Joe Moore, founder and President of AmeraScope Media, announces the launch of a new “Video Business Card” for use in e-mail messages and web sites.

“This new process will enhance the brand media message by presenting a 60 second video summary of the business’ unique products and services.  The message is delivered by professional talent at a fraction of the cost and is two 60 second spots usually seen on television and only by those who have huge advertising budgets.  We launched the service so that the average small to medium size business can tell their story to a targeted audience and receive maximum results.  During the development process we also found that the process would be highly effective for inclusion in professional resumes for those seeking to enhance their careers or seek employment.  The cards can also be included in all social networking sites thus separating a company’s message from the rest” announced Moore.

AmeraScope Media is adding full on-site production capabilities for quick turnaround and has the on-screen talent readily available.  A sample of the Video Business Card is available on their web site http://www.xdinteractive.com/free-trial.html.

For more information, contact Joseph Moore at joe.moore@amerascope.com or (402) 935-7793 or Andy Greenberg at speakingofandygreenberg@cox.net or (402) 250-3895.

In this segment we will establish the basis of your branding and why it is so important for your long-term objectives. But you must first answer a very simple question for yourself, is it your desire to create a job for yourself, or a business? This is fundamentally one of the most important questions you must answer for yourself before you move on. If you’re just working to create a job for yourself, let me save you some time, this piece is not for you. This is intended for those that wish to create a business of value, which will run under its own power while you not directly involved. A business that builds its brand value in a way people will buy as a part of your exit strategy. This in a nutshell is what we are talking about for you; creating such value in your brand you will have a need for lawyers and advisers that are always available to provide you services for a fee. I do not understand why people overlook their most important adviser, which is their brand adviser.

The concept of branding is really very simple; the practice of branding is where the breakdowns occur. It’s really easy to sit around the conference table and discuss with your colleagues the goals and objectives of your marketing campaigns as a part of your overall brand development.

After you have established your business plan and you design your “Sales and Marketing” budget, there are two things that need to be established. first disconnect YOUR emotion from the process, you cannot allow emotional feelings and sentimentality to enter into this process. Your objectivity is essential in your business, most especially your marketing process. Too many times the process gets derailed due to the emotional ties associated in your day to day business. Learn the process of stepping back, understand the plan and stick with it.

After you have successfully removed the emotion from this process, the next step is equally as important, OPEN your mind. Look past the traditional, look into the process of Multi-Media or Multi-Channel presentation. The standards of marketing even ten years ago are much more involved today. This process of reaching out to your market in this “information age” reaches a level of attentive management that has never been necessary in the past.

It’s easy to understand television today remains very expensive, and will always be that. Yet the average business can hardly afford this media channel while newsprint, radio and direct mail has become the backbone for the smaller business and their marketing. How do you squeeze better performance from your marketing budget with shrinking resources and diminished returns?

Simply put, your individual activities, such as a direct mail piece to drive sales revenue one time, and a radio campaign the next time, ask yourself if you are getting any residual value from those efforts? This is where you define your marketing from your sales efforts. This requires process management to build your brand value. It is not possible to build brand value without a process of “PERSISTENT-CONSISTENCY”. Lacking this will only reduce your brand value, cost you more money in the long-term and can create an even bigger issue of cash-flow, or lack thereof.

So understanding the basics let me ask you, what does Brand Value mean to you? How would you define it? Stop and consider this before you move on:

“The Public value or perception of your company’s product or services”
What is your BRAND value?

The most valued consideration in your exit strategy,
Your Image Is Everything!

Case In Point…
    * Sold in 2003 for $57 Billion
    * Purchased by P & G
    * The “BRAND FIT”
Warren’s personal net worth grew $640 million
 
Plans are only as good as the execution, but the execution can only be as good as the plan!
So we will end this segment by asking if you have a business?  Have you sat down, put pen to paper and developed the road map for you to follow two or three years down the road? Please do not consider this a wasted exercise and something that you’ll never look back on. If you never look at it again, that tells you the plan needs work and improvement.

In our next segment, we will drill into this process. In the meantime, you can review for yourself the reason for your business, the business plan for your business and most importantly, what you want to get out of your business at the end of the day. After this has been established, the rest of this becomes much easier to personalize in the same way you do your compensation plan.

If you need help or clarification about this, please contact me at
Joseph.Moore@CLKSearch.com

The election of Scott Brown will seat the newly elected senator in Ted Kennedy’s seat is noteworthy on many levels. You could say he is the game changer. Mr. Brown steps in the middle of the most controversial political environment this country can remember.

Barack Obama for the third time was summoned by the DNC to step in, shed his grace on the and save the election. As he did in two previous attempts, his efforts fell short. In baseball, the third strike out means you go take a seat out of view of the fans. Is this true in politics? Does this election represent the unraveling of the Presidential fabric and all that the Democratic arrogance has represented over the last year?

Notice the Change in the tone Senator Harry Reid has taken in the last few days. Now instead of forcing votes in the wee hours of the night, he is saying we will give Scott Brown the time to take his seat. I believe it is fair to say that Mr. Reid knows they no longer own the world and that they need to adapt a concessionary stance that is required in democratic republic.

Not so says Nancy Pelosi, she remains as oblivious to the conditions on the street as she ever has. Her arrogance continues to shine through as the beacon of the DNC agenda. Sooner rather than later, she will wake up and realize she is no longer the super woman in the Senate and she can no longer impose her will on the rest of us. She will realize the world according to Pelosi is not the real world. We live in a Republic, not a Dynasty where people are subservient to a class of elitists.

In this country, we can thank the God we trust that our forefathers established the 2nd most important document man has ever lived to, the US Constitution. In my mind I put the Bible as number one but that’s another conversation. It does appear that the Administration will be forced to abide by the will of the people, now that the followers are going to be held accountable at the voting booth; they are turning their ear away from the White House to their own constituents.

The Agenda seems to have been derailed with Scott Brown representing the first wheel that has jumped the track.  Now we will see the concessions that Obama promised, the doors will open up and the Cornhusker deals will evaporate under the pressure of full disclosure. Our Government is not “Lets Make a Deal” slide of hand or pay back deal, the people know that’s the promises made during the last Presidential campaign. It seems all the broken promises are off the table now that the stalemate in our Government has been re-instated and we are backing to the get nothing done government.

So with Obama’s third loss, where is he, where are we as a country? Will he regroup and continue with the status Quo? Or will he head the tea leaves and make the necessary adjustments to deliver productivity for the next three years he has left in his term? Where does that leave us? We still need the Healthcare reform and accountability in the financial markets. My concern is that this will get lost in politics and fall into obscurity, out of sight out of mind to the complete satisfaction of the Pharmaceuticals and the Banks.

So Strike three, as in baseball, we have to sit down and take cover hoping the fallout from Scott Browns election does not damage the intent while it re-seats our Democracies checks and balances.

When we have prolonged sub-zero temperatures, some homeowners may have trouble maintaining desired comfort levels in their homes without supplemental heat. The best supplemental heating source is a UL Listed electric space heater. We do not recommend using a fireplace for supplemental heating since heated indoor air will be going up the chimney and actually make the problem worse.  Also, we do not recommend using an open oven door or stove (gas or electric) due to safety concerns of having these appliances on and often left unattended.   Another action is for homeowners to heat the garage which helps cut the heat loss on any rooms adjacent or above the garage. The best heat source for a garage is a gas fired infrared heater.

Why are some homes uncomfortable?  The engineering standard for sizing heating systems in the Omaha Council Bluffs metro area is 70 degrees indoors when it is 0 degrees outdoors for a 70 degree temperature difference. So if a furnace is sized exactly correct, it would be running 60 minutes out of every hour when the temperature is 0 outside and the thermostat inside was set at 70. Hence if it was -10 outside then the maximum temperature indoors would only be 60 degrees!

Two things help to prevent 60 degree homes. One is when the temperature dips below zero; it doesn’t normally stay that low very long. Our homes have thermal mass, which resists change and delays the drop in indoor temperature.  The second thing is many heating systems are oversized so the heating output can maintain more than a 70 degree temperature difference.

For more information on this or other heating topics, please contact Ron Getzschman at Getzschman Heating LLC.  in the office at 402-272-0289 at ext. 1016 or email Ron at rong@getzschman.com or Joe Moore@ AmeraScope Media at 402-935-7793 ext. 201, email at joe.moore@amerascope.com

I had some time to reflect on the realization of what is in the heart of my son, who is currently a Sergeant stationed with the 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley Kansas. He and his fellow soldiers have all volunteered to stand up for our country. Listening to these young men talk about their purpose in the military makes me reflect on the days when I knew two of these fine young men when life was less complicated for them as boys.

They have convinced me that what is in their day to day thoughts is the security of their loved ones at home. The "Mission" is to keep their parents, children and friends free from the grip of an enemy that has no regard for the western life style and personal freedom as we know it.

In recent news we have heard the degradation of those that have chosen to serve this country yet speak of their rights. I raised my son to know that talk is cheap, but that is all I saw come from their mouth was a bunch of hot air as they profess to be working for the greater good, quick to point out what others should be doing while they are not willing to walk the same walk they have imposed on others. They deliver their message to others is about the sins of a capitalistic society but fail to accept they should give up everything gained in their own lives for their beliefs. As I listen to these soldiers talk, they clearly know what their ultimate sacrifice could be. Unlike their critics, these fine young men are willing to give up everything for what they believe in.

The Fox News story that ran Saturday October 10th, described how the terrorist movement was brazen and brutal. This is something that those of us that remember 9-11 do not need to be reminded of. We are not exempt from terrorism on our shores.

To apologize for the strength in our military is wrong on so many levels, but to follow it up by not supporting the commanders in the field borders on a dereliction of Duty.

The people in the field are tasked with achieving a victory in a military action. Who better to listen to when they come to the American People telling us what they need to achieve their victory. Knowing what's at stake, why in the world would we not support them? I am amazed that this is being debated by members of our own government. Where is their allegiance? I have to ask.

The enemies we face today have become emboldened by our nation's leaders putting its tail between its legs and hunching the back as we have lowered our ears in submission to the demons of the world. It is naive to believe that there is no such thing. If they didn't exist why would Iran have the need to "hide" their criminal aspirations as they hide their efforts to build nuclear weapons?

This issue does hold a personal interest for me as my oldest son and his fellow soldiers hold this selfless conviction that if we do not stop them in their streets not our own. It is inevitable that we will once again face them on our shores. Plots are continuously being uncovered here in America as evidenced by the recent arrests.

As a family man, surely he must know he and his family would be high a profile target. Why on earth would he create the appearance that our government position would degrade the level of protection we have enjoyed over the last 200 years and more specifically since 9-11, 2001?

As a fellow American, I have to ask why we would do anything that would sacrifice the safety and effectiveness of our military. I stand in wonder why the debate would even enter the conversations about our efforts in Afghanistan, Yemen or anywhere for that matter. If the discussion were limited to the need of the military I can see that, but we know that Politics has entered and dominates that discussion.

Meanwhile, my son and his fellow soldiers stand at the ready with their deployment scheduled for September of this year. This would be his second tour and as a parent I am very concerned about his safety. But I cannot discount the pride I have in my son and those fine young men that have said to the world they are willing to put their beliefs to action by protecting all us, including those that like to spout all that hot air about what's wrong with this country.

I am a very proud American, proud of our history and equally proud of our future. The soldiers I have come to know in the nearly 10 year career of my son, shows me that this country, given the resources can defeat any enemy on this planet. When will this country learn, politics and war do not mix, let our military do its job. Our government owes it to all of us to give the proper support that will give our sons and daughters the greatest chance to return home safely.

Fox News is reporting in its headlines that the military posturing by North Korea continues as they deny their own citizens food staples that are essential to feed their nation.

I think about that headline against the back drop of the apparently stunning loss of the Chicago land 2016 Summer Olympic Games. I try to balance the process that “We” as a country went through to get the fun and games, and yet we hardly give it any mind when it comes to a communist country starving its people to enter the world as a Nuclear Power.

I am flabbergasted with the media outcry this week when Chicago was the first of the four finalist county’s to fall out of the running.  The Obama administrations efforts to lobby the IOC were an unprecedented by an American President. This clearly defeated the past Presidential positions not to politicize the Olympics. Well, when we the American people spend an estimated cost of one million dollars for our President to payback his friends in Chicago by leveraging the diminished US political capital in this losing effort.

The ironic thing about all this is the fact that someone in the powerbase in Chicago missed the impact of the presidential clout in the face of the immense IOC controversy with the US Olympic Committee that has been prevalent for years now. It seems to me that this is a fine “how do you do” to Barack Obama from his friends. Who needs friends like that?

Now to the point here, what will it take by the media to do that feature story that will expose to the world the atrocities of the North Korean Government? I am constantly amazed that the media misses the “Point” when it comes to the power the media has to shape the world we live in. Look at what has happened here in the US when you rile the dander of the American people on healthcare. Rather than spending their capital on the politics of the day, they should allow the “conscience” of the world community influence their focus. By getting the world opinion to weigh in on this is the only peaceful way to influence the current position that North Korea.

We do learn from the Fox News article run on July 7 of this year, that the Korean Government is restricting the UN Food shipments by ordering to restrict the 131 deliveries to 57. This is a clear violation of the rules that have been established for the US to continue its support of the relief efforts.

Why is it we have not seen a single prime-time article exposing this issue? Why does the focus continue to be diverted on such stories as the Presidents failure to influence the IOC selection committee?

I remember growing up how the media would select a wide variety of topics to cover instead of the micro focus mentality they have today. I lack the vast resources that are required to fully and properly expose the North Korean Government on this issue. My plea is to those with media resources to expose the horrific lack of custodial care by North Korean Government provides their own people.

Understand upfront what your objectives are, share them, and remain committed to them. This is where most plans fall apart. Expectations are established at an unrealistic level, establishing two things, Your Marketing Firm is not performing (according to your moving target) and your investment has just been tossed into the round file (garbage). Most clients trash the marketing company rather than making the adjustments together in the spirit of partnership and share success.

The world of radio, television and placed media is changing rapidly. It's hard to believe, but most of the marketing world still lives in this reality, that becomes your advantage today.

Just think what kind of impact ASM could make with a committed budget for content marketing.  Just think what you can do with a stable of writers to crank out amazing content while your competition runs that TV Commercial.

I realize that, even though content marketing is certainly a legitimate and growing field today, there are still so many reasons why (we, you, I) don't do it. Here are ten reasons.  I think it's helpful to know the reasons why we don't do something, which then may help us get off the dime and make that transition. Now here's a "Top 10" you don't want to be on.

Top 10 Reasons Why You Won't Do Content Marketing

1.    Your company is set up to sell products or services, not to provide relevant and valuable information to customers and prospects. It takes a real mindset change to start thinking about your customers' informational needs as part of your marketing strategy.

2.    You have well-worn marketing paths that are easy to follow.  You have become comfortable; going off the beaten path into uncharted territory is intimidating.

3.    You have strong relationships with media partners that may go back decades.  It's not easy to break those relationships by pursuing a brand-new content marketing strategy. Friendships are meaningful to you.

4.    The reduced effectiveness of traditional marketing may have occurred so slowly, the red flags go up just as slowly within your organization. You also hold out hope things will come back someday…soon!

5.    Many companies (possibly yours) aren’t measuring their marketing, so you may not even be sure what is and what is not effective. Hard to make any changes when you don't know.

6.    You lack the right people and or marketing prowess and the right processes to implement a change in your marketing direction.

7.    You are reluctant to abandon traditional marketing tactics for what they may believe to be unproven content marketing or new media practices.

8.    You lack content marketing examples from which you can learn the whys, then the hows.

9.    You place very little value in marketing versus leads generation while you emphasize other aspects of your organization (operations, product development). You do what you know and may not understand that every part of your organization is affected by (or actually is) marketing.

10.    Even though I'd hate to think this one is true, I've seen it first hand...You that don't have a clue about the needs of your customers or what to do about it. Before you can even look at content marketing, you have to know your customer, and their trends.

OK, a couple more for you:
 #11 - It's hard.  It's more difficult to consistently create valuable and relevant content to our customers than place media. It's easier to just write a script and place your ad.  Listening, creating, co-creating, commenting, and actually having real customer conversation takes more time and is harder and sometimes not fun at all. But reward is a higher payoff, but harder none-the-less.

Did we miss anything?
In order for your company change up your approach and consider the new media of content marketing, a few things to happen:
•    Business gets so bad that they start trying new things.
•    Turnover (Voluntary or involuntary) creates new thinking in the organization.
•    A culture change is sparked in the organization, through an internal champion, external customer demands, or the merging of a new business culture through turnover or an actual merger or buyout.

Here’s the opportunity, to become the expert in your market where the consumers of your product or service turns to you for, knowledge, advice and buying decisions when they happen.  How you take advantage of this opportunity is your choice, call Joe Moore at 402-935-7793 to discuss how you can work this into your current planning..

As I look back on the week, the single biggest thing that stands out for me is the reaction that comes out the lecture President Obama gave the Nation Wednesday evening was the out cry from the Representative from South Carolina, Joe Wilson. As I watched this, for a brief moment I thought I was seeing the Parliament or Korean Senate. This is not only a disgrace but is dangerous ground.

We are a nation of civility where we tolerate indifference in a way that few countries can or are willing. We have fought wars for this right. Yet we also have always had the innate ability to choose the right time and place where the civil uprising is acceptable. In the United States Senate Chamber is not the right time or place. We as a country are in danger of losing our sense of decorum.

We are fresh off the month of August where we saw civil uprisings at a level we have not seen in recent memory. The issue of Healthcare in this country is a deeply personal issue which makes the debate passionate, spirited and almost scary. Through this hysteria the difference between myth and truth have a witches brew that can boil over into the streets as there is much to lose with this debate.

Regardless of your position in the healthcare argument, my point is about the civility in the argument, or lack there of. The day of the “James Carvell” way of politics should come to an end! Back in the day, The Clinton’s stayed on top for eight years due in part to the Carvell approach of demonizing their opponents. If they didn’t agree with you, they did not engage in debate, they simply made you vial and repugnant in any way they could. Then they leveraged every media resource that remains to this day at their beckon call to spread the word.

Today, we see this carryover, with the worst offender Nancy Pelosi leading the charge. Like some battle cry, the civil unrest takes on the negative characterization of a mob. Once again the media chimed in offering their brand of bias connecting to the masses.

As I attempted to debate the issues in a fantasy football league during Obama’s speech, the venom in the liberal point of view was clear as they fired accusations of racism and flat out hatred of anything Obama. They did not care to engage on the facts; they simply knew this was a losing tact, because they know their position is defenseless. When they felt as though they were lost in the race card, they simply wanted to get back to Football, which was fine by me.

Yet I walked away with sincere concern about the continued demoralization of the US Spirit. Once upon a time we Stood United, all States United. This was real back then, not some far fetched fantasy. Today is all about self, the cause for the “Greater Good” is vastly diminished, not gone…yet.

Back in the day, (before Clinton), there seemed to be a sense of patriot loyalty to the United States. People would disagree, but they remained united on what was best for this country. The press did just that, they pressed for truth; they exposed those that were working for the kind of change they trumpet today. Today I struggle with the word “Treason” when it comes to the media today, but that is another story.

For the time being, I cry out for re-establishing a sense of civility in our politics. I for one have grown tired of the villains and demons and stand ready to start having Statesman and Public Servants reinstated in the mainstream media. I realize this may just be a pipe dream, but if I don’t say it, my dream will never be known, and in this case it would be nice to see this dream come true.