By Josh Sommers
Posted: March 05, 2010

Sometimes gifts, or a really great deal, is what it takes for people to try, or retry, a product.

Banks offer free kitchen gadgets or promotional products when you open certain types of accounts or sign up as a customer at a new branch. Casinos often offer free slot dollars for [...]

By Josh Sommers
Posted: February 05, 2010 – 2:00 AM

My brother, David, was working in the north tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. After watching, in horror, as the towers fell, we didn’t hear from him for several hours. My family was lucky. We eventually heard from him. Two of my neighbors [...]

by Josh Sommers Posted: January 29, 2010

Successfully marketing yourself and your business is all about multiple touch points. With so many marketing vehicles — like direct mail, print and broadcast, e-mail is a medium that can be part of a winning marketing program. But the initial steps of setting up your program are the most [...]

By Josh Sommers, Posted: January 22, 2010 -

Do you want to increase awareness of your business in the marketplace? Would you like to position yourself as an expert in your industry? Are you looking for a new way for prospects to find your Web site?

If your answer is affirmative on just one of the above [...]

by Josh Sommers
Posted: January 15, 2010 -

As a 1980s kid and avid baseball fan, I was pretty excited one day to open a package of Topps baseball cards and find a Mark Mc-Gwire rookie card. It was clear he was going places. Just too bad he ended up being a cheat and the poster boy [...]

By Josh Sommers
Posted: January 08, 2010

People will pay more for quality. In a bad economy, they will do so within reason. Do you charge more for your product or service than your competitors? If so, have you educated the marketplace as to why?

Nike charges more for its sneakers than similar brands. And you’ll pay a [...]

By Josh Sommers
Posted: December 18, 2009
Turn on one of the network television channels and you’re likely to see one of Gov. David Paterson’s latest commercials. A political TV campaign in December is a rarity.

But Paterson, heading a state government in financial ruin during the worst recession in a generation, wears his incumbency like an albatross [...]

By Josh Sommers
December 11, 2009
You don’t have to be a public-relations expert to figure out that Tiger Woods needs to learn a lot about crisis management.

One of Nike’s first campaigns about Woods featured children running up a hill with golf bags and taking their first swings. Each of them said, “I’m Tiger Woods.” When that [...]

Ads must say what you sell
By Josh Sommers, December 04, 2009

It never fails. You see a print, outdoor or online ad for a company, review it a couple of times, and still can’t figure out what the company does or sells.

That’s bad, and usually a waste of a company’s marketing resources.

While advertisements certainly [...]

by Josh Sommers
Posted: November 20, 2009

I’ve run my share of media campaigns for political candidates. Campaigns are not easy, and sometimes, no matter how hard you work, winning is almost impossible when running against a popular incumbent or better funded-opponent.

The odds were no doubt stacked against Democrat Glenn Kroll in this year’s Sullivan County district [...]