Summer Doings in the NJ Advertising Club

Right after the Jersey Awards were over, Ad club events began occurring one after the other. First it was the June 9 Wake-Up Call with Scott Delea, Sr. Vice President and General Manager of DigitalGrit in Boonton, leading the group through the nuances of Internet marketing as part of a well-balanced program. In a talk titled “Redefining the Internet and How to Use it,” Delea fielded informed questions about Search Engine Marketing and online spending.

While many companies are still hesitant, he said, to committing to online spending, he quoted an Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) study showing that campaigns for products, including Dove, Colgate, Total and Nexium performed better — improving results for both brand and purchase intent — when 10-15% of the budget was spent online.

According to Delea, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is currently the best buy online. With Google and Yahoo! leading the way, the various levels of SEM represent the most cost-effective way to reach a massive, clearly targeted audience. To prove his point, Delea described a search campaign with a 300% ROI.

Attendees contribute
Attendees also contributed to the workshop with insightful questions. One questioned the value of an organic search result as compared to paid placement, asking which a user of the Internet would be more likely to click on.
Another shared her success using a regional Google AdWords campaign for a NJ-based business. The cost was lower than expected; the results higher.

Copies of Delea’s Power Point presentation are available. Call 973.316.9696 for further information.
Wake-Up Call programs are sponsored by the Harold L. Harrison Education Fund. Chair of the series is Grace DePaola.

Crowds flock to summer networking session
Over 100 art and wine enthusiasts filled the galleries at the New Jersey Center for Visual Arts in Summit Wednesday, July 7, where they networked, tasted fine wines and met industry authors.

According to Membership Chair Michael Schumacher, the third annual summer festival, “A Midsummer Night’s Scene,” was a huge success.

Participating sponsors were the NJ Advertising Club, The Art Directors Club of New Jersey, the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) and the New Jersey Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).

Published authors Deirdre Breckenridge, Barry Cohen, Dennis Chominsky, Allan Gorman, Jane Cameron, Jean Wilcox and Jason Miletsky signed books and shared insights into the perils and pleasures of publishing.
All told, 20 bottles of California wine were spirited away.

July 28 at Borders
The ninth Wake-Up Call was held July 28, at Borders Books, Music and Café in Livingston. Even one of this summer’s most violent deluges didn’t keep eager attendees away. A rapt audience heard Sandra Podesta of eBusinessWriting.com describe how to get attention through creative letters, memos, e-mail, reports and advertising.

Change the expected format, she said; use bullets, a Johnson box, bold headlines, indents, numbers. She told of a colleague who got the immediate attention of a reluctant prospect by scooping out the meat in a walnut and writing a Chinese cookie message that began with “in a nutshell” on a slim slip of paper that she inserted in the now empty walnut shell. She packaged the note, shell and all in a Tiffany Box. The recipient called the day he received it, hooked.

Identify the readers’ needs, she advised. Be timely. Differentiate between features and benefits, with features supporting the benefits.

Be careful with E-mail. Identify yourself in the subject line. Ironically, Podesta recommended using the postal service rather than electronic messaging. She even suggested addressing the envelope in pencil.

If you do use E-mail, be sensitive to the reader. Don’t assume he or she knows all the abbreviations and codes such as BTW or IMHO.

Other tricks in letters
When a letter carries over to two pages, don’t end the page with the end of a sentence or paragraph. Make the reader go to the next page.

Never say I look forward to hearing from you; rather, “I will call your office at 9:30 in the morning” on a particular day.
Typeface is important. A serif, particularly Times Roman, is easier to read. Use 12-point type size, at least.

Opening lines are crucial. Grab the reader immediately with a fact or issue he or she will respond to. “I’m writing to tell you of three opportunities to increase your business.”

Never send anything that’s written after 5 pm. Wait until morning. And above all, edit, edit, edit. E-mail, especially.
Think outside the box. Remember, she concluded, “professional business writing’s purpose is to get results. Get read, get remembered, get results.”

The next Wake-Up Call in this, the club’s second series of eight will be September 29, again at Borders in Livingston, 8-9:30 am. Rick Goldberg, President of Commerce magazine, will speak on “Influential Skills — It’s Called Leadership.”

Cost is $25 in advance, $30 at the door. To register, contact the Advertising Club office at 201.998.5133 or register online.

return to September 2004 AdTalk