1000 Chocolate, um, Specialty Chocolates for Women's Place

Lara at Sweet Rage sent in a press release about their fundraising collaboration with Women's Place St. Catharines & North Niagara.

The final Niagara production of The Vagina Mologues is happening at the Niagara Casino Fallsview Resort on March 7 and Women's Place asked if Sweet Rage could provide 1000 chocolate vaginas.

Now THERE's something you don't see everyday in a press release.

Heck, it might even make it into the newspaper.

Anyway, it's in OUR press release section. Click here to see the PDF.

So, what have YOU done that's unique in your business today?

Just send us a press release to let us know about it!

Podcast #3 now available

I'm at the Lunch & Levitate luncheon today being hosted by "KNOW it ALL" Niagara and thought I'd let you in on a little offer we're putting forth.

Just listen to the podcast online!

As promised - the 2nd Podcast Episode

Is Marketing a Cost or an Investment? - The Podcast!

There will be a separate RSS feed set up for our Podcasts shortly, but in the interim, stay tuned through the blog. Thanks!

The Birth of The Internet Marketing Package

The Niagara Guide has been running for a few years now and after having gone through a few twists and turns, I think I've finally realized what the heck has been missing from it for advertisers.

You see, my background is in Internet marketing and website development. One thing I've known for a very long time is that websites are commodities to most people. There are plenty of inexpensive website development companies and services available and frankly, I don't purport to be one of them.

Why? Because ultimately, I don't want to create websites that sit around and collect cyber-dust for their owners. If I create a website for you, I want it to be a living, breathing, vibrant, money-making investment for you that you just can't imagine living without. THAT'S what I want to create for people.

Now, in the case of The Niagara Guide, I got stuck early on thinking that it was JUST a business directory that we would sell advertising in. Bad - very bad. Most people think of advertising as a cost - and usually, a waste of money but a necessary evil.

I had that view reinforced today by a fellow who said that he'd committed his advertising budget for the year and couldn't afford to take us up on our new no-risk, money-back-guaranteed Internet marketing service.

I guess I didn't communicate my message well enough - or, I didn't get through the prevailing attitude that marketing is an expense.

I shouldn't be surprised, but in light of what I am offering to Niagara businesses, I guess I was.

I'll give you the stripped down version of our offer (the full details of which can be found here).

The Niagara Guide is offering a full Internet marketing package, complete with listing in The Niagara Guide, custom copywriting for your listing, banner advertising, couponing, article & tip submissions, first page placement in a variety of categories and best of all, built-in e-mail marketing to our opt-in list of subscribers for the measly price of $197 / year.

Here's the guarantee - if you don't make at least three times your investment in sales within the first 90 days, I'll give you a full refund. The catch? You have to take full advantage of all the services we offer in our Internet marketing package. If you don't take action, we can't be held responsible for the results.

Now, here's the thing that surprised me. This fellow indicated he'd spent his advertising budget for the year. It's only mid-February and he's got everything planned out for the year.

The way I read his comment, it seemed to me that he's resigned to spending his money on the methods he's always used, content to receive the same results he's always achieved.

Maybe it's just me, but I found his response illogical. I mean, when's the last time a newspaper or The Yellow Pages guaranteed you would achieve three times the ad cost (within 90 days, no less) or you'd receive a full refund?

We've built a lot of benefits and value into the features we offer in our Internet marketing package and I encourage you to take a look at what we have to offer.

I should also mention - for our existing customers who would like to take advantage of this new package, you can upgrade for a reduced fee.

That's all for now! I'll be doing a Podcast on the general topic of Effectiveness in Advertising as well. Stay tuned!

The Niagara Podcast - the Journey Begins

In keeping with The Niagara Guide's plan to be the place where effective Internet marketing reigns supreme, we are proud to introduce what we believe to be the first Podcast offered by any Niagara directory service.

Excited are we? Absolutely!

Okay - the first podcast isn't all that exciting - but I'm happy that we've started on this path and we're going to continue podcasting as an extension of our blogs and frankly, we're going to do things that we can't possibly do in a blog - such as have interviews with local business leaders and influencers. I'm also working with a colleague on starting video podcasting - the first of which should be ready to roll in the coming weeks.

For those of you who may not have experienced Podcast before, simply click on this link to get to the first podcast and click on the green "play" button to hear it.

Oh yeah, I'm EXCITED - and I JUST CAN'T HIDE IT!!!!!

Focus Mark, focus . . .

A very unique service for chocolate gift-givers

WrappaCandy is the newest business to be listed in The Niagara Shopping Guide.

It's a pretty unique service - custom wrapped Hershey chocolate bars.

Who would'a thought?

Definitely a Niagara first - unless you know otherwise.

Just in time for Valentine's Day too. Great timing!

Plan your Valentines Day at The Spice of Life!

The Spice of Life in Port Dalhousie is once again offering their fabulous Valentine's day menu.

The food's always great and the desserts are simply awesome. Reservations DEFINITELY required on Valentine's Day.

Click here to visit The Spice of Life online!

Blue Orchid Weddings now online

I never knew wedding planning didn't have to cost anything and that using one would reduce my overall wedding bill.

So says Lisa at Blue Orchid Weddings, the latest company to join The Niagara Guide. Find their listing specifically in The Niagara Bridal Guide.

So, how's it work?

Wedding consultants can buy wedding products and services at significant discounts, so they can save you a lot of money on your total wedding bill. The savings are usually more than the cost of the consultant's services, so ultimately you save money and more importantly, you save time and reduce stress.

Sounds like a great idea to me. While I'm not in need of a wedding right now (and hopefully for many years to come - hear that kids?), I'll certainly be considering one when the time comes.

Welcome aboard Blue Orchid Weddings!

The difference between networking and marketing

I had a conversation with Carrie Aiello of "KNOW it ALL" Niagara and have to say I'm sorry.

I stand correct - "KNOW it ALL" Niagara is NOT a networking group. It's a marketing organization. You still join it, but it's for the purposes of marketing, not JUST networking.

That's one of the things Carrie's passionate about - Marketing. To her, networking is just a subset of the overall service "KNOW it ALL" Niagara provides, which is helping companies market themselves better.

Of course, people don't commonly join "marketing" groups - because it's not what business people are accustomed to. We're all supposed to join networking groups like the Chambers, BNI etc., and expect to participate in their regular events to get business.

Where "KNOW it ALL" Niagara differs is through their use of direct e-mail marketing to help its Linkers (think "members") get their message out.

Carrie also helps market your business in other ways, but she can explain that better than I can. Visit her site at www.knowitallniagara.com.

Niagara Falls Business Directory

Niagara Falls business directory services abound, don't they? I mean, the ones in print seem to be all over the place, in the form of place mats, tourist maps etc., but it's harder to find information online.

Well, The Niagara Guide is working on changing that. Just to give you folks a heads up, we're working on a new database which will break out businesses by city. We have this already in our Niagara Restaurant Guide, but we're going to be breaking things out in other directories as well.

Lots of things are happening to The Niagara Guide to make it the natural choice for Niagara business owners to be listed in.

Have a great day!

What makes a good networking group?

I have the privilege of working on the Internet presence for "KNOW it ALL" Niagara. Carrie Aeillo, the driving force behind the "Linkers", is a charismatic, dynamic go-getter and her enthusiasm for her job is seemingly never-wending.

Of course, like most networking groups, you have to pay an annual fee and fees per meeting yada yada. We're used to that - it's the cost of business.

While updating the membership list on the website, I was surprised to see quite a lot of familiar names not renew. These are people I've known from other networking groups - some of them since I got into business in 1997 - so it surprised me that they had dropped out of this one. Granted, there are a lot of NEW names as well, so the overall number of people is about the same.

To be honest, I'm not a member of many networking groups. I don't perceive value in belonging to a group whose meetings I can't attend and that probably doesn't do much to market me when I'm not there. Think most Chambers of Commerce, for example. If you're not at a meeting, or on the board, or have a large enough advertising budget to buy your publicity, chances are you're not going to get much out of a Chamber except for the odd referral. But does that make it bad? Of course not. As long as the group does what they say they will, your results will vary depending on your committment to the group.

In the case of "KNOW it ALL"' Niagara, I have to say they're the only Niagara networking group that I'm aware of that has a built-in messaging system that relays out information you send in. That makes my work a lot easier. Now I just have to send in a few articles to keep my name in front of the other Linkers. That's easier than going to a networking evening.

It's my opinion that the only major problem of most networking groups is their reliance on actually requiring people to know HOW to network. I don't think people join these groups because they know how to network. In my opinion, most people join because they want to belong to something that's going to help them increase their business with a minimum amount of effort on their part. When that doesn't happen, they bolt.

I'm guilty of this too. When my kids started getting into their own activities, I started swapping business-after-fives for flying-side-kicks at Glenridge Martial Arts. When I got back into Kendo and began my own club, I stopped attending networking events those evenings. Suddenly, it didn't make sense to belong to many networking organizations because if I wasn't there, they didn't do anything for me, aside from listing me as a member on their websites or in their print directories.

Business relies on relationships to grow. I have clients across the country that I originally got through networking. I value those relationships and want more of them. And ultimately, that's going to mean more networking.

However, if you're going to complain about the networking group you belong to, look first at how you actually NETWORK. If you just go to the meetings or trade shows, then complain nobody calls you, you're not networking - you're attending. Networking starts AFTER the event.

A couple of suggestions from one who's been around a little while...

1. CALL or E-MAIL the people you spoke with at the event. You DID get business cards from them, didn't you? People forget about you once the event's done with. A follow-up is the most important thing you can do to help develop the relationship.
   
   
2. Have a ready supply of business card with a call to action on them. People leave events, go home and forget about you. The next day, they go through the business cards they collected - if for no other reason than to clear out their pockets.
   
   
3. Have something cool to give away that people will keep in front of them forever. I got this really neat paper-holder-thingie that holds a sheet of paper up so I can read from it while typing. Great idea - sits on my desk all day - but there's NO LOGO OR COMPANY INFORMATION ON IT. What an overlooked opportunity. Hmm. I just contacted the company who makes these for pricing...
   
   
4. Did you call everyone whose card you got at the last meeting? Great? What came of it? A meeting? A promise to "look at your website" or something vague? Meetings are good - IF you use them effectively. The best is for each side to go into the meeting having thought of ways to help each other's business.

Your perception that a networking group has somehow "failed" you is only a reflection of the shortcomings of your own networking practices. Networking groups provide the opportunities for you to make intial contacts with people. It's your follow-up that constitutes the real "WORK" in networking but it's the follow-up that produces the results.

Keep that in mind at your next business-after five : )