5,800 Soaring Silpada Reps make for a Fun Weekend!

All that glitters is not gold, and that’s fine with Silpada Designs, one of the largest sterling silver jewelry distributors in North America. The company's annual conference was held this past weekend at the Kansas City Convention Center and Akamai client Wendy Booker was the keynote speaker.

You simply cannot imagine the energy of 5,800 wives, mothers and daughters turned loose on Kansas City! The meeting ranks as the seventh-largest Kansas City convention this year and Silpada saw a huge increase in attendance despite the rough economy. These women were jazzed!

Wendy and I had an absolutely wonderful time and I cannot say enough about this amazing group of jewelry reps. Their passion for their job is touching, and seeing them pour into the exhibit hall Friday night to view the new line for 2009 was like watching little girls play in their mother's jewelry box.

Wendy did a fabulous job on her speech (of course), and I think she had so much fun that she was ready to do it again immediately. Thanks to Silpada for welcoming us into your corporate family with open arms - it was a truly fantastic experience!

* If you're interested in learning more about the Silpada story visit the website at www.silpada.com/public/aboutSilpada and meet Bonnie and Teresa, the founders (who might be two of the sweetest women on the face of the earth!). Also, you can learn more about Wendy Booker's speaking services at www.wendybooker.net/speaking.

Ordinary People Can Do Extraordinary Things

Running 50 marathons in 50 states with Diabetes isn't easy. Congratulations to client Kurt Bauman for his recent feature on CBS in Montana. Enjoy!

An Argument for Escapism

Living in Colorado, I am blessed to have access to some of the most beautiful country and the greatest outdoor recreation opportunities on the planet. This gentle reminder to take advantage of the summer lull to relax and enjoy nature is as much for myself as for you. Let's take a break from 'business talk' this month and address the occasional need to drop the cloak of civilization and clear our heads.

Most of you who only know me professionally, and have no long history reaching back into decades past, don't know that I have spent years of my life 'in the wild'. Whether it be the steaming Florida Everglades, the jungles of the Caribbean, camping in the mountains or roughing it on windswept prairies... I have probably lived five or six years of my life without the niceties of running water, electricity, heat or a ready food supply.

Sometimes those days seem so far away as to be a dream.

We Americans are a driven bunch. We tend to perpetually be in 'achievement mode' - trying to earn more, perform better, work harder and one-up the other guy. While that drive for success has been a critical factor in building one of the greatest and richest nations on the face of the earth, it draws us inexorably away from places, people and activities that inflame our imagination and test our physical limits. In short, our civilized urban existence gets boring!

Cartographers used to label undiscovered places and unknown peoples on maps by simply writing 'There Be Dragons'. How quaint. Now we call any untouched area or primitive culture a 'potential market' or 'eco-tourist destination'. Doesn't have quite the allure of dragons, does it?

We rest easy knowing that no matter where we go in the world the homey familiarity of McDonald's will always be close by. No matter who we encounter we will share brand recognition for Nike and Coca-Cola. Any terrain on this planet we haven't personally explored has come into our homes via television and any tribes we haven't personally met have been introduced to us online.

But it is reassuring to me to know that within 2 hours of just about any metropolitan area on earth there is an escape. You don't have to take a month off and trek through Bhutan to 'turn it off' and rediscover your sacred center.

My call to action for you this month is not to let the summer go by without making a brief escape. It is healthy for the body, liberating for the mind and healing for the soul. Find a place where you can spend one night under the vast expanse of stars, listen to the noises of the night, read a book by a stream, walk along the sea, climb a tree.

Turn off your Blackberry for just a moment and remember that there is something beautiful and primal beyond our get-ahead materialistic rat race. The magical 'something' you find in the wild may just be... YOU!

Developing a Great Print Ad

First and foremost, let me say that I am not a huge fan of print advertising for most clients. Print has definitely lost its effectiveness over the past 2 decades, but there are still situations in which it makes a lot of sense. I disagree with experts who advise clients to play it safe and simply mimic the competition with a twist. Take calculated risks, put in the effort to stand out, and you can reap big rewards.


These 10 tips will help you create an effective print ad on a budget:

1. Decide what you’re selling before you develop the ad.

Are you selling a specific product, a service, or the company as a whole? You need to figure out what makes your offer valuable to the reader. Don’t brag – nobody buys it anymore. Forget ‘we’re the best!’ or ‘the largest selection!’ or ‘the most experienced!’ unless it’s quantifiable or has been touted by a 3rd party. For instance ‘voted best in Chicago 5 years in a row!’ or ‘the highest volume Honda dealer in Colorado’ will get you noticed. Remember that you aren’t really selling the actual company, product or service – you’re selling the primary benefit of what you’re advertising. Tell the potential buyer what’s in it for them if they purchase from you. As an example… DON’T advertise this: ‘Reliable, Trustworthy Financial Planning’ DO advertise this: ‘Our Clients Average a 25% Higher Return on Their Investments after Switching to XXX Financial. You can too.’

2. Come up with a great headline.

The headline you use in a print ad is extremely important. If it isn't intriguing enough to get the reader to pause and peruse your ad, then you won’t sell anything. The headline must grab attention and inspire interest. Have the headline clearly reflect what your ad is about, such as ‘Free Digital Cable for a Year’. In the body of the ad you can offer more details or add whatever conditions you want to attach. Also, headlines do not have to be cute, or rhyme, or use fancy words, but they absolutely must hold the audience’s attention and stop them from moving on.

3. Formulate a concept for your ad design.
Once you know what you are selling and what the headline will be, you are ready to formulate a complete concept. Marketers typically suggest that you examine several competing companies’ ads and do something similar, but with a unique twist. I politely disagree and suggest that you think outside the box and thoughtfully set yourself apart. Don’t create a crazy design just for the sake of being different or freaking people out, because your concept ultimately has to make sense. Consider proven advertising success stories to get you beyond the norm. ‘Got milk’ doesn’t show milk or cows – it shows celebs with milk moustaches. The new Dove ‘Campaign for Real Beauty’ broke out of the trend of using professional models and leveraged everyday women to sell millions in product. Be smart about appealing to your demographic, but don’t get stuck in a rut.

4. Write the copy for the ad.

Even as a professional, I find copywriting very tough. Everybody thinks they can do it and in reality most people stink at it – especially when writing for their own business. This area of the process is truly best left to a professional, but if you insist on tackling it yourself here are a few things to consider. First, people don’t really read ad content – they only skim it. Use as few words as possible to get your point across. Second, remember not to talk about how great you are. Just emphasize the value to potential buyers. Third, stay on point. You have already decided what you are selling, so stick to that one thing and don’t verbally meander off into the bushes.

5. The ad should have a call-to-action.
Think of something compelling for your target readers such as ‘act now to receive an additional $10 off’, ‘spaces are limited’, or some sort of pitch that will get the person to actually make the buy immediately. ‘Sale ends Friday’ lets the reader know that after that time they have missed the boat. Avoid generic phrases that are totally overused like ‘act now’, ‘call today’ or ‘while supplies last’ because they have no real sense of urgency and mean nothing to people.

6. Design your graphics and images.

Graphics should support the message, not distract from it, so don't have images, squiggles or dots just to have them. Sometimes a photo can tell the whole ad story, and if that's the case just let the image stand out and have the text back up the graphic rather than the other way around.

7. Put the complete print ad design together.

I cannot stress this enough – USE WHITE SPACE. It can actually be any color, but the point is to leave some space clear of copy or graphics because cluttered ads turns people off and seem too daunting to bother reading. The more white space you have, the more likely people will read your ad and respond. Make sure your headline, graphics, photos and copy all tie in and flow well together. The name of your business or your logo doesn’t need to be enormous either – it’s tacky.

8. Submit your ad.

As a general rule… the bigger the ad the better. When you read a magazine or look at a newspaper do you take the time to actually look at all those tiny ads clumped together on pages with no content? Probably not. I don’t. Your ad should be large enough to get noticed by every reader, and that means a quarter-page ad at the least. I usually recommend to clients that if they do print advertising at all they pony up and do it right! Big ads with good placement are expensive, but they are also more likely to be read and responded to. Placement does matter, by the way, and you should negotiate hard to get premium space on popular pages that aren’t too ad heavy. Contracts with publications can help keep costs down by allowing you to agree to a certain frequency or number of ads in exchange for a discount.

9. Repeat your ad.
You should always run a print ad multiple times. Advertisers expect their doors to be blown off after one publication and print advertising doesn’t work that way. Repetition is the most important factor in getting readers to buy from you. Frequency matters too. You don’t want to run 3 ads a year in a weekly publication because you won’t make a repetitive, strong impact on regular readers. Talk to the publisher about frequency and the right number of repeats for your unique strategy.

10. Evaluate effectiveness and revise your ad.

If you have run an ad 3 or more times and you haven’t gotten a single call there is probably something wrong with the ad or the publication you picked. If buyers start to trickle in after several runs the ad is probably working and will work even better over time. Change your ad out periodically to keep things exciting and make new offers, but keep enough continuity that people recognize your style and placement when they see it.

That’s it! As always, it’s better to hire a professional to help you with marketing if you can, but if you need or want to do it yourself these 10 simple tips will help immensely.

It's not the price that matters... it's the way you print it!

Thanks to Marcia Yudkin, Marketing Expert for this great article! http://www.yudkin.com/markmin.htm

A price is a price, right? Not really, according to Cornell University researchers, who tested whether restaurant owners would profit most when menu prices were formatted as $20.00,
20.00 or twenty dollars.

To their surprise, the 20.00 format netted the most, with customers spending 8 percent more when menus used numerals to represent prices, minus any dollar signs.

Without the dollar sign or the word "dollars," diners were apparently reminded least that what they were ordering was making them a tiny bit poorer.

Specialists in the field of "menu engineering" have also discovered that menus bring in more revenue when they insert prices at the end of each small paragraph describing the item, rather than all lined up in a column that can be quickly scanned from top to bottom.

Likewise, those who study these things tell us that we tend to perceive $23 to be less than $23.00.

One more finding: When looking at menus, we take prices like $20.00 as indicative of higher quality food than prices like $19.99.

Mutualism in Public Relations

Public Relations is no longer the red-headed step-child of marketing. Who do you believe more? A television ad… or a glowing customer review on the internet, or possibly a news anchor who gives you information in a non-biased format?

Public relations outreach has powerful appeal in a world where over-saturation and consumer cynicism have destroyed the believability of traditional advertising. Influence is now largely held in grassroots efforts, media messages, creative partnerships and viral buzz. The mass economy of a few decades ago has been replaced by a ‘customer economy’ which calls for person-to-person communications built on trust. PR plays a very unique role in shaping brand perception and leveraging the new economy to boost sales, plus it allows you to use 3rd party endorsement and human interest to give your products and services a distinct edge.

Our public relations services always focus on mutually beneficial relationships, and that is what gives our firm credibility and our clients a distinct edge. Mutualism comes into play in how we pitch stories as well. Journalists, producers and editors are all looking for content that will boost their market appeal and resonate with their target audience (hint: their goal is not to market your company for free!). Mutualism also matters in helping clients build a creative hook into their PR angle to begin with. We help build relationships between non-profits and for-profits, leverage corporate philanthropy to boost exposure, and market the good works that a business does behind the scenes to increase revenues and generate loyalty.

Relationship building in the practice of public relations is crucial to building an effective and consistent campaign. One of the earliest and most powerful statements on this topic was made by John W. Hill, founder of Hill & Knowlton. He said:

"When we look at the work of corporate enterprise, we may properly say that
every corporation has public relations. It has them whether management is
interested in the ways of public opinion or not. It has them because the corporation
deals with employees, stockholders, customers, neighbors, government
functionaries, and many others—with all of whom it has many relationships.
The corporation thus is constantly involved in public relations, even if
management gives them no special thought or concern or guidance. . . .
But when a management decides to guard, improve, or develop this asset,
“public relations” becomes the label for a function. Here the term that took
a plural verb becomes singular, so that now we say: “Public relations is a
function of top management in every well-managed corporation.”"

When your PR focus shifts from an advertising bent to wanting to inform, educate, assist and provide value for both consumers and professional allies, you'll see a marked change in how the public perceives you. And it has to be authentic - not a con! I consider PR to be TRUTH - and we always encourage clients to become the ‘spin’ they want to see in print and on the airwaves. It's important to practice what you preach and back up your rhetoric with action or you'll lose all credibility with Joe Consumer quickly.

By understanding the power of mutually beneficial relationships, you can earn credibility as opposed to buying it by inspiring, amazing and solving problems for consumers in ways that boost free press and encourage word of mouth buzz. Plus, you'll be benefiting strong partner organizations and making the world a better place at the same time!

With mutualism in PR - everybody wins.

LLC or S Corp?

This week I had a question arise with a client forming a new entity... What, exactly, are the differences between an S Corporation and a Limited Liability Company? And why would I choose one over the other?

Corporations and LLCs are both great business structures because unlike sole props and partnerships, they offer liability protection for owners. Meaning that the owner of a business cannot be held personally responsible for the company’s debts and their personal assets are shielded.

S corps and LLCs are both considered “pass-through” entities for tax purposes, so the income of these companies are reported on the owners’ personal income tax returns and the issue of double taxation is eliminated (the company doesn't pay income tax and then distribute dividends to owners who also pay personal income tax on the money).

So what are the differences between an S corporation and an LLC? To sum up, an LLC is your best option if flexibility and minimizing paperwork are important to you. If however; you want to reduce employment tax, an S corporation could work better.

Let's start with S corps... An S corporation can have no more than 75 shareholders (the legal label for owners). An S corporation is operated in the same way as a traditional C corp and has to adhere to all the same regulations and bookkeeping procedures. None of the shareholders can be nonresident aliens or other corporations or LLCs. The directors or officers of an S corp manage the company and they have no flexibility in how profits are split up. The profits must be distributed according to the percentages of stock ownership, even if the owners have some justification for distributing the profits differently.

Now for LLCs... LLCs offer greater flexibility in ownership and simplicity of operation. There are no restrictions on the ownership of an LLC, and Limited Liability Companies are not subject to the plethora of formalities by which S corps must abide. An LLC can be member-managed (meaning that the owners actually run the company) or it can be manager-managed by non-owner staff with designated responsibility for operations.

The primary factor that differentiates an S corporation from an LLC is the employment tax that owners pay on earnings. In an S corporation, only the salary you pay yourself as an employee-owner is subject to employment tax. The remaining income you get as a distribution is not subject to employment tax under IRS rules. The owner of an LLC is considered to be self-employed by the IRS and must pay the going “self-employment tax” rate of 15.3% which is their contribution to Social Security and Medicare. Typically in an LLC the entire net income of the business is subject to self-employment tax which can mean a much higher total tax bill.

Here's an example:

Let's say you own florist and you are an S corp. According to the industry standard, you pay yourself a salary of $35,000. But the company earns additional profits, so your total for the year is $60,000: $35,000 in salary and $25,000 as a distribution from the S corp. This means your employment tax is $5,355 (15.3% of $35,000). If you were structured as an LLC, you would have to pay employment tax on the entire $60,000, equaling $9,180, so by operating as an S corporation you save $3,825 in employment tax.

A word of caution! You may be getting excited about the option of jacking up your salary to cover most of the distributions you will receive and saving a ton of money, but the IRS is careful to notice whether a salary is 'reasonable' by industry standards. If they decide your salary is out of line, the IRS will reclassify some of it. :(

In summary, while the potential employment tax savings may make the S corporation an attractive structure, you will have to deal with all the paperwork associated with payroll tax and you'll have to 'pay-as-you-go' throughout the year. Paperwork can be time-consuming and annoying if you are only doing it for yourself and not for an entire staff. You also can't postpone tax payments to cover a cash crunch or balance out losses. Owners of LLCs pay their self-employment tax once a year with their income taxes. Income tax filings are simple for an LLC and work like sole proprietorships or partnerships.

Bottom line... there is no one perfect business structure for every situation and you have to decide what your priorities are. Visit the SBA to learn more about the options for structuring your new business, and talk to your CPA or tax attorney to get professional help in choosing the right structure for you.