Marketing expert offers practical advice

Merrimack Valley

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February 13, 2009

By Bill Kirk

LAWRENCE — Lu Ann Reeb may not be a 'Millennial,' but she certainly thinks like one.

She has to. It's her job.

For the uninformed, 'Millennial' is another name for members of Generation Y, the group of people born roughly between 1978 and 2000. There are nearly 80 million of them in the United States. And they spend a lot of money and devour digital information in every conceivable format.

If you run a business and you're not marketing to these people, you're making a potentially costly mistake, Reeb says.

Reeb is president of Skyways Communications Inc., and yesterday at The Eagle-Tribune's second presentation in its speaker series "Weathering the Economic Storm," Reeb told about 80 people that it takes some creativity and smarts to reach that lucrative market.

"They are the first generation to grow up breathing digital media," said Reeb, a former TV reporter whose company specializes in new media marketing.

"They get it. They can live without a TV, but not a computer," she added. "The world is at their fingertips. They can see it. And they shop online."

Reeb recommended that small businesses use blogs, e-mail, Web sites, Web video, texting, e-newsletters and social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to get their message out.

At the same time, she said, it's important not to neglect traditional media, such as newspapers. Nowadays, newspapers offer not only bundled advertising services with newspaper and digital components, she pointed out, but are also a means for businesses to get their name out there for free.

Most papers, including The Eagle-Tribune, have comment blogs attached to their articles. She recommended that a quick and easy way to get a little gratis exposure is to go online, make a couple of blog entries, and be sure to include the name of your business in the post.

Another way to get a company's name out there is to make sure every employee includes a link to the company's Web site as part of the information at the bottom of every e-mail message.

And, she said, don't be afraid to tap existing customers for referrals.

"Word of mouth is the best marketing there is," she said. "Eighty percent of my business is from referrals."

Some of the people attending the presentation were impressed by the practical advice Reeb offered.

"There are definitely some things I can take back and use," said Wendy Ring, who owns the Andover Hearing Center.

In particular, she liked the idea of putting Web videos on her company's site and hyperlinks in e-mails.

"I will definitely implement some of these ideas," she said.

Darien Cascio, 23, who works for Fulfillment, Print and Mail Solutions of North Andover, said her company already uses a lot of the tools outlined by Reeb. And she said they definitely work.

Her company is just now dabbling with Twitter, a social-networking site that tracks the comings and goings of posters in real time. Businesses are just now starting to use it as a marketing tool.

"We are definitely interested in that," she said.

And Cascio should know. She is, after all, a Millennial.