“Local firm thinking outside the box”

Bobbie Foust and I worked together at the Tribune Courier and Leisure Scene in Benton in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I have alway admired her as a journalist because she is consistently accurate in getting the information and the quotes correct any time she does an article. We were honored when she asked to do a feature on the recent awards we have won and our business. What follows was printed in the January 30, 2008 issue of the Lyon County Herald-Ledger. Our thanks to Bobbie for another job exceptionally well-done! Simper Fi Bobbie.

P.S. If you would like to see the tactics that won the awards go to our web site at www.armstrongandassociates.org and look to the right side column.

Local firm thinking outside the box

By Bobbie Foust/Herald Ledger Staff

A different approach to public relations recently garnered three awards for a national business based in Lyon County.

ARMSTRONG and Associates (www.armstrongandassociates.org) – a behavioral public relations firm – was cited for two brochures and a video the company produced.

Owners Darryl and Kay Armstrong won the MarCom Gold Award for an educational brochure produced for Lockheed Martin and a MarCom Honorable Mention for a brochure they produced for Ophthalmology Associates of Western Kentucky.

The international AVA (Audio/Visual Awards) recognized the company for outstanding work in producing a video for Taylor Hays, publisher of the Kentucky New Era in Hopkinsville. Hayes was looking for a way to reach future graduates of local colleges and universities and talented professionals, said Darryl Armstrong.

“We developed a recruitment video, which describes the professional needs of the Kentucky New Era along with the working environment of the organization,” he said.

Darryl Armstrong scripted, directed and produced the video in collaboration with videographer Jerry Vick, who is video editor at WKAG-TV 43 in Hopkinsville.

The Lockheed brochure, which won in the educational category, is being used in a community outreach project in the Middle River, Md. area.

“… We took highly technical government and corporate information and transferred it into an easily-understood and user-friendly format,” said Kay Armstrong who has worked with Lockheed on different projects for years.

Darryl Armstrong said the brochure, developed for Ophthalmology Associates, helped Dr. Paul Harrell increase his business exponentially.

Darryl Armstrong, Ph.D, said he started the business 14 years ago because he felt it was time to establish his own company, “and frankly I was bored.”

He had spent years working at high level positions with the Tennessee Valley Authority at Land Between the Lakes and in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and for the government at the Oak Ridge, Tenn. nuclear complex.

“My background is in behavioral psychology and journalism,” he said. “At the time I got a degree in behavioral psychology, I didn’t think about applying it to public relations.”

However, the discipline became popular in the 1970s especially in the federal government and law enforcement. He explained that behavioral public relations means helping the client outline his/her problem and the solution.

There’s a certain behavior the client wants the public to express whether its buying more of the client’s product or service or changing public opinion to influence a vote, Armstrong said.

“Whatever the response is that the client wants, you put it into measurable behavioral terms,” he said.

Kay Armstrong was still employed in another position when her husband left the corporate and government world. However, she too soon joined the business because it allowed them both to pursue their specific interests. She still enjoys flying around the country to help clients, while he prefers to work with clients in the southeast within driving distance.

She has a background in linguistics – bachelor’s and master’s degrees in German linguistics with a minor in English linguistics. And she has taken master’s level courses in management, communications and guidance counseling.

“Many of our clients have complex problems that we are helping them find their path through,” she said.

“A big piece of being able to be successful with a client is to first let the client just kind of dump and tell you what (he/she) thinks the problem is,” he said. “That really is a big piece of the therapy because in many cases they have defined a problem that is really not their problem at all.”

Kay added that with the discovery process, “we can usually define the problem, and what the avenues are toward a solution.”

Most of what the company does is consulting with a client to put together a strategic plan of action, implementing and executing the plan and then evaluating and adjusting it as needed. “Always with the goal of whatever behaviorally it is that you want to happen out there,” Darryl said.

Through the years, the Armstrongs have found their business associations have led to lasting friendships.

“One thing that amazed me is that there are nice people everywhere you go,” Kay said.

“If you treat people nicely, for the most part, they are going to treat you nicely, he said. “I do a lot of facilitation of meetings, which sometimes can become very contentious. In fact part of the leg we started our business on was to be able to help engineering firms and public agencies be able to deal with public meetings and get through them without being too bloodied in the process.”

He has found that treating people with respect, listening and setting parameters around which everybody can participate, accomplishes the goal.

ARMSTRONG and Associates is not a typical public relations business.

“We really struggled about what we should call our business,” he said. “… We put behavioral in it to get people to ask what we do because everybody thinks they know what public relations is all about.”

Kay Armstrong said people often associate a negative connotation with PR looking it as spin.

“I’m not into that, and we have not been into that,” Darryl said. “We do everything from strategic planning, marketing workshops for small businesses and chambers to customer service workshops.”

Another component of the business is education, Kay said, citing the educational events she has organized for Lockheed Martin.

“They have a branded educational program called Space Day, and I organize Space Day events for them for about 1,000 elementary kids at a time to promote science and math,” she said, noting that she has organized an annual Space Day in Riverside, Calif. for 10 years. “I’ve also started doing one in Sarasota, Fla.

“We go to a school and set up basically, an educational fair where we have about 40 activity stations and we rotate the kids around a precise schedule and they experience things they don’t get the rest of the year,” she said.

Darryl added that the neat thing about Space Day is “it’s a fusion of information, education and entertainment, and when those kids are having fun, they are open to being educated.”

The Armstrongs have carved a unique niche for their business.

“It’s our name that’s the basis of our business,” he said. “Someone asked me the other day what will happen to ARMSTRONG and Associates when we retire? It will go away because there is no way we can sell this … because we really built it on the unique personalities that we have.”

Dr. Darryl

L. Darryl Armstrong

ARMSTRONG and Associates

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Exemplary Public Relations for Starbucks

In the January 15, 2008 issue of Bottom Line Personal, there is an article about a man who wrote a book entitled, “How Starbucks Saved My Life.” 

The book is about a man who was a former six-figure advertising executive, and by age 63 was divorced, unemployed, nearly broke, and diagnosed with a brain tumor. 

Because he was in desperate need of health insurance and a regular paycheck, he took a job serving coffee at Starbucks for $10.50 an hour.  He ended up loving the job.

Today he is healthy, has sold his life story to Hollywood ( and it appears that Tom Hanks will probably play him in the film) and yet still plans to work at Starbucks because he enjoys the job. 

This type of public relations for a company simply can not be bought at any price!

This type of public relations is simply priceless and it couldn’t come at a better time for Starbuck’s, who has raised its prices twice in the past year and is facing major competition from McDonald’s and Dunkin Donuts. 

It also showcases a company that has created an exemplary working environment.  Simply, great work environments attract great employees, who offer better customer service, which makes for better sales.

Now this my friends is the best of all worlds.

Dr. Darryl

L. Darryl Armstrong

ARMSTRONG and Associates

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Myre Understands How to G-Market His BBQ Sauce

Christopher Understands G-Marketing — Buzzy Fine Foods

Christopher T. Myre is a professional chef recently transplanted from San Diego, Ca. to Wilmington Island next door to Tybee Island, Ga. He has applied his culinary interest and expertise to a unique BBQ sauce called “Buzzy’s Fine Foods.”

Myre knows how to market using the time-tested tactics of g-marketing.

Recently as we visited at the Tybee Dog Park he told me of coming back from Northern Georgia and stopping for gas. Now picture this, here Myre sits with his van all decked out in newly-painted graphics promoting Buzzy’s Fine Foods and who pulls in next to him but a trailer carrying a smoker — in the shape of a — pig!

As I have always said, there are no coincidences.

And you bet Myre whipped out a bottle of his new BBQ sauce, gave it to the the fella and exemplified what guerrilla marketing is all about. Take advantage of every opportunity that is presented to you!

If you want to be a good guerrilla marketer follow your gut, take advantage of every opportunity that is presented, and always have your product close at hand. I m pretty sure Myre will get some business from this encounter of the most pleasant kind.

In fact we are taking some of Myre’s sauce home with us to Newsom’s Country Store. If you want to try his new product contact him at ctmispelon@hotmail.com and read more g-marketing ideas at our website listed below.

Until next time,

Dr. Darryl

L. Darryl Armstrong

ARMSTRONG and Associates

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Applying G-marketing – Binky’s Unique Gift Baskets

Inette Cayce took notes, asked questions and participated in the G-marketing workshop I presented to the Hopkinsville Christian County Chamber of Commerce Minority Affairs Committee last May.I like it when a participant gets involved. I like it even more when they take what they learn and apply it.

A few days ago I received one of her first “unique gift baskets” and I was very impressed. She had loaded up the basket with vanilla flavored wafers, praline cocoa, stone wheat wafers, jelly beans, little thins, chocolate chip cookies, fancy nuts and much more.

One of the lessons she learned in the workshop: if you want to get attention to a new business send out a sample of  your product to those who might appreciate it and write about it or recommend your services. She did what she was taught and she did a good job.

I also appreciated her comment and thank you note – something else we had discussed in the class — always send a thank you note to keep your name in front of people when they have done something for you.

Ms Cayce said: Thank you very much for the Seven-Step One-Day G-Marketing Plan you presented in the workshop at the Chamber. The information was very useful and helped a lot toward the preparation of my business plan. All of the information given by you and all the presenters made starting a business less painful. Enclosed you will find a token of my appreciation.”

Thank you Ms. Cayce. You were a great student. With continued creativity, persistence and focus you will do just fine I am sure.

Binky’s Unique Gift Baskets (b.u.g.b.) is located at 222 South Woolridge Road in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. You can contact Ms. Cayce at 270.885.6015 or by Fax at 270.885.6027. E-mail her at bugb001@bellsouth.net

We recommend you consider using her service the next time you need a unique gift.

Until next time.

Dr. Darryl

L. Darryl Armstrong

ARMSTRONG and Associates

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Part Two of Two – Generational Marketing – Do you serve ALL your customers? — The Baby Boomers, Generations X and Y

BABY BOOMERS: 1943-1960

Baby Boomers are ages 38 to 55. The first Baby Boomer in fact applied for their social security yesterday on line and like so many of us doubts they will ever see a payout. They have an idealistic personality and tend to be dreamers. They are the country’s most nurtured generation. They had stay-at-home mothers who tended to their every need.The generation was born after World War II, when the population exploded. As Boomers aged, job markets grew increasingly crowded. Never before had so many people been competing for the same jobs at the same time.

Boomers’ are nicknamed “The Me Generation” because it partially reflects their early, nurtured status and partially the fact that they were forced to focus on their own needs in order sustain themselves in an overly competitive environment, Ann Fishman says.

This generation had to ask themselves: “How can I be different?” and “What must I do to separate myself from the pack?”

Boomer personalities include Hillary Clinton, Oprah Winfrey and Spike Lee.

Thanks to their nurtured, protected childhoods, Boomers have an overwhelming sense of entitlement. They have been taught that they can and should have it all. They are also better educated than any generation before them.

Marketers can appeal to Boomers’ sense of entitlement with campaigns that reinforce “You deserve it” ideas and themes. Essentially, Baby Boomers want the answers to two questions from marketers: What’s in it for me? and How do you see me?Boomers’ purchasing habits are values-driven.

Example: Saturn automobiles captured this in its commercial spots that discuss the company’s values and the good folks in the Tennessee town who make the Saturn car.  

Boomers also respond to nostalgia. 

Example: Mercedes Benz made an effective appeal to Boomers with a commercial built around the Janis Joplin song, “Mercedes Benz.

This generation is busy. They are juggling kids, parents, jobs and spouses, so anything that will help make their lives easier or more convenient will appeal to them. Yet as you know, this generation also gets a lot of mail. In fact, they probably get the most direct mail of any generation ever. They don’t have time to read lengthy, misdirected marketing efforts. If you don’t capture their attention within seconds, you’re going to lose them.

GENERATION X: 1961-1981

Gen Xers are age 17 to 37 and have a reactive personality type. They are most widely known for rejecting the status quo to create something new, and are also our most misunderstood generation.

They include such personalities as Eddie Murphy, Brooke Shields, Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael J. Fox, Whitney Houston and Tiger Woods.

Historians have nicknamed this “The Street-Savvy Generation” because they’ve endured divorce, one-parent families, step families, working parents, latch-key lives, violence on television, violence in the streets, and a breaking down of traditional values and sources of comfort.

They’ve grown up in a world in which sex can kill you and in which government entitlement programs for older generations will make their taxes go sky-high.Yet this is also the most surprising generation, because they are creating their own generational patterns. They don’t want to work the long hours set by their predecessors, because they want to spend time with their family and friends.

They’ll accept a lower salary if it means taking a job that fits their interests. They want to succeed because they are doing what they love.

Gen Xers are doing this not just for the sake of rejecting tradition, but because they believe that the older generations have made a mess of things.So what does this generation want from you? They want pared-down lives that work. They want real-life fundamentals. They long for a sense of belonging and family, because they have been unfairly short-changed in this area.

The best metaphor for this generation is derived from one of the toys that they cherished: the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The tale behind these turtles starts when people, who did not have time to care for a group of baby turtles, flushed them down the toilet. The turtles grew up in the sewer system, where they lived on a diet of nuclear waste and junk food, and not only survived but became stronger. Gen Xers identify with these turtles.

The ramifications of generational differences really become clear when you imagine the difference between communicating with a person (The GI Generation), who as a child identified with Superman  — able to leap tall buildings in a single bound — and a person who relates to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!Generation X is also a multicultural generation, which is key to understanding them.

Once again, Saturn provides a great example of how to use what you know about a generation to reach them.

For example, one Saturn commercial features Jenny, a white Xer who comes to pick up the keys to her first new car. An African-American salesman gives her the keys, congratulates her and brings over the sales staff, who also applaud and congratulate her.

In an earlier era, a family would have been depicted gathering around Jenny to celebrate this occasion. Here, the Saturn company and its employees act as a substitute.

Have you ever wondered why Xers date in groups? Why friends are so important to them?

Friends have become the support system that family wasn’t quite able to be. Think about the popular television shows that feature Xers. The program “Friends” is just one example of how this generation has substituted friends where family has failed.In other words, if you want to market to Generation X, treat them like family. Yet, you’d better make sure that your approach is honest and straightforward, and that your product or service is sound.

Gen Xers are the savviest generation of shoppers.

This group began shopping at a young age, to help out working parents. They want value and quality for their money. Malls were, and still are, a central part of their social lives, but they also shop off the Internet and over television. Marketers who try to use traditional tactics or tricks with this group will fail. Xers see through all such attempts, and are repelled by hype and phoniness. If you burn them once, they’ll walk away-and it will be a long time before they’ll consider coming back.

They want practical information about what your product can do for them. Will it improve their lives? Will it give them quality and value? Xers hunt for quality investments. They read the small print.

Having been raised with a lot of stress, Gen Xers also respond to genuine initiatives that help them reduce anxiety and retain peace of mind. Guarantees and easy cancellation policies should be staples for publishers targeting this group.At the same time, this generation craves new experiences, which help them create their self-image. They’ve always looked past traditional limits to seek out the new.

This is the generation that went beyond bungee jumping, to extreme sports. That’s why J. Peterman offers Xers a new twist in the form of stories that accompany each of its products. Xers say that they love this catalog because it gives them a new shopping experience.This cataloger, and other companies that are successful in marketing to Gen Xers, also recognize that these people, who grew up in front of the television, need visual stimulation and expect great visuals.

They appreciate the work that goes into exciting Web sites and printed materials. Smart marketers have Gen X employees critique their Web sites, direct mail and other promotional vehicles, and follow through on their feedback.

GENERATION Y: 1982-PRESENT

Like their GI Generation forbears, members of the newest generation, age 16 and under, are characterized by a civic personality orientation and a “can-do” attitude.

The major differences are that they tend to view the world more positively, and growing up in a globally connected world has molded their behavior.

This “Millennial Generation” is accustomed to receiving the same messages across many media. They talk across oceans and cultures through the Internet and email. They converge in “chat rooms,” in addition to malls.

If this generation likes your product, people around the world will know it. What’s hot in Beverly Hills today will be hot in Buenos Aires tomorrow.

This group loves fashion and dressing up. Rejecting the Generation X “grunge” look, they have gone to the opposite extreme. As Barron’s recently noted, “Generation Y girls have had it up to their carefully plucked eyebrows with flannel shirts and grubby jeans.”

Members of Gen Y also have the money to demonstrate their fashion sense. In fact, they have more financial power than any previous young generation. According to Women’s Wear Daily, their number-one choice for spending their discretionary income is clothing. For these reasons, it’s a big mistake for marketers to assume that they can use the same approaches with Gen Y as they do with Gen X.

For example members of Gen Y are attracted to publications and other products that have an image of being cool and cutting-edge.

Influenced by their brand-conscious Boomer parents, they are attracted to brands at an earlier age.

For example, they seek out teen fashion catalogs such as Dellia’s and Zoe and also favor clothing by Wet Seal, Abercrombie and Fitch and Old Navy.

UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENCES

I hope that these insights and examples have driven home the very real and very significant differences among the various generations to whom we are marketing today. While these differences certainly make marketing challenging, the marketer who understands them and creates tailored, coherent strategies for each group will thrive in the years ahead.

Until next time.Dr. Darryl

L. Darryl Armstrong

ARMSTRONG and Associates

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Branding … can be enhanced by a song, the right lyrics, and a clever slogan…

 When Carole Bailey asks a favor, I simply can’t resist.

Carole is the widow of my friend and “brother” Doug Bailey and the sister of my dear friend Dr. Marilyn King. Marilyn and I go back to college days at Murray State University, however, I digress. Carole has a friend in Nashville that is a songwriter and that does jingles for companies all across the United States. So, when she started reading my business blog she immediately thought of me to suggest her friend to our clients.

So, I went to his web site and I am pleased at what I see and hear. 

Carole’s friend is Buzz Jackson and the company is Brand Identity Group (BIG) (http://www.brandidentitygroup.net/index.php) and they are not using the term “brand” lightly — they understand the concept of branding and you can see that quickly on their own web site, of course “branding” is a topic you frequently read about here on this blog.

We know that branding requires creativity, and if you decide to use music in your branding campaign you need original cutting-edge music. Combine the music with a well-written and clever slogan and your company, your product or your service can stand out from the noise and clutter of other competitors.

There is no lack of creativity at BIG. You will recognize the “Nashville” sound in many of the commercials they have done and they also understand that a web site is an excellent tool to get their messages out and brand their own business.

I suggest you visit the site and click on “Music Samples” on the left side and listen to more than a dozen examples of their commercials – my favorite – well, I would have to say ATLANTIC EYE LASER- Lasik Vision Correction.

By the way, Buzz’s partner, Greg Barnhill, wrote the new theme song for the Today Show and has written and recorded songs for many top recording artists.  

BIG is a service worth considering and if Carole Bailey says it’s so, it’s so.

Until next time.

Dr. Darryl

L. Darryl Armstrong

ARMSTRONG and Associates

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Part One of Two: Generational Marketing – Do you serve ALL your customers?

 The GI and Silent Generations – Part One

Consider this situation – your management team is made up of “Baby Boomers”. Your staff is made up of “Generation X and Y” and your current customer base consists of “Seasoned Citizens” and the “War Generation”.

How are you going to communicate effectively to all these various generations? How can you motivate them? How do you advertise your products and services? How will you grow your business? How do you decide which generation to market to?

Understanding your customer today, and the generations that make up your staffs and management is important on a “macro” level. As well as the specific marketing segments you must motivate in order to be successful.

GENERATIONAL MINDSETS

In a marketplace that’s evolving from product-driven to customer-driven, understanding the fundamental needs, values, icons and historical experiences of the various generations to whom we hope to market is more critical than ever. Generational mindsets and feelings are major factors in determining what and how consumers buy, and in developing an effective marketing strategy, according to Ann Fishman writing in Circulation Management, July 1998.

“We are each members of our own generations, and our world views are colored by our own experiences, we have to work at understanding the feelings and behaviors of those from other age groups to effectively communicate and market to them.” Fishman says.

Each generation is molded by the world events that occur during its formative years. For example, if you lived through the Great Depression, you carry some mark of that experience. You save; you may be thrifty. If you lived through the Vietnam War, it almost certainly affected your view of authority. These distinct historical experiences create characteristics that stay with people throughout the rest of their lives.

Currently we have five generations that coexist in our country today, along with their personality types, as defined by historians Neil Howe and William Strauss.

THE GI GENERATION: 1901-1924

The GI Generation consists of people between the ages of 74 and 97. Researchers call them a civic personality type: They are concerned with others and have a sense of “rendezvous with destiny”. They survived the Great Depression and World War II and made our country the most powerful in the world. They put the first man on the moon. They are the “Can-Do Generation” and include such notables as John F. Kennedy, Walter Cronkite, Katherine Hepburn, John Wayne, and Ann Landers. They identify with and believe in Superman as an icon – able to do whatever needs to be done.

Accenting the positive is critical in marketing to them. They may not be as hardy as they used to be, but they want to be offered upbeat experiences. They are positive and active, and do not dwell on negatives. This is a generation that had to postpone personal gratification because of social upheavals. They learned that the good life had to be earned. Today, they feel that their time for reward has come. Example: “You’ve earned the right to …”

Vicki Thomas, creator of the “Dancin’ Grannies” video, which has sold over one million copies, says, “They are interested in looking good and feeling confident.”

At this stage in their lives, GIs are still generous with their children and grandchildren, but they’re also finally ready to spend more on themselves. However, their style of spending is cautious. They are willing to spend money to enjoy life, but they’re too disciplined to spend frivolously. They have the funds for a full retirement and they plan to spend it, but wisely and responsibly. Example: They will come early for the “Early Bird Specials” in  nice restaurants when offered and will often become regulars.

One strategy in communicating with this generation is to make a strong appeal to their conviction that they have earned a full retirement and that they are still young enough to enjoy it.

It’s also wise to base your direct marketing campaign on old-fashioned American values. Members of this generation do not live in the past, yet they do respect old ways and values. Older, more established brands give them a sense of security. This is also the generation that built today’s institutions, they prefer doing business with an established institution. Therefore, if your company has history, it’s smart to emphasize this in your marketing. Example: “In business since 1975 or with more than 25-years experience we offer …”

They are also realistic about their limitations, although they don’t want to be patronized, or treated as “old people”. It’s okay to enlarge the type subtly on your direct mail piece to accommodate their eyesight, just don’t overdo it. If you create a special piece with really large letters, you’ll offend them-not only by stressing their infirmities, but because people in this age group don’t like to be segregated or singled out. This generation overcame obstacles together, and they like being part of a team. With this group, you must take particular care to ensure that your copywriting is grammatical and that your arguments are sound. This is our most literate generation. They are willing to read longer letters to find out about your product, and they won’t throw your mail away-if it meets their standards. Direct mail is also important to many older people because they may be isolated by transportation difficulties.

Finally, be sure to offer polite, considerate customer service. The GI Generation expects it. They don’t want a salesperson; they want a friend in the business. Be that friend.

THE SILENT GENERATION: 1925-1942

People aged 56 to 73 have an adaptive personality type. They excel in the role of helpmate. This generation has never produced a president, but has produced almost every civil rights leader, as well as the leaders of the women’s movement. They were trapped between the powerful leadership of the GIs and the forceful numbers of the Baby Boomers, so they developed skills to help others, Fishman says. They became mediators, commentators and problem solvers. They include such people as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Bobby Kennedy, Sandra Day O’Connor, Phil Donahue and Rosalind Carter.

There is a tendency among marketing agencies to lump the Silent Generation in with the GIs. This is a mistake. They did grow up in the shadow of the Great Depression and WW II, and they do share some of the same characteristics. Yet, unlike the GIs, they are much better mediators than decision-makers. Their defining war was the Korean Conflict. In times of peace, they fought for equality so that all people might succeed.

There’s certain guilt in this generation because they know that they never had it as hard as their parents did and that their children will never have it as easy as they did.

Your Silent Generation customers are savvy travelers, loving grandparents, budding entrepreneurs, affluent retirees and life-long learners.

From a financial standpoint, this generation is very stable and upwardly mobile and holds most of this country’s wealth - and they do spend it. According to the Bureau of Statistic’s 2004 consumer survey, women aged 55 to 64 spend the most, per capita, of any age group on clothes: 56 percent more than the average household. They rank second in per-capita spending for transportation and entertainment. Those who are 65 to 74 spend more per capita than those age 25 to 44 on most major categories of goods and services, including food, housing and transportation.

“Although Silents are generally conservative, they are in a life stage in which they will also splurge on a big-ticket item. They will buy that titanium golf club, take a Caribbean vacation, or buy a luxury car,” Fishman says.

Medical science has given the Silent Generation a longer life span, yet they are not going to be elderly longer. Science has created something new: a second middle age. These are vital, active people who are redefining the aging process. Women in this generation, in particular, are pioneering the way that aging people look. They have their teeth whitened, they have plastic surgery and liposuction, they dye their hair, take hormones and exercise.

If you want to get into the hearts and minds of the Silent Generation, you have to market to them as people who are in the prime of their lives. For example, a subscription offer to them that highlights a senior discount will be discarded, because these people don’t see themselves as seniors and yet you may want to market to them as “mature and seasoned citizens.”

A strategy that does appeal to the Silents is Revlon’s choice of Melanie Griffith to represent “Age-Defying Makeup”. However, it’s generally best to avoid the use of the word “age” and instead refer to “life stages”.

Silents respect the opinions of others particularly experts because they had heroes to look up to when they were growing up, such as Truman and Eisenhower. Therefore, testimonials and expert endorsements also tend to work with this group. Example: Wilford Brimley advertising help for diabetes … or Robert Vaughn advertising legal services.

They like to help other people. Their generosity tends to be directed toward their grandchildren.

According to George Mochis, director for the Center of Mature Studies at Georgia State University, “Today’s grandparents are much more involved with their grandchildren, mainly due to the high number of single, working and divorced parents.”

As grandparents, they spend more per capita than people aged 25 to 44 on pets, toys and playground equipment. Clearly, there’s a substantial opportunity for marketers to target grandparents on behalf of children’s products.

Part Two: Baby Boomers and Beyond

Until next time.

Dr. Darryl

L. Darryl Armstrong

ARMSTRONG and Associates

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Tea Thyme and Toast – Customer Service, Quality Food and Good Guerrilla-Marketing Lead to Success for Pam Reed

Pam Reed, owner, baker and cook at Tea Thyme and Toast Eatery in Eddyville, Ky has developed a cadre of “raving customers” the past few years by offering good food and personalized service. Not bad for an “eatery” housed in an old one-room schoolhouse that still has George Washington’s framed photo above the door.

Now, we all know that location means everything in business, however, Reed demonstrates clearly that you when you offer consistently good food combined with friendly service that you can even make a restaurant successful in a small village of 2300 people in a county with only 8200 people. Of course, during the tourist season the county at times can be ten-fold in population but it is just seasonal and Reed is open year-round.

The almost three-year old establishment serves sophisticated food in a casual-style and right here in River City. It is only open four days a week and has only six tables. Service is available from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. for lunch.

So, how does Pam Reed run such a successful business?

We would contend that it is all about a quality product and more than exceptional service. Visit here for the first time, or again and again, and you will always find Pam, and her helper and local artist Mark Holsclaw, eager to serve. They treat each customer with respect and are friendly, as is the nature of being in the South.

Customers will rave about this restaurant because there is consistency in quality on all fronts. If Pam or Mark are having a bad day you don’t see it, sense it, or know it as a customer. Think “Cheers” where everybody knows your name and you will get a sense of feel of how welcomed you will feel.

From the local county judge and medical internist to the little ladies I met there last week from Indiana, Tea Thyme and Toast combines the best of all worlds for all customers.

Reed is just as good a guerilla marketer as she is a baker and cook. Recently she received front-page coverage in the Evansville Courier and Press Spectrum section. The return on her investment of time has been a hundred fold. She even had to cancel a scheduled appearance at the Taste of the Pennyrile, an annual hospice fundraiser because of the demand on her time by customers that had read the article.

As you know, we advocate g-marketing for small businesses and securing media coverage is one very important tactic. Also, I can attest to the “word-of-mouth” tactic and how well it has worked.

Frankly, I would have never gone to the eatery had it not been for my wife insisting that it was one of her favorite places. After all, I just couldn’t see myself eating “finger foods.” And finger foods are not the course of the day!

My favorite is the Tomato Basil soup with a curry chicken sandwich, and maybe one of the cherry cookies or blackberry scones. Hearty appetites will not be disappointed.

And as part of the g-marketing plan the eatery will have “date nights” — special dinners monthly. Needless to say, they are already booked up for the foreseeable future.

If you get to Eddyville, Ky ask just about anybody and they can tell you where the one-room school is and there you will find Tea Thyme and Toast!

We offer our congratulations on your marketing effort Pam and a great big thank you for providing an excellent model of customer service and quality products.

If you are interested in reading the news clippings on Tea Thyme and Toast click here and look under Customer Service Excellence at our web site.

Until next time.

Dr. Darryl

L. Darryl Armstrong

ARMSTRONG and Associates

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Providing service through a “How to” brochure

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Ever wondered how you could keep your name in front of potential clients without seeming “pushy”?

Consider doing a “How To …” service brochure and make it available as a part of your service menu. Recently we completed a brochure entitled How to Select a Public Relations Firm.

The trifold brochure is printed in black and white on 70-lb crème paper and a 1000 cost us about $150. We have provided it to our investment advisor, who has accounts that we would like to access all across the country. He in turn will insert it into his monthly newsletter mailing with a letter of introduction.

The brochure walks a potential client through the steps necessary in choosing a public relations firm. Three panels are devoted to helping the client understand the process to go through in choosing a firm. The third panel has a short pitch about ARMSTRONG and Associates and lists the services we offer.

We also tell the reader that if they call our toll-free number and mention they heard about us through the brochure that their first telephone consultation is FREE!

The brochure is designed to be a self-mailer. We also have placed the brochure in Adobe PDF format and loaded it on our website as a FREE resource. We will offer it as a FREE service in our email trailer.

Consider how you can write such a brochure for your own professional services and then send it to all potential clients with a handwritten note – that says, “Thought you might find this helpful”.

You will be seen as an “info guru” and be legitimately perceived as providing a valuable service. You can see our new brochure at http://www.armstrongandassociates.org/

Until next time.

Dr. Darryl

L. Darryl Armstrong

ARMSTRONG and Associates

  

  

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Make Yourself Known To Influential Sources

PERSPECTIVES

 July 24, 2007

You can increase referrals by becoming known to influential sources whom you have not yet had the opportunity to meet. If they are sufficiently prestigious and influential, your association with them will create a “halo” or association relationship that will benefit you. Even more important is the fact that you may have the opportunity to work with them directly or benefit from the referrals sent your way.

A proven way to make contact and to influence those you do not yet know, especially influential people, is to request their participation in your research or writing project. By the way, I have never asked for a quote from an influential person for my newsletter that didn’t eventually take the time to give me one especially about their area of expertise.

So, plan a specific project and contact the influential experts for an interview. If you attribute your expert’s thinking, data or remarks in a document that is to be published, be sure to set up another meeting to review the information you have used.

At your first meeting, don’t solicit business or referrals. Instead, use this initial contact as a basis for developing a professional relationship. In the future, you can meet again for similar purposes. Meanwhile add their names to your circulation lists.

In the first or subsequent meetings, you will inevitably have an opportunity to describe your work or services. This opportunity can and often does lead directly to business or referrals.

Until next time.

Dr. Darryl

L. Darryl Armstrong

ARMSTRONG and Associates

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