Oct
17
Culture of service grows base of “raving fans”
By JIM BALLEW
Business Writer
The new Calusa National Bank Punta Gorda headquarters opened for business August 24 with a ribbon cutting ceremony and approximately 200 in attendance. The bank’s official four-day grand opening celebration held October 5 - 8 drew far more people still. How does a local community bank in business for little more than two years with only three offices in the Charlotte County area draw such a crowd?
Oct
16
Ken Glasgow gets comfortable about marketing comfort food
By SARA COMITO
Associate Editor
Selling the ultimate comfort food is not really that hard. Ken Glasgow, who owns Simply Cupcakes of Naples with his baker wife Joanne, wishes he knew years ago how lucrative and rewarding it can be.
The “cupcakery” has become an unlikely example of the power of social media, having been featured on a panel at the most recent Social Media Club of Southwest Florida event on Sept. 22.
In Glasgow’s words, when it comes to social media, “I don’t know what I’m doing.”
He could have fooled us, having gained 500 Facebook fans in three weeks.
Glasgow talked with Southwest Florida Business Today about Twitter, nostalgia and why you need a cupcake in your mouth. Warning: this interview could lead to sugar cravings.
Oct
16
Beyond the Bottom Line
Filed Under Vince Crew columns | Leave a Comment
Social media: Approach with caution
by Vince Crew
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, Cyworld, LinkedIn, blogging. Yep, they’re cool, they’re new and they’re fun. But are they a waste of time?
Like all things technological, they’re probably filled with rapidly uncovered unintended consequences that you’re not prepared to – or ever thought you’d have to – deal with, especially until you learn to manage them better. Read more
Oct
16
Elite regional groups help members achieve success
By BOB MASSEY
Editor
Helaine Treitman is an Argentine tango dancer and teacher with her own business in Naples. She was doing what she loved – but she wasn’t making any money at it.
That was before she joined a “mastermind” marketing group.
By her fourth monthly meeting, Treitman had what she called an “economic breakthrough.” For the first time, she was able to implement principles and practices that made her income skyrocket.
“I never thought of myself in the marketing business or moneymaking business,” she said. “There are people who are so busy but they don’t know how to monetize, they’re not making money. I started to make money and know how to make money – but first I had to identify why I wasn’t making money.”
That revelation came courtesy of Ernesto J. Fernandez, doctor of oriental medicine, acupuncture physician, licensed mental health counselor and – incongruously – a successful marketing consultant. In addition to a medical practice he describes as “high end,” Fernandez not only markets and presents seminars, he teaches other seminar speakers to effectively market their own practices. And he does it well enough to boast a national clientele.
Fernandez lives and works in Sarasota – but in his elite, six-member mastermind group, only half are from that area. There’s Treitman from Naples, one member from Estero and another from Cape Coral.
The mastermind group itself grew out of a monthly marketing club – part of the internationally known Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle – that used to holding chapter meetings from Manatee to Collier counties.
Though growth seems to be a word associated with mastermind groups in recent years, the concept is hardly a new one. In fact, it’s more than 70 years old. Read more
Oct
16
FGCU, Regional Planning Council release incubator network study
Filed Under Economic Development | Leave a Comment
STAFF REPORT
The local economy has been hit very hard by the recent recession and there have been calls to create additional jobs and diversify the regional economy to lower the overall economic job losses that result from recessions.
To this end, Florida Gulf Coast University’s Lutgert College of Business Regional Economic Regional Institute and the Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council have released to the public a 220-page comprehensive report, the Southwest Florida Regional Incubator Planning Study. The study is available on the Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council website at www.swfrpc.org or at www.fgcu.edu/cob/reri. Read more
Oct
16
How to REALLY reach a prospect with your sales message
Filed Under Business Builders, Editorial & Guest Columns | Leave a Comment
EDITORIAL
By BOB MASSEY
Time was, the mantra of copywriting was “Stress benefits, not features.” That is, don’t talk about the traits of a product or service, or what it does – elaborate on why those things pose an advantage for the consumer.
“ ‘Features versus benefits’ is Marketing 101,” says expert Internet marketing consultant and bestselling author Bryan Eisenberg in a ClickZ column. “But as I look around the Web, I wonder if anybody heard that through their college-day hangovers. Very few people even talk about benefits, much less make the effort to get really good at translating features into benefits. Yet power-packed words describing benefits are what trigger the emotions that motivate us to spend our money, time, or energy. People (including you and me) buy because of the positive emotions associated with the benefits.”
However, to create copy that engages customers and compels them to buy, you have to your copy to the next level.
Don’t get me wrong: If you’re creating an ad, brochure, direct mail piece or Web site that’s based primarily on the merits of your product or service, you’d definitely want to emphasize benefits over features.
But in the latter part of his quote, Mr. Eisenberg touches on an element that’s far superior to just a product’s benefits.
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