Category Archives: Tim's Musings

What Happened to the Martini Lunch?

The three-martini lunch was a viable business meeting venue, when I got into the ad/PR biz in 1976.  Accomplished a lot and, moreover, forged solid friendships.

My old boss and our agency founder WAS the guy from Mad Men, who sold the clients and had all the great ideas.  At 82 and retired 27 years now, he STILL drinks martinis and is sharp and quick-witted as ever.

Today, we’re lucky to see clients more than a few times, each month.  Email, conference calls and the vid conference or webinar are the norm, for us and clients.  One web conferencing service runs TV commercials, actually mocking business travel as arcane, costly and pointless.

Who remembers the classic United campaign, where the boss handed out plane tix to the sales guys, admonishing them to get back to direct contact with customers?  Business lunches are still conducted, but the business and social sides of client relationships have changed radically.

Wonder what others are experiencing, both on the agency and client sides, as well as in the media?

We ad/PR guys invented the three-martini lunch, of course, right after the golf outing and the last-minute deadline!
Happy New Year,
TD

Gab from GIFA

Tim Daro

Back to Marketing 101

In this struggling economy, we have clients who’ve actually gone back to Marketing 101 and decided that tough times require more aggressive presence in the market.

Old customers and prospective new ones are being courted more often, both in print ads, direct mail (making a nice comeback as it’s now unique!) and online via blast email, regular newsletters and the inexpensive if rather impersonal vid conference.
The impact of such activity has had the collateral if unintended consequence of making our agency quite busy, this year.  So thanks for that, clients!

Much more important is the fundamental tenet of marketing being applied here.  They can’t buy from you if they don’t know you’re on the planet, to be blunt.

And, whether they’re currently buying or not, the ones who’ll stay in business are the targets of our messages for clients.

Having lived through four major recessions in business in my time, the theory has been proven true, time and again.  Namely, companies who continue to maintain a presence in their market, by whatever means, come back faster and stronger than those who don’t.  This is a fact and we have the evidence to prove it, for anyone interested.
TD

Social Media… Productive & Profitable Playing…

Several clients have appointed designated hitters for the internet blogs and especially the engineering chat areas of publication websites.

We applaud this action, especially in this economy.

One client said to me, during a meeting where I was encouraging this tactic, “Tim, how can I take a very busy engineer or sales guy away from customers and quoting to play on the internet?”

After I calmed down, I explained to him that:

• It’s not play, especially when problem solving is involved.
• It’s not play, when relationships are being formed with potential customers, even those, scratch that, especially those who don’t know your company.
• It’s not play, when a member of your team is quickly perceived as a go-to guy online by key players in your market and among your peers.
• Even if it IS play, it’s productive play.  Didn’t your mother teach you the value of THAT??

Seriously, since very little is new under the sun, this is just the new version of that longtime and revered guy at every company, the one people flocked to see at trade shows.

Two quick examples:

We had a client (sadly passed away) who invented polymer quenchants for commercial heat treating.  This ancient industry used water and oil, mostly, as it had for literally centuries.  People would come to the trade shows and actually wait in line to see the guy.  Then, with almost papal severity, he would lean into them, listen to their quenching problem, ponder it for a moment and then put his finger in their chest and say, “OK, here’s what you do…”

We have a current client who runs what is arguably the finest gear company on the planet.  He’s also a world-class fly fisherman.  He stands in the aisles and goes “casting for customers,” as he says.  When he arrives at a show or conference, you’d think Ghandi had walked into the room…with Mother Teresa on his arm!  Talk about drawing a crowd.  His theory evokes the old John Kennedy line that a rising tide lifts all boats.  He actually shows customers, prospects AND his competitors his operation and his p&l.  His company currently exports high-precision gears worldwide, including to China!

The internet guru at your company can be a powerful force for growth and a true agent of change for your business and the industry as a whole.  Don’t overlook the possibilities or think that it’s just playtime!  When a “social” network has a tangible business upside, that’s a game we’d all like to join!
TD