"Yellow Page Advertising Gets The Sneer In The Boardroom"
Another amazing week in New York City. The word from Ohio to New York rings true and a lot of what I hear is consistent. Companies are curious about what they want out of their businesses. The "Dot Com" era is a sore subject for a lot of East Coast excecutives. I got a mixed reaction of some CEO's snickering over the whole thing while others spit on the sidewalk at the mere mention of that era of frolic.
Bottomline - it depends who you talk to.
There are three different views when it comes down to this viewpoint.
* Pay Per Click - Nobody I talked to wanted to spend 3 grand a month. Nobody.
* Search Engine Marketing - Companies realize they have to do something to stay competitive.
* Yellow Book - Yellow Pages - This didn't raise a lot of excitement.
Coming back to Michigan was a real contrast. As soon as I came back I started hearing the ill fated phrase, "word of mouth" again....and Val Pak and other tired expressions of Direct Marketing that will leave you exhausted and flat out broke.
Thats fine. Its your choice.
But I want to tell you what I saw on the streets. In the East Coast the beat goes on. Last Wednesday in front of Macys on 34th near Penn Station everyone had mobile devices. You're probably thinking, "Big Deal... SO WHAT !!"
The "Big Deal" is that these people were subscribing to news ON THEIR OWN TERMS. They were watching content that they wanted and subscribed to. This is media taken to a personal level. These were products, seminars, podcasts and even 7 minute commercials.
Down on Times Square it was the same exact thing. I took the commuter trains out to the burbs in CT to do some business and everyone had these portable devices. There were deals being made.
Here are some snippets of conversation I heard....
"...you know i can burn through $10,000 bucks in five minutes... you've seen me do it"
Exec on train heading to Stamford, CT
"We just landed, (tech deal) that thing up in Long Island.... Did he send us the check for $300,000? He did eh? Thats beautiful"
Exec in Penn Station, closing a deal off his portable device, (with video)
My point is you will rarely hear that same type of talk going in on our Michigan cities. I may also note that these deals were not for the same type of companies we have in our state. These companies have created new niches, new products and services to fill those niches and are riding on the tech trend.
I do find it embarrasing that at times the Detroit Free Press runs its business section and the obituaries back to back in the same section. We need to be forward thinking.
* Get your site out there with good SEO
* Stop letting media vultures pick your budget clean with Yellow Book ads
* Get a video of your product and services
* Distribute your video through mobile devices
* Keep your company alive by plugging into strong social networks.
What is this state waiting for? The technology is here. Its time to put the kleenex away and get your products and services in front of the right people.
Ted Cantu posted this May 12, 2007 at 9:01 am and can be found at Http://www.1seomichigan.com
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