The Digital Advertising Arena Holds Great Promise

Blue www and EarthSmart Firms Go Digital

Business owners who insist on sticking to the old traditional way of selling are finding it harder and harder to compete in today’s fast paced environment. We meet folks like this everyday. They are honest, hard working people. They have each built successful businesses by the sweat of their brow. Almost all of them feel they understand their business better than anyone else, yet they find themselves wondering why their revenue growth has seemingly stagnated. Most are afraid of change and thus stuck in proverbial quicksand. They know change is needed, but, don’t have any real  idea of what that change should be.

Please don’t mistake what I am saying. These are some of the brightest folks you will ever meet. Most are college grads, all have built successful businesses and lead happy, productive lives. Yet they all seem to find themselves at that same intersection in the road. For years their businesses have grown and flourished. The need to change approach has arrived though and they are simply not sure which fork in the road is the right one to go down. Change seems to be one of the hardest things for the human mind to wrap itself around. Many find it so much easier to just ignore the need for change because they are comfortable with how they have done things over the years. They know that change sometimes brings pain. Change means reinvestment in the business. Change means they are probably going to have to work more hours, like they did when they were first getting started with their businesses.

0f0d452One of the smartest folks I am blessed to work with is a man named Charles Carithers. He is the owner of Carithers Flowers. Charles has built one of the most successful flower shops in the southeastern United States. We have been right there by his side, helping him to accomplish that impressive feat. Charles often says, there are two key things that he focuses on. The first is reinvention and the second is marketing. He is convinced that maintaining a keen focus on these two things has helped him to grow Carithers Flowers into the successful flower shop that it has become.

Depositphotos_8588374_s (2)Lets talk for a minute about the reinvention piece of the equation for a minute. If you are the owner of a flower shop, or any other business, you probably have certain practices and procedures that you have historically followed in running your company. Many of you have spent years of your lives, honing these practices and operational procedures into a fine edge. You are proud of that accomplishment and have made money sticking to what has worked to keep your business growing all these years. Now, all of the sudden, things have started to change. You are seeing less walk-in traffic in your stores. Competitors are popping up in your industry and they seem to be very tech savvy. These firms have deployed websites. Armed with a website and a high tech work team, these new kids on the block are fast gaining ground on your business and that concerns you. The truth is, they will catch up to you, and pass you, if you don’t embrace change!

businessmove2Reinvention can mean a lot of things to different people. For the sake of this discussion, I choose to think of it as a means of challenging yourself, and your employees, to find ways to drop the traditional methodology in favor of a different way of doing things. Here is one example of how Charles Carithers approaches reinvention. For years, he built his business around the traditional brick and mortar approach to growing a flower shop. As his business grew, he opened store after store, all over the Atlanta area. To provide flower orders for each new store, he traditionally counted on walk-in traffic and wire in flower orders from BloomNet and other sources. This approach worked for years and Carithers grew into a huge flower business. Then one day, Charles realized that growth had stagnated. Instead of living off his past success, he smartly realized that change was needed. He quickly began to dismantle the traditional business he and his family had worked so hard to create. Charles hired our firm to help him compete and evolve his firm, using growth opportunities offered via the new digital advertising space.

What I am telling you is this. Charles literally scraped the traditional business approach and started all over again. Most would never have had the courage, nor the conviction to do such a thing. It’s not unusual to see business owners unload and sell off their businesses at that point. Most would never have the energy to go through the pain of the reinvention. That is what I love about Charles Carithers. He isn’t afraid of any challenge! Instead, he embraces change and makes it a part of his operational strategy. The employees who work for him have come to realize that change is a good thing. He challenges them all to find ways to be better at what they do. His management style and approach is designed to encourage employees to evolve and to compete and I am telling you, it is working!

Marketing signNow lets talk about the marketing piece of the equation for a minute. I am going to use flower shops as an example for the sake of this part of the discussion. Many of the flower shop owners I meet tell me that they are willing to dedicate 5% of sales, back to a marketing program. I ask them where they came up with 5% of sales as the magic number. They give me all kinds of reasons for it, but, at the end of the day they are just trying to do what others in their industry are telling them they do. Most flower shop owners belong to various floral groups. These floral user groups share information about tactics and strategies and things like marketing budgets. Oh I don’t blame flower shop owners for going to these group meetings. They do learn lots of things that are helpful.

If it were me, I would watch what innovators like Charles Carithers are doing. If I owned a flower shop, I would also study what the largest florists in the industry are doing. That would require spending time and energy analyzing companies like 1-800 Flowers, FTD, Teleflora and ProFlowers. These firms are all enjoying huge success in the flower business. Yes I agree. Studying these firms isn’t rocket science, it’s just common sense. A number of these large florists are public companies. That means they are required to publish an annual report. These annual reports include information about those firms strategies. They also contain statements about anticipated benefits and future financial projections on revenues, operating expenses, market trends, cash flows and uses of cash. That means you can glean information from their annual reports to help you better understand how much they spend on marketing. Let is suffice to say, they are not reinvesting 5% of their sales back into marketing. In fact, they are spending more like 12% – 15% of sales on marketing.

 

[button link=”http://investor.ftdcompanies.com/secfiling.cfm?filingID=1047469-14-2022&CIK=1575360″ color=”custom” size=”large” type=”” shape=”pill” target=”_blank” title=”” gradient_colors=”#8224e3|#8224e3″ gradient_hover_colors=”#dd3333|#dd3333″ accent_color=”#b5b5b5″ accent_hover_color=”#8c8c8c” bevel_color=”” border_width=”2px” shadow=”no” icon=”” icon_divider=”yes” icon_position=”left” modal=”” animation_type=”0″ animation_direction=”down” animation_speed=”0.1″ alignment=”center” class=”” id=””]Peruse The 2014 Form 10K Annual Report Filed By FTD[/button]

 

Let me ask you this question. Does it make more sense to follow the lead of ultra successful florists, or should you stick to the traditional way you have always managed? I guess the answer to that question will lie in whether you are open to change or stuck in quicksand. Business owners with an open mind can evolve and win. If you choose to avoid the fray, you may find yourself owning a company that is becoming increasingly less productive and valuable. My advice, embrace change and evolve. The new digital advertising arena is kind of rocket science stuff, but, it offers change and possibility for growth and success.

Image converted using ifftoanyIf you are ready to take the next step, but, realize you aren’t knowledgeable enough to head in that direction on your own, give us a call. We can help you. Our approach is unique and our track record of success is on record for all to see. When we agree to take on a new client, we don’t just view ourselves as a vendor. Instead, we focus on becoming an extension of the business owner. To that end, we seek to find business owners who are actually looking for a strategic partner, and not just another vendor to do a task. When we find those types of folks, we step right in and take ownership and responsibility in helping them grow their firms. Not to sound redundant, but, our work, effort and performance are second to none! Ask companies like Carithers Flowers, Veldkamp’s Flowers, Flowerama of Columbus and Allen’s Flowers. We have helped these firms to achieve new levels of success. We also help lots of firms in other industries, such as; Gwinnett Medical Center. All will tell you that we have stepped right in and played a major role in helping them to implement growth strategies and achieve their goals. For us, it’s about relationships and driving success for those we serve. We see ourselves as servants and appreciate the chance to be part of the team. Money is a secondary component and not what motivates us. We just love finding family owned businesses who are worth spending our life energy to help. We enjoy helping other families and thrive on bringing these types of businesses back to a vibrant state. It’s friendship, trust and respect we seek, not a paycheck.

flyline_search

 

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By |2015-06-11T13:05:22+00:00June 11th, 2015|Categories: Advertising For Florists, Affordable Web Design, Digital Marketing Agency, Google Partner|Tags: , , , , , |Comments Off on The Digital Advertising Arena Holds Great Promise

Wishing You a Joyous Holiday Season!

flyline_searchWant to grow your business even in a tough economy? Do what Pete’s Plumbing, Anytime Fitness, Do It Yourself Pest Control, Winder Construction and others have already done; hire Flyline Search Marketing™ to custom design and professionally manage an Internet marketing program for you on Google.

 

Why are companies selecting Flyline Search Marketing™ over our larger rivals?

1) Flyline Search Marketing™ offers an inexpensive and extremely customer friendly fee structure. The vast majority of our client’s monthly advertising budget goes directly towards the purchase of actual advertising on Google. Our Larger competitors will keep between 30% – 50% of your total monthly advertising spend as their monthly management fee.

Example (Program Running Locally)
You contract with Flyline Search Marketing™ to direct your advertising spend of $4000 monthly on Google. Flyline Search Marketing™ charges $500 per month to professionally design and manage your local Google program. Your firm receives $3500 dollars worth of actual advertising. If you had contracted with one of our larger rivals to spend the same $4000, they would have kept $1200 to $2000 of your money as their monthly fee. You would only have received $2000 to $2800 in actual advertising value.

Example (Program Running Nationwide)
You contract with Flyline Search Marketing™ to direct your advertising spend of $8000 monthly on Google. Flyline Search Marketing™ charges $1000 per month to professionally design and manage your Nationwide Google program. Your firm receives $7000 dollars worth of actual advertising. If you had contracted with one of our larger rivals to spend the same $8000, they would have kept $2400 to $4000 of your money as their monthly fee. You would only have received $4000 to $5600 in actual advertising value.

2) Flyline Search Marketing™ allows more of your money budget to go the purchase of advertising. Because more of our client’s money goes toward the purchase of actual Google advertising, our client’s consistently enjoy the benefit of higher ad positions and more traffic.

3) Clients of Flyline Search Marketing™ have the distinctive advantage of being able to add funds to their Google advertising account balance at any point in the month with no increase in management fee. The majority of our larger rivals don’t even offer that option. Those that do keep 30% – 50% of the additional funds you add, further increasing the overall monthly fee you have paid. Bottom line, our clients have a huge advertising advantage over those of you using some of our larger rivals.

If you are interested in speaking with us, or need more information about search engine marketing please contact us at:
866-258-5511 or 678-867-6810
Or Email: flyline@bellsouth.net
Web Address: www.flylinesearchmarketing.com

By |2009-01-04T19:32:12+00:00January 4th, 2009|Categories: Flyline Search Marketing, Google Advertising, Google Partner, Internet Marketing Agency|Tags: , , , |Comments Off on Wishing You a Joyous Holiday Season!

Message From The CEO and Founder Of Flyline Search Marketing™and Flyline Media Group™

Blog Portfolio ButtonI am very proud to cut the ribbon on our new blog. A big thank you goes out the fine folks at United Web Works, Inc. in Savannah for their tireless efforts to bring our new website and blog online. United Web Works is one of our preferred vendors and really has been an outstanding business partner. The owner Andrew Reilly is the hardest working man in the website business. He works day and night to make sure his clients are taken care of. Please take time to visit the website for United Web Works (www.unitedwebworks.com)

Mark W. Lein – CEO

 

Octobers Spotlight On The Clients

Flyline sends out a special thank you to Matt at Anytime Fitness of Roswell, Julie at Pete’s Plumbing Inc. and Beth at Caravita Home Care.

Anytime Fitness of Roswell

Located in the Garrison Hill Village shopping center at the intersection of Willeo Road and Highway 120. Convenient to the river if you enjoy a great workout followed by a nice cool down walk along the river. Matt, your 24 Hour Fitness Center is awesome. Top of the line equipment, great personal trainers, love the cardio theater and plenty of ways to exercise away the troubles from the work day. First class operation all the way.

Visit the Anytime Fitness of Roswell Website (www.clubsanytime.com/roswellga)

Pete’s Plumbing Inc.

Pete’s Plumbing Inc. is a family owned and operated firm, headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia. The can handle all types of plumbing jobs, big and small. If you need a water heater or tankless unit call these folks. They absolutely do great work. Julie, have a great time on your girls weekend away trip to the beach. We appreciate your business and look forward to your safe return next week.

Visit the Pete’s Plumbing Inc. Website (www.petesplumbinginc.com)

Caravita Home Care

Not sure that I have ever met anyone as absolutely committed to helping others as the owner of Caravita Home Care. If you have an aging loved one who is struggling to continue to live independently I highly recommend you give the folks at Caravita Home Care a call. They offer a wide variety of in home care services that can make the difference for your family member. They are headquarted in downtown Roswell. Beth, we hope that your mission trip to Kenya is going well and we pray for your safe return back to the United States.

Visit the Caravita Home Care Website (www.caravitahomecare.com)

By |2008-10-23T18:59:08+00:00October 23rd, 2008|Categories: Flyline Search Marketing, Google Partner, Internet Marketing Agency|Tags: , , , |Comments Off on Message From The CEO and Founder Of Flyline Search Marketing™and Flyline Media Group™

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