To all who have ever served in our nations military / armed forces, Happy Veterans Day!
What I’m thankful for this Thanksgiving…
It’s hard to believe we’re into November already. Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and while I try my best to be thankful for all that I have year-round, it’s at this time of the year that I really think about all the great things in my life. In this day and age it’s easy to get caught up in what we don’t have, rather than focusing on what we do have.
With that said, here is what I’m thankful for in 2013…
1. My family. My beautiful wife, my wonderful son, a baby girl on the way, our crazy dog, and a mom and dad who still call me from time to time just to make sure everything is OK.
2. Our clients. Our clients mean everything to us, and we strive each and every day to give them the commitment to customer service they deserve, with the ROI they need.
3. Our staff. We have a great staff at DanMatt Media. Energetic, focused, committed (in a good way), and talented. They make our company what it is.
4. My job. Yeah, it pays the bills (occasionally), and yeah, it’s frustrating at times. But I genuinely enjoy what I do, especially when that involves meeting a new client and helping them to grow their business.
5. An invitation to next year’s big amateur golf tournament at the world-famous Oak Hill Country Club, courtesy of a top 11 finish in this year’s event. It really is the best golf tournament I play in all year long.
Here’s to hoping you have a lot to be thankful for this year as well!
Focusing on work, kids, and occasionally golf
As a co-owner and executive at DanMatt Media, I wear a lot of hats in our company.
There are a lot of projects and clients that require my attention, and there are only so many hours in a day. That’s part of small business, and it’s something I very much embrace. But I’m also a father to a beautiful two year old boy, and we have a baby girl on the way. To say that I’m pulled in many directions would be a serious understatement.
One of the most important life lessons that I’ve learned from my dad, who also happens to be the president of DanMatt Media, is the ability to prioritize and focus on the task at hand. He’s the best I’ve ever seen at doing it. For me that means that when I’m at work, I’m focusing on work. When I’m at home, I’m focusing on my family. And when I’m on the golf course, I’m focusing on my golf game (sadly there isn’t a lot of time for golf these days).
It’s not always easy to do, but I’ve found that prioritizing my time and focusing my energy on what is in front of me really helps me to keep a clear head. These days everyone is busy, and we all seem to be burning the candle at both ends. The demands of work and family aren’t going away, but we’re all doing our best to provide the finest experience possible for our clients.
Of course it helps that we have such a great staff here at DanMatt Media. Without them we simply could not provide the outstanding commitment to service and results that we’re known for. Our staff really makes DanMatt Media what it is.
Now if I could just get out to the golf course a little more often…
Can you afford not to market your business?
I’m asked quite often what my role is here at DanMatt Media. In truth I wear a lot of hats, but a big part of what I do involves bringing in new clients and managing the accounts of our current clients. It’s what I enjoy most about my job.
The biggest obstacle I face in bringing in new clients is a perceived lack of budget. I say perceived because many small business owners feel that they cannot afford to market their business. Most of the time that strategy is incorrect, as a decision not to get their product or message in front of their potential customers winds up costing them money, rather than saving them money.
We have a great quote from Thomas Jefferson on our website; “The man who stops advertising to save money is like the man who stops the clock to save time.” If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. If you aren’t getting your business in front of potential customers, how are you going to attract new business? Your competitors are using channels like SEM and SEO to find new customers, so if you’re not doing these things, you’re behind the curve. You’re losing out to them in the race to find new business.
DanMatt Media has customized advertising and marketing solutions that fit every business, from small operations where the budget is tight, to large, multi-national organizations who are looking to saturate the market with their online and offline presence. In short, if you have a need to attract new customers, we can help you.
Just remember the sage advice of one of America’s most brilliant minds. To paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, choosing not to market your business is almost never the wisest course of action.
White-labeling our SEM and SEO services
If you’ve looked at our website, you know that SEM (Search Engine Marketing) and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) are two of the most important advertising and marketing channels that we offer our clients. What you may not know is that we can easily white-label these services for other advertising and marketing agencies. So what exactly does that mean?
DanMatt Media partners with many other advertising and marketing companies to offer SEM and SEO services. These agencies will bring us their existing clients who wish to promote their goods and services via the major search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc). DanMatt Media creates, maintains, and optimizes these search campaigns for our agency partners.
It’s a great arrangement for everyone. The client receives top-notch SEM and SEO services, and full transparency into how their SEM and SEO campaign is being run. Reports are sent each month highlighting keyword terms, costs per click, and traffic estimates. Our agency partners receive SEM and SEO services at a fraction of the cost of doing it themselves, with no work required on their part. DanMatt Media’s SEM and SEO teams handle everything, from initial set-up to daily maintenance, so our agency partners can focus on their business needs.
If you’re an advertising agency and you have clients who are interested in SEM and SEO services, give us a call or send us a request via our website. We can partner with you to provide these services at a fraction of the cost of doing it yourselves. We can provide your clients with the very best search marketing and search optimization campaigns, and give them the full transparency and reporting that they need to be successful. And since we handle all the work, it really is a perfect fit for any agency looking to expand their portfolio of advertising and marketing services.
My Favorite Golf Courses
We love golf here at DanMatt Media. Roughly 2/3 of our employees play the game, and our skill sets range from the very good to the not so good. But one thing we have in common is our love for the game, and the great courses it’s played on. I’m often asked what my favorite courses are, so I thought that would make for an interesting blog post. As such, here are some of my favorite golf courses…
During my college, professional, and amateur golf careers I have been incredibly fortunate to have played some of the greatest golf courses in the country. I played Pebble Beach and Oak Hill Country Club (East) in the US Amateur, Bandon Dunes and Pacific Dunes in the US Mid Amateur, and Chicago Golf Club, Butler National Golf Club, and Skokie Country Club while in college. In the last few years I’ve been lucky enough to have played the Olympic Club (Lake) in San Francisco and Los Angeles Country Club (North) in Los Angeles. All of these golf courses are ranked in the top 100 in the country. But which of these is my favorite?
Answering that question is like trying to determine which of your children you like best. You always have things that you like about each of them, but you really can’t pick a favorite. I can say that my favorite seaside course is Pebble Beach, my favorite parkland course is Oak Hill (East), and my favorite course for everyday play is Skokie Country Club. But I can’t really pick an overall favorite. I just feel incredibly fortunate to have been able to play them.
Now that my professional days are behind me and I work behind a desk for a living, it’s a real treat anytime I get to step on a golf course. One day I hope I can play golf with my son, and with a bit of luck we’ll be able to tee it up together at any of my favorite courses that I mentioned above. By the way, in case you were wondering, the photo in this blog post is of the world famous 15th hole at Oak Hill (East). Watch for it on TV during this year’s PGA Championship.
Take Advantage Of The NHL Playoffs
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Finally, the NHL playoffs are here!
There is nothing better than to watch your favorite team chase down the opportunity to raise Lord Stanley’s Cup! Having offices in Colorado and Washington DC, DanMatt Media has an even split amongst Avalanche and Capitals fans. As a avid Washington Capitals fan, I have been to my share of home games at the Verizon Center. There is one difference I have seen between being at the rink and watching them on Comcast Sports Net. It’s those ads you see behind each net on the glass. Those ads are a great way to advertise your business to fan base in your local home town. Historically, TV viewership during the NHL playoffs increase significantly. Majority of those watching these games are home fans who most likely live in the same area, that your business serves. Take advantage of the NHL playoffs by soaking in a great sport and advertising to thousands of potential new clients who live in your home market.
DanMatt Media can help you get your business ads shown behind the net of every home NHL playoff game! We have worked with local television stations in the area and we handle all the heavy lifting! So, just sit back and cheer for your favorite team in the NHL playoffs, take advantage of the increased TV viewership and get your ads up on the glass behind the net. I might be focusing on whether or not Ovi is scoring or if Erskine is dropping the gloves, but those ads definitely catch my eye and make me think twice on who to call when I need an emergency plumber or electrician.
If you are looking for a new eye-catching way to advertise your business, look no further than DanMatt Media. Give us a call today, we will offer you a comprehensive outline of all the available options and help determine the best form of advertising for you and your business.
Calling All Survey Takers
Here at DanMatt Media one of our core competencies is market research panel and survey recruitment. We partner with the world’s leading research firms to bring them the panelists and survey takers that they need to operate their businesses. For us, the fastest growing part of this vertical is the area of survey recruitment.
Recruiting survey takers is more complicated than you might imagine. Research companies rarely allow just anyone to complete their questionnaires. Often times we are asked to recruit people based on very specific targeting requirements; such as age, gender, household income, and location (where the survey takers live). Not only do we have to screen-out those who don’t qualify, but we have to find a price point that allows us to recruit the respondents while at the same time providing the ROI that our clients require. It’s a difficult balancing act, but we enjoy it.
At DanMatt Media we manage these survey recruitment campaigns in-house, which gives our research clients an unparalleled level of transparency. It also ensures that the survey takers we recruit are of the highest quality possible. That’s important to our clients, because they depend on us to provide them with the right sample traffic for the job. We can recruit survey takers in all 50 US states, as well as in Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Brazil, and Australia.
If you’re a market research company (or an agency representing a market research company) and you’ve been looking for the right partner to bring you the survey takers you need, give us a try. You’ll be amazed at what DanMatt Media can do for you.
Working with the Fishes
Who doesn’t love a beautiful aquarium? Having a slice of the tropical ocean in your home or office is an amazing thing. Until recently, it wasn’t possible to keep many species of fish, corals, and invertebrates in captivity. But thanks to advances in technology, anyone now can bring the ocean into their office.
DanMatt Media has locations in the Washington, D.C. and Denver, Colorado areas, and both of our offices have saltwater reef aquariums. These aquariums house a wide variety of animals, including colorful tropical fish, shrimp, clams, crabs, live corals, and even a purple lobster. Our clients and employees enjoy watching the fish swim through the live rock, while the corals sway gently in the current. Let’s face it, work is stressful. There’s no better stress relief than plopping down in a comfortable chair and watching an aquarium for a few minutes.
Creating your own office aquarium needn’t be an expensive endeavor. A simple 20 gallon freshwater tank, complete with a light, gravel, heater, and filter, can be set-up for less than $100. Maintenance of a tank like this consists of nothing more than daily feedings and a 10 minute water change once per week. Of course saltwater aquariums, and the fish and invertebrates that they contain, are much more expensive and require a greater time commitment of their aquarists. A good-sized 75 gallon reef tank would cost you in excess of $2,500 to set-up, but in this humble author’s opinion the return on investment is well worth the expense. In addition to daily feedings, a one hour water change every two weeks would be required to keep this aquarium healthy.
Stop by our Maryland or Colorado offices sometime and have a look at these incredible aquariums. And while you’re here, let us help you to drive more customers to your business. You’ll leave feeling a lot more relaxed than you thought possible.
The Value of Happy Employees
Advertising, by its very nature, is a customer service oriented industry. There are many advertising agencies in the world, and all are engaged in fierce competition for their client’s advertising dollars. Here at DanMatt Media we have made customer service the hallmark of our brand. But it’s impossible to offer our clients great customer service if our employees are unhappy in their jobs. Happy employees are willing to go the extra mile for their clients. Happy employees don’t watch the clock all day, eagerly anticipating getting out of the office. Happy employees buy-into the team environment, and are looking to make contributions to their organization, as well as to their individual careers.
Customer service might be dead in the rest of the world, but it’s alive and well at DanMatt Media. At about this point you might be asking how we foster that attitude. Well, here’s how we do it…
Our employees are treated like adults. We don’t micro-manage them, and we don’t look over their shoulders while they work. If they have a personal matter to attend to, they’re free to do it. We offer perks that many other agencies do not (such as casual dress, free lunches, and enjoyable team-building activities). In short, we give our employees the freedom to do their jobs. We trust them implicitly, and we don’t interfere with their creativity or ideas. All of this leads to happy employees, and by extension, a tremendous commitment to customer service.
Give us a call or send us a website advertising request to see the difference that happy employees can make for your advertising and marketing campaign.