Advertisement Ideas: Standing Your Ground!!!
As the phone rang at 11 PM on 1/19/2015 informing that the original agreement for me to host Red Carpet Interviews at a summit was not approved after I was told that everything was in place on 1/18/2015 I knew I stood my ground and stated that I do not work for FREE! I learned that FREE has no value and if people think that you will do it FREE they will expect it for FREE so it is important to stand you ground and make sure that people understand the value you are giving them. When you are advertising it is important to remember you are your brand and that people do not buy the what they buy the why. That is why your message much represent consistency and integrity. In dealing with people it is important to stand your ground when it comes to price as many consumers are now price conscious and base many of their decisions solely on price. This lead us to standing your ground on knowing your target demographic. So many times entrepreneurs and marketing executives lose sight 0f the target demographic and as a result they try to reach everyone and unfortunately spend hours spinning their wheels and do not reach anyone and thus their sales drop. The key is to plan your work and work your pan making good choices and aligning yourself with people who will understand that what you bring to the table is valuable.
When you are selling your products and services it is imperative that you stand and deliver. I have always believed that it is important to be impeccable with your word. I have run into a few people who have made commitments and at the last-minute went back on their word or in the case of the people doing the summit I felt strung along.In the past I was guilty of making appointments and cancelling them however I know understand that the person’s time I made the appointment with is important and they could have met with other people instead of me had I not blocked out their time. I have heard all the excuses like oh I had an out-of-town buyer come into town from a realtor. My answer so your out of town’s buyer time is more important than my studio time and my livelihood. I told that person that the next time they want to come into the studio it would be $150 prepaid. By standing my ground and letting people know that my time and services are valuable I have gained a reputation as a professional who doesn’t just say he is going to do something but actually does it. I have heard well I made that pledge when I was with another company and I am not there anymore. My answer you made a personal pledge please honor it. This didn’t sit well with that person so he lodged a complaint with the charity against me. Get real people you made a commitment honor the commitment. I have heard I am not interested and I don’t see why a clip of my appearance on a TV Show will help me. My answer there is that a digital footprint is important and that a clip of a TV Appearance builds credibility in the marketplace. Continue reading Advertisement Ideas: Standing Your Ground!!!
In football going over the top has been a way to effectively achieve the objective of getting first downs and touchdowns. In going over the top a player puts himself at risk for the best interest of the team. In business and in non-profit organizations going over the top can be very risky as the message or your actions may not resonate with the audience you are attempting to reach or may not be in line with the hierarchy of an organization. I have often been the one to go over the top be it break dancing at a leadership conference or asking for donations on a parade route or hanging up a FREE HUGS sign at my local Starbucks. Sometimes my over the top actions have yielded great fruits and scored me many points while at other times I have been thrown for a loss. The risk of being an over the top thinker and implementor is great however the rewards this thinking yields makes it all worth it on many occasions. I was told that many people who meet me for the first time don’t know what to make of my over the top thinking or actions and that this thinking may be creating challenges in my personal and professional life. I believe that in order to succeed you must be an over the top thinker because sometimes it is the crazy actions that get noticed and rewarded. I remember one day I was about 14 years old volunteering at The Muscular Dystrophy Association Telethon and I decided to get the audience to pledge money for the amount of push ups I could do in a minute. Some thought I was crazy but I knew exactly that doing something unique and different I could raise some much-needed funds for those with neuromuscular diseases. I grabbed the microphone and said Hello, I am Jonathan Lederman and I am asking everyone to make a pledge for the amount of push-ups I could do in a minute so we can help the kids who can’t do push-ups because of Muscular Dystrophy. I did 52 push-ups and raised over $500. I remember standing up at a Jaycees meeting when a local chapter was on the verge of cancelling their Spreading The Joy program and I said what if we ask people we do business with to donate. I was told we never did that before. I asked why not the worst they can tell us is no. I asked them to give me two weeks as we were going to meet again in two weeks they said okay. Well at the next meeting I stood up as told them I secured monetary donations in the amount of $2500 and in-kind donations of over $1000. They asked how I said I just asked. I also told them about the door blocks I set up at the local KMART where we would simply ask customers for donations. They were hesitant at first and didn’t want to do it so I said okay I’ll go on the first day and if anyone wants to join me great if not that is okay too. On that first day I collected over $500 and recruited 15 chaperones for The Holiday Shopping Spree. That year, 1989, saw us take 64 needy children holiday shopping and feeding 30 needy families. Simply by being an over the top thinker I have found success. The lesson here is to take a risk and go over the top.