My Business Advocate

Building Better Communities by Building Better Businesses

September 2009 Volume 29, Issue 9

Coming Events

Burgers 'n Brats NetworkingSocial 9/173rd Fridays! 9/18Metro South Multi ChamberAfter Hours Event 9/24Metro South Multi ChamberT. Rubleski 10/8Chamber After Hours 10/8Board Elections-BallotDeadline 10/153rd Fridays! 10/18Legislative Luncheon 10/26Orientation Breakfast 11/9Chamber After Hours 11/12Santa Parade 12/6Annual Meeting andSilent Auction 1/29/2010Calendars on Pages 4 & 5Log on to www.southkent.orgfor details.••••••••••••

Seven Things to Avoid to Improve Your Marketing Message

1. Not using a headline.

Think of the headline as an ad for your ad.Most people still miss this step andpay the price in wasted opportunitiesand few if any people noticing theirad or message. Enough said.

2. Not targeting the bestprospects.

I feel silly having toremind businesses of all shapes andsizes that this is vital to increase yourchance of response or the numberof people noticing your message. Ihave a trick marketing question I askaudiences that throws most of them.Who's your customer? Many times Ihear the standard reply such as "Anybusiness looking to..." or "Everyone'sa possible candidate for what we offer."

Newsash: Unless you have millions of dollars, a rich uncle, incredible patience, and your product or service is truly geared to the mass market (rare), this is an incredibly naive and dangerous answer to a very important question related to target marketing.

3. Not customizing the message.

In the age of digital there's anamazing thing still occurring in

ofine marketing that most people

never catch. The more presonalizedor customized a message is to aprospect the higher the chance of itgetting looked at by the target. This issomething direct marketeering prosunderstand, but 99.9% of the marketnever really grasps.

Dead giveaways that I often see are: General salutations in marketing letter, versus specic matching names Labels on mailings versus hand- written, personalized looking

••

correspondence Using meter mail versus a "live" stamp Using white envelopes like everyone else with poorly writtten teaser copy/or messages typed on the front of the envelope A toll-free reply number or general website address to direct leads and responses to call or send an email inquiry

4. Your logo is not a headline.

Good grief. As I peruse throughbusiness magazines, newspapers,direct mail pieces, stacks of adcritiques or glance at billboards andother visual media I'm continuallyamazed at why companies are so hellbent on putting their logo on the top

of their messages.I'm bafed as to

(continued on page 10)

•••

Excerpted from the book,

Mind Capture: How You Can Stand Out in The Age of Advertising Decit Disorder (2008 - Morgan James

Publishing).

Reprinted with permission from the author, Tony Rubleski. Taken from

A Mind Capture

, the premier marketing, publicity,motivitational and sales newsletter for entrepreneurs, sales professionals and agents of positive change. Subscription information available attony@mindcapturegroup.com or fax inquiry to 616-844-0814. Don't miss Tony's workshop on October 8, 2009. sue@southkent.org for info.

Referral Leads at Free Burgers 'n Brats Social

The Activation andRetention Committeeinvites you to an eveningpicnic at beautiful PineryPark in Wyoming.Mark your calendar for Thursday, September 17from 5 to 7 pm and joinus for some great burgersand brats and all of the side dishesto go with them. Pinery Park islocated across from the WyomingSenior Center near City Hall andthe Justice Center on Michael inWyoming. There will be businesses on handshowcasing their products andservices as well asmembers of theBoard of Directorsand representativesfrom your ChamberAmbassadors on handto welcome you tothe Chamber and tointroduce you to othersattending.A $70 Sponsorship Package and alimited number of $35 Showcasetables are still available. Contactsue@southkent.org to reserve yourspot. There is no cost to attendbut please pre-register so we haveenough for everyone to eat. Andmost important of all, don't forgetto bring lots of business cards!

YOUR CHAMBER MANAGEMENT

2009 Board of Directors

*indicates Executive Committee Member

*John Crawford - President & CEO*Todd Duncan - Consumers Energy, Board Chair*Steve Marshall- MAS Advisory Service, Chair, Fin. &Budget*Norine Mulvihill - Sr. V. Chair - American DiabetesAssociation*Kathey Batey - Priority Health/SpiritedPresentations*Brent Holland - Chameleon Ltd.*Skip Knapp - EdwardJones Investments*Tom Kruisenga - The Kruisenga Agency, PastChair*Brent Vander Kolk - Vander Kolk & Vander KolkPLC, Legal Counsel

Community Relations Division (Blue)*Kathey Batey - Vice ChairTommy Brann - Brann’s Steakhouse & GrilleDan Van Dyke - PCO Associates, LLC*Brent Vander Kolk - Vander Kolk & VanderKolk,.PLCLillian VanderVeen - Lenger Travel ServicesMember Relations Division (Red)*Brent Holland - Vice ChairRichard Chrisman - Hungerford, Aldrin, Nichols &CarterDanna Mathiesen - Mercantile BankJohn Schwartz - AT&TMembership Development Division (Gold)*Skip Knapp - Vice ChairBob O'Callaghan - Citadel BroadcastingRob Wells - VantagePointe Financial GroupFinancial Development Division (Green)*Norine Mulvihill - Sr. Vice ChairBetsy Artz - Loeks Theaters (Celebration Cinema)Joel Iakiri - Huntington Bank

David Szidik - Proforma Innite Marketing

Matt Uhl - National City

Ex-Ofcio

Carol Sheets - City of Wyoming, MayorRichard Root - City of Kentwood, MayorCurtis Holt - City of Wyoming, ManagerBill Doren - Chamber Foundation Chair

My Business Advocate,

Building Better Communities by Building Better Businesses

Opinion by John

September 2009By John J. Crawford, Jr.President & CEO

Metro Cruise

a Big Success

Special congratulations and thanks to all of thecompanies that sponsored this year’s 28th Street MetroCruise®. Check them out at www.metrocruise.org – andtell them you appreciate their support! We sure do! The Cruise was organized by a group of dedicatedvolunteer Members as well as your Chamber Staff. Wehosted well over 150,000 visitors to the area to see morethan 7,000 awesome special interest cars. Businessesall over participated in record numbers. Every car yousee at an event like this has an owner and a fascinatingstory behind it and the best part of the event is gettingto know some of these people and hear their story.Special kudos goes to Chairman Rick Sturim of Steve’sAntique Auto Repair. Rick stepped in as Chair whenDan Van Dyke had to step down for health reasons.Rick was served capably by Charlie Steen as Vice-Chair andCar Owner Relations, Denise Hughes who professionallyhandled PR, Gregg Howard of Moving Solutions Group who handled the giant job of site management andlogistics. A special member of the committee this year isErin Bowen of Lenger Travel. Erin is a senior at GVSUand majoring in Hospitality & Event Planning andheaded up Visitor Relations for the Cruise.Others who worked tirelessly too include BobO’Callaghan and Christina Elsenbroek of CitadelBroadcasting (a tip of the hat to the entire Citadel team – a super bunch of professionals!), Lillian VanderVeenof Lenger Travel, Lt. Scott Gardner of the Wyoming PD,Laurie Hable of AT&T, Janna Falicki from WMU, JerryDucat from Grand Rapids First Church and Joel Iakirifrom Huntington Bank . Our own Board Chairman, Todd Duncan of Consumers Energy, was awesome inhis upbeat spirit, leadership and tireless efforts all weeklong!Bravo to the entire Metro Cruise® team! Everyone istired, sore and happy this week following the vent. Onaverage, the Cruise committee walked between 20 and45 miles putting on this great event. Thanks to all of you! You did a Great Job!

Metro South Chambers - Multi-Chamber Events

The Chamber Board approved our ongoing relationship with our neighboring Chambers to co-promote a numberof events in the coming months. Watch for detailsabout the September 24 Metro South Chambers AfterHours and other great business-building events comingup! And that’s my...Opinion by John

BUSINESS GROWTH

Looking to Grow your Business?

by Amanda Lewis, gNetworks Chair for the Business Growth Committee

The Business Growth committee will be starting roundtablediscussions on solutions that mayassist our members in growingtheir business. The committeemeets on the second Tuesday of each month at 9am at the Chamber

Ofce. The round table discussion

will start each month at 9:30am.Please join us!

Interested in Free OnlineAdvertising?

This month’s topicis Merchant Circle.

Merchant Circle

is a social networking site forsmall businesses. The site allowsbusinesses to upload pictures,create blogs, post coupons, andnewsletters for free. In addition, itallows business owners to connect with other merchants. SmallBusinesses looking to increase theirexposure on Search Engines, may

benet from

Merchant Circle’s

freeservices. To learn more about

Merchant Circle

, or share your experience with the site’s services, please joinus September 10

, as we discusshow

Merchant Circle

has helpedsome chamber members grow theirbusiness.Do you know of a great solutionthat would assist our members with growing their business? Pleasecontact Amanda Lewis. Phone616-451-886 or email alewis@ gnetworks.com.

The Biggest and Best Networking Eventof the Year – Oct 29

The Business Growth Committeeis pleased to announce the

SOUTH KENT BUSINESS CONNECTIONS

Event on Thursday, October 29

from11:30 pm to 7:00 pm at

ApplauseBanquet Center

on 28

Street. Thisevent combines a Lunch ‘N Learn, aBusiness Expo, and a MembershipDrive Reception -- all on one actionpacked afternoon.

Sponsorship and Showcase Tableinformation are now available.

Sponsorships are available untilSeptember 8

at $300, $600 and$1200 levels. Sixty-six showcasetables are available to Chambermembers for only $175 beforeSeptember 18

, and for $275 afterSeptember 18

, if space is stillavailable, so get your applications inA.S.A.P.Open to and marketed to all

METRO SOUTH CHAMBER

Members andNot Yet Members through multipleChamber Newsletters, E-mail Blasts,NewsTalk Radio Advertising and DirectMail to W-K Area businesses. The

Lunch ‘n Learn

will feature PennyGeorgevich, Executive Director fromBNI Michigan on

How to Build Your Business with Referrals!

from 11:30am to 1:00 pm Cost for the Lunch ‘nLearn is $15 for Chamber Membersand $21 for Not Yet Members.

A Membership Drive Reception

(Free Appetizers/Cash Bar) from 5p.m. to 7:00 p.m. will be held in theExpo area for new members and not yet members to meet the Board of Directors, Committee Chairs and otheractive members.Like last year, this event will be thebiggest and best networking eventof the year. Please plan on yourinvolvement as a sponsor, showcaseror attendee. Contact julie@southkent.org or call the Wyoming-Kentwood AreaChamber of Commerce at 616-531-5990 for further details.

Plan on the Lunch 'n Learn at the

South Kent Business Connections Expo

on Thursday, October 29

Presented by the Business Growth Committee, part of the Member Relations Division.