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Five in a series.

This post is the fourth in a series where I want to share some of the things I have learned over the course of my career. It has been varied in terms of industry and the customers served and has given me many valuable lessons along the way. I hope to benefit my clients with advice, ideas and cautions as a way of contributing to my local community. Next up was a sink or swim introduction to the early years of the internet. My love of travel, and startups, lead me to a new subsidiary of a large travel wholesale group in Ft. Lauderdale. Certified Vacations offered wholesale travel packages in addition to running Continental Airlines Vacations and (CAV) Delta Airlines Vacations (DAV). I want to work for New River Technologies (NRT) which was the internet arm for Certified. Fast and furious, my experience with NRT was exhilarating! I managed a large staff of web designers and we crafted dynamic websites for CAV, DAV and countless others. Understanding client needs and goals and translating them into the digital environment was a challenge in this new form of communication. Key was understanding how people wanted to learn about and book travel. Early on we developed relationships with Microsoft, Priceline, Expedia and other emerging online travel sellers and, looking back, the experience was absolutely thrilling. To say that the pace was fast is an understatement! I was hooked. Somehow, I had to figure out how to leverage my marketing, advertising and communications background into a dream job. A short stop with Sunglass Hut, before they were bought by Luxottica, honed my skills for effective communications with retail customers. We launched a new, and very innovative, website for sunglass sales that, like other startups, was full of challenges in every department. We were a small group and gathered in a small area, we all learned a lot about each area of the business. The programming side of websites has evolved so far from some of the early days I am grateful have been witness to the genesis of what is now a highly technical process. 2000 was a big year and was highlighted by a move to Small Business Ownership. Stay tuned!

This post is the third in a series where I want to share some of the things I have learned over the course of my career. It has been varied in terms of industry and the customers served and has given me many valuable lessons along the way. I hope to benefit my clients with advice, ideas and cautions as a way of contributing to my local community. Next up was the job of a lifetime! I joined startup Renaissance Cruises as their 7th employee hired. What a whirlwind! This dream job gave me experience working with Madison Avenue advertising agencies to craft a unique brand identity for the upscale cruise line that travelled the world on a fleet of eight ships of about 100 passengers. So many details had to come together to present a brand image that matched our target market. My planning, budgeting and implementation skills were refined and expanded in this challenging job. Moving over to Product Development for Renaissance was amazing. Responsible for crafting unique and compelling products this job took me around the globe. Literally. I gained invaluable experience by operating in a multitude of environments and cultures that helped me expand my capacity for effective communication in any environment and circumstance. Creative solutions were a must! After wearing out two passports I moved on to Sundown Vitamins and dove headfirst into the retail environment. The attention to detail required in keeping up with daily sales reports was intense and challenged my ability to spot trends and respond quickly to market changes. Returning to the travel industry landed me with another startup. Preferred Holidays was a new subsidiary to AVIS and included all the urgency and excitement one would expect for a new endeavor. Sadly the effort was short lived but, serendipity landed me back with a large wholesale travel company! Stay tuned for the next update!

We Got This!

What you say, where you say it and what words you use directly impacts your ability to effectively communicate with your prospects and customers. Think about it. Let's say you are a home cleaning service and you want to promote your services. You may want to build an ad, email or blog post that says "We Clean Great!" Leave's you kind of flat, no? Doesn't really speak to your needs. So let's say we have identified a couple of different kind of customers for our cleaning business. One is Sally who works full time and has 3 kids and 2 cats. Her time off is very precious to her. Your message might be something more like "You work hard all week. Enjoy your weekend and your family while we scrub you home clean." Add a great image of a family playing. Or, maybe one of your customers is unable to clean as they normally do because of an accident, illness or other physically limiting event. You might say "We can give you a hand with housework for as long or short as you need it." An image illustrating your message will reinforce your message and be more impactful to your target. Maybe your customer is moving from one home to another. "Moving? We can give you a clean start." Again, an image that conveys someone moving into a clean home. Crafting a detailed description of someone who represents your target audience(s) is to create a Persona. This is not a real customer, but a fictional person who embodies the characteristics of your potential customers. Some companies will have one or two personas and others may have many more. Once you have this caricature of who you want to attract you are able to choose words, images and more that will speak directly to potential customers and highlight how you can solve their problems. Have a look at my short video on how to generate your Personas so you can be sure to communicate effectively with the right targets. Video And, as always, don't hesitate to reach out with any questions or just to chat.

This post is the second in a series where I want to share some of the things I have learned over the course of my career. It has been varied in terms of industry and the customers served, and has given me many valuable lessons along the way. I hope to benefit my clients with advice, ideas and cautions as a way of contributing to my local community. Marketing and Advertising experience has given me a firm foundation in these arts and I have been blessed to have worked on consumer as well as business to business accounts. My interest in Advertising began earlier than most. As my father had a background in advertising, we always had a pile of industry publications around the house. My favorites were “Ad Age”, “Ad Week”, and “Marketing Week”. It was so cool to read about brands I knew (think McDonalds and Lego) and learn what was coming up next for them. I’m sure I bored my little friends to death with my updates on new products!

Consumers are spending time planning purchases outside the home and this means more online searches.