Picture this: You’re visiting the office building of a potential client and stand waiting for the elevator while silently rehearsing your sales presentation.

Do you constantly look for ways to generate more business? Well, have you ever polled your client-base to determine what new services or features your company can offer? This week’s column will be focusing on the importance and value of customer surveys.

Like most Yated readers, my observance of the “3 Weeks” was preceded with a visit to the local barbershop.

They say that it’s difficult to understand somebody else until you’ve been in their shoes.

As a rule, people (unfortunately) often forget things; that includes businesses about their client base, and clients forgetting about a business that they have patronized in the past. Precisely, that is why customer retention is so important – every company must have a marketing method in place in order to remind past and current clients of the services previously provided for them…and that your company is available to offer that service for them in the future.

Here’s a rather tricky question:

Yep…it’s just about summertime! The air conditioners are humming and the bright sun is getting hotter by the day.

Once upon a time, people looking to market their product or service went to an agency and launched a campaign.

It’s not easy living in Iceland these days.

Listening to The Nachum Segal Show has always been a favorite pastime for the Saftlas family.

Firstly let me begin by wishing everyone “ah gitten zimmer!” Unfortunately as of this writing (during Chodesh Nisan) the Geulah did not arrive yet – may it come soon, Amen. That being said, I hope your Pesach was rewarding and enjoyable. Mine was – we spent it in Cleveland at my in-laws, the Weisers. I also had the zechus of learning Ohr Yechezkel and Shomrei Emunim with my dear friend and mentor, Rabbi Yitzchak Kasnett. Learning these seforim certainly keeps the business of marketing in perspective – it’s all only hishtadlus!

Believe it or not, conducting a marketing campaign is quite similar to conducting a Pesach Seder.
The prime objective of a seder is Vehigadita L’vincha.

In case you didn’t know, I am the owner of a Toyota Camry.

Purim this year was about more than just graggers, costumes and hamantashen – it was about marketing too!

Before we talk marketing, I would like to express my deepest thanks and most sincere appreciation to the many who took part in last week’s Raising Donors & Donations seminar – a joint project of H. LEINER & Co. and Bottom Line Marketing Group, catering to executive directors, development professionals and lay leaders representing mosdos across North America.

For those old enough to remember things such as record players, telegrams and rotary telephones, the story of Apollo 13 will probably ring a bell.

For this column, I would like you to follow these simple instructions:
1. Hold this Yated newspaper firmly in both hands and slowly bring your nose toward the rectangular, ink-filled page.
2. Close your eyes and take a whiff.
3. What do you smell?

It was the cover page of last week’s Yated. It has been mentioned online and on the air. Hey, it’s even in the very column your reading right now! That’s right, the upcoming Raising Donors & Donations Seminar is about to happen – and just about everybody knows about it. But it didn’t happen overnight.

It’s a fact: Many fundraising techniques employed in 2010 are simply not what they used to be. Naturally, major donations are solicited via relationships. That probably will never change. However, the new methods available for communication to sustain relationship giving, as well as the world of technical fundraising, has changed dramatically.

Looking to make serious money? Forget about real estate, insurance and mortgages – instead, focus on naming babies! According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, an entirely new industry of professional baby-naming consultants are billing parents-to-be with hefty fees to come up with unique, inimitable and relevant baby names.

Do you like solving riddles? Alright, here’s one: If an American Airlines flight flew from New York to Ohio (a distance of 402 miles, via air travel) and required 1,842 gallons of gas to complete the trip, how many gallons of gas would a Delta Airlines flight flying from New York to California (a distance of 2,451 miles) require?

Ahh, minivans. If you are a parent of young children, chances are you currently own – or will eventually purchase – a minivan. Capable of seating large families, noisy toddlers and frazzled parents, the amenities offered by minivans have become an integral part of everything from family trips to shopping excursions – and of course, carpool (a.k.a. Mom’s Taxi)!

As we bade farewell to yet another Chanukah season this past week, I was struck by a fascinating insight: Marketing is fundamentally Pirsumei Nisa (“Publicizing the Miracle”) for your business!

How does a business get its message out to the public?

Henry S. Levy had a problem. The Brooklyn baker was having a difficult time selling his line of freshly baked rye bread products. His company was facing apathy from shoppers under the false impression that the Jewish-owned company’s products were intended primarily for kosher consumers.

Does the following scenario sound familiar?
You’re driving to an important business meeting and running slightly behind schedule. The road looks relatively empty, so you gun the engine up a notch, nudge the odometer needle a bit higher and shift into overdrive. And then it happens.

I’ve got to admit – preparing a weekly marketing column for the Yated Ne’eman (although a tremendous honor) is no easy task. Every week, I receive emails, phone calls and feedback on the street from both close associates and complete strangers regarding this column. I’m touched by the many compliments and appreciate the critique – it keeps me on my toes!

Want to brush up on your geography, social studies and marketing skills? Your best bet is to head over to your local dry cleaners! At least that’s what I did this past week. Who knew that picking up a pair of freshly laundered pants would be such an eye-opening experience?

The American Nation is built upon a culture of phrases, slogans and taglines.

Did you ever collect Rebbe cards as a child?

The Yomim Tovim are over and we now enter into a fresh new year – Tof Shin Ayin.

It's that time of the year again. The high-pitched squeals of electric saws whirring; booming echoes of hammers banging; and the sounds of happy children hanging up their colorful, shiny and slightly lopsided succah decoration projects. Yes, Succos is in the air my friends.

Thank You! A Groissen Dank! Mucho Gracias!

We all have certain memorable images buried deep within the recesses of our minds.

One of the most important lessons in marketing was taught neither by an advertising professional nor a business professor. Rather, it was publicized by a sailor-turned-statesman during a cold-war era speech that has since been emblazoned into the pages of history books throughout the globe.

This week I want to discuss a recent article about fundraising that caught my attention. It highlighted a great fundraising success, and our Mekomos HaTorah can greatly benefit by applying the same techniques in its fundraising efforts.

Do you have a magic number? Mr. Wang Ding of Guangzhou, China does.

Want to touch a piece of living history? Would you like to wrap your fingers around a historical object that will link the past with the present?

While I normally begin my articles with a businesslike tone, this column will commence on a personal note.

Some nations generate revenue by exporting food products or electronics. Others, with automobiles or oil. And for a select few, profits are produced with postage stamps.

Though only an inch wide by an inch high, there’s nothing small about postage stamps.

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself!”

Let’s face it: this recession’s had a major impact on many Jewish families.

“Mazal tov, it’s a boy!” So begins the joyous phone call from a new father to his relatives, friends and neighbors.

Ahh, summer. Endless days of rejuvenating sunshine, colorful flowers – and pesky mosquitoes. Come to think of it, maybe the opening sentence should have read: “Oww, summer.”

Once upon a time, back when a pack of bubble gum cost only a nickel, a person wanting to buy a new car walked into their local car dealership and looked around.

As reported by the Yated, along with numerous other media outlets, NASA sent the shuttle Atlantis on a space mission this past week to repair the aging Hubble Telescope.

Business trips can be exciting and yes, even eye-opening experiences. Such was the business trip I took this past week to Chicago.

Is the glass half full or half empty? This age-old question has been debated by optimists and pessimists since time immemorial. While their verdict has yet to be decided, those in the advertising and marketing industry have solved this riddle long ago: The glass is unequivocally, absolutely, undisputedly half-full. And boy is it ever!

Imagine you’re boarding an airplane to embark on an international flight.

Who remembers the Maxwell House Coffee Haggadah Shel Pesach?

The Yated Ne’eman is proud to present our readers with a new marketing column hosted by Yitzchok Saftlas, CEO of Bottom Line Marketing Group. These articles will offer our readers a wealth of proven marketing strategies and communication techniques that can boost your ‘bottom line’. Readers may send their advertising and marketing questions to: ys@BottomLineMG.com.