PardonMyFrench

Old School Facelift #11 - Helping The Local Florist

About a month back I outlined my wife's terrible experience with 1800Flowers.  One of my comments I received was from a local florist who outlined the behind the scenes payment and delivery they received from 1900Flowers.  Now I have no idea whether what she wrote was true or not, but I tend to believe her.  So it got me thinking, what's a local florist supposed to do in order to avoid being a 1800Florist partner and fight them on their own. 

Old School Facelift #11 What's A Local Florist Supposed to Do?

1. Look You Need a Decent Website - I'm not a huge fan in spending a ton of money on a website unless you are planning on taking online orders.  If you do, then you need a good local website designer and programmer.  If not, you need a good, cheap brochure like site that drives to a phone number.  If that's your path you take, it is much more important for you to get a good URL that is search engine friendly, choose good titles, and write content carefully; all of these are critical in making sure your site is search engine friendly (ChesterNJFlorist.com)  Your goal is to get listed very high in Google's organic search results for say "florist 07930"   You need to out maneuver the giant advertisers by being smarter about your listings.
2. Capture Your Google Local Business Listing/Places Page - You know those great map listings that appear between the paid search ads at the top and the organic listings, make sure you edit your listing (for free or I can help you) because I've found that owner verified listings are placed ahead of the unverified listings.  Upload photos, coupons, plus you can pay a flat amount per month to have your listing stand out from every one else.  Finally, the Place listing comes back into play later on.
3. Updating Your Content - Again, I'm not a huge fan of building a blog right into the website, but if you can afford it, go for it.  However, if not, make sure you go to Wordpress or Typepad to get a free or cheap blog; it will work just as well as long as you link back to your main website.  You don't have to go crazy, but posting 1-2 times per week with pictures would be a good start.  This keeps your site(s) fresh and makes the search engines visit your sites more often.
4. Facebook if You Can - Now I see tons of local businesses with their Facebook pages and this is a good start, but just having a page is only the first step.  If you really want to make it work, you need to post regular updates because if you are an active Facebook user like myself, you will miss that once per month post and fade into obscurity.  Infrequent posts on a Facebook page will only get you a word of mouth endorsement if one of your potential customers has a Facebook friend who also happens to be a fan of your page.  Twitter is even more difficult because it offers you little to no utility from infrequent updates,  I would however, update and capture your Yelp listing.
5. Google AdWords - You knew this was coming, however you have a leg up if you link your AdWords and Places account.  By doing that you can enable local ad extensions so that when people are searching in your area for a florist, your text ad will show an address and phone number.  You should keep your paid search campaign very tight and focus your campaigns in your geo target.  Plus, you should geo your keywords (florist chester nj, florist 07930, etc) and put those words into regional geo targeted campaigns to get people who looking to send flowers to someone who is not in your immediate area (ex - sending flowers to a sick relative).  Next, I'd DEFINITELY make sure you set up a separate mobile campaign to capture people on the go.  Finally, if you can afford it, extend your Google campaign out to Bing-Yahoo because by the fall the merger will have gone through and you'll be able to capture an additional 30% of search volume.

Those are my quick tips to help the local florist.  If you are smart and set this up properly, Google is the great marketing equalizer where a well organized highly relevant campaign can compete and win versus the much larger advertiser.  Good luck,

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

For Cajun Food in New Jersey, Try Butler's Louisiana Kitchen in Long Valley

    ***UPDATE ON 4-23-09********** We stopped by last night and there was a note on the door that Butler's is temporarily closed due to the economic conditions.  You should call before you just show up.  I really hope it is temporary because the food in Long Valley is just pizza, burgers, and beer.***********************

We love Butler's Louisiana Kitchen in the center of Long Valley, NJ.  Our entire family has eaten there about a half dozen times and ALL of us love the food.  Those that you know me, know that I love finding great restaurants and I'm happy to report that there's a great place just 10 minutes from my house.  We've tasted the following menu items and have loved them all:

• Smoked Hog Wings
• Creole Hot Salad
• Seafood Gumbo
• Smoked Brisket and Smoked Ribs - both have been ordered multiple times per visit!
• Jambalaya
• Etoufee
• Beans, Greens, and Mac-Cheese

The only complaint that I have is that the food isn't spicy enough for me, but that's me being a little picky.  Seriously the food is awesome, priced right, and you can bring your own booze.  So since this is a recession busting time, allow me to resurrect Old School Facelift for Butler's for marketing the restaurant:

OLD SCHOOL FACELIFT #10: 5 QUICK RECESSION BUSTING MARKETING TECHNIQUES FOR BUTLER'S

1. Revisit Your Web Designer to Talk Social Networking:  The way to build a business online is to tap into social networks these days.  It helps with a couple of things:  it helps your Google rankings and it gets people talking about your business online.  You don't need to change the site much, but you could link out to say a YouTube page or a Facebook page.  On YouTube you could post videos of your recipes, Saturday nights shows you are hosting, and on Facebook you could allow people to load up photos, comment, and Fan you (that's friending in business terms).
2. Online Coupons:  Sure, somebody is going to tell you that you need an email list to send out coupons, but that is too old school for you.  Build up your Fans on your Facebook page and push messages and coupons out there.  Simple stuff, like take a picture of a coupon you designed and load it up and let any fan get access to the photo.  Bingo cheap coupon marketing.
3. Cajun Cooking Contests:  Run questions in your Facebook page asking people to tell you what their favorite Cajun recipes are and then have a night of customer request menus.  Run other contests like showing people making their own Cajun recipes at home, naming menu items, or loading up reviews of the restaurant.
4. Display Ads:  Google now has a build your own banner ad product that you can geo-target.  Their network covers about 80% of the US so you can get a ton of cheap cost per click impressions or CPM ads and cover say a 60 mile radius around NJ.  Trust me I pretty much pioneered the Google Blast or Google Surge for politics and it will work.  Also, once you have a decent enough Facebook fans, you can use their DIRT CHEAP ad platform that also lets people know if anyone in their personal network is a fan of Butler's - that's a cool Word of Mouth Marketing tool.
5. GOOGLE PAY PER CLICK ADS - I saved the best for last.  Run pay per click search ads targeted to searches in a 60 mile radius around Long Valley.  I'd organize the campaign in this manner and if you make me a lunch or early dinner, I'll set you up for free.  Oh and before I forget, under no circumstances should you pay for print advertising.
   
   • Brand name
   • Cajun
   • Restaurants
   • Long Valley

If you want good Cajun food and are tired of the standard pizza stuff, try Butler's Louisiana Kitchen.  Get the ribs or the brisket and post your thanks below. 

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

You Want a Corn Maze Challenge? Visit Stony Hill in Chester NJ

About a year back I wrote a post called Old School Facelift #4 - NJ Corn Mazes where I gave some free advice on attracting new visitors to the Stony Hill Farm in Chester NJ.  Sadly they didn't see my post or didn't make the suggested changes to their marketing, but on a good note this year's corn maze is even harder than last year's maze.

As you can see from the video we were determined to make it through this year without any help and within record time.  We dropped off $44 for the four of us and bought a big bottle of water just in case we needed it.  I even snapped a photo of the maze to help with the our travels.  We also decided to ignore the puzzles along the way (they weren't that hard anyway because the questions were based on election trivia).

90 minutes or so later we were beat and needed help.  Like a lot of people we got lost in the orange section of the maze which much to my chagrin was the mule part of the maze.  Yes the Democrats did me in again, but this time it was Saturday with a ton of other maze travelers.  Even though I wanted to push on, Mary and the kids were exhausted and we were given directions out which was a slight improvement over last year when we were escorted out.

You want a challenge?  Go visit the Stony Hill Corn Maze in Chester NJ.  Bring or buy your 3D glasses and plenty of water because you will need it.

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

Old School Facelift #9 Laser Works by Carolyn Monday from Hackettstown New Jersey

I was at a birthday party Saturday night and I ran into Carolyn Monday who owns a company on Schooly's Mountain in Hackettstown, NJ called Laser Works Treatment Center.  The company uses laser therapy to treat smoking habits and since I've never smoked a legitimate cigarette in my life (more on that below) I really wasn't interested in whether it works or not.  I was more interested in whether Carolyn should have her own static website or not to promote her services.  So, let's take a look at:

Old School Facelift #9 - Laser Works Treatment Center by Carolyn Monday

1. Natural Search Dilemma - Carolyn needs to start here.  She needs to figure out which 10 keywords she'd like to appear on.  Searching for laser works, hackettstown NJ pulls up her nice Google Local listing but that type of search predisposes that people are already looking for her.  "quit smoking laser nj" brings up quite a lot of listings but it doesn't appear that any of the top 20 results have a strategic advantage.  Unfortunately her own name doesn't bring up any results (until this post).  When I browse the list of results none of them appear to be blogs which means Carolyn could have some nice natural search results by constantly updating the site.
2. Getting a Good URL - Going back to the natural search results there appears to mostly static websites and unfortunately for Carolyn laserworks.com seems to be taken as well as laserworksinc.com.  Laserworkstreatmentcenter.com is a long URL but is available as is carolynmonday.com and carolynmondaylaser.com.  stopsmokingbylaser.com also works.  Personally I'd grabbed quite a few of them, but depending on how Carolyn wants to market her company would mean I'd either go carolynmonday.com or some version of stopsmokingbylaser.com.  Me, I'd go stopsmokingbylaser.com because I bet people that are hearing radio ads or reading articles are probably more likely to type that keyword in.  If you Google "stop smoking by laser" you'll see that nobody is using that URL and it seems extremely popular with the paid search advertisers.
3. Blog Content of StopSmokingbyLaser.com - I'd avoid the typical static website and opt for the blog site.  Revisiting my old board of education campaign site which now points to longvalleymath.com you can see how you can have a combination site with static pages but one that is powered by a blog.  So, I'd recommend wordpress as the blog platform because it is a) free b) easy c) has many different templates to choose from and d) has easy to use add-ons.  As I recall for about $15 she can purchase her URL via wordpress and have a blog site up in running in a manner of minutes.  Plus, the blog content will enable her to update her site a few times a week, hit the blogosphere running where there doesn't appear to be any competition, and make some headway in the natural search. 
4. Video Content - Ok, now I'm not writing that her product doesn't work or it isn't believable.  It does seem a little far out, but then again I've never smoked.  The best thing Carolyn can do to prove it works is to use video.  So, I'd hop over to YouTube and grab the page YouTube.com/stopsmokingbylaser.  Now she has a page that will host her own video (read commercials) for free.  All she needs to do is have a decent video with a tripod and some free, easy to use video editing software (or not) and she can film her office, materials, procedures, and even do a video series.  Wordpress also makes it very easy to host the video on the blog.
5. Customer Testimonials -  Does anyone every believe the infamous "this product is great by John from Kalamazoo, MI" quote?  Of course not, but if Carolyn actually filmed satisfied customers and put it up on her YouTube page, how much more powerful would that be?

You'll notice one thing missing that has been consistent in most of my Old School posts is I never mentioned paid search.  My experience tells me that the majority of her keywords would be very expensive judging by the competition that is already there.  I think Carolyn should eventually use paid search instead of say a newspaper ad, but she'd have to be very smart about how much she pays and which words she buys.  First priority for her business is to take care of the free, social networking opportunities and then branch out into paid advertising. 

BTW - I made this post at 9:01 AM and the keyword search {"carolyn monday", hackettstown, nj} had no search results.  By 9:45 this post appeared in the results proving how quick Google is and how quickly a blog post can influence results.   Also, this post is #1 in the "Carolyn Monday" keyword.

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

P.S.  I never smoked cigarettes because when I was growing up my father smoked a ton of Parliment cigarettes especially in the little Toyota he owned.  I can still smell that smoke blowing around that car and that pretty much ruined any chance I had to ever pick up a cigarette and put it in my mouth.  Plus, if you actually lit up a Parliment around me I'll actually ask you to put it out or go somewhere else.  Yes - any other cigarette but those vile Parliments.

Old School Facelift #8 - The (Lionel) Train Station

So today I received an email from a Lionel Train store in Mountain Lakes, NJ called The Train Station.  My father gave me his set of Lionel trains so I decided to clean them up, buy some new track, and get the engine repaired.  The closest train store was the one referenced above and I drove about 35 minutes to get there.  It is by the actual train station in Mountain Lakes.  It is also the site of Bobby Baccala's death in The Sopranos and the store is awesome.  Wall to wall trains, engine, accessories, and an extremely helpful staff who spent a ton of time with me.  So much so that instead of just waiting for my father's engine to get repaired, I bought another one just so the kids and I can test out our new track and cleaned up cars.

I loved this store, but haven't been back since.  It is on my short list of things to do but between work, soccer practice, travel soccer, and baseball  I haven't had the time.  That's why I was excited to get an email from The Train Station offering me 10% discount on any orders over $200.  The email was a plain text one, but I kept thinking to myself, hmmm if this is available on their website then why not offer it to more people than your email base.  What more could The Train Station do?  BTW - the URL is http://www.train-station.com/Pages/stimulus.html so clearly someone there believes this offer will stimulate sales:

OLD SCHOOL FACELIFT #8 THE (LIONEL) TRAIN STATION IN MOUNTAIN LAKES, NJ

1. Paid Search Ads - This is an absolute no brainer assuming The Train Station has some advertising dollars to spend.  Since the promotion is available for anyone and not just local residents, open it up to anyone searching on the internet.  Start out small with a few hundred keywords that are well organized because there is a lot of competition already for typical words.  Use the 10% off promotion in the text ad copy and have at it.  If you don't have enough dollars for a national campaign, geo target it.
2. Google Content - If possible I'd like to have some standard banner ads with the promotion, but if not that's ok just use your text ads.  Go into Google and search for sites that specialize in model trains and pick the ones you want to run on or if that's too expensive go off the keywords.
3. Blog Advertising - Now you can try going to BlogAds looking for hobbyist sites and then run some ads on it or you can try searching blogs on Google or Technorati (you remember that) and contact the blog owners to see if they'd write a post for you.  Or you could leave comments on a blogs, but before I'd do that I'd send a note to the blog owner so they realize you aren't spamming their comments.
4. The Website - The site does pretty much what you need it to do including offering eCommerce.  It does everything except give people reasons to continue to check back in often.  So what can you do?  Let's assume you don't have enough time for a blog, but how about video?  Grab a cam corder and create your own track layouts.  How about how to clean cars?  You could simply record a conversation with customers.  The content is endless and other than editing and figuring out your "video show" it will cost nothing.  Start a channel on YouTube and start promoting your store and promotions.  This will help you generate traffic to your eCommerce site.  You could host the videos on your site or just link to your YouTube channel.

That's it for now.  Happy train collecting.

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

Old School Facelift #6 - Objects of Desire in Chester NJ

Yesterday I received a call from my mother telling me that one of my favorite stores to buy Mary gifts from was having a sale just in time for Valentine's Day.  You see, I made a hit during this year's holiday season by buying Mary a pair of designer silver earrings and a fur scarf so my mother shops there now.  So without the option of going the box of Thomas Sweet's Chocolate route for Valentine's Day I figured a quick trip down there for a gift would work out fine.

Of course the ladies remembered me and I quickly grabbed a pair of matching earmuffs for the scarf.  While gift wrapping it (any time I can have that done is a plus) I asked the ladies if they had a website because I didn't know about the sale and they said "funny you should ask, we were just discussing whether we need a website or not."  It seems their biggest issue was managing constantly changing inventory and the expense.  So after a little bit of a layoff....

OLD SCHOOL FACELIFT #6 - OBJECTS OF DESIRE IN CHESTER NJ

1. Yes You Do Need a Website - Back in the old days websites were "brochureware" where owners just put their catalogs up on the site with little to no interactivity.  Now while I'm not suggesting a brochureware website there's no shame in launching a site without eCommerce especially if cost is an issue.  You can always add eCommerce later, take orders via phone, or even receive requests via email.  If the website takes off then you could expand.  Remember even though you aren't seeing the traffic people are searching for you.
2. Research a Good URL -  When I Googled the term Objects of Desire  I unfortunately found that the better URLs were taken plus Amazon was buying that keyword.  Objects of Desire, NJ didn't return better search results.  Some of the obvious URLs  taken include www.objectsofdesire.net by one of those redirect companies and www.objectsofdesiregallery.com taken by a real retailer.  I don't think you can get away without the terms Objects of Desire in the URL because anything else won't help in SEO (they could start from scratch, but I wouldn't advise).  If I were you I'd register www.myobjectsofdesire.com as soon as you read this post.  That URL will help with online marketing, plus it has the added benefit of being a double entendre (the shopper looking for their object of desire).
3. Yes You Can Have Cheap Interactivity - The next step that I would do is go over to YouTube and signup under MyObjectsofDesire and that would be the channel where I would upload videos.  Now you are probably wondering what videos?  Well I would buy a decent hand held digital cam corder and shoot product videos.  Edit these files with some music (really easy to do) and upload to YouTube; basically think about making your own 30 second to 1 minute TV commercials when you have good product.  Then, feature these videos on your website's homepage or a multi-media page.  Also add in a weekly blog.
4. Weekly Blog - I wouldn't go crazy, but I'd go over to Typepad and grab a URL and a basic blog.  Again nothing too fancy and you should look to post at least once per week.  Think of how easy the topics could be:  holiday gift ideas, new designers, new objects that are due to arrive, sales, special events, etc.  Having a blog will do a few things for your site: a) Creates interactivity especially when you answer comments b) Generates easily searchable content that will keep the search engine spiders coming back c) Gives you an ability to make on the fly offers and sell via the internet d) Gives people a reason to sign up for RSS feeds and email updates from you that you can include sales and marketing messages in
5. It is All About SEO - A good url and a regularly updated blog will definitely help with SEO (free, natural search results), but that isn't everything you need.  First think about the top 10 keywords you'd like to show up high in search results.  Jewelry, Chester NJ would be a good one but perhaps key designers would work too.  Make sure the pages are coded the way you want and by someone who will make it search engine friendly.  Plus the content should reflect this focus.  Finally, never forget that Google is a small business' best friend especially with the free and local results.

That's it.  See you around the internet and town especially holiday seasons.

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

Wyckoff's Tree Farm - Still The Best Place To Cut Down Your Christmas Tree

(2009 Updated post including another letter from John Wycoff can be found here)

The other day I made one of my favorite posts type - Old School Facelifts.  They are one of my favorites because it usually involves some of my recent experiences in NJ coupled with a new way of advertising for them.  I also always get a lot of positive feedback and often hear from one of the folks that runs the company I profile.  Last week's post chronicled our recent annual tree cutting experience out in Belvidere, NJ with stops at Wyckoff's Tree Farm, Mackey's Orchard with Papa Goes Nuts outside, and of course Hot Dog Johnny's.  One of the other reasons for these posts is to help out these folks with some good search results and I'm happy to report it actually worked for Papa's Gone Nuts.  Up until that post Papa had no search results and today as you can see there are 7 results with mine up at the top.  Ok, so search works, but what does that have to do with today's post?

Well a few days after that post I received a comment in my best post link (some reason doesn't seem to be working) from John C. Wyckoff who also left a post over at Marketing Prof's.  The comment reprinted below almost brought a tear to my eye, but I'm way too manly for that :-).  Here's the comment which I thought you'd enjoy:

Dear Eric,
Your posting from December 4, 2006 regarding our farm, Wyckoff's Christmas Tree Farm, was just brought to my attention today. First and foremost I would like to say "Thank You" to you and your wife Mary for being such faithful customers of our Family Operated Christmas Tree farm. Families, such as your own, help keep the small family farmer in operation.

Regretfully, you are correct, my father was diagnosed in 1995 with Lymphoma. Yes, he is doing fine. Now, the "Big Picture"... during the treatment process for the Lymphoma, trees were not planted as the direction of the farm was in question. Annual planting once again resumed in 1999, the trees looked great, until...drought struck during the summer months. The entire planting was lost. Now, you get the picture as it takes eight to ten years to grow a harvestable Christmas Tree.

I am glad to say however, we have planted every spring since and are on our way back to having, as you put it, "Mountains of Trees to Choose From". We currently have 35,000 trees in production and are planting more come spring. We have been rationing the "cut your own" trees and supplementing with quality, fresh cut trees. We are working hard to maintain the experience for our dedicated customers such as yourself. Eric, if you or any of your readers are ever in the area, or perhaps before this Christmas, please look me up. I would like to give you a tour of the farm and show the "Mountains of Trees" that once again are growing in our fields.

"Thank You" to the faithful customers who have stood by us through this difficult time. The farm has been in our family since 1839 and we hope to continue for at least another 168 years...

Wow, that comment was awesome which was why I wanted you to read it.    Yes we went back this year and yes you can cut down some great trees and I was told next year we can go on top of their hill to get some trees from there too.  Going up their hill was always a special thrill for Mary and I; the kids never made it.  Anyway, here's a picture (I was too lazy to scan it) from our first visit there in 1990 with the mountains of trees.

We pass several tree farms on our way up to Wyckoff's and I'm sure they are all fine; we even have a few in Long Valley, but when a place delivers year after year for you and has brought such good memories, why not keep going there?  Wyckoff's delivers a great tree cutting experience and when you couple it with the rest that the area has to offer, cutting down trees at Wyckoff's is a great family tradition.

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

Old School Facelift #5 - Papa's Gone Nuts

So as some of you long time readers know the family and I make our annual trek to Belvidere NJ to cut down our Xmas tree at Wycoff's tree farm (BTW - unlike the older post the tree farm is back better than ever).  We stopped going to the GroRite farm because they still haven't reopened the beautiful Poinsettia farm, but we did go to our favorite hot dog stand Hot Dog Johnny's in Buttzville NJ or as I've been telling my wife, the place we will be mailing our holiday cards from this year.  Side note - if you do go to Hot Dog Johnny's do not and I repeat DO NOT order your hot dogs with anything but mustard, onion, pickles, or relish.  Anyway, we also went to Mackey's Orchard where we get their delicious apple cider, their awesome home made pies made by a little old lady every morning at 3AM, and their great tasting cider donuts.

When we pulled into Mackey's parking lot there was a man sitting under a tent with a nice setup of roasted nuts.  Since we've been going to Mackey's for like 13 years we were curious and walked up.  The sign under his tent read Papa's Gone Nuts LLC and he allowed tasting of his roasted almonds, pecans, and walnuts.  I have to tell you - they were awesome and we bought quite a number of bags.  The nuts are coated  - no wrapped by sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and other ingredients so you get your sugar fix as well as protein fix.  Papa told me he lived across the street so I asked him if he had a website and he said '"no".  So, in honor of Papa's nuts (hmmmm)

OLD SCHOOL FACELIFT #5 -Papa's Gone Nuts

1. Papa you need a website.  You can't rely on your customers to show up at Mackey's; that's fine to start but you are limiting yourself especially on repeat business. Papa, you also need eCommerce and for that you need Google Checkout; but, more on that in a second.  The website doesn't have to be flashy, heck the folks at Mackey's have a home grown one.  You should too.
2. Go Google for Your Small Business Needs - As you can see from the Checkout link, you get the following benefits: If you're an AdWords advertiser, you will also be eligible for free credit card processing for some or all of your Google Checkout sales.  You also get a cute little icon for your search campaigns - see this screen shot from a search in Google on roasted nuts, NJ.  That little icon is golden for your search campaigns.
3. Search ads - I know you are not selling expensive products but clearly there is some business for you in search, otherwise you wouldn't have all of those ads.  I'd recommend something small like $5 per day for Google and then the same amount for Yahoo.  Think of that as advertising.  You should also setup two identical groups - one for local NJ for in-person sales and one for national for internet sales.
4. You, Mackey's, Wycoff's Tree Farm, and Hot Dog Johnny's ought to get together and provide links to each other's sites, including comments or articles.  That way you can get some inbound links for each other to help with natural search results.
5. Finally, I'd normally recommend some blogs, but you probably don't have time to blog and besides, not sure how much content you can generate on roasting nuts; however, the four of you together from #4 above could have a great blog to send traffic into each other.  Anyway, besides that I'd turn to Facebook and Myspace to see if you can generate enough nutty friends.  You could have a lot of fun in there and you might actually generate some sales.  BTW - come to think of it, the blog idea from above isn't all that bad.

Well that's enough for Papa's Gone Nuts and besides I need to seal up this bag before I finish it.  If you want a great treat this year for yourself or just a nutty lover, give Papa a call and order some nice stocking stuffers.  You can call Papa at 908-475-8132 and send your order in.  Trust me, you or your giftee won't regret those nuts.

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

BTW - on a side note, as I make this post there are no search results for "Papa's Gone Nuts".  I wonder how long till this post shows up in Google (11:31 PM my post showed up).

Old School Facelift #4 - NJ Corn Mazes

Today the family and I went to an awesome corn maze at the Stony Hill Farm Market in Chester NJ.  The farm which we pass multiple times per week has a corn maze that rivals anything you might see at an amusement park.  You pay at the typical farm stand but then walk into a large shed to watch a video on how the maze works, how the scavenger hunt works, and then rules about using the maze (don't pick the corn).

The entire maze was planted that way from the very beginning and there are stations with clues and hints for the question scavenger hunt.  The entire maze is lined with different color ribbons so you have some idea where you are and then there are always lookout bridges if you can find them.  We spent about 80 minutes (no typo) in there and generally had a good time but if you go you should bring food and drink because there are no benches in there even though there should be.  After we finished the maze, there was food, more mini mazes, a gem dig, plus a buffalo and the authentic farm stand which has some of the best baked goods around; as I write this I'm eating my second slice of apple walnut pie.

Just as we were leaving I saw a postcard with their URL www.cornmaze.com and I thought wow, what a brilliant URL.  This farm has someone helping them with their internet strategy because if they didn't do much else, that URL will help them with organic search results.  Then I also thought to myself that unlike other farms that have a corn maze, Stony Hill is a corn maze with a farm attached to it.  How disappointed I was when I went online.

That URL is a repository of corn maze locations for farms that I guess participate with the host's (bot Stony Hill) system for building mazes.  The site itself looks and feels like it was built in 1995 and rivals my own crappy build for my corporate site (yes a refresh is coming).  The site is also national which I guess serves it purpose, but unless you plan on traveling from state to state going through mazes it is a waste of time.  So, I keep thinking there has to be a better way right?

OLD SCHOOL FACELIFT #4 NJ CORN MAZES

1. Get A New Website - OK this of course is easier said then done but cornmaze.com isn't helping them that much.  If it becomes too cost prohibitive (I should know hence the refresh that is one year in the making on my own website) get together with other NJ corn maze farms to spread the costs around.  Granted that is less of the national problem version but at least it is a little more local.  What would I put on this website?  Well besides #2 and #4 below, I'd use Google Maps to mark the farms with pictures and comments.
2. Social Networks Is Where It Is At - No this is just not another post on social networks but this is a beautiful match up with a social activity and marketers that don't have much money for well marketing.  Facebook, MySpace all have local networks that they can join and push messages out to.  Plus, you can start a Facebook group of NJ Corn Maze Lovers.  Allow people to upload photos and videos, post tips, and post ratings of their favorite mazes.  Imagine the kind of word of mouth marketing that can provide?  Figure out a way to let people post their times online that are verified at the location.  They could create a YouTube channel to post timed videos...
3. Advertise Online - Besides the obvious answer of using search, targeted buys using Facebook flyers as well as cheap local banner ads would work fine.  Search is where I would do the bulk of the advertising because of the reach and frequency, but before I do that I'd take advantage of Google's local product.  Nobody today is taking advantage of either one right now.
4. Film The Building of The Maze - Since the corn maze seems to be the biggest part of Stony Hill, they should take pictures and videos of the maze construction every year and host it on their website.  That would be a great way of keeping corn maze lovers engaged during the off-season.  Perhaps have a contest to help pick next year's theme.

Anyway that's just a few quick thoughts and since I finished my second slice of pie, I'm ready to get on with the rest of my evening.  If you are within a hour of Chester NJ next weekend you owe it to yourself to go the Stony Hill corn maze.  Just make sure you bring food, drink, and good walking shoes.

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

***10-29 UPDATE***********

Well it seems that someone is running Google ads for a corn maze as you may be able to see on the Google Ads on my site.  Only problem is the folks that bought the ad forgot to geo-target them and had Google serve an ad for an Illinois Corn Maze to a NJ IP address.

Old School Facelift #3 - NJ's TV Tourism Campaign

I got really fired up when I read this article in this weekend's Star Ledger that the State (of NJ is) launching new and different tourism campaign . According to the article NJ is wasting $650K in television ads in Boston, Richmond, NY, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and Baltimore to promote vacationing in NJ.  The creative sounds interesting though, but what is a complete and utter waste of tax dollars and shows how out of touch NJ's advertisers are, is that the $650K won't make a dent on TV in those MSAs.  They should have spent the entire $650K on the internet.  So, without further ado, top 5 things that NJ should have done with that $650K instead of wasting on a low GRP TV campaign.

HOW THE STATE OF NJ SHOULD SPEND $650k TO PROMOTE TOURISM

1. Build a Microsite to Promote All of The Great Things About NJ - I saw no mention of an internet component, so one has to assume there is none which is ashame.  According to the article the campaign will feature, among other attractions, bed and breakfasts in Cape May, family kayaking in the Pinelands, golfing in Vernon, hot air ballooning in Readington, Rutgers University football in Piscataway and a ballet performance at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton.  This should be all housed with video features, pictures, etc on a microsite.
2. Social Networking Component - One of the best things they should do is have a social networking plan across the major players like YouTube, Facebook, MySpace (yes I wrote that), and Flickr.  They should set up channels and pages across all of them and allow people to post pictures, videos, and then have a tagging scheme so people can find them.
3. Word of Mouth Campaigns - NJ should reach out to influential NJ bloggers (not the ones hanging off of NJO.com) and have them write posts about what is great about NJ.  Sure they can pay for post (go ahead and flame me) or just pay to have banners placed on their websites promoting the campaign.  Those banners could be in the form of widgets to promote good things happening in NJ, banners to the microsite, or conversational ones where people can add what they think is great about NJ.
4. Consumer Generated Ads - Sure this one is a bit over done, but so what.  On the microsite as well as YouTube, we should let people create their own ads on what they like about NJ.  It doesn't have to be for creating commercials but it should let people vote on the best videos on NJ.
5. Buy Some Online Media - Most of what was listed above except for #1 costs very little, so let's take that savings and buy some online advertising to stream those commercials.  First stop of course is search via Google and perhaps Yahoo and MSN to try and capture people looking for NJ vacations.  Next, lets take the geo-targeting strategy and buy across vacation sites and of course Yahoo, AOL, and MSN.  Finally, let's buy some cheap, geo-targeted video and banner ads across ad networks like Tremor Media, Advertising.com, and Google's Content network.

Well that's it.  The list above is a way better use of $650K than the same old tired TV ads.

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

Old School Facelift #2 - A Journey for 9-11

I actually had another Old School Facelift ready to go today, but while sitting through a miserable Giants-Packers Game in which I almost got into a fight, they introduced former Giants Defensive Lineman George Martin at halftime.  George Martin is going to walk from The George Washington Bridge in NYC to The Golden Gate Bridge in SF to raise $10 million to support the heroes of 9-11 who worked at Ground Zero and now have health issues.  Well I visited the website and without critiquing the site (which wouldn't be fair), I'd like to give them a little Old School Facelift to George Martin's Journey, especially to someone who gave me one of my favorite Giants memories when he picked off John Elway and ran back a touchdown.

Five Ideas To Make George Martin's Journey for 9-11 Better Online

1. A Google or Blog Widget To Track Where George Is - A developer can make a widget that is based on Google's Gadget or a Blog Widget that tracks where George Is Today with a link to making a donation.  The widget can be used to have bloggers put the widget on their website so it can keep Martin's walk in the news.
2. Google Maps to Plot The Walk - You can find the projected path on their website, but that is a static representation.  They can instead use Google Maps to plot the actual trip, post little Red/Green balloons to show that an event occurred, and then with those balloons on the map have a video or pictures pop up so people can live through the journey and see how George is doing.
3. A Photo/Flickr Blog - Asking someone who just walked 30 miles to write a blog is a little much, but posting pictures and videos from the day on Flickr and/or YouTube is a great way to follow the trip and continue to generate buzz.  If you want, you can record George talking about the day's trip and post that online and/or export it out to the Where's George Widget.
4. Facebook Group and Blogger Outreach - Yes, you know how much I'm getting into Facebook these days, but I think this is (L.T.) tailor made for Facebook.  Start a group, link to the blog, post the widget, are all great tasks to do that will introduce the cause to a much larger and potentially younger group.  Coupled with Facebook should be a blogger outreach program to ask influential bloggers to write posts on the cause.
5. Search Marketing to Raise Donations - Once the initial buzz is over, they'll need to potentially pay for advertising on search words and given Martin's background the list of words is endless.  The primary reasons is to generate donations.

Martin's journey needs to stay on people's mind in order to continue to generate the donations they are looking for.  Sure, as he leaves the New York area and approaches the West Coast area there will be plenty of buzz, but on his long journey he'll need to keep  generating posts, articles, and news in order to keep the money coming in.  The list above is just a small listing of what can be done very cost effectively and sometimes for no cost at all.

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

Old School Facelift #1 - Cole Brothers Circus

I decided to start a new category this weekend while I was down the shore (that's at the Jersey Beaches for you non-Jersey readers).  It's called Old School Facelift and what I'll do is point out everyday occurrences that I think could use a new media strategy to boost sales.  Basically, offering free advice to any local or national business when the mood strikes me.  So, what hit me this weekend?  The family and I attended the Cole Brothers Circus.

Yes a circus and the traveling kind when they come to your town and put down a big tent.   Not the sad shell of a circus which is now Ringling Brothers which probably makes Barnum and Bailey flip over in their graves.  The Cole Brothers Circus was an absolute low tech blast .  There were motorcyclists in a giant cage, clowns, a family on the trapeze, horse shows, juggling, elephants (complete with the always popular jumbo excrement), and a woman shot out of a cannon.  Seriously, it was a great, great show and I highly recommend it.  The only problem with it was that the big tent was about half full.

Yes.  Half full, but before you laugh and think I'm crazy, trust me when I tell you that everyone, old and young, left with smiles on their faces.  It really was great and when I compared it with the Ringling Brothers show we saw two years back at a giant sports arena, the Cole Brothers Circus had nobody sleeping;  unlike the Ringling Brothers show which was a giant snooze festival.  So, I got to thinking how can The Cole Brothers Circus increase attendance when they pull into your town?

FIVE GUARANTEED IDEAS TO INCREASE ATTENDANCE AT THE CIRCUS

1. Search Ads - Yes that's a no-brainer and they should fund it immediately.  There are no real ads around circus, cole brothers, ringling brothers (other than ticket master), plus I'd add in family activity words.  In order to save money, they can geo-target and/or zipcode target the words to maximize coverage and finally in order to have end-to-end tracking put coupons on the website for a free soda to measure conversions.
2. Circus Blogs - I tried looking through Technorati for circus blogs but didn't really find anything useful.  Think about how much mileage they could get out of a blog about life working at a circus, how to be a clown, or life being in the Flying Ponce Family.  It would be cool and probably get a ton of traffic.
3. RSS Feeds and Email Subscribers - Yes I personally believe email is on its way out, but hey you have to include it right?  Every one of those blog posts should have an email and RSS feed pushed out and if they do it right, links to offers and links to find when the circus is in town.  Heck, even have a refer a friend offer to sign-up for the feeds.
4. Embrace The YouTube World - Yes, stop hogging your videos and realize that people love to post their own videos at YouTube.  Make a YouTube channel page, Facebook page and allow people to post their videos there.  Nobody really is trying to capture your content, they'd rather see it in person and show it to the world.  That will help with brand awareness.  Heck, why not stream the shows for free on your website.
5. Create a Circus Wiki - There I said it, but there is so much information about the Circus and why should they just rely on Wikipedia?  Stock it with information, the history of the circus and wrap it under a giant frame with your branding and circus location information.  Turn to those friends you have listed and enlist them to fill information in on your Wiki.  Basically, build your content and watch the traffic grow.

That's it for now.  I'm sure the top 5 mentioned above will be repeated as I put more posts on the subject.   If you get the chance, go to The Cole Brothers Circus; it really is a great, low tech event to be experienced by all.

PardonMyFrench,

Eric