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This place is going to the dogs…

by DogsInternet Advertising

Who doesn’t love a great mascot?  All the major professional sports teams have mascots, and businesses should too.  I’m nominating my dog Chloe (pictured above as a puppy) as the official DanMatt Media mascot.

Chloe is a Bichon Frise, and she just celebrated her 10th birthday last month.  Unfortunately she has been handicapped for the last 7 years, the result of major spinal surgery to repair a disc that was impinging on her spinal cord when she was only 3 years old.  Chloe never fully regained the ability to walk, though she does manage to get around.  She is most definitely “front-wheel drive”, and tends to drag her hind legs a bit as she walks.  We have to manually express her bladder three times a day, but she’s a very sweet, very loving part of the family.  We wouldn’t change much about her, save for perhaps her atrocious doggie breath.

But we have other contenders for the title of official DanMatt Media mascot.  We have Bailey and Maggie, two beautiful dogs who were rescued from the pound by my father, the president of DanMatt Media.  Bailey is pretty much the ideal dog.  Smart, loyal, and well behaved.  Maggie is a continual work-in-progress, but she’s very cute and has a wonderful disposition.

Eugene, who runs our SEO and SEM teams, has Shiloh (a Puggle), and Mochi, (a Shepherd mix).  Shiloh is full of energy, and a bit stubborn.  Mochi is your typical puppy.  She loves attention, loves to lick, and loves to antagonize her older doggie sibling.

Justin, who runs our online marketing teams, has Bear, (a Pit Bull, Rottweiler, and Labrador mix), and Lucy, (a Rottweiler and hound mix).  Bear is 90 pounds of love, happiness, and energy.  Lucy is very playful and protective.

Perhaps the saying “this place is going to the dogs” isn’t such a bad thing after all…

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The value of a face-to-face meeting

by Internet AdvertisingMarket ResearchOnline MarketingPrint AdvertisingSocial Media Marketing

We’ve all heard the saying… “Customer service is dead”.  One round trip flight on a US carrier will assuredly confirm that for most of us.  But here at DanMatt Media customer service is alive and well.

We’re fortunate to live at a time when technology makes our lives and businesses easier and more convenient.  Contracts can be negotiated and signed over email.  Meetings can be held on conference calls and web cams.  We can all have longterm, lucrative partnerships with clients and vendors without ever having met them face-to-face.  But is that really the way it should be?

There’s no doubt that most of my client and publisher relationships were born through email, and nurtured over the phone.  We have clients all over the United States, and a few overseas as well (including England, India, Australia, and Romania).  Seeing them in person is a tall order (though I have made it to England and Australia so far).  But whenever possible, I like to meet my clients face-to-face.

I want them to see the passion I have for their marketing efforts.  I want to look them in the eye and promise them that I will do everything I can to help them achieve their goals.  I want to visit their offices so that I can get a personal feel for what they do and how they do it.  You can’t do those things over email or phone calls, so whenever possible I make sure to visit them and meet with them face-to-face.

If you’re not getting that level of customer service from your marketing partners, you should be.  After all, it’s your money, and it’s your campaign.  Modern technology and convenience are great, and we all take advantage of it every single day.  But nothing beats the value of a face-to-face meeting.

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Is Olympia Fields Country Club overrated? Not in my book.

by Internet Advertising

Golf.com, a website that I enjoy visiting quite frequently, just published a list of their 10 most overrated golf courses in the world (http://www.golf.com/photos/10-golf-courses-get-too-much-love).

Ironically, three of those courses were in my college hometown of Chicago (which I consider to have the best collection of golf courses outside of the state of New York).  I’ve played all three of the ones listed in the Chicago area, and I agree with one of them (Medinah).  But Olympia Fields North, which I’m set to play again in a few weeks during their National Fourball Championship, should not be on the list.

Olympia Fields CC is a great, old-fashioned club located in the southwest portion of Chicagoland.  They have two golf courses, the venerable North course (where Jim Furyk won his only major championship in the 2003 US Open) and the recently renovated South course.  The North is long, difficult, and tree-lined, but there are still opportunities for birdies.  Good shots are rewarded, and bad shots are punished.  It’s a scenic and classic test that I very much enjoy playing.  It has all the design elements that one would look for in a great course (length, elevation change, difficulty, water hazards, trees, and bunkers).  I’m not sure what Golf.com thought it was missing, but I haven’t seen anything lacking.

Truth be told Olympia Fields North is not in my top 10 favorite golf courses, and it’s not even my favorite golf course in Chicagoland (that would be Skokie CC), but it is deserving of its place among the Top 100 golf courses in the country.  If you get a chance to play it, I highly recommend that you do.  And the photo above is the beautiful par 4 third hole at Olympia Fields North, just to give you a sense of the grandeur of the place.

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What are you looking for in an agency partner?

by Internet AdvertisingOnline Marketing

Typically I write one of these blog posts a month.  They usually take the form of an essay on either work-related topics, golf, or a timely event (like last month’s entry on March Madness).  But for the month of April I thought I might try something different.  Namely, I’d like to ask the handful of people who read my blog posts what they are ideally looking for in an agency partner.

Giving our clients the services they need at the prices they can afford is a difficult balancing act.  Often the budgets we have to work with are less than what we would like to have in order to guarantee success, but I’d like to think we do a good job with what we’re given.  If you’ve read these posts you know that customer service and transparency are a key component of our agency, and every DanMatt Media client receives both no matter how much they’re spending with us.

But what I’d really like to find out is where our future clients place their priorities.  Is price the most important factor when choosing an online and offline agency to help grow your business?  Is expertise and business acumen the first thing you look for when you select an agency to partner with on your digital marketing campaign?  Are you looking for a balance between the two?  Is your ROI the deciding factor when you make your choice?

I would like to invite anyone reading this post to share some quick feedback on what you would look for in an agency partner.  It’s always helpful to have outside opinions, and we welcome them.  You can send your feedback to info@danmattmedia.com, and I promise you it will be read, reviewed, and taken to heart.

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Here’s why performance-based marketing makes sense for your business

by Internet AdvertisingMarket ResearchOnline Marketing

There are all kinds of ways to grow your business and attract new customers.  Here at DanMatt Media we specialize in helping our clients to do just that.  We accomplish client growth through many different advertising and marketing channels, including our risk-free, performance-based offerings.

Business owners these days are continually having to do more with less.  As industries get more and more competitive, businesses find that they have to grow while keeping costs down.  Often times that means minimizing risk, and that’s exactly what performance-based marketing does.

DanMatt Media has an online marketing team that specializes in sending high-quality email, banner/display, and social media traffic to our client’s campaigns.  These include our eCommerce clients, where potential customers purchase products with a credit card, as well as our lead generation clients, where users fill out a website form.  It’s risk-free advertising for our customers, because DanMatt Media only gets paid a commission when their product is purchased or their form is filled-out.

The same can be said for market research services.  DanMatt Media works with multiple survey clients to bring them the completed surveys they need.  We send targeted, high-quality sample traffic to our client’s surveys, and we only get paid a commission when those surveys are filled out.  That means risk-free market research campaigns and the highest traffic quality in the industry.

Lastly, our pay-per-call (PPC) print services can drive traffic to your eCommerce or lead generation campaign through our network of national yellow page directories.  As with our online marketing and market research offerings, this is a performance-based model.  Our pay-per-call clients only pay us for the targeted phone calls they receive.  It’s a great way to augment your online performance-based strategy.

So if you’re a business owner or executive looking to grow your revenues and attract new customers, online and offline, give our performance-based marketing solutions a try.  You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

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Dealing with disappointment

by Internet Advertising

When I got out of professional golf and into online marketing I took a job at a digital agency here in Denver.  I was in a sales/business development role and I vividly remember my boss telling me how difficult it is to be a sales person.  He told me that there would almost assuredly be more downs than ups, but that I had to stay positive and weather the storm.  I wasn’t sure what to make of it at the time, but within a couple of weeks I quickly found myself agreeing with him.

Simply put, sales is hard.  I can’t tell you how many times our business development staff (which includes me) have been ignored, hung-up on, yelled at, and even cursed at.  You’d be amazed at how nasty some people can be over the phone.  And what always frustrates and baffles me are the potential clients who say they are ready to move forward, but then mysteriously never return a phone call or email again.

Dealing with disappointment is a part of life, and it’s definitely a part of business.  Especially when you’re in a sales role.  I won’t lie to you.  I get down when we lose out on a project to a competitor, especially when I know that competitor will not do a good job for the client.  I get down when a deal looks promising and then for some unknown reason I never hear back from the prospect. And I get down when a project doesn’t perform as well as we had hoped it would.

Getting knocked down is just an occupational hazard of being in sales, but over the years I’ve found it’s best to stay positive and to keep things in perspective.  I try to look at all the deals that have fallen through as a way to weed-out the projects that weren’t meant to be.  I try to look at the rude comments and the lack of responses as a way to weed-out the clients that wouldn’t be a good fit.  And I try to remember that DanMatt Media always puts our clients first, even when that isn’t the most attractive option for us.

Staying positive can be awfully hard to do sometimes, but it’s the lifeblood of any good sales person. The next time I get down at work I’d appreciate it if someone would remind me to re-read this blog post!

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Celebrating our 20th year in business!

by Internet AdvertisingOnline MarketingPrint Advertising

This June will mark our 20th year in business.  DanMatt Media was founded way back in 1994 as a national print advertising agency.  We’re still going strong in print, but we’ve now added all kinds of online and offline advertising and marketing solutions to our portfolio.  A quick glance at our website will tell you just how much we’ve grown over the years.

20 years is a long time.  To put things in perspective, when DanMatt Media was founded the average price for a gallon of gas was $1.11, the average cost of a new home was $154,000, and Bill Clinton was only midway through his first term as president.  Jay Leno, who just wrapped-up 22 years as the host of The Tonight Show, was only two years into that role.

So how does a company stay in business for 20 years?  Well, for starters they hire and retain good employees.  We’re not a large company, but we have great employees who are always striving to be the best they can be.  Many of our employees have been with us for 5 or more years.  In an era of large-scale attrition and turnover that really helps us to stand out from our competitors.

Another way you stay in business for 20 years is by constantly putting your clients first.  Many things have changed in the last 20 years, but one thing that hasn’t changed is our commitment to customer service and satisfaction.  Customer service might be dead in the rest of the world, but it’s alive and well at DanMatt Media.  We answer phone calls and emails promptly, we are honest and upfront with our clients, and we always treat them the way we would want to be treated ourselves.

Finally, you stay in business for 20 years by changing with the times.  As I mentioned earlier we’re still leaders in print advertising, but as the landscape has changed, we have changed with it.  We now offer solutions such as SEM, SEO, email and banner/display marketing, social media marketing, radio and television advertising, and web design.  In today’s highly competitive world a company cannot afford to rest on its laurels.

Here’s to another great 20 years!

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Focusing on work, kids, and occasionally golf

by Internet Advertising

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…

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The Value of Happy Employees

by Internet Advertising

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.

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Google Sponsored Links and March Madness

by Internet Advertising

Any die-hard sporting fan will tell you the next month and a half is the best time of the year. College basketball conference tournaments will be starting up soon, and then the best sporting event in the world, also known as March Madness, is set to tip off. When you begin to search for those sites who offer free March Madness pools, take some time to consider the sponsored links at the top of the page (also known as Google Sponsored Links or Google PPC). Clinking on these links costs you nothing in the way of money.  These links are actually advertisements directed towards users like you, based on what you searched for. You might find a better March Madness hosting site via the Google sponsored links than visiting the organic section on the Google search results page.

The same can be said for anything you search for on Google, whether it’s March Madness or a master plumber in your town. These businesses who place these advertisement under the sponsored links want to do business with you. It’s the same as if you were searching your Sunday newspaper for new deals on home appliances. You know those advertisements are in the paper are paid for by businesses looking for your patronage. Do you still ignore them just because they are advertisements/solicitations for you? Absolutely not.  In fact you are drawn to them because it’s what you are looking for.

Google sponsored links are no different.  Try them today and see if you find a better results, and possibly a better deal.