What *Queer Eye* Can Teach You about the MediaWritten by Susan Harrow
1. Show your passion.The Queer Eye Boys are into what they do. You can tell. Their show has such a different feeling than spin-off *Queer Eye for Straight Girl* which lacks chemistry and authenticity. The synergy between hosts and guests comes through when you connect to host and audience through your passion. Things come alive. I hate that saying, *If you can't be sincere, fake it until you can.* That's such a cop out. It's like all this new veneered furniture with one thin layer of real wood masking pressboard or plywood. Yuk. Are you telling me you can't tell difference between what is solid and what is fake? In *The Practician's Manual of Legerdemain* Ottawa Keyes says, *When it comes to requirements for pleasing an audience, all knowledge and instruction and apparatus in world is worth less than one ounce of soul.* Ain't it so? 2. Be cheeky. When Carson, head Queer Eye guy says, *Is it hot in here or is it just you?* and then almost licks some shirtless hottie blond boy we're right there with him. Yup, temperatures are rising. He makes us laugh and sweat at same time. Loosen up a little and see what happens. Be playful. Say something a bit dangerous. Or better yet, DO something dangerous. 3. Give good tips. After each segment boys give their take-home tips. These are little gems that help you remember to properly tame your tangles, manage your manners, or bolt your belt at just right angle. Provide your audience with saucy soundbites that linger so they can keep enjoying you. Give them solid ideas that they can implement asap. I've come to think that it's not big idea but minutiae that is most important. Take your ideas down to smallest level of detail so they are easy for people to implement.
| | Starting Small Business Promotional CampaignsWritten by Joy Gendusa
So you’re starting a small business. You figured out what you wanted to sell or do and went out and got it all set up, had your DBA framed and on wall and now all you need is for someone to buy your product or use your service. Right? How are you going to go about getting your public to know you even exist? Promote! Promote! Promote! Well that all sounds simple, but say you’re a financial specialist, a boat builder or llama farmer. They probably didn’t teach basic principles of starting small business promotional campaigns in boat-builders’ school. So what do you need to know, and how do you go about it? Let’s start with “Basic Principles” of promotion: What is Promotion? Promotion is making something known and well thought of. Why do you promote? The purpose of promotion is to bring in more business than worst of your mistakes and weakest points of your organization can drive away. Always try to bring in as much business as you can, and you will always win. Never allow yours or other people’s objections like “our shipping department just isn’t fast enough” or “the box supplies are getting low”, to slow you down. Just keep everyone so busy that they won’t even have time to worry about it. How do you promote? There are more ways than you would ever think. Have you ever heard someone say, “I never promote and I am always busy” OR “I don’t have to promote, all my business comes from word-of-mouth”? They may not be aware of how they’re doing it, but I promise you they are promoting somewhere. Maybe they just go around telling everyone they talk to, that they don’t promote. (Sound funny? It’s still promoting.) Maybe their larger-than-life running water faucet in front of their store attracts so much attention that they don’t need to do anything else. Well here are some ideas you can do “knowingly” to drive in business. •Greeting your customers with a smile is a great place to start. •Calling your customers after they have had a chance to use your product is a good way to promote that you care about their experience with your organization. It can also create an opportunity to make more sales. •A neatly packaged product, shipping label on straight, promotes that you take pride in what you do. •Always keep up-to-date brochures or catalogs about your business in your reception area for people to see and take with them. •If you have customers coming into your business, make sure they are greeted pleasantly, professionally, and immediately. Anything that makes company or its employees better thought of or more well known is promotion. But how do you go about promoting to masses?
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