People Like Us

Garth Beyer

People loved the lost puppy Budweiser commercial, but what about their other commercial promoting a relationship between you and your beer?

Budweiser managed to do what product and service companies need to do: let people know who they are there for. By stating “people like us…” you’re defining your target and letting them know that they are part of a group, part of a tribe; that there are others like them out there, others who are like-minded and appreciate the same thing, like a Budweiser.

“Not brewed to be fussed over.”

“It’s brewed for drinking, not dissecting.”

And, my favorite line, “The people who drink our beer are people who like to drink beer… brewed the hard way.” Right there, they call a huddle and their target market listens.

You won’t catch me drinking Budweiser, but I can’t deny the successful forwardness of their marketing; their insistence of defining their market so there is no question of who it is they are targeting. A mass-produced beer is no longer trying to appeal to the mass.

As for the naysayers, it is Budweiser speaking in this commercial, not the parent company InBev. I could go on and on about all the parent companies of different products that send opposite messages of each other, Dove and Axe being one off the top of my mind.

 

Stay Positive & People Like Me Focus On The Positive

Two Principles Of Strategically Pitching A PR Plan

Garth Beyer

PR Pitch

I haven’t pitched more than a hundred times, but I’ve learned a few things from the number of times I have pitched, and I’m happy to share a couple of tips.

1) When you’re pitching, find ways to make it personal and connected to whoever you’re pitching to. You can do this in two ways. First, you’ve got to interact with the clients before the pitch. Second, you then take something you learned from that interaction and bring it up fluidly during your pitch.

While presenting a rebranding strategy for Mexico tourism, I overheard the judges talking about how much they loved ultimate frisbee. During my pitch about Mexico I mentioned all the activities one can do in Mexico including ultimate frisbee. During the pitch one judge tweeted at me “you had me at ultimate frisbee.” He was sold.

Why did he choose to tweet at me? Because I had managed to get a one-on-one with him before the presentations started. I noted to him that we had tweeted at each other a few times in the past and it was nice to meet him in person. Just something simple.

If you can manage to get a one-on-one with any of the board, the judges, the skeptics, anyone who will be hearing your pitch, don’t pass the opportunity up.

2) What you’re actually selling is passion. One thing I’ve seen ruin team pitches? No passion. When you’re pitching with a team, smile, nod in agreement with whoever on your team is talking, and show some movement to indicate your excitement. Passion sells. Show your support and encouragement.

I’ve had clients say they chose my team to work with over others because others didn’t believe in their pitch, didn’t bring the energy, didn’t hold each other up.

 

Stay Positive & Succeed With Preparation And Design

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A Poor PR/Marketing/Anything Argument

Garth Beyer

Argue Over Remarkable Results

The worst argument you can make is to do something one way because it won’t make a big impact anyway.

This is most commonly found when person A wants to do things one way and person B wants to do things the other. Person A argues the results will be the same, so why does it matter? Might as well go with their way of doing things.

Tragic, no?

If a decision doesn’t really matter, don’t just choose one of the two. Figure out a way to make one matter. Typically done by scrapping both options and coming up with a new one, a remarkable one, an unreplicable one with a better result.

Remarkable results are the product of a single process. No other process can get the same results.

 

Stay Positive & Push Yourself, Your Partners, Your Work To Be Remarkable

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Usefulness Is What’s Remarkable, Not Constant Content

Garth Beyer

Remarkably Useful

Content isn’t king, usefulness is.

You can tell an amazing childhood story, and it might be great content, but it might not be useful.

Analyzing all the reasons iscream is better on a cone than in a bowl might be interesting, but it’s not useful.

You may think social media is the most important part of your business, but the truth of it lies in how you use it in a way that is useful for others, that solves their problems.

After all, that’s why anyone puts anything in a search bar: to find an answer to a problem.

Showcasing usefulness is where a lot of businesses, bloggers and PR pros miss out on their opportunity to connect with a new customer or client.

The web is definitely not short of storytellers, but is short of teachers, and even shorter of teachers who put their readers, their clients, their customers, their students first.

Is what you’re doing, creating, writing useful to others? Or is it just fluff, buzz and other stuff?

Something to ask before you create something or hit “publish”: what’s in it for them?

 

Stay Positive & Rank High In Search By Usefulness, Not Content

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I Hope It Takes Time For Me To Get Noticed

I Hope It Takes Time For Me To Get Noticed

Garth Beyer

Not So Instant Success

If everyone knew about me and my work right away, it might be because I marketed myself just right and not that I’ve done anything truly remarkable.

Be it me or a piece of software or your new startup, if it’s immediately popular, immediately caught on by the masses, immediately has every spotlight shined on it, none are reliable indicators of remarkable work, of art.

For most innovations, the fact it has taken awhile to catch on means they are important because they have won over the skeptics, they have made it through hell and back.

Often times people sacrifice their business or themselves for the short-lived, well-marketed limelight rather than being in the game for the long haul; rather than creating evergreen, everlasting content; rather than doing the remarkable work of swaying the most skeptical influencers over time.

There is such a thing as a “get rich quick” strategy, but now a “be remarkable in seconds” one.

 

Stay Positive & Instant Attention Takes Away The Fun, The Pride, The Point Of Being An Artist

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Fabrics Of Our PR Society And Economic Culture

Fabrics Of Our PR Society And Economic Culture

Garth Beyer

I had lunch with a Madison PR pro today, and she mentioned how awesome Madison’s PR industry is. No surprise there other than in her reasoning.

Madison Public Relations

In the past if you worked at one agency and wanted to switch to another (a competitor!), you often didn’t for fear of burning bridges, being viewed as a traitor or you didn’t want to lose the friends you made because people at agency A just don’t get close with people at agency B.

But now – and I argue it’s not just Madison – there is no burning of bridges. In fact, there’s little competition. Where there was once disdain, there is now complete respect for one another. Agency B is happy to have people come work from Agency A or C or D or E…

This, of course, isn’t just the way the PR industry has shaped up to be; it’s how the world of work and art is. We are living in a time where success is leveraged by gigs, resources, remarkable work, and constantly changing – but always consistently occurring – partnerships and projects.

Agency A won’t survive if it refuses to connect with those at agency C, and vice versa. Survival may be met by an individual, but success is met by a team, a community.

Our culture – not just the PR culture – is based on innovation, inspiration and connections between people (and agencies).

The wellness of our economy is dependent on the value people like you and me and PR pros and mechanics and Etsy owners create.

It’s easy to become absorbed by the work of the industrial revolution. It’s much more difficult (but ultimately more rewarding) to absorb ourselves in the people around us. At least, we must, if we wish to succeed in business.

This isn’t just a revolution in the PR industry, it’s a revolution in every industry. I’m just happy to see the Madison PR agencies recognize this. Just one more reason to love it here.

 

Stay Positive & People Are Everything

Garth Beyer. Who Is That?

Garth Beyer. Who Is That?

Garth Beyer

I often take for granted you know who I am. You get an idea of what goes through my head on my blog and even on my about page, but there’s more to it.

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Name is Garth Everett Beyer. I work in the public relations and marketing industry. My big belief is I want people to know they can do remarkable work. On GarthBox I teach people how to connect with others to leverage their work, to do the work that matters, and to, quite simply, happily create art. I teach confidence and risk-taking and professional/personal development.

The work I’ve done has spanned from sales to HR to leadership to business strategy to marketing. I’ve failed plenty of times, but I’ve learned enough from others’ failures that I seem to be doing alright on my own as a freelancer.

I have a girlfriend who grounds me. Nothing irks me more than entrepreneurs who are in relationships that they let crumble after starting a business. In the future, I want to help new business owners to make sure their relationships stay strong.

Outside the realm of marketing I am big into three things: ice hockey, craft beer, and exercise. Hockey is the sport I wish my parents would have forced me into when I was younger. I have found beer brewers to be the nicest people in the world. Tony Horton inspired me to get active and I’ve done a handful of other workouts regimes since. (Currently doing Body Beast and the Tim Ferriss diet.)

My mom was a personal trainer for awhile, so I’ve got that knowledge from her. And both parents have shown me how possible it is to have a job and a money-making hobby at the same time. I currently work full-time for the state of Wisconsin as a Grant’s Specialist (fancy way of saying I give money to kids to go to college) while I do freelance work.

I believe in the saying “to each, their own.” I’m fascinated by spiritual concepts and different belief systems, but at the end of the day I follow one religion: the Garth Religion.

I love to read fiction, but I rarely do because I love to read non-fiction marketing-type books more. But I will never pass up a chance to read some Kurt Vonnegut or Tom Robbins.

I always answer the question of what is your favorite X, Y or Z with the most recent movies, music, food, etc,. I enjoyed.

I firmly believe that everything always works out so I don’t worry about much. I’m pretty weird and people tend to laugh at the things that unintentionally come out of my mouth. I’m terrible at manufacturing humor. I never say “hate,” and I try to connect with someone new everyday.

This is who I am. At least at the time of writing this.

 

Stay Positive & Pleasure To Meet You, And You Are?