How do you get your event, product, and company to stand out in a crowd?

In a world where we are all connected and information is passed instantaneously how as marketers can we stand out in a crowded marketplace?

It used to be that money was a determining factor of who could get their message out to the masses but with the creation of the Internet in one giant swoop the playing field of getting your word out has been leveled.  This is a GREAT thing but it also makes it even more important that you turn on your creative juices and make sure that you aren't even near the box when thinking of new ways to position your company.

So you want to create a successful event either as a fundraiser or a launch party,  what's the first step?  You need to think on it.  You need to throw some ideas around in your mind and see where they take you.  You need to come with an idea that hasn't already been done like an auction, and if it has been done you need to come up with a great twist to make people stop in their tracts when they hear about it.   One thing you can do is take an event that was successful in the past and revive it with an updated feel and makeover.

Think simple. Think believable.  Think big.  Think exciting.  Think practical.  Think interactive.  Think location.

Are you trying to create an event to raise money for a charity?  People don't mind spending money when they are happy, laughing, enjoying themselves and having a good time.  Something about all those endorphins flying around people's brains that make them open their wallets and feel good about spending especially when its going to a good cause. 

Who is your targeted audience and what did they love doing when they had kids and even better do they have kids now?  Try to create an event where people can relive their childhoods and then share the experience with their own children.  If people don't have to get a baby sitter you've just eliminated one of the obstacles to getting them to your event and fund raiser.  When you have your idea for your event, close your eyes and picture it playing out in your mind.  Start at the finish line and envision all of the people pulling up in their cars. Where are they going to park? Do you have enough parking that is close by and convenient to the event?  What are the people wearing? Are they casual, formal, or ready to get messy?  Oops someone has to go to the bathroom. Do you have that covered?


If you are hosting a mud football tournament between the fire and police department how are you going to make the mud?  What do people love to eat outside when they are watching a football game? How will fans be able to make noise when they are rooting for the chief of police? And how will people be able to remember this great event once it is over? Will they be able to grab a souvenir t'shirt with sponsors listed on the back to where when they go to the dump or their kids soccer games promoting the event for next year?

How did people hear about your event?  Did they invite their friends to come with them? Was there an incentive for them to buy their tickets early?  Did the fire and police departments help get the word out?  Were there prizes or raffles for the crowds?

Go on an on with this line of questioning and try to uncover every piece of information that could possibly happen or make your event great or not so great. Spend a few days imagining your event playing out in your mind and then throw the idea around with some friends and look for their reactions.  If you can turn your fundraiser into a community event then the chance for success is higher and people will be expecting it to become an annual event and it will grow and grow year after year!

Questions? Ideas?  shoot me an email - jennifer@tylerryangroup.com

Idea, Communication, and Action

Really big ideas produce really big results.  We often marvel at businesses who seem to be in the right place at the right time and come through with a huge sensation out of nowhere.  "Why didn't I think of that?"  The funny thing is there are a lot of things that we actually do think of but never act on or let go of before we've realized their full potential.

Christopher Columbus had the biggest idea of his day and against popular vote knew in his heart that the Earth was in fact round.  He needed a lot of cash to prove his idea to be true and went to the biggest Venture Capitalist that came to his mind, Queen Isabella.  Can you even imagine the speech he had to give to convince her that against everything she had been taught and believed there was a possibility that the shape of their planet was actually different than always thought?

He did it. We can only imagine the scene and how it played out but the point is that he did it.  Christopher Columbus mustered up the strength, faith, belief, and perseverance to go where no man has gone before.  He had an idea, he communicated it to anyone he could get to listen, and he took action to prove his idea.  It seems simple enough so why is it such a hard premise for most of us to take hold of and put into play?  Maybe it's a little bit of fear from the unknown mixed with some self doubt or maybe its just that we've been told too many times that something is not possible.

Some of my greatest achievements in business came from situations where an idea popped into my head, I picked up the phone to connect with someone, and  just made it happen.  I didn't leave any room for self doubt or questions to flood in and never once let myself believe that it wasn't possible to achieve this new goal I had set.  Looking back over my career I realize that the moment I let something sit too long in the thinking stage before I acted on it - the idea usually became dead in the water and never went anywhere.  The point is  that by nature we are meant to create.  Don't be to attached that your final outcome is exactly what you  envisioned. Creating can get messy and sometimes from our miscalculations or mistakes come the greatest outcomes and achievements. 

The next time an idea pops into your head promise yourself that before you dismiss it you'll share it with a friend and take at least one step in the direction of making it happen.  You never know what it will become.

Remember to Explore

There's a big world out there waiting for you to drop everything and explore.  It's time for you to let go of all your preconceived notions and remember what it is like to be open to new smells, sights, tastes, and ways of thinking.  We've been doing business in our own corner of the world for years without acknowledging that some of the most awe inspiring places exist outside of our borders.  When is the last time you sat in a restaurant and you were the minority, where you hung on every foreign word spoken trying to piece together the conversation? 

A field of yellow daffodils offers the perfect inspiration for a new color scheme for your Spring Line, a spicy serving of fresh fish from Mexico offers a new line of sauces, and the view from Mt. Everest provides you with the courage to launch a new business.  If we forget to leave the place that we feel most comfortable and most at home we risk loosing one of the greatest opportunities for self growth and awareness. If we as individuals become stagnant and closed in our way of thinking and being, then we risk missing out on the possibilities that life has to offer us up each and every day.  Remember to step outside of your comfort zone and purchase a ticket to the place you've always longed to visit.  When you arrive at your new destination try letting yourself go where the wind may take you and not mapping out your entire adventure.   Hop on a bike and fill your back with a baguette and fresh brie.  Drink from the spicket of an old farm that you pass by and stop to ask a stranger for his favorite place to spread a picnic blanket. 

Before you know it you will be engaged in a conversation that will change your perspective on one of your deepest core beliefs, before you know it you will have a new favorite song, and before you know it you will no longer be longing for your favorite brand of ketchup.  You will have opened yourself up to a new way of thinking and that my friend will open you up to new possibilities and a new sense of adventure.  And when you are done exploring and ready to return home, I promise you will be refreshed and renewed.  Your comfortable life and familiar neighborhood will suddenly feel much bigger and more interesting than it did when you left.  You will be looking at all it encompasses with a new set of glasses, one's that are less tinted with your past experience and belief system. Your new set of glasses will be able to see people and places for what they may represent not what they have represented in the past.

Just back from Mexico, I am already trying to plan a trip to Belize for next summer.  Other than that I will wait and see where the wind takes me.

To skype or not to skype....that is the question!

Just loaded the dinner dishes, finished loading backpacks for tomorrow, started the dryer, and sitting down to work on Sharcula, November Night, Get On Board, and finish a proposal for my good friend Tom.  TRG Northeast is underway and growing.  We have signed clients, prospects, events, and life is good.  I love working from home around my kids schedule and most of the time, Tyler and I can connect for quick thoughts or issues via text or mobile.  It works. TRG's headquarters are in Columbia, South Carolina and for now TRG Northeast is successfully working from South Berwick, Maine.

Then every once in a while we come a cross a project or a piece of a campaign that we just can't seem to get on the same page.  Specifically today we are trying to iron out a facebook application and the best positioning that can be achieved for a client. My head is in one place and Tyler's is on a train to Anchorage. (kidding! - don't get your panties in a ruffle.)  From the very beginning of our meeting back on Facebook and our discussing building the Northeast office together for TRG, I have been urged to get SKYPE so that we may communicate more effectively.  For some reason there is something inside of me that screams "no flippin way Tyler".  Actually, let's be honest.  I know what the reason is and wondering if you, any of you might agree with me.

Remember when we were kids and the Jetson's were like one of a handful of shows on Saturday mornings to watch? "Meet George Jetson, Jane, Judy, Elroy, and Rosie etc.."  The one piece of technology that intrigued me the most as a little girl was the talking TV phone where George would picture home and explain why he had to work late or to find out what he needed to grab at the store for his wife.  It has always stuck with and not out of fascination. I have always fell victim to Bedhead.  My hair has enough curl and volume to make it look like the Bride of Frankenstein when I wake up.  The thought of someone calling at any given moment and having to be face to face when not having paid the least amount of attention to what I may look like is not my idea of a good time. 

As I'm putting my thoughts down I'm starting to have questions about my objections of using Skype in business and wondering how valid they are.  There is just something strange about the whole concept to me and where I usually embrace all new technology this one has me stumped.  Tell me what your thoughts are about using Skype for business and please be honest it's for posterity.

Star Fish or Sea Stars?

Libby and Anna woke up late this morning and very hungry.  Anna asked for a cheese omelet and Libby requested her newest favorite "Roasted Toast with Strawberries."

No I haven't reinvented a breakfast dish, I wish I could claim I was that talented. Libby likes to give life her own names and affectionately calls French Toast, "Roasted Toast".  Whole wheat bread soaked in eggs, milk, vanilla, and sugar/cinnamon and then placed on a buttered griddle till its nice and crispy. Good Ole Aunt Jemima from my childhood and fresh strawberries on the side and Libby is happy as a clam.  Plus the combination of the omelet with the roasted toast made my kitchen smell like the Maine Diner on a Sunday Fall morning.  LOVE IT!  What in the world does this have to do with Sea Stars or how can it be remotely connected to business?

Here it is...my good friend Perrin Cothran, Education Director of the Seacoast Science Center brought her little girl over for breakfast, business, and a chance to catch up on girl talk.  The kids played and Perrin and I sat and ate and laughed.  The conversation eventually made its way to Touch Tanks For Kids and the strategic marketing campaign TRG Northeast is putting together on an International Scope.  We began discussing the big vision of how it would all play out in regards to being an educational program to build awareness and help clean up the oceans.  I brought up the story of Star Fish that Mike had told me and the minute I said it I knew I had made the biological blunder of the decade. For those of you who don't know, Star Fish, are now being referred to as "Sea Stars".  I had learned this tasty morsel of a fact at Anna's spring field trip to the Seacoast Science Center.  Our educator had politely asked us to refrain from calling our familiar friends, Star Fish and to refer to them with their new accepted scientific name, Sea Star.

Later on in the day I was poised with the question should someone change their name if a life situation calls for it or should they keep their birth name? Should celebrities keep their birth names or should they adopt a stage name? Why do we as individuals have such a fascination with pet names, pseudonyms, stage names, nicknames, acronyms, and trade names.  As businesses we try to invent and reinvent names so that we may trademark them and somehow claim ownership.  Why? Our creative genius and how we position ourselves, products, and companies has become an industry and for a reason.  People like to stand out as being unique, one step ahead of the curve and when they can make a product, service, or identity their own with a different slant they own it and claim it.  People love to be trend setters and love to plant seeds by nature to see how bigh and far they will grow.  Buisnesses know this and want to cater to the individuals need of standing out and being able to share a compelling story.  By businesses I also mean the entertainment industry - celebrities drop names like Harold Smith to become Jack Black. (not a true statement but you get what I mean) Identity and Labels sell.  Roasted Toast with strawberries sounds much more glamorous to Libby than just plain old French Toast and besides she's the only one in the house currently dining on Roasted Toast.  How eloquent and ahead of her time.

Do I really need a creative strategy or can I just see what happens?

In my twenties, out of college, I had a philosophy.  "Take life as it comes, look for the positive, and go with your gut."  It seemed to work in business and I was able to make some traction adding clients, regions, and new revenue streams for companies.  I actually got a little bit of an ego as I became known as the door opener.  The problem was that I would open up just about any door that came my way regardless of whether or not I believed in their product or thought their company was strong and had merit.  I often found myself in precarious situations in business dealing with people and issues that weren't always the most positive and I would shake my head and wonder what I had done to deserve such clients. 

Flash forward ten years or so without giving up my exact age and I sit here smiling at my younger self.  If you sit down stream in any old spot in the river anything might pass you by.  You have choices and you can move from your spot at any given time. There are no rules as to how you make your choices and how you set your standards.  In my twenties if my boss asked me to pick up another trade show for a fellow employee I would automatically say yes even if I had just gotten home the day before, my pipeline was full of clients, and I was swamped with incoming/outgoing calls.  It never crossed my mind that I could actually say no to my boss.  So off I went packed and ready for another NACA show, sleep deprived, cranky, and stressed from not being caught up with clients. 

If amazing opportunities exist in times when you let "what may come your way" be your strategy imagine the possibilities and opportunities you will run into if you actually creative an effective strategy and position yourself and business where you want to be in a  global market.  What if you made the decision consciously that you were only going to work with clients and prospects who fit a certain criteria?  What if once you determined your targeted demographic you did some research and uncovered which region of the country most of those individuals or business resided in, and then imagine if once you had this incredibly valuable information you created a strategy that was tailored to their interests, needs, and decision making process.  Business no longer seems so much like a shot in the dark and you have just cleared away ten years of doing business with what happens to flow down the river into your lap.

As in life, synergy plays an important role in business.  If you try to shove a square peg in a round hole you may actually get it to fit and pass through but the results could be less than desirable and very messy.  If you take the time to search out the round pegs with the right diameter think of how much your level of productivity just increased.  It seems so simple and makes so much sense now as I sit here in my midland thirties nearing forty, but are you owning it?  I'm trying to and the more I create targeted strategies for TRG Northeast and also my clients the more I'm convinced that you can shorten your sales cycle, increase productivity, tighten up operations, and make yourself happy because you are working where and with who you most desire!

For me? I am exactly where I want to be, developing TRG Northeast for Tyler Ryan Group.

We're building a company with a future not just a revenue stream.

Tyler Ryan Group is nearly ten years old and has been building its foundation one customer at a time.  Not just wanting to make the quick dollar but making sure that the right campaign was strategically placed and positioned with the clients best interest at heart.    If you build something solid that provides value and benefit than the dollar will follow!

TRG Northeast is taking the knowledge and expertise that has been growing and building for the past ten years and combining it with Jennifer Houghton's business experiences and networks built from the past 20 years in the North to make an even bigger impact up and down the East Coast.

Tyler has promised Jennifer "the sky's the limit".  Jennifer simply stated, "let's get it done".

To find out more about Tyler Ryan Group visit our website!

It's always good to receive positive feedback - especially when it comes from your CEO!

“When you look to take a big expansion step in your company, there are a few key players that can make or break you.  Recruiting the right people is often daunting.  It’s just shy of fate that I found the right person to head TRG Northeast not on a website or an ad…I just had to go back 25 years in school pictures.  I am very excited to welcome Jennifer in overseeing TRG-Northeast.  Since the minute we first spoke about the idea, she has been nonstop building not only the firm, but every client that was on my radar and relationships she had enjoyed for a long time.  Her vision, experience, and drive make it instantly clear her motives are to not only growing TRG Northeast, but doing by building a long list of successful clients along the way.”

Tyler Ryan

President/CEO

Tyler Ryan Group

TRG-Northeast