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.

Keeping it Green and Healthy

You are at a really good place.  You're established in your business and or career, the sun is shining, and everything is coming in green and smelling like roses.  Congratulations! Give yourself a giant pat on the back and tell yourself job well done!  You've made it through the honeymoon stage, past the rocky mountains and finally here you sit in the golden prairies of life.  Now what?

Well you should certainly take off some well deserved time for yourself. Remember what it is like to be you and now that you are not nose to the grind for 80 hours a week seek out some balance in life.  Take 60 minutes at lunch in the gym, travel to the mountains on the weekend, or even book that extended trip to Europe, just remember in the back of your mind that you need to have your plan in place to keep your daily business thriving and well maintained.

Just like your front lawn once you have all the weeds vanished and you are left with a vibrant green carpet spreading out to welcome your neighbors and visitors your stable business is going to take some care and effort to keep performing at the level you want.  By no means is it going to require the blood, sweat, and tears that it took to reach this new plateau but just say lets make sure you are leveraging your knowledge and experience from building it to keep it where it is and actually get it ready for the next round of growth if that is something you desire.

1. Develop a "to do" list to keep your current level maintained
2. Look for ways to keep your business in the eyes of your customers and prospects
3. Create fresh new activities for your business to stay involved in the community
4. Interact with your customers and prospects - reach out to them regularly to say hello and see how they are doing.
5. Use the holidays and anniversaries to say thank you for their business and to recognize the impact they make on your bottom line. - Gratitude!

Stay the course and continue taking care of the foundation you have just built until you are ready to put on an addition and watch your baby grow again!

Jennifer Houghton
TRG Northeast
Tyler Ryan Group
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Really? Did I just bite off more than I can chew?

Feeling Overwhelmed?  Did you put yourself out there to the world beyond your comfort zone and now feeling as though you have no clue how to move forward?  No worries mate. It's nothing that a little time and list making can't take care of and produce the best possible results.

When you start a new chapter in life or in your business you can quickly begin feeling overwhelmed.  You are inudated with new ideas, people, places, and programs and it feels as though you will never be able to organize this new world in your mind and make sense of it.  Change naturally produces endorphins and can make even the calmest individual feel as though they now have ADD.  I'm there now with TRG Northeast.  Tyler, my partner was here for three days this week and we filled the time with client, prospect, and social meetings to make the most of his visit.  I even made him come with me to some of my "have to do in life" things just so he could get a clear picture of how my daily schedule flows with the business and being my mom.  I'm sure it was overwhelming to him to have to get ready for a client meeting with a house full of kids, neighbors stopping by, and a teenager that had to be somewhere in ten minutes.  My new business partner made me proud.  Not only did he rise to the occasion at our business meetings he was able to go with the flow with all of my "mommy duties" and unavoidable sidetrips and delays.

One of the things that I learned from working with Tyler this week is no matter where you are and what you are doing take the time to acknowledge those you have met and the possiblities that may exist in the future from working together.  Now with our addictive smartphones we can instanly plug in our new contacts, send them gratitude and thoughts of future dealings before we even hit the interstate.   We used to have to exchange biz cards, jot down some notes on the back of the card, fly home from the tradeshow, sit at our desks Monday morning and create emails or thank you cards to keep our new connections alive.  Modern Technology has simplified the process but you still have to remember to make the effort and to care about the connections you've made stepping out of the comfort zone of your office.

Where am I going with all of this?  Tyler sent me a you tube video that was a parody about biting off more than you can chew and it triggered some of my insecurities that I run into time and time again in business.  When I am out and about in the community or abroad I get an adrenaline rush from meeting new people and experiencing new places and then when I return home I feel overwhelmed by the thought of not being able to keep up with all of my new relationships and opportuniites.  I am a self proclaimed people pleaser and never want to feel as though I let anyone down.  So here I sit writing a daily blog that I haven't touched in almost a week, needing to send out some overdue proposals, having to finish up some press releases and of course wondering if I bit off more than I can chew.  NAH!! Make a damn list, take a deep breath, and know that you are doing the best that you can do.  Stay focused on your list crossing off each line one by one and at the same time stay balanced.  Accomplish a few of your tasks than get up, move away from your computer and do something for yourself that makes you happy.  Do something that screams I am being me.   Okay don't laugh but when I need to become defrazzled I take a shower.

Something about being somewhere where I can just check out for five minutes and have time to myself brings me back to a place of balance AND  I might add I've gotten some of my best ideas in the shower.

If you want - let's do a coffee meeting.

Jen Houghton
TRG Northeast
www.tylerryangroup.com
207.450.8441
Marketing! It's what we do.

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!

Free Press - it doesn't have to be painful.

Remember as a kid visiting your grandparents house and fooling around on their old fashioned typewriter? This is all relative depending on who is reading this blog but let me give you my visual.  I was the youngest of 26 grandchildren born into my mother's family.  So needless to say my grandparents were always old and had really cool things at their house.  For some reason I remember being mesmerized with two of their items: a very old typewriter like this one and their very old beagle dog.  For very long blocks of time I would hover over the keys and just look at them.  I don't think I was even old enough to type or form an entire written thought but more than anything I wanted to get my fingers on those keys.
My grandparents born in the late 19th century prescribed to the train of thought that children should be seen but never heard so visits were most often painful and terribly long.  Opportunity would present itself and they would leave the room to share this or that with my parents and I would be able to take a precious strike at the keys and more often than not I would skin my finger on the metal arm from trying to hit it so quick.  Now I can envision reporters and businessmen sitting at those keys and painstakingly typing out their message or story trying to get it perfect each and every time.

Today - writing and publishing your work is as simple as it gets and the opportunities for free press for your business or organization are endless.  Even if you're not a writer putting together a press release is nothing short of filling in a template with all of the information you are trying to share with the world about your product, service, or event.  Always send off your press releases on letterhead whether going through the mail or being sent out electronically.  Your logo should appear at the top of the release and  PRESS RELEASE in bold capital letters needs to jump out at you from the page.  Remember that your purpose is to share as many pertinent details with the publication you are contacting to give them the whole entire story and if you catch their interest they will already have the building blocks of their angle.  Put your most important data and facts in the beginning.  Give a quick summary of what you are announcing and then go into more details in the following paragraphs and finally end with a summary of what you have told them.  When you are happy with your release and ready to end it make sure you include ### on the next line centered. This is a visual clue to the editor that you are done and complete.

You don't have to be a brilliant writer to get your press releases in the news just make sure that when you send out a copy that it is actually interesting and newsworthy.  You can be creative with your headline to make it stand out in the pile of other releases hot off the press.

Don't be intimidated by the process if you've never done it before.  Don't let fear hold you back from taking advantage of  one of the best way to get your word out there to your foot soldiers.  Remember that people like to be "in the know" and you are doing the general public a service by letting them know about your product and service! It's a good thing that you are doing!

If you have any questions or need any help, give me a call!

Jennifer Houghton
TRG Northeast
www.tylerryangroup.com
207-450-8441
jennifer@tylerryangroup.com
Marketing! It's what we do.

How strong is your logo?

Ideally you want your customers to be able to identify your company and product by a symbol.  That its your end goal when building your brand and creating your marketing strategy.  Most kids today can identify 1000's of brands by image alone without the company name anywhere in sight.

It's not going to happen overnight and it requires a lot of forethought and vision on your part. The best piece of advice is to keep it simple and go with your gut.  Most of us won't be able to come up with and create the graphic on our own so we'll need to bring in an outside talent to translate our ideas and what we are trying to achieve.  You will however in an instant know whether or not the graphic created to represent your entire brand and line of products and services is the right fit for you and your business.  Trust that intuition and know that you are going to need to commit to the basic  premise of the logo.

There's no doubt that your new logo will need to evolve over time as both your company grows and changes along with the market but you still want to make sure that the foundation you lay will be strong enough to carry you way into the future.

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

It's all about to change - are you ready?

It's Monday morning just shy of 9:00am on the East coast and in the day it's the time that just about everyone commuting to an office is getting ready to pull up there chair to the desk and say, "OK, let's do this."

Well okay, I've been there, done that and I'm not sure I always approached Morning with the excitement knowing it was the day I was going to make business magic happen. There was always a little bit of resentment that my relaxing weekend of doing housework, yard work, birthday parties, and family BBQ's had come to an end.

Many of us have left that way of life and are now integrating our offices into our homes, our cars, our methods of transportation, and even poolside. With the invention of the internet, smart phones, and ISDN lines basically any type of business can be conducted outside of the office. Is this a good thing? I'll leave that one up to you. However it is a catalyst for major change in how we are doing business and exactly who we are doing business with and I'm proposing the question, "Are you ready?"

Remember fifteen years back, relatively, when the buzz was the dot com movement? The first question out of everybody's lips was "do you have a website?". People were buying up urls like they were collectible Pez dispensers hoping to snag the right one and soon find themselves on easy street. The funny thing is that happened to a large group of intuitive buyers. I found myself smack dab in the middle of the dot come revolution and remember the swirling of misinformation and projections of the future of business that clouded everyone's way of looking at doing business. Some of the crazier notions were that newspaper, radio, and tv were on their way to becoming obsolete, it was actually possible to buy up all of the online inventory to block your competition from having any advertising real estate on the internet, and my personal favorite the great debate of whether an individual should log in or log on to the web.

Well buckle your seat belts and get ready for the next big advancement in virtual business. Most of you are already aware its happening many thanks to You Tube. The new question on the street is "do you have a video I can take a look at?". Think about it as a commercial for your business, product, service, or project. Companies are making it their entire focus and building their business plan around the creation and marketing of videos for commercial and non profit groups. Why? Because as one who prides herself on creating a story and then spinning it to build a brand or market niche it is one of the easiest ways to help give your story personality, reputability, credibility, and two very fast legs to help it spread out all over the globe. I love the possibilities it brings to the individual artist, small business, non profit and large corporation. The possibilities are endless and it doesn't have to cost an arm or a leg. We have a number of professionals in our town of 7,000 already servicing customers in this medium. TRG, our parent company, has been creating videos for clients for almost ten years. It is something that you as an individual can do by yourself.

Think about it, write it down, and let your creativity run wild.
If you would like help putting together your video, call me!

Jennifer Houghton
TRG Northeast
207-450-8441
www.tylerryangroup.com
Marketing! It's what we do.

Jennifer@tylerryangroup.com

Appreciating and Getting to know your foot soldiers!

When your business offers a quality product or service word travels fast. This is the most reliable and affective way to grow your audience and brand recognition.

Imagine if you enabled that word of mouth to grow at even a faster pace and helped it build its own momentum by providing it with tools to make it more accessible, entertaining, and full of value.

One of the best ways to grow your business is to take traditional word of mouth marketing and stretch, pull, and tug it in just about every direction it allows. The internet and traditional marketing channels provide the perfect distribution for this technique. Remember business is not rocket science its taking what you already have and building a story around it so people can relate, identify, and share your information.

Steps to expounding word of mouth marketing - getting to know your foot soldiers.
1. Every peer group, community, town, city, market, region, country, and beyond has its own leaders who pride themselves on knowing things of interest and value first. These are your first targeted group of foot soldiers that you need to identify and introduce yourself to. You need to get to know them and find out what their likes and dislikes are, where do they spend their free time, and how do they connect with people.
It's not hard - I'm sure you already know a handful of these people in your community. These are the people that when you are out and about in town, or at community events their names keep popping up. Introduce yourself to them. Strike up a conversation about the day and try to find simple points of identification. Remember you're not trying to rule the world you're just trying to make yourself known.

2. Local Groups happen naturally in Communities and are a perfect way to get to know your foot soldiers and organically grow their numbers. Reach out to local groups in your area through Rotary, Chamber of Commerce, One More Referral, Community Centers, etc... ask a member about their group and if there are any restrictions or costs on attending a meeting. When you feel comfortable enough ask if you could present yourself and your business. Remember props always bring laughs and laughter always sparks memories.

3. Involve yourself and business as a volunteer in community events. It's one thing for your business to sponsor an event its another for you and your employees to submerse yourselves and your product/brand into the day in a non intrusive way. Example? Nature's Way Market didn't hesitate to say yes when asked to be the BBQ provider for the 1st Annual Field of Dreams Home Run Derby in South Berwick, Maine to benefit local Team Laffalot. The day was amazing and it was all about breast cancer. Nature's Way Market stepped up to the plate and offered a wide array of fresh quality choices to the attendees and batters without charging them an arm and a leg. They also made a donation to Team Laffalot which was greatly appreciated. The crowds were fed, happy and stayed longer helping to build the dollars raised for the day and now a week later the community is still talking about the steak tips and baby red potato meal deal for $6.00.



These are just a few of the steps I've taken in my businesses to help encourage and grow my foot soldiers! Word of mouth marketing at its finest is cost free and the most effective. You just need to know how to stretch the limits! I invite you to call me anytime to sit down and consult how we might grow your business!

Jennifer Houghton
TRG Northeast
207-450-8441
www.tylerryangroup.com
Marketing! It's what we do.

Is anyone really doing business in the boardroom anymore?

Is anyone really doing business in the boardroom?


I'm only asking because it seems for the past ten years I have been able to juggle a family, work from home, and vacation and get things done. I work this way so I can spend a lot of time with my children and have the benefit of being home to get things done in between all the day to day business grind. My last "real" job in technology had office space and conference rooms but we spent most of our time on the road or talking with co-workers/bosses in breakfast or lunch meetings. A lot of the time we would go grab a coffee to discuss the really important things.

So now that I've been back in the swing of corporate America for a whole whopping three weeks, I'm finding it refreshing at how much I get done working from home. A week ago I was away on a lake in New Hampshire without wifi and was able to get a proposal out via my smart phone and keep in touch with contacts and boss via facebook on my blackberry. Believe me it was not ideal but we were able to make things happen. Home now I am finding myself at my computer more than I was working in an office on Congress Street in Portsmouth but still able to balance my time with the girls and making sure Aaron has rides to where he needs.

So what about the rest of you? Are you chained to an office or a desk from 9-5? Do you have flexibility in your schedule? Are you happy? What if we are more productive making our own schedules and with the invention of the Internet and Wifi we are able to be virtually anywhere at anytime and be in communication in an instant. I LOVE it, most people think its horrible. So here I am typing a blog for TRG - northeast at 12:30 in the morning while the parent company is in bed in South Carolina and feeling thankful that I can be with my girls just a little bit longer as they grow up.

Tyler and I worked together on a project today (Sunday) remotely - he is down South and I'm up here in the North but we were able to make it happen. I described the shoot I needed down to the location and his wardrobe and also the basic gist of the script. He then made it happen. He produced the video down in South Carolina in a place that might be able to pass for New England, did the editing and voice overs from home and uploaded to You Tube. Seriously, could it be any cooler to do business?

Here's a glimpse of how we come up with our best creatives:


















Check out the rest of the company - TRG!