In other words, when handling international advertising, knowing your brand and knowing your brand’s target audience will not only garner you recognition, it will get you sales.

Rule #1: Do your research
Rule#2: Remain true to your brand

Our company has handled the advertising campaigns of several international projects, one featuring a first-of-its-kind marina in Quepos, Costa Rica, and the second, a residential real estate development in Playas del Coco, Costa Rica. The first was started as the economy began to falter in January 2007; the second we took over in 2009.

Even though the real estate market was tanking, by creating the right message and remaining true to the unique selling proposition, we had success in both projects with a two-fold marketing plan: Ads were placed in various media outlets across the U.S., but primarily in Florida, where we knew a large portion of the target audience lived. The second arm of the plan was to advertise in strategic international publications  with a message that remained true to the brand and tailored for the audience.

One of the challenges was in the translation of English colloquialisms for Spanish speaking publications, and having to adapt copy that didn’t translate. This meant our message had to be as straightforward as possible.

In the end, we were able to generate a great deal of interest in the marina and doubled sales projections for the real estate development.

So no matter where your client’s project lies, in Copenhagen or in Sao Paulo, remember to create a memorable message, remain true to the brand, and adapt that message to markets around the world. You’ll find that such localized effort can bring in global results.

In general, we advise clients to use traffic reports as a guide — not gospel — when evaluating media plans, as not all media is created equal.

For instance, magazine advertising is generally used for image building and branding. If you didn’t get a large response of people reporting that they saw your ad in one of the various magazine pubs you used, don’t be surprised.

Newspaper advertising is highly ranked, because people tend to report the reason for their visit (or sale) based on the last thing they saw or what they had seen most often. Since newspaper advertising is run frequently, people remember the ads more often.

Also, people may have seen or heard your television ad, radio spot or saw your banner ad, but if it wasn’t the last thing they remember it most likely will not register as the impetus for their action. This also explains why signage is most often sited as a traffic generator. Typically, advertising signage is the last thing a respondent sees before taking action.

Another consideration is that repeat customers may claim the reason for their purchase or visit is because they are already clients. Keep in mind that your radio ad, television ad, web banner, email, signage, school flyer’s, etc. may have prompted their most recent action.

Advertising works best when it is part of a wide media mix, enabling you to reach as many people as possible in as many ways as possible. This is why your entire advertising budget should never be allocated to a single medium. (And yes, that includes the web.)

One of the most difficult decisions clients face lies in the naming of their business. Not because good names are hard to come by but rather, because the entire prospect of creating and ultimately deciding upon a name takes on undue proportions.

In the simplest of terms, our advice to clients has always been: “If it’s easy to pronounce and easy to remember, then it’s a good name.”

Here are 5 basic principles when it comes to naming a business entity:

1. Select a business name that begins with letters found early on in the alphabet (A, B, C, etc). Why? Because alphabetizing names is still a popular means of organization.

2. Select a name that you can spell phonetically. While Nike is clearly an exception to this rule, names that can be spelled based upon phonetics are easier to brand than those that are not.

3. Select a business name with one, two or three syllables over that of those with four or more. For the very simple reason that – in general — they are easier to remember and easier to pronounce.

4. Select a business name that has a fairly short URL available. In short: shorter is quite simply, better. URLs utilizing .net, .us, etc. are big-time no-no’s. A shorter URL is easier to Market and is better for Search Engine Optimization.

5. Select a business name that has some meaning to it. Creating a name that helps describe in visual and audible terms the company’s core business and/or values will make the branding process that much easier.

Selecting the right name for your business will help you be more memorable, easier to brand and Market you business, and will overall result in doing more business. Choose wisely!

This year, I agreed to serve as chair of the organization’s Sales and Marketing Council.

One of the SMC’s community projects is the annual Toy Drive benefiting over 700 children who attend Pinecrest Elementary School in Immokalee, Florida. This year the SMC raised over $5,000 to purchase toys for needy children. Donations from Mattel and other caring people, as well as discounts from Walmart, helped purchase over 1,000 toys, which were delivered and distributed last Friday. Each child was allowed to pick out one toy or two, if the toy selected was a small one.

As you can imagine, the response to this giveaway was heart wrenching and very inspiring. During the morning-long distribution, one youngster approached me and quietly asked if she could get something for her little cousin instead of selecting something for herself. After helping her pick out a small stuffed animal, I suggested that she might be able to find another item that she could keep for her very own. She only agreed to do so after being assured that the original item selected could still be given to her cousin telling me, “She’s never had a Christmas present before.”

Clearly, this was a child who had little of her own yet her first thought was of someone else and how she might make that child’s life a little brighter. In this day and age of a “me first” mentality on the part of many, it was so utterly refreshing to see such genuine generosity and selflessness. A true Christmas message worth sharing.

– May the true spirit of Christmas be with us all,

Robyn Bonaquist, President of B-Squared Advertising

Baby boomers are probably the most studied generation in history, ushering in the practice of analyzing each subsequent generation of kids to get into their heads. What do they like? What don’t they like?
While aging, baby boomers are still a force to be reckoned with. Here are 10 little known facts to consider when marketing to this generation:
1. Baby boomers are the hardest working generation and consider retirement a four-letter word. Most don’t expect to retire; their self-worth is wrapped up in their job
2. 78.2 percent are online daily, representing 60 million potential customers
3. 50 percent of those between 50 and 64 use social networking
4. 25 percent of those over 60 use social networking
5. When marketing to baby boomers stay away from the following words:

• aging
• old
• seniors
• infertility
• decline

6. Make use of the words:

• energetic
• independent
• vitality
• useful
• fun

7. This generation has the highest divorce rate of all the generations. Ads should include singles, groups of friends and not all heterosexual couples.
8. Despite the turn of events with the economy baby boomers react well to messaging about enjoying the good things in life.
9. TV, advertising, music and messages that remind them of their youth are received very positively. As a group they are very nostalgic.
10. Baby boomers are resistant to a hard sell. Instead, your message needs to convey an emotional connection.

Your brand is your image, a reflection of you. If you’re known for your pearls and cashmere sweaters, you wouldn’t suddenly dye your hair orange, pierce your nose and start to wear camouflage. It doesn’t mesh with your image.

Likewise, you shouldn’t mess with your brand. In fact, you should take your brand as far as you possibly can. Companies such as American Express are known for sending a voluminous book to advertising agencies outlining brand standards and stipulations, ensuring that every time a customer sees the American Express brand it looks the same. In this way, you guard the brand with your life.

Your brand is the hardest thing to establish and the easiest thing to dilute. This doesn’t have to mean that your brand’s logo should always be shown in red, white and blue. It can appear in black and white and it can have different variations and configurations. But in whatever way those features manifest themselves, they need to be utilized consistently. The font shouldn’t change. The PMS colors should remain consistent across the board, from Your website to your billboard and to your packaging and your eblast. Think of Nike’s swoosh. It is universally recognized. Why? Because the brand never varies from one usage to the next.

Similarly, your brand logo should automatically communicate a single message of who you are and what you stand for.

An ad campaign won’t tell you it’s past its sell date. It won’t grow cobwebs, sprout mold or start to smell.
In other words, it’s up to you — the business owner — to decide when a campaign has run its course.

Even the best crafted advertising message will begin to grow stale as new events and cultural shifts change consumers’ buying habits. In today’s 24/7 environment that can happen pretty quickly.

Even so, a well-designed campaign can still last two to three years before its message begins to sour. When changing ad campaigns there are many things to consider, such as:

1. If you find traffic is starting to fall off, the original message may not be resonating with consumers. It could be a matter of revamping the advertising message or taking a harder look at what you’re offering.
2. There may be changes in the marketplace which results in your messaging missing the mark. Is your current  relevant to the current market? For example: Real estate used to be sold based on emotional appeal. Today emotions take a back seat to dollars and cents; hence, you need a dollars and cents message.
3. Color schemes and graphic designs tend to change with the times. What was popular three years ago in colors and fonts may not be popular today, and the last thing you want is for your ad to look dated.

Above all, keep your eye changes in your market. Chances are, that change will force a fresh look at your advertising and marketing campaign.

Having spent the last decade working in the real estate and development industry we think we can say with some measure of certainty that the real estate tide has turned for the better throughout the state of Florida.

Just look at what’s been happening recently:

• A large developer we represent – Codina-Carr – on the East Coast launched a brand new community consisting of single family, estate and townhomes in January of 2010. With initial price points in the upper $200s, Monterra has sold 400 homes to date and is averaging traffic of 300 people a week through the doors.
• We launched a new community last July called Central Park. Developed by Neal Communities, this was the first new home project in Sarasota’s Lakewood Ranch in years. Price points of just $120,000 helped attract over 4,000 people opening weekend and in just one year, more than 125 homes have been sold and closed.
• Closer to home, B Squared Advertising has worked with Moraya Bay since January of last year. This 72-unit beachfront condominium project sold out in 2006 only to have more than half its contracts fall out at time of closing in 2009. Since then, however, a new branding campaign heavy on the internet side of things has resulted in average weekly traffic over the past two seasons of 75 people and to date, more than $80 million in sales.
• Further on down the road, Vineyards is another client who reports a remarkably better sales season and recently reported that sales in the first 90 days of 2011 have surpassed those of the entire year in 2010. Not too shabby.

In light of all this activity, we definitely believe the worst is behind us and have true life experiences to back up those beliefs. So shed those blues from the last three years of a sagging real estate market. The best is yet to come.

This became more apparent when social media took control of our networking lives, garnering a lot of credibility as an advertising medium. Suddenly no one was reading a newspaper or listening to the radio anymore – or so we were told. Anyone under the age of 30 was getting all of his or her information from the Internet, and Facebook was the means by which everyone was finding out about everything.

Well, as swiftly as that cultural turn took place, it seems another has occurred just as quickly. Or maybe the turn never really occurred in the first place because it seems members of the younger generation – get ready – are still watching TV.

Lately there’s been a lot of chatter about social media and social networking in general and the mad dash to connect via Twitter, Facebook and with blogs. (Ok, we’re guilty of this as well.) While these tools should be a part of every advertising and marketing plan, companies cannot afford to ignore traditional  advertising mediums. Recent articles have come to the conclusion that members of Gen Y, born after 1982, get their information on new products and services from TV, not the Internet.

And newspapers are the number once source of information for first-time homebuyers.

The bottom line is create a well-rounded ad and marketing program that encompasses both traditional and new forms of communication. It’s never a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket, not even in 2011.

The World Wide Web has re-established the idea of networking; now you’re not just meant to network within your own social and business sphere but must reach out to scores of unknown people with whom you have nothing in common just to gather points on a page.

Well, what’s wrong with that? The more people you can attract to review your message, the better. And with the economic downturn, all types of networking have become popular. The web is giving business owners more opportunity to connect with exactly who they want to do business with. In fact, it’s giving us the ability to do business with exactly who we want to do business with.

It’s important to begin with knowing who you want to have as your customer and then to know where to go to find them.

Outside of the social networking offered through cyberspace, people are drawn to regional and national networking meetings as a way to connect and meet people and increase business. The thing is, if you’re really serious about networking you need to do it where your customers largely reside. As examples: If you want the contract for the stucco work on a large commercial building you should figure out how to network with property management and condo associations as those folks are all potential clients. If sporting goods is your product, volunteer for Little League, not the senior citizens center.

If part of your networking agenda entails involvement in a for-profit or non-profit organization, go one step further and actually do something with the organization; don’t merely show up for meetings. Your involvement will be invaluable to people who will come to look at you as someone who will get the job done.

Even better, with the abilities on the Internet you can now find those people online and begin networking with them, until they feel comfortable enough with you, your message and your company to purchase what you have to sell. Whether networking on or offline the concepts are all the same. Find your customer, build a relationship with your customer and then they will make the decision to use your company when they are ready to buy.