Nestled on a string of islands in the middle of Indian Lake is a special place with as much good food as there is beer. The name of the place might be a mouthful, but so are the tasty burgers.

Cranberry Resort Waterfront Bar & Grill has served locals and visitors since 1947. Find a seat outside and you’ll soon realize why. It’s hard to beat the view from the large outdoor seating area right on the water.

It’s a happening place in the summer with more than 30 boat docks welcoming guests to the resort. Rocking live entertainment compliments the great food. The plentiful menu is sure to appeal to kids and adults alike.

But don’t forget about the cold winter months — Cranberry Resort is open Wednesday through Sunday to serve the ice fisherman and snowmobilers. You can’t beat the $7.95 or less homemade lunch specials! Escape the cold and enjoy a heaping helping of your favorite comfort foods.

One more thing! Help us usher in the summer by stopping by the Indian Lake Boat Show March 2-4. Boats new and used, prizes, raffles, and good fun promise to make the 56th Annual show a good one. Get the details at www.indianlakeboatshow.com.

Cranberry Resort Waterfront Bar & Grill
bruce@cranberryresort.net
937.842.4947

I found a surprise in my mail box this week. Something that I totally was not expecting. Before I share with you what I received, here’s a little more about my daily mail opening ritual that may surprise you.

You may think I’m crazy, but I actually SUBSCRIBE to “snail mail” marketing lists because I like to see the kind of things that companies will send people.

Why? Because these letters and offers contain valuable nuggets that I use on a regular basis.

Direct Mail Response Marketing is one of the oldest forms of advertising and it’s something that you can use to your advantage in everything that you do.

Here’s my quick 5 minute inbox review process:

1. What can I immediately throw away? (these are the things that fail to catch my attention and unfortunately is 50% of what I receive - POOR MARKETING!)
2. What pieces can I act upon? (delegate, open, and/or file – bills, invoices, and inquires)
3. What can actually make me want to buy, act upon or SAVE (coupons, promotions, helpful resources, thank you cards, hand written notes)

The last of my three step process is the MOST important and it’s those items that end up in a very special folder that I call my “MARKETING SWIPE FILE.”

The piece of mail that I received this week is certainly something that has marketing merit and is a classic example of an effective marketing strategy. So I might as well SPILL THE BEANS!

This week, I received a PERSONAL HAND-SIGNED LETTER from the President of the United States – Barack Obama.

While you and I could debate all day on if getting a letter from the President is a treasure or a travesty – I’m not here to argue about politics. Instead, I’m here to talk marketing.

The letter was not only personally addressed to me, it was hand signed by President Obama himself. In addition to the hand signed letter, he sent me a signed picture too!

I received the letter because I recently traveled to Washington, DC advocating for small businesses and had the opportunity to be speak to President Obama’s administration about the importance of job creation in rural America. (This is an issue that is VERY important to me.)

While this opportunity was special, what impressed me is that someone in the Administration took the time to follow-up and request that President Obama thank me for sharing my thoughts, even if some of them were contradictory to his Administration’s views.

You see, letters work. Why? You can build an important emotional connection with your clients where MOST of your competitors will not.

For example, you can send a personal “Thank You” note after each business transaction along with your bill or invoice. You can send a personal note along with a birthday card or an anniversary card.

These little personal notes will do wonders for establishing your relationship with your clients. It makes you a real person and gives you a “personal touch.”

And because most of your competition will send their bill, get their money and be on their way, without making an emotional contact, this gives you a tremendous competitive advantage!

So the next time you go to the mail box, think about what you are receiving and how you can act upon it and even more importantly, think about the power of writing letters and what it can do for your business.

Your friend in marketing,
Jason Duff
Founder/CEO
COMSTOR Outdoor

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?!?

O.K. I get it, you are either a great fan and will respond to me – or you may be like…what’s the big deal?

Having just returned from meetings in Indianapolis this week – I can say with confidence that the city has already started the pre-party. My hotel was just a few blocks from the Super Bowl Village which is an entire City within itself. The area features a 800+ foot zip line, a full schedule of Emmy-Award winning entertainment acts and “fire and ice” lounges that hold enough food to feed an entire army.

It was impressive to see the results of people, passion, and opportunity come together for such a HUGE event!

The reason was I was in Indianapolis this week was not the Super bowl. Actually, it was something much more interesting to me – MARKETING!

I participated in a very special “mastermind” meeting led by one of my mentors. If you haven’t heard of a “mastermind” before, don’t worry. Most people haven’t.

Let me give you the IMPORTANT CLIFF NOTES.

Masterminding is when a group of people get together on a regular basis to share ideas, tools, and high quality advice. And when a mastermind group gets together, they talk about their challenges. Yes, you heard me – CHALLENGES. The things that keep us up at night. These could be business challenges or personal challenges. But the mere idea of getting people together and ‘brainstorming’ can lead to very powerful insights!

The truth is, it can be very difficult to make big changes in your business completely by yourself. TRUST ME I KNOW! But STRENGTH comes by utilizing a collective group of people who share advice, provide ideas, and help provide accountability to achieving goals.

Because this knowledge has been so powerful for me, I wanted to share three easy steps on how you can create your very own personal mastermind group.

3 EASY Steps to Create YOUR Very Own Mastermind Group

1. Sign up for a FREE Conference Call line. Yes, you heard me right – FREE! Free Conference call provides you with a personalized conference number and access code for group calls. Click here to request one

2. Invite 3-4 other people to participate in your group and establish basic ground rules for the goals of each call. The ground rules may consist of highlighting the importance of sharing great advice, maintaining confidentiality and accountability to hitting goals on each call.

3. Schedule a 1-hr call using a date frequency (week/monthly/quarterly) that is good for the entire group that each group member can PROMISE to commit to. The truth is, you have the ability right now to create a WINNING team that not only helps you, but provides you the opportunity to learn and grow together.

Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work. – Vince Lombardi

Now stop reading, start doing, and start building YOUR perfect business Super-Bowl team!

P.S. Know someone who may benefit in receiving a FREE COPY of my weekly newsletter? Feel free to hit FORWARD and share with your friends and co-workers! It’s easy to SIGN UP here.

Your friend,
Jason Duff
Founder/CEO
COMSTOR Outdoor

I was doing some math this week and came up with some interesting numbers. If 20 years ago you and I would have had the wisdom to purchase 100 shares of Apple stock, that initial investment today would be worth 4000% more than what we paid for it. 

Sounds like a pretty good return, huh? 

We can’t go back 20 years, but what we can do is learn from Apple and try to replicate the company’s success. I want to share a few quick pointers that Apple has taught me that you can start implementing today. 

Now, don’t worry, I am not going to get all techie about the amazing things that Apple’s products can do. Instead, I want to share with you a few nuggets of wisdom that can take your business to a whole new level. 

Before I do that, I have an important question: Why is that people will stand in line for HOURS, even DAYS to get the newest, greatest Apple product? 

While Apple makes great products, this isn’t the only reason why people will do absolutely crazy things to get their hands on one. 

The truth is Apple creates demand for everything that they do. But how? 

Apple puts the customer first. 

Apple’s goal is creating an unsurpassed user experience. This is their number one priority. Everything else is related to how customers respond to their products. 

Apple doesn’t ship too often. 

Apple updates their products just once a year. They ensure each product launch is thorough and polished to perfection. It means they don’t wear out their audience with lots of noise and chatter about mediocre, minor updates. They make a limited number of products available at each store. They also have a great deal of secrecy about what they are doing and some may argue leak information that creates even more buzz for their products. 

Apple hires great people. 

Have you met any Apple employees? They are very well trained about Apple and its culture of creating a positive user experience from the time you walk into a store until the time you walk out with a hand full of purchases. Also, they have a GENIUS bar full of people who are willing to help answer questions which most customers are too embarrassed or intimidated to ask. And an entire training team to show you the ins and outs of your new gadget. 

Apple under promises and over delivers. 

From beginning to end, the experience of buying and enjoying an Apple device is seamless and delightful. Apple packages their products carefully so even the box and wrapping are a pleasure. 

Every day I am learning from Apple and working to implement these strategies and others into my business. If you’ve yet to learn how COMSTOR Outdoor can help you create interesting, powerful and compelling marketing, click here and tell us where you’d like us to send your FREE billboard marketing-for-success package. 

P.S. Exciting News!!! For those of you who may be looking for high impact marketing in the Lima/Allen County area – I am excited to share that we are building 4 BRAND NEW billboards on US 309 and SR 117. They are located near the Wal-Mart Supercenter, Sam’s Club, and hotels and shopping. Average traffic count is over 20,000 cars per day! If you’d like more information, hit reply now and I’ll get you all the important details. 

Have a great weekend!

Jason Duff 
Founder/CEO 
COMSTOR Outdoor

Yesterday, Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, went dark and staged a blackout.

Yes, one of the most popular sites on the internet turned off their service! In case you didn’t see it, when you visited the website the screen would show the site for just a few seconds and then a large black headline popped up to say, “Imagine a World Without Free Knowledge.”

Google also made a statement and staged their own peaceful protest by placing a large black square over the logo of the web’s most popular search engine. If you put your mouse over the square a statement appeared that read, “Tell Congress: Please don’t censor the web!” If you clicked on that link, you then had the option to get more information and/or contact your representatives to tell them how you feel.

Each of these companies and many more joined in a protest again SOPA (The Stop Online Piracy Act). Click here if you want to learn more about SOPA.

Now, my goal here is not to get into a political discussion or debate, instead I want to give you three powerful marketing lessons that I learned from this week’s events.

Lesson #1: Less is more, be simple with your message. Google and other websites around the Internet found ways to use simple images to block access to their site or restrict access to normal content. When designing everything from brochures to billboards, it is most effective to use as few words or images as possible.

Lesson #2: Create a clear “call to action.” While many people design great advertisements, even some of the best marketing people I know forget to create a clear and simple, “call to action.” What is it that you want your prospect to do in order to learn more or buy your product or service? Ideas include: Contact us, Order now, Share with friends and family, and Sign-up for e-newsletters. If you tell them what you want them to do, you’ll immediately increase your chances of them doing it.

Lesson #3: Encourage others to participate and get involved. Because of the leadership of Google, Wikipedia and others – thousands of sites across the Internet followed their lead and this was because each of them encouraged their tribe to join in. Over 1 million tweets have been created because of this movement. When you launch something, considering teaming up with another organization or company in your area or industry so you can cross promote. For example, this week Bellefontaine’s Peak Performance Entrepreneurship Center teamed up with the restaurant Six Hundred Downtown to achieve a sellout crowd for a successful business workshop. Because of this partnership, both the restaurant and the seminar were extremely successful.

BONUS TIP – Changing up the status quo has a massive payday. Albert Einstein said that the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” If you keep doing the same thing with your marketing, you shouldn’t expect any better results and well…you might be INSANE!

The statements that Google, Wikipedia and thousands made this week created shockwaves of buzz, attention and action. With these three simple steps, you can do the same for your business and we can help.

If you are interesting in learning how we can create a POWERFUL, OUTDOOR BILLBOARD design for you, click here now and watch the video on our website and enter your name and email to schedule a strategy call today.

Click here now to watch the video on our website and enter your information to get a FREE BILLBOARD MARKETING SUCCESS KIT!

Have an awesome Friday,

Jason Duff
Founder/CEO
COMSTOR Outdoor

I had a big breakthrough this week that I wanted to share with you.   No, it’s not the fact that it’s snowing outside today which the skier in me is excited about.  The advice that I want to share this week is about the importance of outside perspective.

I recently had lunch with a mentor of mine who has known me since my days of sporting my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle PJ’s – so without taking specific numbers let’s just say for a very long time.

During that lunch conversation she asked me for one of my business cards and as she read it she asked…”so what is Outdoor Media?”  I replied quickly and said – it’s BILLBOARDS!  Those BIG colorful advertising signs on the sides of the road.

“Oh really?” she said.  “I had no idea that Outdoor Media was actually BILLBOARDS!”

Listening to her question and watching her reaction was a BIG Aha! moment because I recognized my mistake of assuming that my friends, family and network know exactly what I do.

I thanked my friend for the feedback and shared with her that I was going to seek more outside perspectives about how I can be clearer about my business and its services.

So, my question to you is: how are you going about getting outside perspective for your marketing and your brand?

She went on to confess that she’d been interested in getting a billboard for some time, but that she’d always assumed that they were too expensive.

Right then, I shared with her our prices.  A billboard was actually the most affordable option out of the three marketing mediums that she was considering.

I thought to myself – this is a huge opportunity for me to re-evaluate what I have written on my business cards, website, e-mail footer and correspondence with others so it is PERFECTLY clear on what we can do to help our clients be successful.

So, to clear things up – we create amazing marketing using outdoor billboards.  We have 400+ great billboard sign locations in Ohio and Indiana.  BIG LEAGUE Marketing on a Small Town Budget.

We design FREE samples too.  You pay nothing!  If you’d like some information or think there is something I can do to help your business, hit me up by replying to this e-mail.

If not, keep up the great work with your business and have an awesome weekend!

Your friend,

Jason Duff
Founder/CEO
COMSTOR Outdoor

I hope that you had a great New Year’s! Welcome back to reality. It’s been a little hard for me to adjust as I just returned from a week off spending time with my 78-year-old grandparents.

They have been roughing it out living at Siesta Key. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Siesta Key was recently voted the Best Beach in America. Not only is it one of the most beautiful places on the planet, the weather isn’t too bad either. Warm sun, beautiful beaches and delicious seafood.

My grandparents are in their seventies, but you would never know it because they look and ACT 20 years younger! I’ve always wondered – “what’s their secret?”

The truth is, they didn’t always have the lifestyle that they enjoy today. In fact, my grandmother often shares stories of what it was like for her and my grandfather to wash and make their own clothes and even save money by using newspaper as toilet paper – OUCH! It was difficult to be able to save, but she shared one key ingredient for success – WILLINGNESS TO EMBRACE CHANGE.

My grandmother still lives that philosophy. She has an iPad, she Skypes, and even posts updates on Facebook. She’d tell you that many of her friends make fun of her, but the truth is…she doesn’t care. She loves her connectivity and wouldn’t live any other way.

This got me thinking. Life is always in a constant state of change. What am I doing to embrace it?

There is great change happening in the field of marketing. The same old techniques don’t work any longer…yet THOUSANDS of business owners still pay big money in doing the same old things. So, here’s my question: What are you doing to re-energize your business? How are people learning, reading and seeing you? If you don’t readily have answers to these questions, it’s O.K. today…but I encourage you to take some time to think about it.

…AND feel free to let me know if there is anything I can do to help you during this process.

Best wishes and happy marketing,

Jason Duff
Founder/CEO
COMSTOR Outdoor

P.S. Check out the cool video below sharing some big things that we are working on in 2012! If you like movie trailers, you will love this video. Because you are a valued subscriber to my list, you will be the first to take advantage of new services that we are launching. If you can’t wait and want to have a conversation about a need you have right now…it’s O.K. you can e-mail me and I will do everything I can to help. Watch Video Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD0ePMlWNrM

Three things I am going to STOP DOING…

2012 is just two days away! With all of the vacations, parties, and post-holiday sales, it’s easy to get distracted and forget about one of most important activities this time of year…

DREAMING.

Jim Collins, Author of Good to Great coined one of my favorite acronyms, BHAG’s: “Big Hairy Audacious Goals.” A (BHAG) is a visionary goal that is both strategic and emotionally compelling. It’s the kind of goal that is not only exciting, but one that is capable of taking people and companies to a whole new level!

As 2011 comes to a close, there isn’t a better time to be intentional about what you and your organization can accomplish in the coming year.

While I’d like to think that all of my New Years goals and resolutions are certain to happen, the reality is, they won’t unless I can break old habits before I create new ones. Things like procrastinating, not throwing things away, my inadequate filing system (the piles in the back of my car) and also spending too much time on Facebook. I am sure that members of my team would gladly point out a few others too. O.K. I get it; I know I can do better!

So instead of creating another NEW to-do list, I have actually been creating a list of things that I am willing to commit to STOP DOING!

Here are a few of the things on my 2012 STOP DOING LIST:

- I am going to stop checking my e-mail every 5 minutes and start being more strategic about how I use my e-mail.

- I am going to stop saying (Yes) all the time and start thinking about every new opportunity to make sure that it aligns with my values and goals.

- I am going to hold integrity with the meeting times that I establish with co-workers and friends so that we can stay on target with our goals, instead of pushing them to a later date or time.

These are just a few of the changes that I am committed to making and I’d love to hear other ideas that you have been working on too.

My (BHAG) for COMSTOR Outdoor is to be the smartest resource to unlock marketing potential. 2011 was an amazing year for us, but what I realized is that our work is meaningful and that we can do so much more! Every business has a story to tell and we want to be the resource to help businesses realize their story and come to the table with many ways to share it. While we live and breathe outdoor billboards, I am excited to share that we will be bringing on a whole new host of marketing services in 2012. Most importantly, as a valued subscriber you will be the first to know and take advantage of these new offerings!

Finally, as you are working on your own goals for success in 2012, I want to share with you some of my favorite online productivity tools that can help you organize your lists, goals and strategies for next year. Most of these online tools are completely free!

Scroll down and enjoy,

Jason Duff
Founder/CEO
COMSTOR Outdoor

Dropbox – Virtual hard drive & online Storage: www.dropbox.com

Camtasia – Create online demonstration videos right from your computer: www.camtasia.com

Evernote – An online note taking platform where you can store images, text, videos and websites: www.evernote.com

Basecamp – Online, simple, easy to use project management software. Manages to-dos, files, messages and schedules: www.basecamphq.com

Greetings,

If you are like most entrepreneurs I know, you enjoy the holidays not only for the “Reason for the Season,” but for the time and opportunity to prepare and get organized for the upcoming year! Reflecting on 2011, there are three simple words for this year’s headline – I AM THANKFUL.

To live in the USA, to have a loving family, to have good health, to be surrounded by people who work hard to make a positive impact every day. COMSTOR Outdoor is all about marketing; we create cool looking billboards and help clients gain exposure for the great things that they do. But to do what we do, there is a lot that has to happen behind the scenes and I want each of those people to know how thankful I am.

The truth is we spend more time with our co-workers than we do our own families so when I use the word family; I’m including the people I work with. Success isn’t just a person or a company, its conscious momentum – the movement of energy. It’s when ideas, inspiration, leadership become the ingredients in a local community – the melting pot.

I am thankful for our team – Dustin, Adam, Sherry, Adam O., Amanda, Susan, Pam, Cecil, Paul, Dick and Beacher. I am thankful for our great clients – all of you!

I hope that you have a very Merry Christmas! Here’s a short holiday video that we created just for you: http://youtu.be/Ycm0D1Pnrug

Stay tuned for next week’s update – I’m going to share some pretty cool tools that will help you prepare and organize your marketing game plan for 2012.

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays to all!

Jason Duff
Founder & CEO
COMSTOR Outdoor
888.354.2591

If you haven’t looked at the calendar in the last few days, I don’t blame you.  I’ve been avoiding it too.  ONLY 6 MORE DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!

For many, the thought of Christmas being just 6 days away may induce a feeling of panic or worse, the Grinch within.  While this type of behavior can bring the worst out in people, it is a great opportunity to put your energy into being “smarter” during the Holidays.  Whether it’s sending Christmas cards, finding the perfect holiday gifts or spending time with the ones that you love – it’s hard to get everything accomplished in so little time!

Today, I am giving you a few gift giving ideas to shave hours off your list so you can spend more time on the things that you actually enjoy doing.  It’s no lie – many people are shopping online this year and I too enjoy browsing and finding things online.  In fact, here’s a creative gift giving list that I really enjoyed: http://www.boston.com/business/specials/holiday/2011/galleries/gifts_under_50/

While online shopping has its perks – in many ways it’s overrated and actually takes more of the time that I don’t have.  As I begin to start Christmas shopping this year (yes, I am a last minute shopper), I strive to keep as much of my business local and with businesses that make my life EASIER.  (Hint, hint local shop owners).

Here’s WHY: I’m terrible at wrapping.  You’d think that after numerous attempts at improving my ability to take a piece of paper and put it around a box, it would eventually look good.  Well, it doesn’t, hence why gift wrapping services are very important to me as a shopper.  That begs the question: What are we doing as business owners to make doing business with us as easy as possible?

Services like:

• Extended Hours
• Gift Wrapping Services
• Shipping Services
• Personal Shopping
• Customizations of Products & Services

Or even better, collaborating with other local businesses to produce your own -Top 50 Gifts Under $50.00 List! Some businesses and gift ideas that have caught my eye this year (and these are just a few of the many worth mentioning include)…

1. Indian Lake Outfitters – Not only do they have everything that any outdoorsman or outdoorswoman would need, they carry a full line of creative, fun, and interesting things and lots of great stocking stuffers too!  Also, they recently hosted Santa Clause and had a professional photographer on-site to capture the entire experience.  Check out their Facebook page to see what I am talking about: http://www.facebook.com/indianlakeoutfitters
2. The Winery of Versailles – Napa may be too far, but amazing wine is not!  If you are looking for that perfect Holiday Package or experience, take an evening and visit Darke County or call the Winery of Versailles to learn more about the fabulous gifts made right here in Ohio: http://www.wineryatversailles.com
3. Pakmail of Bellefontaine – Whatever you need wrapped, shipped, boxed or protected, Garret James and the entire team at Pakmail will take care of you…they have saved my life on numerous occasions!  It’s amazing what a packing/shipping store like this can do to make your Holiday Season better.  Plus, Garret even sometimes wears a Santa hat!
4. Gift Cards to Local Restaurants – Buying gift cards from a favorite local eatery is a great way to support your local restaurants and are perfect for stuffing in holiday cards!  Whether it be enjoying some Christmas Cheer at a great place like Chattan Loch or eating amazing food and enjoying the atmosphere at Six Hundred Downtown, gift cards are sure to be a hit!  Local businesses are great assets to our community and gift cards are a great way to support them.
5. Donation to a Local Church, Organization or Charity – This is the perfect gift that keeps on giving.  One of the best gifts I received this year was a letter from another local business who made a donation to a charity in my name.  I thought that was an awesome idea and it’s a way to help local organizations who are in need!  If you’d like to see a sample letter of how to do this, feel free to reply to this message and I’ll send you a template.

Now that you have some new ideas, go out and start “investing” and feel free to e-mail me with any other cool ideas or strategies that you see happening in your business or community!

Warmest Holiday Greetings,

Jason Duff
Founder & CEO
COMSTOR Outdoor
888.354.2591