Media, Advertising, and PR for Businesses in Houston

There is a reason why virtually every advertisement says "that's not all, oh no, that's not all" -- that type of message is very effective. People simply want more for their money and advertisers know it. Unfortunately, rarely do businesses get such offerings. A company I am with, the Houston Business Media Group, is actually doing something about it and is creating quite a stir.

In a recent post, I discussed a new multimedia program that offers radio, TV, web, and other media at a very small package price. Here are the major points of that post:

* 7 ads a day, M-F between 6 AM and Midnight on the hottest new channel in Comcast's interconnect -- Fox Business Network, which is in over 600,000 homes for 13 weeks

* Quarterly interview on the Houston Business Show (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650)

* Promotion of the ad campaign (and your business) on the radio show

* Campaign (and your business) featured on the home page of HoustonBusinessShow.com (under "As Seen on TV" link)

* Promoted in the Houston Business Review that goes to over 50,000 every week during the campaign

* All production costs are included

* This ad campaign is below market on the TV alone, but includes all these other excellent elements. This is an excellent opportunity to have a multimedia campaign at a very reasonable cost.

I find the single biggest challenge facing small businesses is how to reach new customers in an economically sensible fashion. That is exactly what the Houston Business Media Group offers through this innovative program. I suggest emailing Andy Valadez of Marketing Dynamics (the Media Group's ally in this program) at Andy@MarketingDynamics.org or call him at 713.560.3348. One could call out of the curiosity of how we do it.

Kevin Price is Host of the Houston Business Show (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and is Publisher of the Houston Business Review. Visit HBR to get your free subscription.

When It Comes to Marketing a Business, Stop Spinning Wheels

On this week's Houston Business Show I interviewed our new expert, Andy Valadez of Marketing Dynamics. One of the things he discussed is the on going problem facing businesses of "hit and miss" when it comes to marketing. Some people will throw several hundred dollars on newspaper ads here, a few thousand on TV there, and a few thousand more on radio, but have little or nothing to show for it. Many businesses know why they got into the business they are in and think customers will naturally follow. It doesn't work that way in the real world, that is why you need serious marketing assistance.

Consultants like Andy Valadez build a foundation of marketing that makes sense for the particular business in question. They are strategic thinkers who know that PR, advertising, and sales are all mere pieces that rest on the marketing platform. There are several quality strategic marketing firms out there and I have found Marketing Dynamics to be one of the best for meeting the needs of emerging businesses. I encourage everyone to visit with firms like Marketing Dynamics and others to find the one best suited to meet a company's objectives and not spin your wheels with costly "hit and miss" approaches. I'm delighted to have Andy as a Business Show Advisor.

Britney Spears' Buzz

I'm sure regular readers of this blog are shocked to see an entry on Britney Spears, but I felt I had to in light of the conversations I have had with many of my colleagues recently. It seems whenever I meet business associates or friends, the topic of my blog continues to pop up. Lately, most of those conversations have ended with questions about when I was going to write about the latest celebrity bad girl.

Mind you, most of my colleagues are men in the age range of mid 30s through the 50s and their interest seems to be clearly tongue in cheek. But for some reason it is always Britney -- not Rosie, not Tom Cruise, not even Donald Trump -- that comes up.

I mentioned this to one of my friends and associates, Andy Valadez of Marketing Dynamics and he suggested that it was probably due to the large number of searches that are done with her name. Makes sense, so what would a fee market, pro-business, largely conservative blogger like myself write about Britney? Well, here a few possible topics:

* "Britney Without Panties -- Good for the undergarment Industry or Bad for Wall Street?" (or the other way around). I've seen so much mention of her choice (or lack of choice) of underwear, and to hear the comments, one would almost think this is important. From how many stories I have seen on it, it appears we have had several slow news days.

* "Britney's Step by Step Guide to Winning Child Custody in a Divorce." Such a book would be only one or two pages long and with very large print, but if they changed it to "How Not To..." it would be encyclopedic in scope.

* "To Fade Away or to Crash and Burn: Britney Weighs Her Options." Britney strikes me as simply one in a long series of teeny bop stars who either disappear or crash and burn. She seemed to try the former and is now out working the latter, but I wonder if either is working for her.

In the end, I will simply write that I don't really care, though I hope she becomes a decent parent for her children and figures out how to be happy. I also hope I get picked up in more Google searches, since she remains the center of so many conversations.