Kurt,

You make a good point. There needs to be a reason for the other businesses to care. Why should they bother to post the laminated display card in their store or office? Here are some reasons: 1) It alerts their employees and patrons to a worthwhile bargain that is available only for a limited time. 2) It's attractive and adds to the ambiance of the workspace. 3) I can throw in a few free coupons for chicken, along with the invitation.

With regard to follow-up, I will be contacting all business prospects BEFORE the invitation goes out to alert them that it is coming and to be on the lookout for it. I will also be contacting each prospect AFTER the invitation should have been received to find out what was done with it.

There will be Broaster chicken coupons in local newspaper, gated community magazine and online. These coupons will be designed to draw traffic to this convenience store for this take-out chicken. The store itself will be handing out chicken coupons to every person who purchases gasoline. Keep in mind this convenience store is the ONLY place to purchase gasoline in the entire town. Each coupon is coded to reflect how it was received - at the convenience store, via the local newspaper, through a magazine or online. Obviously, the 50 laminated invitations will simply direct folks to the convenience store. But, I believe this greatly ads to the overall buzz when you have high-traffic businesses displaying your promotion. In fact, I think it lends credibility to the promotion.

Perhaps the most powerful marketing tools is the personal referral. If so, what I am attempting to do is engineer it. When I got a well-known television network to visit my small town earlier this year, I did not make that happen by myself. I made an appeal to many others for assistance. The overwhelming majority of those folks happened to be Ryzers. Most were not even local residents. I did not have to monetarily entice these folks to help me. I simply needed them to believe in the idea I presented to them and act upon it. Have you ever done something simply because you believed it was the right thing to do? People - even businesses - often take action because they believe in a cause - not because the cause pays them. A good example of this is the Special Olympics. People get involved with it because they believe in the good that it does. They don't get involved because there is a monetary kickback. Ryzers around the world demonstrated passion for an idea I shared with them because they happened to believe in it. They helped make "magic" happen for a small town for the first time in the 45-year history of an annual festival. They responded in such massive numbers that the television network - having only four production units with which to cover the entire Western United States - responded. Now, that's amazing. That I believe demonstrates the power of the personal referral when focused and multiplied by a large group of people.

Lamar Morgan
CDMM
1-877-238-2280
Power Networking - http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=18

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