--maybe even to the point of bringing in an outsider, getting staff and a couple customers in the room and firing questions.

The internal stuff starts with your assessing a) your app potential; and b) is this the best way to deliver our goods and services; and c) can we afford the option that does us the most good?

The first actionable, however, should be making SURE your website shows up well in all kinds of handheld mobile devices (I-phones to tablets, etc.).

The next actionable is what is your website requiring readers to do--click a link, download a report, watch a video and so on. Just don't have the clicker leave your site thinking, "Hey, that was a cool site. Now I wonder what's another similar site...." Think actionable!

The next question you need to ask yourself is (per above) WHAT data do I want to display, inform or collect through a handheld device?

Enter Your Strategic Concept for Your App

Granted, you do NOT have to bring in a consultant to find out if an app is applicable to your business. An app is certainly not going to do much for an architect, attorney or an accountant--unless they are marketing a book or some 'consumable' product that can be delivered through a website or an app.

Stephen Covey told us to 'begin with the end in mind.' So that's a great place to start. So we have to decide where do we want our data for any perceived app to come from. In larger businesses, they have the IT department as the keepers of the data--usually.

In a singleton (sole proprietor) or less-than-five employees type of business, an app can still do wondrous things for you, but you still need to be building that decision tree analysis of how you want data (and maybe money) to flow.

In most enterprises, it is the IT departments mission to store and protect the data that comes from different parts of the enterprise. This is still true for the singleton-type business--we're talking much more than just mailing lists.

What Data is Relevant In My Business--Really

We've got so many sources where one can stuff data these days--whether or not you have no employees or a couple thousand. There's SalesForce, DropBox and other third-party storehouses. Internally, you can have options such as Open Directory or SharePoint software. There really is a vast array of the possibles here.

Is your data fully accessible? Just as there are many resting places for data, there are many nooks and crannies where it can become locked up or otherwise not accessible.

Do I Employ a Tech Wizard that Knows How to Build My App?

Ah, now the rubber is going to start hitting the proverbial road. Even if you know where the data is and can access it easily, does the person in your employ have the necessary SKILL SET to put YOUR KIND of needed app together? It's got to be the right KIND of app for your business.

This is not a pitch for outside Quad State app consultants to come in, but this is where mistakes can get costly if you only rely on internal talent. Now it might be that internal talent is ALL you need, but wouldn't it be worth a few bucks to find that info out?

Consultants can bring us a broad array of industry and technical information from a board base of clients. I used to tell people that I've never lost money hiring an outside pair of eyes and ears--and I've had other owners say the same. Consultants roam the proverbial street so being street-wise is good and something that your internal staff may be far away from.

The point here is to not jump the gun into 'cool designs' until you get the cool data questions all answered and have built a strategy. Now your initial strategy may be all wrong so that the second iteration of your app is successful. It's still money well spent.

Coming next time: Getting the Data, Specs and Content RIGHT!

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Article first appeared: www.QuadStateBusinessJournal.com 

Digital Lead Generation Firms Come to the Quad State Region

This subject may develop into a series as it impacts many businesses in our area.

There is a tremendous interest in lead-gen companies as marketing partners as technology is pushed deeper into society's fabric. Forget the kids, now even 'Grandma' can work her way around on a tablet or an I-Phone these days.

Why this topic may develop into a Quad State Business Journal series is because 'local business development' for many firms in many industries is often controlled by 'out-of-state' firms--more specifically lead-generation firms.

And local businesses going after local businesses don't really care WHERE the lead generation firm is located. But digital makes it all possible.

It all makes sense when one steps back to look at business from the proverbial 30,000-foot level. If you are a home service contractor, a dentist, an attorney or in need of quotes to tear down a building to finding money for a project, online search is the logical place to start.

A Society Integrated and Connected By Keywords

Everyone of us who look for people to get happily involved with our business (aka customers), can find them online.

So as business owners, we face a dilemma. Do we learn to do lead-generation ourselves (the online kind) and take the time to go through the learning curve, or do we stick to our knitting and hire an outside firm?

Most people in most professions opt for the latter. Some notable exceptions to taking the time to master the online lead gen process we have met include chiropractors, a swimming pool contractor and a construction worker.

A teacher in Martinsburg, WV looking to help his son earn some extra money doing around-the-house yard work with a power wash option have found 'almost too much business' they report.

Their marketing tool?

A home-made website with 'hired SEO' options. And as of this writing, they will not leave Berkeley County--even to turning down business from other Quad State counties.

A dentist, who prefers anonymity, reports he works with 'some lead-gen outfit in California' to find business from Franklin and Washington Counties.

U.S. Tax Receipts Setting Records--Online Sales Make Its Mark

The US Treasury reports a record $2.66 trillion in receipts through August and a large chunk of that increase is coming with online firms. (However the US still runs a $500+ billion deficit!)

The United States ranks way down to #32 among 34 industrialized nations according to new research reported by The Wall Street Journal. The study ranks and compares 40 tax variables of the 34 industrialized nations. Only France (#34) and one other country is lower than the USA.

You can find out more about the study here:  http://online.wsj.com/articles/were-number-32-1410729349

Coming to the Quad State: Contractor Lead-Gen Aggregator 

Although this news concerns only the home improvement niche of contractors, it shows how large the lead generation 'industry' truly is.

There are some 17,000 lead generation firms in the US for all industries. Of that number there are roughly 3,000 firms who work with contractors and of that number only a few hundred who work with contractors exclusively.

An aggregator may get you a red line misspelling in a word processor as it is a fairly new phenomenon but there are news aggregators (think of the famous Drudge Report, Google Reader, Feedly and so on), content aggregators and more.  Google News searching for your key word news items is another example.

The contractor aggregator is being build locally in the Quad State for national reach, but will focus on local activity within our region first.

The attempt with the developers of the contractor lead gen aggregator is to match local contractors and their specialty (roofing, wet basements, landscaping and so on) with the best lead generation company so that they can focus on what they do best (repairing and replacing roofs for example) and the lead gen firm can focus on what they do best (finding exclusive leads).

Some lead gen companies have a revenue floor for any prospective client (as in 'we won't take a contractor with yearly sales less than $750,000 or $1.5 million and so forth).

The QSBJ is told that the aggregator site, having been worked on for the last four or five months, will be up within three weeks.

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Seven Marketing Insights from Seven Marketing Greats

One of the things just about all of at who write for the Quad State Business Journal have noticed is that how owners are reluctant to try something new.

This is true whether the business has been around for 20 or more years and is dying or brand new.

Recently we compiled seven marketing insights that are actually quotes from other marketers–some names you will be familiar with. Frankly, this is an open attempt to inspire you as we seek to inspire our own clients. Let us know if we got the point across!

“Get closer than ever to your customers; so close that you can tell them what they need well before they realize it themselves!”                                                –Steve Jobs, Co-Founder, Apple, Inc.

It was 2004 or 05 that the president of A T & T, when hearing that Apple was developing a personal portable computer called the I-Phone, said something to the effect that it would never work because the customers just were not ready.

You know marketing is about relationships. What are you doing to grow your ties stronger to them?

“Marketing is not the art of finding clever ways to dispose of what you have. Marketing is the art of creating genuine customer value.”                                            –Philip Kotler, Northwestern University

This is one of our favorite quotes. So many times all of us miss the point of marketing. It’s not to unload a warehouse of products (yet that is the end result), but it is to use our products and services to build value into our customer and clients.

Steve Lanning tells of several consulting clients who told him, “I like to hire as many good consultants as I can because of their ideas that I can steal or use. I always make five to ten times what I paid them.”  It’s probably a little different way than Dr. Kotler intended, but it still works.

“Nobody cares about your products (except you).”                                                                               –David Meerman Scott, Sales & Marketing Expert

This is extremely insightful to the wise marketer to start out with a paradigm like this in regards to your own business.

Of the literally hundreds of clients that our marketing group has between us, we can count only a handful (less than two hands’ worth) of clients who did NOT think that the world was going to beat a path to their door because of the products or services they offered.

Having this kind of paradigm ensures that you will be thinking, “…therefore, I will do all I can so that people can see how my products and/or services add value to their lives and/or business–and start to care about them!”

“Don’t find customers for your products, find products for your customers.”                                        -Seth Godin, Founder, Squidoo.com 

Seth Godin is an extremely wise marketer. If you are not receiving his daily blog (very short and very inspiriting and pithy) in your inbox, get it!

This quote fits hand in glove with the above Steve Jobs quote. Obviously, if you are a fast-food type business, you might not think that there is only so much you can do to get closer to your customers.

This is also a quote that has many affiliate marketers to fatten their bank accounts by literally finding products for unknown customers by being the middle man in the transaction with such firms as Amazon and many more.

The smaller marketer will often ride a successful product to the point of death for that product. They fail to notice that their customers are deserting them and without continuous customer information they think, “This puppy has been worth a great bottom line to me in the past and I’ve just got to ride through this market rough spot.

They fail to make an analysis–or get a hired gun to do likewise–in something akin to a SWOT analysis that their market may have moved on. Think 8-track and cassette tape distributors!

Remember, depending which type of market you are in, that knowledge will double in your industry every 10 to 36 months.

In today’s information age of marketing and Web 2.0, a company’s website is the key to their entire business.”                                                         –Marcus Sheridan, President, The Sales Lion.com

If you don’t know Marcus Sheridan yet,  just stay tuned…you will. He is one of Steve’s heroes–starting out as a swimming pool contractor, learning to create leads for his own business and then branching out to other businesses.

In fact, when Steve wanted to create his contractor marketing organization, he contacted Marcus who then turned him over to his Executive Vice President. While the EVP just fell in love with Steve’s idea of supplying contractors with exclusive (non-Home Adviser type) leads, The Sales Lion was expanding way beyond the 45 niches of contractors.

Your website must be more than just SEO and Google Adwords of course, but that’s a great start. As The Sales Lion’s Marcus Sheridan discovered, quality blogging content is the key to Google-love these days.

“Marketing without data is like driving with your eyes closed.”                                                                 –Dan Zarrella, HubSpot.com

If you are not receiving HubSpot’s daily inbox feed, you are missing out on some fantastic FREE content that you can use to build your own business.

The data is vital. If you or your consultant are not analyzing the data REGULARLY, you are indeed speeding down the road with your eyes closed.

“If people like you, they’ll listen to you. But if they trust you, they’ll do business with you.”                                                                                                                           –Zig Ziglar, Former Speaker & Author

If you have been asleep in a cave somewhere and do not yet know the wit and wisdom of the late Zig, you need to do a Zig Ziglar look up.

There have been thousands of business owners inspired on to greatness because of this man’s wit and wisdom (even including many right here in the Quad State region.

You’ve heard it before and it is true even more in 2014-15…people do business with people they like–and trust. The entire suite of quotes on customer relations, getting close to the customer, customer enrichment and so on simply means you are building trust. Simple as that.

Hope you’ve enjoyed the inspiration!

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Article first appeared: www.QuadStateBusinessJournal.com 

Business Promotion in the New Age of Digital Public Relations

There was a time where a business could hire a 'PR Guy or Gal' and have them either write press releases on the company and/or have them schmooze at various business events.

And the PR hire's salary would be paid for several times over by the uptick in business.

Does that condition still exist today?

CAN a business actually make money doing so-called traditional public relations in the digital age?

Of course the answer is the old stand-by, non-satisfactory answer: it depends.

What kind of business do you have?

Where do 80% (or at least a majority)  of your customers come from?

What is your product or service offering?  What is changing in the offering(s)?

Have you gained or lost customers and business over the last three years?

What is your industry trending over the last year?

What promotions have worked over the last three years?

And on and on as any good business coach would interrogate you.

Adopting a Feed-the-Winners-Starve the Losers Philosophy

"It's so easy for businesses these days marketing online..." is what a business coach recently told me. Their point was that with Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google Search there are a lot of places to tell an organization's story.

Well, I did not tell him this, but if he reads this, he knows who he is, but the client offerings this business coach is marketing, a first-year marketing consultant would kill to represent!

Now I know a marketer's job is different from a PR person's job, but both of the skill sets have to approach their job in telling their employer's story in a compelling way.

And the main way many of us get to the area of  'compelling' is to test and re-test approaches, press releases, white papers, schmoozing events, teaching or seminar opportunities and joint venture opportunities and...whew!

Public relations has to be compelling enough so that people respond.

It's no more complicated than that.

There is a lot happening to and within public relations these days.

On What Media Do Your Potential Customers Mostly Hover?

Now I've got to be open and transparent here. I have a marketing group and we have guided clients AWAY from their usual advertising mix.

Yes, that includes at times local newspapers, phone books and general-audience publications--both online and off line.

There has been a tremendous online shift in newspaper and phone book publishers. I suppose it is a 'convert or die' scenario.

There are SO many options local newspapers have to be alive and healthy that they are not doing. But that's another story for a different topic!

However , I have also guided potential advertisers AWAY from advertising in the Quad State Business Journal, too! (Gasp!) The QSBJ is in the middle of an 18-month ramp up as an online publication and we are not quite ready to take local online ads just yet.

So where do we steer clients to get business with their public relations activities? 

Content Is King--But Distribution of that Content is the Queen!

No doubt about it, businesses face a heavily-packed content world of getting their message out these. There is SO MUCH content online that business owners often throw up their hands and go back to advertising in their local newspaper--often settling for a fraction of an ROI they could enjoy otherwise.

We don't have the heart to throw content in here that we could or even should, but we want to BRIEFLY develop the public relations smorgasbord available to businesses and nonprofit organizations right now.

A Quick Guide  on Terms for Quizzing Your Potential PR Hire

You do the work and effort to become familiar with the terms yourself and THEN you will see clearly enough to see if a potential hire really knows her stuff or is just trying to dazzle you with her footwork.

This is where is world of business is heading--or already is profiting. What we will do is state the term and give a 'good for' type of feed for best-for businesses or situations.

Types of Content in the Marketplace:

Advertorial--This is a paid editorial type of presentation. In short an advertorial is simply a display ad written as a news piece.  You are seeing more advertorials today in many newspapers as well as in a lot of print and online media. You will know them by the smaller-font 'Sponsored Content' or 'Paid Advertising' message somewhere near the piece.

Newspapers originally rejected these kinds of ads, but now some eagerly accept them. (Don't be upset with newspapers doing this or thinking less of them. They are simply trying to stay in business.)

Good For--There are SO many businesses and situations that advertorials can cover the waterfront. I do not know why more newspapers are not out selling advertorials as a regular part of marketing their advertising division.

Banks and mortgage companies come to mind as first thoughts, but the potential number of types of businesses can be limitless if one thinks about it.

Native Facebook Feeds--This is the win-win nature of Facebook--and why their founders are billionaires. Facebook in the early days refused to be purchased by Google and this is the reason they knew they should not sell out. Facebook endured a lot of flack in the press as to the information they asked from users.  (BTW, when you see the word 'native' it usually means paid.)

And now you know why. A business can now target Facebook as to a particular region, a city, a zip code sequence or areas of interest in dozens of ways.

Good For--Restaurants use Facebook targeting a lot, but also a host of other businesses. Physician and dental offices are also getting on the bandwagon here.  It is cheap advertising. You are just buying clicks (as per so many other things in our digital age). You don't have to pay the big bucks fee for exact keyword matches as you do with Google's Adwords and it brings you almost the same results.

Native LinkedIn Feeds--Did you know this about LinkedIn? Not too many businesses know this about LI, but this is why their stock price continues to remain strong.  LI is an ideal place if your offer needs to reach professionals in any capacity of their life. Targeting is done a little differently than Facebook, but works pretty much the same. Many businesses learn LI well and develop prospecting strategies where they don't have to pay a dime--just their time.

Good For--Headhunters and specific recruiting work, travel and vacation firms also are prominent on LI.  Schools and colleges are also developing strategies, but any business with a product or service appealing to people in an executive or managerial capacity.

Native Twitter Feeds--Believe it or not Twitter is now being used more and more for business. Twitter itself is getting a lot of media attention these days. However, I can take you to a photo equipment distributor in our Quad State region who I believe was the first business in our area to sell via Twitter. It was 'way back' in 2007.

Good For--Mostly two-step promotions--meaning a link to a report or white paper a business is offering.  Twitter, as of this writing, is not a strong as contender as Facebook or LI. It does not ask a lot of information from its users and therefore targeting can be a chore. The entire Twitter process works best, of course, when one has a large following or a business can buy a large following. Twitter is good for the marketplace in that the creative marketers have another option for their employers.

Native Press--Aka Paid Content  with some wonks as seeing only this medium as the go-to medium. This is basically a paid recommendation offering. It may be in the shape of a monthly or weekly column, a full web page or any number of ways. It may not be spelled out like this, but it is what it is. It's a good tool for businesses representing a ton of different industries in my opinion. As to promotion on a website or outright media recommendation ("Buy your car from Fluff Motors!"), it can be a lot more subtler in presentation.

Good For--I believe banks and financial institutions are missing out big time in not taking advantage of this format. They could have their lead trust officer or whomever handles estates and estate planning or business loans or other area write a weekly column and THEN promote the links to customers and vendors. I know the QSBJ would love to see this form of native action take place. We believe it would be extremely profitable over time. Of course banking is not the only industry, but also those whose clients in business--or in the field where the media reaches into.

Native Newsletter (E-Letter)--This is for both online and off line publications. This means that the entire piece/web page is devoted to promoting the things from your business or organization. Probably the worst representation of an offline newsletter by an industry was years ago by the accounting industry. CPAs would sign up for X amount of months of content, slap their name on it and present the same-old, same-old drivel that virtually every other accountant had. And they'd do it because they couldn't stand to write. And they weren't creative.  This format has great potential, but it is limited to  certain industry usage.

Good For--Accountants and other professional service providers as long as they hired a LOCAL writer and offered local pieces--about local clients, local events and so forth. Therefore make it interesting to read for goodness sake!

The point of ANY public relations activity, at least in the offensive part of business promotion, is to generate interest in the business itself. Maybe even to generate business leads.

If managers and owners cannot see a real ROI for their public relations activity--at least with the above items--it may be time to either hire someone from the outside as an independent marketer, or to hire someone else!

Not many businesses can afford to drift along month after month after month on a process without showing a solid return on that process.

Go forth and conquer your market!

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 Article first appeared in www.QuadStateBusinessJournal.com 

Happy 26th Anniversary, Rush Limbaugh: Business Lessons for Quad State Owners

Frankly, An Editorial

If you are one of those who are 'kinda embarrassed' telling your friends that you listen to Rush Limbaugh's radio program, it might pay you to listen up.

Starting the 27th year is wonderful for ANY business, let alone being a radio program. Shoot, many of us don't even like the same music, revere the same business guru, or even like the same food we did 26 years ago, right?

 

While I have not had the time luxury to listen to all the three hours of one of Rush's programs for years, or even snippets of it for weeks at a time, there are some take-aways in business that we can take to heart.

Find What You Love to Do and You'll Never Work a Day In Your Life

You've heard this statement before--probably from a wise parent--if not from a favorite business mentor. It is true nonetheless.

If you've followed Rush's career even lightly, you'll know that he is fond of saying that he 'knew what he wanted to do' in life when he was 16 years of age--have something to do with radio. It was his love of country and truly wanting the best for all US citizens that gave him his thoughtful opinions that he turned into parody to communicate those opinions.

As a marketer, Limbaugh is quite at home with the concept of niche marketing. When he was at a single radio station in Sacramento, California, he came to the conclusion that there was a large swath of conservative thought in America. He needed to be on many stations across the USA in order to capture that audience.

He convinced his initial investors to fund a nationwide syndication in 1988 and the rest, as they say, is history.

While he started out as a lone voice in the conservative movement, there were scores of both local and national conservative talk shows that launched in his wake. Yet he has remained THE #1 talk show (not just conservative talk show) in the media for 26 years.

Some radio executives even say Rush Limbaugh saved AM radio. If you remember the late 1980s, FM radio was 'the' thing. And AM radio stations were dying and going bankrupt. Their advertising sales were in the pits. And then Limbaugh came along.

We have several radio stations right here in our Quad State footprint that owe their success to the Limbaugh program. However, as one owner told me in the late 1990s, he knows of other owners who say the same thing. However, he said they would NEVER admit the fact due to the so-called 'polarizing' impact of Limbaugh, no matter how true it was.

What is amazing to me is Limbaugh's shrugging off oftentimes cutting criticism. I've been amazed that there seems to be SO many in the media, whether they have a vindictive agenda or they simply are intellectually lazy, consistently mistake or lie about Limbaugh's opinions. I've witnessed this with my own ears.

What Ever Your Hand Finds To Do, Do It Heartily 

We all have different work habits. Some of us work fast in short 1-2-hour bursts and do an 'editing' job on our efforts or leave that to others.

Others work methodically over long stretches of time. I've known business writers and even business owners with an idea for a new business spent 8-10 hours or more straight.

The watch-word in business, no matter what your working style is to always work as if you have a deadline. If you remember your high school or collegiate athletics, you've probably had a coach that told you to 'leave 100% out on the field.'  My own football coach told us if you still have any spring in your step after a game, he will assign laps!

The great pains with which Limbaugh documents his opinions is also amazing. In fact, Tom Sullivan, president of the national opinion research firm The Sullivan Group, has been given complete access to both the live radio broadcast and the printed document of every word uttered on the program documents every statement.

As a result Limbaugh's opinions measured against the documented truth about a topic--not just polls or public opinion--Limbaugh has enjoyed being 99.8% accurate in his pronouncements.

Whatever Your Hand Finds To Do, Do It With All Confidence

I'm reminded of the book of Joshua in the Bible, first chapter, in fact occurring many times in the chapter, "only be strong and very courageous" in carry out your assignment.

The one thing in business, whether we sell a product or a service, is to know what we know and realize that we have the best service/product that our customers will have the pleasure of experiencing. We are going to make them glad they talked to us!

Limbaugh could be a good pitchman...maybe not only the order of Ed McMahon (the old Johnny Carson Tonight Show)  or Billy Mays (of infomercial fame), but he takes on advertisers very carefully. He's got to believe in the product/service just as the advertisers do.

And as those in the audience witnessed, advertisers who questioned Limbaugh's pronouncements, take pronouncements during the Sandra Fluke controversy, and succumbed to boycott threats--and then tried to get back on the show after the boycott was proven phony--were politely told to find another advertising medium.

Confidence In Knowing What You Believe and Why You Believe

Having confidence means that you have confidence in your ideas--both on and off the field of business. It means having thought through what and why you believe--about your product or service, your employees, your market, and your life.

Having confidence doesn't mean necessarily that you blab it all over the place and thus become obnoxious to be around. No way. But it does mean that you will not shy away from giving your opinion--about business, markets or even life--when someone asks.

I could launch into a very touching dissertation as to one reason why I feel that those of us in the business world lose out is due to a lack of confidence and all--but I won't!

This Writer's Personal Encounter with The Rush Limbaugh Show In our Quad State Region

It was 1994 and I was working with one of my local clients who had purchased a business about a year earlier. If you remember, Limbaugh had been on the air nationally about six years at that time. And was just coming to the end of a bunch of public appearances.

I just love to work with family businesses. And I really enjoyed this client. My client's father and all three of his sons had their own businesses. (Personally, while I love to watch a husband-wife work together on their one business, I think that in this case, it was the fact that what helped them develop, was because they each had INDIVIDUAL businesses.)

Anyway, my client was creating a new division with new products and services. My job was to develop 'everything that had to do with marketing and promotion.' (Just love that type of assignment!)

I was listening to Limbaugh's program when I was travelling a ways in the car. Rush told the audience that while he really enjoyed going around the country and meeting listeners, he said he had made up his mind to do only one more public appearance.

As he had not stated where that final appearance was to be, I called Rush's Chief of Staff, Kit Carson. Kit told me that the criteria for the 'last Rush Limbaugh appearance' was NOT going to be in or even near any major city, but somewhere in the hinterlands.

I thought "Wow, we have a lot of hinterlands in our Quad State region--away from Washington, DC and major cities. I called Kit back and asked him if I could ask my client to sponsor it."  After all my client would not have to put out any money for Limbaugh, but just accommodate listeners in the area coming to the event.

I thought that although my client had an in-town location, he did have a large parking lot. And there was plenty of parking nearby.

When I asked my client and he thought it would be interesting. Especially as the dates were pretty flexible. And that he could see my tie-in to his new division that he was just launching. I was excited.

I was deflated when he said, "We just don't have room, ask my brother" His brother's business was out in the country, yet along a main road. Lots more room for people and for parking. It was perfect.

I sat in front of his brother whom I had known previously. He asked me to come back a couple of times. He had a fast-growing business and wanted he got all the information so that he could make an informed decision.

I was excited once again. I made another call to Rush's 'H.R.' Kit Carson. He looked up the new location and he was excited.

But alas, my client's brother said no also-. Sigh! And he was a HUGE Rush Limbaugh fan. He didn't say as much but my guess was that as he was going to be running for office in a couple years, he didn't want to have any 'lightening rod.' Really sad.

Well, I just re-lived that point. And I'm upset again. Ha! It could have been SO GOOD for our Quad State region if he would have said yes.

The point here is to never miss an opportunity to give your business a voice in your noisy marketplace--you may not have another chance!

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 Article first appeared in www.QuadStateBusinessJournal.com