Marketng With Zero Budget or Without a Shoe String

The power of the right set of marketing initiatives can leverage one's business (especially in a down economy). I have often cited the example to clients and friends of the success written about by Sergio Zyman, the former Marketing Director for Coca-Cola (arguably the #1 brand in the world). As a young marketer for a prominent advertising company, he discovered an opportunity for Nescafe coffee in Japan. Sales were slumping in the summer in that region and he needed to find out why. Well, his study of the situation unveiled that the Japanese rarely drank "hot" things in the summer, so he introduced "ice coffee." Basically, for the cost of ice, he transformed the psychographics and demand for the brand. He changed the advertising message and the rest is history.

Mr. Zyman also impacted the advertising world by demanding performance and sharing revenue for success. As a strategic marketer, I am a big fan of joint venturing, revenue sharing, and investing marketing intellectual capital with my clients and friends for their benefit. As a result, I have managed to accumulate a nice portfolio of opportunities in tech, radio and TV, film, music, with authors, real estate, and more.

So, I have actually developed a model that enables my company to help our clients in a delayed payment, accelerated revenue participation, and on-going support built into the model. In essence, we start with nothing (or very little - depending on the deal) and we build something together, employing many of the marketing principles that help successful brands.

Although, you can utilize guerrilla marketing strategies and tactics, word-of-mouth, and sales efforts for a season, one really does need to establish a budget and plan for marketing to have a long-term success path of progression . You can review an article on this subject of establishing a budget, see: www.typepad.com/valadez (search budget). Get caught up in THE VORTEX!

Andy Valadez is President of Marketing Dynamics, a strategic marketing enterprise helping its clients to leverage their unique business opportunities. His company has served many media personalities, leaders in technology, construction and real estate, racing, film, music, publishers, not-for-profits, and emerging companies. You can find out more about Marketing Dynamics by visting: www.TeamMarketingDynamics.com (his personal blog). Mr. Valadez is a graduate of Texas A&M University (Marketing) and Tulane University (Applied Business) and served honorably in United States Marine Corps (Desert Shield/Desert Storm). He is happily married to his wife and girlfriend of 27 years, Tina, and has two beautiflul girls, Kayla (8) and Kenna (5).

Contact:
Marketing Dynamics
Phone: 281.463.4560
E-mail: info@TeamMarketingDynamics.com
Micro-blog: www.Twitter.com/MarineAg (to see what Andy is up to daily)

Marketing Dynamics, because the market never stays the same. Experts in marketing excellence.

Threading the Needle

It is a great Saturday morning. My girls are in the kitchen drawing and my lovely wife is making breakfast (I am indeed a lucky guy, 27 years later). Of course, I am making a few postings on Twitter and just answered a LinkedIn request from my friend Lataya Ballard. Getting ready to read a chapter from "Become a Better You" by Joel Olsteen. My wife and I are excited about reading this book together.

What is "threading the needle"? "Threading the needle" to me is doing the seemingly impossible. Business ownership and creating successful Marketing campaigns is like "threading the needle". The odds are always against you, your campaign, or strategic plan. One has to be very fluid in today's business climate.

What is your biggest challenge? What dream can you envision for your company and what will it take to make that happen? I am a dreamer. I love dreaming big dreams and acting on them. The thrill of the chase of making a big call, floating a big idea, and leveraging opportunities inspires me. As a Marketer, our goals are to sway public opinion, change patterns of behavior, and impact the world. How one does that is by "threading the needle".

It may take years to "thread the needle". Do you have the temperment for that? We have to look for patterns and connections that could help us to create something truly remarkable. A phone call leads to an e-mail, that gets the attention of someone totally unrelated to the objective at hand - remember to avoid small minds. Two years later it all circles back and now you know why and how to make the "needle thread". Shazaam!

A quick example. My wild motorcyle riding sister "Jodie" visited our family last year and convinced us to attend the International Motorcycle Exhibition show here in Houston. I reluctantly agreed (I was busy). I figured I could work and be with family at the same time and my family needed to get out, so we ventured.

I took my video camera with me and was able to get in as part of the media because of my involvement with a local business radio show (the psychology of presentation is critical, by having a press badge (if you blog you are part of the press these days), people are more willing to talk to you openly - try it sometime). Of course, I had no "press" reservations so I had to do some fast talking, but the lady who ran the event was young and hip and she let me in (she was fluid) and introduced me around (how cool is that).

My girls went and looked at the cool bikes (a few pics here). I was in the hunt, looking for opportunities (they are everywhere, you have to be looking for them) and would circle back with my girls and update them on all of the cool interviews I was capturing. Well, I had a chance to meet motorcycle racer builder Denis Manning (see his intervew) who recently broke the world's record at 350 MPH (and many others).

After meeting Denis, I continued to mull on a few ideas a year later and called up his daughter-in-law to discuss a few ideas (it is important to be great on the phone, expect to communicate well). She asked me to put those thoughts in an e-mail. Well, I waited a few months (sometimes you have to let some projects stew) and fired off one hell of an e-mail (it is important to think through your e-mails, make it short, compelling and exciting). Well, I got a call from Denis yesterday and he was very happy about his plans to break the record again next year and confided in a few interesting details about his strategy to break the new record.

This discussion opened up the other possibilities for a few other non-related projects in film, racing, and advertising that we are working on (it is amazing how one project helps another). The "long-thread" of the needle will enable more opportunities to be sewn up. So keep "threading the needle".

Warning: I am convinced that far too many people are "too focused" (narrow minded) and miss opportunities. If this is you, learn to be like water and flow.

"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee

To contact Marketing Dynamics visit: www.TeamMarketingDynamics.com or call 281.463.4560.

Board Level Influence and Yes Dynamics

Had an epiphany to seek the assistance from a non-profit homeless shelter I support. Decided to approach the Executive Director to see if he would be interested in a supporting a top shelf movie project I am working on. The proposition was this: if he could ask his board members to help me get my movie funded through their connections, I could in turn make a contribution to the organization and also create a documentary on their excellent track record (paid for out of those proceeds).

Well, after a few questions and answers, it looks like we will be presenting to the board. This board is comprised of very influential business people with a heart for the homeless and very influential in business in this city. So, we are looking forward to their review of our proposal.

What was interesting, is the timing of my inquiry. The mission was already interested in looking at the possibility of a documentary. I really believe "not-for-profits" operate in a unique plane of existence and are open to oppportunities and ideas. I rarely find this in a traditional business. It is almost like they are programmed to say "no" and speaking to a VP can be like speaking the the "VP of NO!". Companies should be more fluid and explore all opportunities and sadly, return calls (rarely do people return calls these days). The answer should be "not now", "wait", "maybe", or "let's move and move quickly". Get caught up in The VORTEX!

To contact Marketing Dynamics visit: www.TeamMarketingDynamics.com or call 281.463.4560.

"Movers and Shakers" TV Segment - Recruiting in a Tough Market

Left to Right: Kevin Price, Rose Stabler, Mike Alexander, and Andy Valadez

I go into the studio with Kevin Price, show host for "The Movers and Shakers"(which airs on Phonoscope downtown - the most wired network in downtown Houston) and radio host for "Houston Business Show", Rose Stabler of Certified Business Brokers, and Mike Alexander of ABM Insurance. We talk about recruiting and maintaining employees in tight job market. These segments average about 40,000 downloads a week. Get caught up in The VORTEX.

Guy Kawasaki Interviewed On Houston Business Show, CNN 650 AM

Startup and Technology Evangelist, Venture Capitalist, Speaker, Mensch, and Author, Guy Kawasaki calls in to Houston Business Show with show host Kevin Price and chats briefly about his business philosophy, changing the world, raising venture capital, simplicity of pitching a business, working with an unproven team, avoiding MBAs in start-ups, business luck, and his next venture AllTop. Get caught up in THE VORTEX!

Guy Kawasaki Part I: <radio active>
Guy Kawasaki Part II: <radio active>

10/9/07 "Movers and Shakers" TV/Web Segment - Best Practices

The Houston Manufacturers TV show airs every Tuesday in the Houston market at 10am on Phonoscope Business Channel 11. I was invited to be a guest panelist by radio and TV personality, Kevin Price of the "Houston Business Hour" radio show. Steve Chaplouka of SFC Business Services (pictured to my left) and Ralph Fain of RFain Group (pictured to the right of Kevin) were also available to discuss business "best practices". You can see the video clip here: Best Practices Get caught up in The VORTEX!

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