Celebrity Endorsements and marketing

My professional opinion about using celebrities to endorse a product or service is that it can be a smart business decision (i.e. lucrative) as long as the celebrity is popular and believable among your target market. Does your target market view the celebrity as somebody they admire? Do they trust the celebrity? Also, does your target market honestly believe the celebrity would use your product or service? Believability and trust are key.

You also want to choose a celebrity you can work with over several years. Repetition is key to advertising success, and having a celebrity pitch your product for only a short period of time (a year or less) is not a good idea. People want familiarity and a business only achieves that through repetition over time.

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group marketing companies
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate!"

How I use Twitter to market my business

I use Twitter to market my marketing firm by Tweeting on "how to" tips where I write a short "how to" article on my blog (which you are reading right now) and then I link to it from the Tweet message I post in Twitter.

I also Tweet on marketing projects I am working on and sometimes I will ask for feedback on what people think of ideas I have for a project. I also use Twitter to announce new products and services my clients are offering. As a social networking tool, Twitter works best when you use it to help others by providing useful information.

Why not hook up with me on Twitter now. I am at http://twitter.com/geisheker

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group marketing firm
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate!"

top 3 social media marketing blunders

Here are the top 3 social media blunders I see being made by mid-to-large companies:

1. Talking using cold dull boring business language that sounds like it was written by an attorney. Businesses need to loosen up and using communication that reads as if you are talking to your best friend. Give your social media communications some personality and show you are a real live person instead of the legal department.

2. Selling too hard! Social media is for conversations and building relationships - NOT hard sales.

3. Not giving information that is of value. To increase social networking results, give people a reason to talk about your company and refer others to you. Give helpful tips, resources, etc. Show the social networking world that you are a giver instead of just trying to promote your products/services. If you want to get more, learn to give more.

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group marketing firm
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate!"

Outside sales superstar wanted

Sales Superstars Wanted $50k to $300k

Don't even call unless you are the best and can prove it. Earn $50k if you're average, $150k if you're good, and $300k plus if you're great. We are in the advertising agency business and we care much more about your sales ability than we do your resume. Young or old--if you have the stuff, we'll know. We will train someone who has everything we want (i.e., you're a sales monster).

Small base, but huge performance rewards to get you to $300k and beyond each year. Must be awesome at opening doors and getting appointments from a cold start. Must be highly self-motivated, a terrific presenter and communicator, and a barracuda closer. Come and build your own empire within our fine progressive company. We have a superb reputation and need real stars to bring in the best accounts.

Call us at 920-471-1638 and tell us why you are a superstar sales person. Do not send us your resume because we hire sales gurus, not resumes.

Executive Secretary Job

This position has been filled.


The Geisheker Group Marketing Firm is seeking a part-time executive secretary/administrative assistant to work 20 hours a week from home as a 1099 contractor.

Here are the qualifications:

This is a part-time work from home job (20 hours per week). It is for USA residents only. You will help with project management, customer service, collections, and administrative duties. For this position you must have at least 2 years of experience as an executive secretary. You must have outstanding telephone and written communication skills. You must have a good working computer with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and a high speed internet connection. You must also have a reliable telephone. If you have experience working at an advertising agency, you just moved yourself to the top of our list and you should contact us immediately.

To apply, please send your resume, cover letter, and hourly pay requirements to peter@geisheker.com

How to make your first million dollars

Here is a great article on tips from 49 entrepreneurs on how to make your first million in business. I am very proud to say I am one of the 49 entrepreneurs interviewed in this article. Check it out at...

http://www.toiletpaperentrepreneur.com/blog/how-to-make-the-first-million

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group marketing firm
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate!"

AAA poor customer service lesson

I am a member of AAA and I have used their service when my car would not start and I needed to have it towed. The service was great. I called the number and was immediately sent to a customer service rep to help me. Beautiful. This is how to take care of your customer.

You are saying, "hey wait, the title of this blog post is "AAA poor customer service lesson". What gives?" Here is my answer.

AAA mailed me a sales letter saying they were auto-renewing my membership using my credit card and I could upgrade by calling the 1-800 upgrade number they gave me. I decided I wanted to upgrade my membership to include my motorcycles and some other upgrade features, so I called. Here is where the poor customer service begins...

First, upon calling the number, I am put through menu selection hell. You know, press 1 for this, press 2 for that, blah blah blah. Okay, so after about 1-2 minutes of going through menus I finally get to the membership upgrade option. I press it and then a voice says it will be a 15 minute wait and I should go to their website. Funny thing is the sales letter they sent me stated I should call their 800 number to upgrade - NOT go to their website. Their website upgrade URL is not even printed anywhere on the sales letter. So now I am on hold and my valuable time is being wasted. So I hang up. Later that same day I call again hoping for better luck. No such luck. Same menu selection hell, same wait 15 minutes before I can talk to a live customer service rep. So, in frustration I hang up again. AAA had a customer who wanted to upgrade and give them my money but I was not worth their time to have a live rep answer the phone and take my order.

Now ask yourself, as a customer who is giving a company your hard earned money, should you be treated like this? Should you have to go through menu option hell and then be put on hold for 15 minutes so you can give a business your money? My answer is NO! I thought AAA was a great company with great service until I had to deal with this nonsense. Now I am not going to upgrade my membership and I will no longer recommend AAA to other people. And, I posted this blog which will likely be read by thousands of people who will rethink joining AAA. Rather expensive mistake for AAA, don't you agree?

Lesson learned is this: When you are a company it is an HONOR for you to sell your product/service to customers. People do not have to buy from your company. They owe you nothing. Therefore, when a customer wants to do business with you and give you their hard earned money, do not make them jump through hoops to buy from you. make buying from you as fast and easy as possible. And, if you own a company that treats your customers poorly, those angry customers can use the Internet with social networking (like I am doing here) to spread the word to millions of people telling them not to do business with you.

Hopefully AAA is smart enough to monitor their name as it is posted on the internet and they will fix their poor customer service for people wanting to become a new member or to upgrade their account.

I hope you learned what NOT to do in this blog post and AAA learns what they should be doing.

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group marketing firm
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate!"

Entrepreneurship questions

I was recently asked to contribute to a list of the 50 most frequently asked questions about entrepreneurship and the answers. Here is a link to the article. Enjoy!

The 50 Most Frequently Asked Questions About Entrepreneurship

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group marketing firm
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate!"

How to be more productive

My tips for working smarter this fall is to keep to-do lists of 6-items that you have to get done that day. The biggest obstacle in getting work done is constant interruptions and jumping from task to task without really completing anything. You look busy but nothing really gets done.

The way my employees and I work is every morning we each create a to-do list of the 6 most important projects we must complete that day before the day is over. Doing this keeps us all very focused on doing important work instead of doing unimportant busy work like checking email every 5 minutes and time wasters like that. The key is focus, focus, focus. It is hard but it sure works well and pushes productivity through the roof.

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group marketing company
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate!"

Marketing Trends for 2010

Here is what I see as the top trends in marketing for 2010:

1. Much more viral video advertising using videos on websites such as youtube.com and myspace.com.

2. Much more social media marketing using media like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and others.

3. More advertising focused on the growing Hispanic market. You will see more advertising that is in Spanish and commercials that have Spanish sub-titles for non-English speaking consumers. Overall, you will see more ethnocentric marketing.

4. There is going to be a much stronger focus on niche marketing as it is more affordable and profitable than mass marketing.

Your thoughts?

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group marketing company
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate!"