.

Finally!  Google+ has added business pages.  Use them to promote your company, brand, product, organization, band, arts or service. There is even an ‘other’ category.

It’s simple to set up and allows you to easily segment posts to customers, team members, VIP’s, etc. To get started, sign in to your Google account and then head to http://www.google.com/+/business/.  Or, simply click the Create a Google+ Page link at the bottom or side of your personal Google+ page. Follow the steps and you are up and running.

Then grow your audience by making it easy for people to find and recommend your page. Place the Google+ badge or a small code snippet on your site.

Use the logo on all your online media to encourage people to add your page to their circles so your posts will appear in their stream. You can also add +1 to your website so users can recommend your content on Google Search and share it on Google+.

Do you need a personal Google+ account? Click Here to get one, then add your business page.

If you have any questions, feel free to call us at (918) 277-1548.

I have accepted the editor position of a new magazine, Tulsa Lifestyle.  I will still spend the majority of my time with Laizure Marketing & PR, but will devote a portion of my daily schedule to the magazine. The magazine will be direct mailed to a very focused demographic; $120,000+ income, average 45 years of age, $200,000+ home value.

Tulsa Lifestyle Readership Area

Our readers live the family-first lifestyle, build their own corporate ladders, and enjoy life and careers on their own terms. The first issue publishes in January and will be mailed to over 14,000 homes. Another 400 copies will be mailed to doctor’s offices, car dealerships, and businesses with waiting rooms or a lobby. It will NOT be available for pick up at retail locations but will be available for subscription for $15yr (I believe).

I am looking for feature story ideas of people and families who live and/or work within the readership areas;  Utica Square/Brookside, Midtown/Southern Hills and South Tulsa (see map).

Specifically, I need stories that involve:

•    Family owned business (January issue)
•    Arts (February issue)
•    Travel (March issue)
•    Star Student
•    Charitable organizations or programs
•    Special family with an amazing story

If you know of anyone I can interview, please call me at (918) 277-1548 or email me at dlaizure@lifestylepubs.com.

Also, I looking for a photographer that would like to trade their services for an advertisement.  

And, if you know of anyone who would like to advertise, have them give me a call.  Ad rates are very affordable. FYI – We have already secured many wonderful advertisers including Lexus for the back cover.

2011 Tulsa Media Kit

The website will be up mid-December if not earlier, and we will have a Facebook and Twitter page so please friend me.

Thanks for the help!

Debra Laizure

Contact:  Debra Laizure, (918) 277-1548, dlaizure@laizuremarketing.com

Local Businessman Announces Free Tulsa Economic Stimulus Promotion for Small Businesses

TULSA, OK – November 3, 2011 – Ryan Myers, owner of vehicle wrap company, Outlaw Kustomz Tint, Film and Wrap, announces a free Tulsa economic stimulus promotion for small business owners.  Through his Wraponomic Stimulus Program, he will provide free partial vehicle wraps to a number of small, independent business owners to assist in generating business.

Myers sympathizes with small business owners who are struggling and understands why their confidence in government stimulus programs is plummeting.  He said, “The government has spent billions of dollars trying to grow the economy and I don’t know of any money that is making it down to the small business person. Big businesses are great, but small businesses like mine, with 2-9 employees, are what drive the local economy, by hiring employees and buying goods and services.”

Wraponomic Stimulus Promotion recipient, Teri Ward, of www.CopperBella.com

Turning to what he knows, he developed the Wraponomic Stimulus Program through his company to offer free partial vehicle wraps to new small businesses. According to Outdoor Advertising Association of America, one vehicle wrap garners between 30,000 and 70,000 views per day. “I live in a neighborhood with 374 homes and because of my vehicle wrap, everyone in my neighborhood knows what I do for a living. I know that vehicle advertising works and I want to help other small businesses who are struggling to survive in this economic climate,” said Myers.

Vehicle signage allows  small business owners to advertise in the areas where they are already doing business, as well as places they continually frequent, including their home, church, school, bank, or grocery store.  He said, “The 24/7 exposure can’t help but generate business opportunities for their small business. It’s immediate satisfaction when you’re sitting at a light and a potential customer calls you because they see the wrap on your vehicle.  My annual goal is to produce real success stories of dozens of small business owners who have seen real income growth because of what one man stepped up to do.”

The Wraponomics Stimulus Program includes a free back window or truck tailgate wrap and has a retail value of $400. Myers chose to offer this area to wrap because it is the area on a vehicle  that is seen for the longest period of time.  There is no cost to the recipient. However, there are a few rules:

1) Available to small businesses with 1-9 employees who have been in business less than two years
2) They must “like” the Outlaw Kustomz Facebook page and tell their business story
3) The business must be independently owned and not currently available to MLM’s or franchisees

Outlaw Kustomz will initially offer one free vehicle wrap a week, but would ultimately like to do a wrap a day. Myers says, “This is the best solution I could come up with for the small business owner and I’m hoping to be able to offer it to more frequently in the future.”

For more information about the Outlaw Kustomz Wraponomic Stimulus Program, visit www.vehiclewrapstulsa.com or contact Ryan Myers directly at (918) 810-3929, or by email at ryan@outlawkustomz.com.

# # #

 About Outlaw Kustomz Tint, Film and Wraps

With more than 30 years of combined experience in the tint, film, and wrap industry, Outlaw Kustomz is a locally-owned, Oklahoma-based, small business providing premier vehicle wraps, fleet graphics, paint protection film, security laminate, and window tinting.

I was in Sam’s Club the other day looking at cameras. I saw the QR Code and scanned it with my Android phone for more information about the camera. Think about it, there is a very small footprint for retailers to display products. QR Codes can provide information without taking up valuable shelf space (and saves a lot of trees, too!)  In the near future, I suspect all mobile phones will come standard with cameras.  Free code-reader applications can be downloaded to any smart phone, but I suspect they will eventually become standard, too.

Why do you need one?  Well, for one…it’s cool. And you can come up with all sorts of fun things like adding a recipe to a food product, a coupon to a sales item, a free white paper with a report, or video installation instructions on product packaging. Anything you can put on your website can be directed to via a QR Code. QR Codes work well on any printed item, including, postcards, business cards, flyers, vehicle graphics, billboards, etc…

Google also provides free usage reports for tracking how many times the QR Code has been scanned. Yes, it’s free. Another reason we love Google and how they will eventually take over the world.

Other companies are competing with Google to develop their own codes, but I’m banking that Google will have QR Codes around for a while.  Even still, you might not want to print 50,000 brochures just yet.  For now, get a free QR Code and experiment.  And, don’t forget to print and test the code first to make sure it works

Here’s how to get one:

Instructions for Using Google’s QR Code Generator

1. Go to Google URL shortener at goo.gl
2. Shorten your URL
3. Select details
4. Right click on image and save the graphic (make the name very descriptive in case you get several)

Enjoy!
Debra

Serve, Don’t Stress

You wouldn’t have to look very far – perhaps no farther than the mirror – to find someone who claims they are stressed. Certainly there are levels of stress, from mild concern to tied-up-in-knots, and everyone we know has some form of it at some point. Truthfully, many people fall beyond the tied-up-in-knots category.

If you have been reading my blog, you know I am no fan of inane advice about deep concepts. Thus, when I hear people say things like “just don’t stress,” I get stressed. How’s that for irony?

As a coach, I have not seen such simplistic advice work well for anyone, and I will not offer such fodder. What I hope to convey is really two-fold:

1) Stress is a choice.
2) There is a response that will get us back on track quickly.

Stress is a choice – it is our response to what is happening around us. But when we say that we are stressed, we often abdicate that choice to our circumstances. Let’s change our language to something more fitting to reality. “I am choosing stress” would be more accurate than “I am stressed.”

If we can believe through the choice of our words that an emotional response is indeed of our making, then we can believe that we can choose another emotion, one that is more in line with our desired end result.

Once you have decided that stress is a choice, you can respond by choosing to serve someone else.

Now, I could go on and on about the known physical byproducts of leading a high-stress life. But another unseen result is that when we are stressed we simply are not as capable of serving others. Stress causes a funky form of selfishness – mostly because of how much mental energy goes into feeding it.

If you are feeling stress, remember in the moment that it is your choice. Then, go quickly and serve someone else. These two actions may save your life in the long run.

Have a great week,

Coach Steve

Here’s the link to the article

I love this blog. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed myself today, and this was just what I needed to prioritize. I hope it helps you too. – Debra

Steve Scanlon | Reality & Hope

Going Short

There is a time for thinking through and writing down a long-term vision for your life and for your business. Without such Vision, life can get murky. But there is also a time to lay in front of you some short-term goals.

Sometimes it is good to step back and commit yourself to something that you will do this week or even just today. There are many benefits to setting shorter term goals.

Here are a few reasons why you might choose to focus on a short-term goal:

1. You feel yourself in a funk. Now, I couldn’t endeavor to describe in general terms how “funks” impact people because they seem to come in many flavors. But funks happen, and when they do, it could be a good time to think of smaller goals. Doing something more attainable can give you the boost of confidence you need to rise out of the funk.

2. You feel overwhelemed. This could probably describe 90% of our population today. The spirit of overwheledness is running rampant. When you are in this mindset, the big picture can feel so big that it only fuels the sense of overwhelmedness. There is a time to come off the mountain and be closer to the ground. This is another good time to think through specific shorter goals.

3. You need to re-gain momentum. Often we simply need to get some mojo going again when our larger goals seem far away and our efforts feel like a tiny drop in a big bucket. I have found one of the best ways to do this is to set your sights on some smaller, simpler goals and go after them. To take down a few of these is to regain some lost momentum and that may be just what you need to get you back on track.

If a shorter-term goal is right for you today, do not tarry. Don’t over think it. Just hit it.

Don’t buy the lie that a little is not enough, because it could be exactly enough today. Make that call, write that note, finish that small project.

Tomorrow, when you’re out of your funk, less overwhelmed, and feeling the pull of momentum, you can get back to the pursuit of your long-term goals. In fact, you may find you’ve inched that much closer to the big picture.

Coach Steve

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That’s why Curtis Restaurant Supply asked us to create the Used Kitchen Equipment listing service for Oklahoma schools. Although they do not sell used equipment, they know some schools cannot afford new equipment. The listing service is similar to Craig’s List and allows users to post kitchen equipment or smallwares items to sell to other schools.

It is 100% free for schools.

The listing service is BRAND NEW and needs a few posts to get it started. If you know of a school that needs to list a product, or would like to buy a product, please direct them to http://www.curtisequipment.com/listings.

Curtis Restaurant Supply receives no benefit from this service except to support our local school districts. Please help spread the word about this important resource for our local school districts.

Here are a few tips when using an e-Newsletter.

Content is king. Make sure you publish useful information for your customer. Constantly selling, selling, selling, will turn people off, and soon your e-News will be deleted upon its arrival in their inbox. Give them something useful or educational they can use to grow their business.

Make your list. A good email list is gold. Ask for email addresses in all your sales and marketing activities. A year ago, it was easy to simply buy a list. Today, most list companies will only rent the list. This means you can only use the email addresses once, and the list company controls the list so you cannot view the data. So grab those emails addresses whenever you can.

Help customers save. Create a coupon your customers can use for a discount or a value-added service and add it to your newsletter. Even better, link the coupon to your website so viewers are driven to your website in order to download the coupon.

Keep it short and sweet. Keep your e-Newsletter concise and full of content. Many companies fill up their first few e-Newsletters with everything but the kitchen sink. This is a big mistake. #1 – the person creating the e-news will burn out from the extra work, and #2 – Most people are scanners of information, so don’t give them too much to read. They will click-off sooner than later.

Call us for help. e-Newsletters are inexpensive to distribute and a great way to reach out to your customers. But creating the first one can be overwhelming. Let us help you!

We can create a newsletter template you can reuse each month. We will set up your email marketing account (Constant Contact, Mail Chimp, etc.), create distribution lists for you, and even write the content. Call us at (918) 366-3342 or email Debra Laizure at dlaizure@laizuremarketing.com to get started today!