Give Your Marketing Plan This Five-Point Acid Test

Give Your Marketing Plan This Five-Point Acid Test
By Bob Gibson
A successful marketing plan boosts income, while energizing the future value of your brand. The best ones are short, specific and measurable. Here’s what to look for:

1. A unique copy platform
“XYZ Hospital has the largest staff of board certified physicians in this key specialty.” “Our Hospice offers the largest music therapy program in the area.”
These are good examples. Positioning statements such as, “We strive for excellence” or “We really care” are meaningless.

2. A very specific media target for each initiative
Here’s a good one, “Our service is targeted at women who work, are 45 to 54-years old and make medical decisions for their children and their aging parents.” Here’s a bad one, “We want to reach people who need imaging services.” With the first statement, you can create a media goal to reach 80% of this market 3 or more times over 6 weeks. You achieve this by buying TV shows broadcast during the breakfast and dinner hours, buying drive time radio, and by direct mailing the target group that lives within driving range of your locations.

3. Integrate and measure traditional and new media
Traditional media (TV, radio, print, direct mail, outdoor) should be integrated with new media (mobile media, social media, internet). One example would be to run TV, print and radio spots, and have an “Ask the expert” section on each station’s web site as well as your own. The goal of all advertising is to open roads of communication to your business so that customers can travel repeatedly. Today’s technology allows you to invisibly measure the effectiveness of all media by call monitoring, web tracking and at the point of service.

4. Negotiate media rates
Do some simple math to determine the cost per thousand people reached by each media. Then compare TV programs, radio stations, cable TV day parts, local newspapers, web advertising options, even billboards using this as a tool. Ask sales reps to match the competitor’s better cost per thousand. You should be able to realize savings of 25% or more.

5. Invest in your “Brand”
Your brand is the summation of feelings and perceptions the public has about your company and service.
For example: Apple uses friendly language, clean graphics, and effortless function to define itself. Are all of your marketing materials consistent in look and feel. Does your marketing plan, advertising and customer experience define the brand that you desire to become?
Bob Gibson, President of R.J. Gibson Inc., can be reached at (561) 758-8482 or visit www.rjgibson.com.

Bob Gibson’s Copy Writing Magic Formula

I was recently asked to give a speech to a group of real estate professionals. They wanted to know the magic words to make listing ads produce instant results. “Words by themselves aren’t magic,” I announced. “But, I do have a “magic formula, and here’s how it works.”

Start with a typical listing ad.

“4 Bedrooms, 4 Baths, Intracoastal Access, 1-Acre $899,000. Call 000-0000”

Apply my six point magic formula.

1. “Facts Tell. Stories Sell.”

“The Dolphin are biting, 20 minutes from your dock.”

2. Engage Every Sense: See, Hear, Touch, Taste, Smell.

“Watch a waterfront sunset with a glass of fine red wine while you relax in the poolside whirlpool spa."

“Breathe in the water cooled tropical breezes from the master bedroom terrace.”

3. Big is a relative term. So is prestige.

“Family compound on a sprawling acre site.”

“Celebrity neighbors, historic landmark district.”

“Butler’s pantry, servants quarter’s, guest wing, summer kitchen.”


4. Everyone wants a “bonus”.

“Owner will leave artist’s and ceramics studio.”

“Owner will leave exotic orchid gardens.”

5. Everyone wants a “deal” (before the next guy gets it).

“Nasty Hollywood divorce forces fast sale.”

“Bank just foreclosed and must liquidate.”

“New listing, priced for fast sale.”

6. Price is relative.

“Reduced $250,000!

“$100,000 discount to cash buyer, quick close.”


The new ad: The Dolphin and Wahoo are biting 20 minutes from your new dock! Watch a peaceful Intracoastal sunset in your backyard spa while your fresh catch sizzles on the summer kitchen’s outdoor grill. This family compound on a sprawling acre has exceptional bonuses such as a fragrant exotic orchid collection the owner will leave. Seller must close quickly and has reduced price $250,000. Just listed, call immediately 000-0000!

YouTube Video Marketing

Imagine you owned a television station and had the ability to broadcast your message quickly for free. With 2 billion views per day and almost double the prime time audience of all three networks combined, YouTube can be your personal broadcast station.



If you provide worthwhile information, your audience will find you. Those who search for cancer cures can see films of doctors explaining the latest therapies. Therefore, at Jupiter Medical Center, we filmed their physicians and posted them.

Those looking for a place to vacation can watch video tours to get a feel for which attractions they most want to enjoy so for the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse, we posted a film giving a just a hint of the fun it is to climb the lighthouse and experience a bit of Palm Beach County history.



YouTube videos can be indexed with long written captions, and if you carefully write a good caption to your video, you audience will find you.

Hard Exercise Works is a gym franchise which cleverly used videos posted on Facebook and You Tube to show prospects how the fun of each day’s workouts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uILfBjqnuUI

Gibson Roscoe specializes in Internet and social marketing campaigns. For more information, contact Bob Gibson at rjg@gibsonroscoe.com or 561-741-1441 x 108.

Thirty Palm Beach business leaders and clients of Gibson Roscoe Advertising attended “The Light at Night” introduction to The Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and Museum.

Companies represented included: The Palm Beach County Convention and Visitors Bureau, The Palm Beach County Business Development Board, The Palm Beach Sports Commission, NextEra Energy, Max Planck Institute for Bioscience, The PGA of America, Waterfront Properties, Catalfumo Companies, K-Rain Industries, and Four Points Construction.

Executive Director, Jamie Stuve, introduced guests to the newly completed Museum and Tyndall House exhibit. Then were led up the 100 steps of the 150-year-old lighthouse, by “Captain James Armour” while a full moon rose over the Jupiter Inlet. The 140 acre area which includes 50 protected plant and animal species and significant archeological sites was recently designated a National Outstanding Park Site.

Google Analytics and Website Grader: Check Your Website and Marketing - for free!

Adding Google Analytics to your website takes minutes and provides an invaluable check on your advertising spending. 2700 North Ocean is a luxury real estate project that came to Gibson Roscoe with an objective to sell vacation homes during South Florida’s short (January to April) season. The project’s website was built in Flash. In December, before we relaunched the site, it only had 12 visitors per day.



Gibson Roscoe rewrote and designed the site in CSS and launched a newspaper and TV ad campaign to generate phone calls and visits to the property. Many buyers will want to visit a website for details before negotiating on a specific residence. Its important we make the web site easy to find and navigate. Using Google Analytics we see that spikes in web traffic and page views coincide with the Friday newspaper ads we ran and so these ads were continued for four additional insertions.

The television ads keep the web traffic up during other days of the week and we added to the media buy. Buyers are shopping for 2 minutes or more on the site, which begins to pay-off. Each week about $5 million dollars in units were sold, and by April, $34 million in sales have been achieved.

Can the web site be improved?
Yes. By looking at Website Grader, another cost free way to improve your website marketing, we learn the site’s strengths and weaknesses and “tweak” it continually. Our new 2700 North Ocean Website is graded 81 points out of 100.



It gets good grades for having current content - a blog. It gets good grades for having a Facebook Fan Page Link, but can be improved with links to Twitter. Client and agency now know we must go to work, promoting content.

Bob Gibson, right and Ken Roscoe of Gibson Roscoe Advertising in Jupiter recently presented Jamie Stuve, president and CEO of the Loxahatchee River Historical Society with a new logo for the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary.

JUPITER — Jamie Stuve, President and CEO, was sitting at her computer when she received an unexpected but very welcome phone call.

A local Jupiter advertising firm offered to design a new logo for the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse & Museum to help celebrate and commemorate its 150th Anniversary.

“We deeply appreciate that Bob Gibson called us to offer his services wanting to contribute his company’s time and talent to help our landmark Lighthouse.”

In a subsequent meeting, Bob Gibson, president and Ken Roscoe, creative director of Gibson Roscoe Advertising expressed how much the Lighthouse means to them and how proud they are to live in this community.

Many folks might be satisfied to simply have a very successful business and go about their lives, but Gibson and Roscoe recognize the quality of life here and feel compelled to give back. “When we cross over the U.S. Highway One bridge and see our lighthouse we realize how fortunate we are to live here,” states Roscoe. “There is something very special about this place.”

The new logo captures the majestic red lighthouse and inlet hues in a tastefully tropical style with the phrase “Celebrating 150 Light Years” across the middle. The logo is being placed on all Society materials and a special oval decal is being produced, as well as a new car license plate.

Additional designs have been produced for the Loxahatchee River Historical Society and will be used for posters, t-shirts and merchandise for the lighthouse gift shop.

The full service marketing and advertising firm has over 30 years experience, has won 500 awards for creative excellence, and has serviced clientele from the Americas to Europe and Asia. For more information about Gibson Roscoe Advertising visit their link on the lighthouse 150th Anniversary page at www.jupiterlighthouse.org.

This story is contributed by a member of the Treasure Coast community and is neither endorsed nor affiliated with TCPalm.com

Condominium Comeback: $26 Million in Luxury Oceanfront sold this season

The Palm Beach real estate market may be showing signs of a rebound. Catalfumo Companies’ 2700 North Ocean property reports $26 million in sales since initiating a promotional ad campaign mid-January.

The newspaper and television ads, created by Gibson Roscoe Advertising featuring company President and CEO Dan Catalfumo offering buyers price discounts until he reaches his goal of $50 million in seasonal sales. The halfway point toward this goal was reached March 15th.

Buyers have been the “seasonal visitors” from the Northeast U.S. and Canada. These second home purchasers traditionally visit the area through mid-April, and sign sales agreements in May and June planning to enjoy the following winter in a Florida home.

For the area’s daily newspaper, The Palm Beach Post, Gibson Roscoe created a “Spadea Wrap” put Catalfumo’s sales message in an impossible to miss position on both front and back of the paper.

For the area’s television market, Gibson Roscoe Created a media schedule which “Roadblocked” the early morning news and weather—watched by vacationers.

The message, “I’d rather give you a great discount, than pay interest to my bank” delivered by the developer/owner resonated with potential buyers and real estate brokers, generating significant traffic and sales in a period where other area projects offering $1 to $3 million priced units have seen little prospects and sales.

Images from film shoot two, filming a new message to show the progress of sales.