Popular Articles

Sweet marketing music

Tanner Montague came to town from Seattle having never owned his own music venue before. He’s a musician himself, so he has a pretty good sense of good music, but he also wandered into a crowded music scene filled with concert venues large and small.But the owner of Green Room thinks he found a void in the market. It’s lacking, he says, in places serving between 200 and 500 people, a sweet spot he thinks could be a draw for both some national acts not quite big enough yet for arena gigs and local acts looking for a launching pad.“I felt that size would do well in the city to offer more options,” he says. “My goal was to A, bring another option for national acts but then, B, have a great spot for local bands to start.”Right or wrong, something seems to be working, he says. He’s got a full calendar of concerts booked out several months. How did he, as a newcomer to the market in an industry filled with competition, get the attention of the local concertgoer?

read more
by Andrew Tellijohn
September 2008

Related Article

Hiring Conundrum

Read more

New products

INFORMER :: NEW PRODUCTS

Service firm launches
first product, Market
Your Law Practice

by Beth Ewen

Seven years ago Terrie Wheeler?s attorney asked, what her exit strategy was. The owner of a marketing consultancy called Professional Services Marketing Inc. started thinking.

?He planted a seed about creating a product around some of my coaching business,? Wheeler says. ?How could I take every element of my marketing coaching business and turn it into a Web-based tool??

The ?voluminous process? has resulted in Wheeler?s first product: Market Your Law Practice, which retails for $1,450 and walks law firms, especially small firms, solo practitioners and outstate firms, through every aspect of marketing.

There?s a marketing folder so users can pull all their media assets in one place. They?ll receive a reminder from their virtual marketing coach to complete various tasks. There?s an ?ask your marketing coach? function, which Wheeler or one of her 20 consultants will answer.

The tool cost about $150,000 to develop. It was funded from Wheeler?s company?s profits, and she ?creatively went into debt.?

She is now marketing it to bar associations across the country as a member benefit. Their members get a $200 discount, and her company pays each bar association $250 per member who signs on.

In June she closed on the bar association of New York. California, Texas and Maine are on board. ?At this point it seems to be really taking hold,? Wheeler says. ?It?s taken longer than I thought.?

She recommends that association strategy to other marketers. ?If you?re marketing, you need to look at the one-to-many strategy rather than one-to-one.? Now she?s licensing the content of the tool for back-office work at financial advisory firms, and plans to develop a Market your Community Bank product.

Terrie Wheeler, Professional Services Marketing Inc. and Market Your Law Practice: 651.633.2711; twheeler@psm-marketing.com; www.marketyourlawpractice.com