By Josh Sommers
Published: 04/09/10

No business, whatever its size, has unlimited resources for marketing. That’s why every dollar spent on promotion has to count.

If your company was advertising accounting services, you wouldn’t buy ads on MTV. Similarly, promoting auto parts in a magazine focused on early child years also would not be the best use of [...]

By Josh Sommers
Published: 04/02/10

Social networking is sweeping across all industry sectors in the Hudson Valley at a speed I’ve never seen before.

Over the last three weeks, we’ve created six Facebook pages for clients, and coached many others on Twitter and other forms of social media. It’s a fascinating time as businesses rush to this new [...]

March 26, 2010

Walk down any main street and ask people to name their representatives in Congress, the state Senate or the local municipal board.

Most people won’t know, or are simply confused about who sits in what seat. I’ve run my share of political and public perception polls. In general, people are unengaged, don’t pay attention [...]

By Josh Sommers
Posted: March 19, 2010

Public relations geeks were tuned in, pardon the pun, to the recent conflict involving WABC-7 and Cablevision. The very public battle between the two companies temporarily led to dead air on Channel 7 for Cablevision subscribers.

Consumers usually don’t have a whole lot of patience when they get inconvenienced by spats [...]

By Josh Sommers
Posted: March 12, 2010
If you lay Toyota’s image issues on the line, it’s not pretty. In the eyes of the public, Toyota put bottom line over safety and clung to information rather than favor disclosure for the benefit of public safety. Toyota screwed up — big time.
They know it. Worse: We know it. [...]

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 [...]