Guns N’ Roses
Appetite for Destruction
Geffen Records
1987
The greatest album in history turns 30 years old tomorrow.
Here are copies of the the original LP, the cassette, and compact disc. It still sounds as good as it did 30 years ago and better than anything that anyone has made since then!
Styx
Paradise Theatre
A&M Records
1981
I was never the biggest Styx fan, but as a kid, I loved this album. It had some screaming guitars by James Young (“Snowblind” and “Half-Penny”), new-wave-ish pop by Tommy Shaw (“Too Much Time”) and some funky theatrical jazz by Dennis DeYoung (“Nothing Ever Goes As Planned”).
The packaging was cool. The LPs had laser etching and the cover and back paintings were fantastic – truly a lost art!
It’s impossible to overstate the importance of 4th Quarter sales for retailers, restaurants, and many other small businesses or multi-location businesses. While operations and other parts of your organization have had the rest of the year mapped out since last year, your digital marketing activities may not even be finalized for back-to-school promotions, let alone holiday shopping.
In the past, too many marketers have waited until the summer was over to gear up for the holidays. But now that’s too late. It’s now Christmas in July or at least planning your digital marketing tactics for Christmas during July.
Also, is 2018 the year your big idea explodes? If next year is your “hockey stick year,” then Q4 better be solid. To get started, here are three questions to ask yourself during July:
1. What are you going to do now to have a great Q4?
What will compel customers to pay you a visit and make a purchase? Do you have a killer promotion ready to roll?
2. How are you getting people into your stores or onto your website?
Facebook (organic) posts? Forget it. Tweets? Unless your name is Donald, forget it.
You’ve got to hit large numbers of people or smaller numbers of the right people using:
Blog posts and other forms of content marketing are great for awareness and long term branding, but you need to guarantee traffic soon. Find what advertising and promotions work now and pour some fuel on it. And when I say fuel, I mean ad dollars.
3. Are the customers you had last year coming back, or are they buying from Amazon?
This one is very important for retailers – all boutique shops, specialty stores, chains, or franchises. We think we have a loyal base, so why would they not come back in this year
I’ll tell you why … there are an estimated 80 million Amazon Prime customers. Many of your customers are part of that. Use digital ads to reach them and give them a reason to get off their big fat lazy Amazon and come into your store!
Men At Work
Business As Usual
Columbia Records
1982
In June of 1982, I came home from camp and our town had it: MTV. The first video I saw was “Who Can It Be Now” by Men At Work. I was hooked ever since…
I’m looking forward to moderating a great panel at the upcoming Franchise Consumer Marketing Conference in Atlanta. In the session, Mobile – New Ideas to Drive In-store Visits, I’ll speak with a panel of marketing executives from the franchise sector to discover how they are using new innovations in mobile to drive traffic into their retail and restaurant establishments.
Do you have questions about mobile marketing best practices that you would like to ask these execs? Are you struggling with getting new customers in the doors? Are your older strategies and tactics not working? Are you looking for ways to get your franchisees involved?
Please share any questions you would like to include in the session either in the comments section below or privately via LinkedIn Messaging or email at Jack@Qiigo.com. I’ll share your questions at the June 20 session and mention you (unless you would prefer to remain anonymous).
We will announce the final line-up of panelists next week! And if you’re thinking of attending FCMC this year, check out the fantastic agenda and details.
Twisted Sister
Come Out and Play
Atlantic Records
1985
The beginning of the end of the Glam Metal era may have been this flop by Twisted Sister. It had cool LP packaging, but I think by ’85 America was done with Dee Snider and crew…
Franchise Update Media hosted another spectacular Multi-Unit Franchising Conference recently in Las Vegas. This is one of my favorite annual business conferences due the diverse backgrounds, skill sets, and interests of the attendees.
The final day included a fantastic session discussing issues impacting small business owners. The International Franchise Association’s Matt Haller moderated the panel which included Catherine Monson of FASTSIGNS, Matthew Patinkin of Double P Corp, Ron Feldman of ApplePie Capital, and IFA Chair Shelly Sun of BrightStar Care. This “A-Team” of business leaders offered their candid insights on many subjects, but the prevailing topic was the National Labor Relations Board and its 2015 ruling on the joint employer standard.
It occurs to me that such non-elected policy makers, as well as some elected officials, journalists, and activists are dreadfully uneducated about the ownership of a franchised business. This leads to the general public being uninformed and in many cases purposefully misinformed.
If we want to correct this, we need tell the story of franchising in simple terms — so simple, in fact, that a politician and maybe even a journalist could understand.
Here are my two suggestions to properly and simply communicate the role of a franchisee:
1. The Franchisee Is a Customer of the Franchisor
There’s no clearer argument than showing that a franchisee is a customer of the franchisors and not an employee or middle-manager. There are many things small business owners must purchase in order to open their doors. The purchase from the franchisor is just one of those things.
As an example, let’s use a home services franchise brand such as a plumbing, landscaping, or cleaning franchise. There are several things you need to buy If you want to own one of these businesses including:
A) The Franchise.
B) A Truck.
If you buy a Ford F150 for your business, does this mean The Ford Motor Company is a joint employer of your staff?
Of course not. The car brand from whom you purchased your truck is not in charge of your employees. Also, the plumbing brand from whom you purchased your franchise is not in charge of your employees.
2. Not Franchisees. Owners.
While some franchise systems may have specific language that they can or can’t use in some agreements, in general discussions we should refer to owners as owners.
If we, as an industry, had used this terminology more often in recent years, the anti-business Washington bureaucrats, lobbyists, and activists may have targeted a different industry. They would have perpetrated their schemes on a business sector without owners.
Soundgarden
Down on the Upside
A&M Records
1996
Most people think the trend of vinyl records “coming back” is a recent thing. But as early as the mid-1990s, vinyl was making a comeback, mostly by cool grunge bands who issued new albums with an LP version. A great example is this limited edition (only 10,000 copies were pressed) of Soundgarden’s Down on the Upside.
Pink Floyd
A Collection of Great Dance Songs
Harvest (UK) / CBS Records (US)
1981
I like the joke title of this “best of” collection as Floyd is not known for music for the dance floor. It includes a cool re-recording of my favorite Floyd song, “Money” with David Gilmour playing all guitars, bass, keyboards, drums, and vocals himself.
We’ve got a great lineup of marketing experts coming up on Social Geek Radio!
This week Laura Ries, President of Ries & Ries, joins us to discuss trends in branding. Laura is the best-selling author of Battlecry, Visual Hammer, and my favorite marketing book of all time: The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR.
And next week we’re thrilled to have Mitch Joel, President of Mirum, on the show to talk tech trends. Mitch is the best-selling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete.
Find us at SocialGeekRadio.com or download from iTunes!
