One of the things I found was an old set of notes from a seminar I took in San Francisco way back in 1977 when I was in the wholesale grocery export business in Houston. It is titled Ethical advertising guidelines, and although the seminar was directed at advertising to people in foreign countries, the guidelines can apply to any advertising, any business, any industry, any country. All photos ©2010 Russel Ray Photos Try Russel Ray Photos Recent posts
Ethical advertising guidelines
I've been digging through old boxes of notes, photographing them, naming the photographs, and then cataloging them on my new one terabyte external hard drive. Makes it very easy to find something now rather than trying to sort through all sorts of newspaper and magazine clippings and seminar notes. Saves a lot of room, too.
Honesty — Advertising should be clear, honest, and complete so that consumers know exactly what is being offered, at what price, and terms of payment.
Sponsor and intent — This is particularly important and goes back to honesty and clarity. Offers and solicitations should not appear to be research, surveys, charitable fundraising, etc..
for inexpensive, royalty free photos.
Picture of the Moment #31 To see previous pictures, click on Picture of the Moment. My husband and I took a two-hour San Diego harbor cruise this afternoon since it was a beautiful day. The one we chose took us over to the submarine base where we saw several submarines: Try Russel Ray Photos for inexpensive, royalty free photos. Recent posts
That last picture is a submarine in drydock. Here's a closer picture of it:
I took 379 pictures on our two-hour tour, of which probably about half were of the many ships at the 32nd Street Naval Station, the nation's second-largest naval station after Arlington, Virgina. I'll have a slide show of the ships sometime this week.
To read previous posts in this series, simply click here. The next stamp in our history book is the 30¢ denomination featuring Alexander Hamilton Along with being a Founding Father, Alexander Hamilton founded the Bank of New York in 1784 and was the first United States Secretary of the Treasury under President George Washington. He was one of America's first Constitutional lawyers and co-wrote the Federalist Papers with James Madinson and John Jay. As a New Yorker, he was a driving force behind the Philadelphia Convention, now known as the Constitutional Convention, which resulted in the Constitution of the United States of America as we know it. However, he was the only New Yorker to sign the Constitution. Interestingly, historians are not sure about his birth date although it seems that a majority now say that he was born in 1755. Not knowing the birth year of such a historically significant person certainly leads one to wonder about "facts" about other leading figures in history, such as "facts" supposedly contained in The Bible. __________
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This is part of my "Learning something new...." history series using United States postage stamps as our history book.
(1755-1804), issued in 1870:
Other interesting facts about Alexander Hamilton:
Sources:
To read previous posts in this series, simply click here. The next stamp in our history book is the 24¢ denomination featuring Winfield Scott My wise old grandmother would often refer to a constant complainer as an "old fuss and feathers." Well the original "old fuss and feathers" was none other than Army General Winfield Scott. In 1852, the United States Whig Party nominated General Scott as its presidential candidate. What's particularly interesting about that is that the incumbent President, Millard Fillmore, was a member of the Whig Party, so he effectively was thrown out of the election by his own Party in favor of General Scott, who would go on to lose the election to Democrat Franklin Pierce. In 1856, General Scott becamse the first General since George Washington to be promoted to Lieutenant General, although he received it via a military brevet, which is a warrant authorizing a commissioned officer to hold a higher rank temporarily and without the pay of the higher rank. Other interesting facts about Winfield Scott:
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We are ActiveRain! **********
Fifteen recent blog posts Helpful blog posts for ActiveRain newbies
Need help with marketing? Join the Guerrilla Marketing Tactics Group. Inspired by nature? Join the Inspired By Nature Group. Classical music lover? Join the Classical Music Group. Want to share a good book? Join the Active Rain Book Club
This is part of my "Learning something new...." history series using United States postage stamps as our history book.
(1786-1866), issued in 1870:
General Scott served on active duty for 47 years, longer than any other person in U.S. history. Along with being known as Old Fuss and Feathers, his distinguished military career earned him the moniker of "Grand Old Man of the Army." General Scott commanded military forces in the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Black Hawk War, the Second Seminole War, and the Civil War. He was the primary architect of the military strategy known as Anaconda Plan that was used to defeat the Confederacy. He also served as Commanding General of the United States Army for twenty years, longer than any other holder of the office.
Historians rank General Scott highly as both a military strategist and a battlefield commander.
Sources:
The new Elephant Odyssey at the San Diego Zoo also includes many other species, such as a nice aviary occupied by three California condors, of which one is a young condor with no head coloring yet. Elephant Odyssey opened earlier this summer, so the condors are still getting acclimated to their new home. When I went to the Zoo with some Clients a few days ago, there was a gentle morning breeze blowing, which the condors seemed to be thoroughly enjoying, but especially the young one: This young fellow wasn't flying, nor even attempting to fly. Instead, he would just hold his wings out there and let the breeze flow through his feathers. Every couple of minutes he would adjust his wings, which is why it looks like he's flapping them in the pictures. We watched him for about 15 minutes before he brought his wings in to rest them.
We are ActiveRain! **********
Fifteen recent blog posts Helpful blog posts for ActiveRain newbies
Need help with marketing? Join the Guerrilla Marketing Tactics Group. Inspired by nature? Join the Inspired By Nature Group. Classical music lover? Join the Classical Music Group. Want to share a good book? Join the Active Rain Book Club
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I work specifically with small businesses and the self-employed in real estate-related industries (Realtors, home inspectors, etc). Speciality is Guerrilla Marketing during start-up and growth phases.
DON'T BE A BUSINESS & MARKETING EXPERIMENT!
Call Russel Ray to save your day!
Proud to be available 24/7 due to modern technology.
Personal history
I was born in Kingsville, Texas, in March 1955, and raised there and in northern Utah (Logan and Brigham City). I graduated from Texas A&M University in December 1978 (Class of '77—Gig 'em, Aggies!) and lived in Houston for five years, working in real estate, as a telecommunications director for an export company, and as a property investor/renovator/flipper. Other vocations in Texas from 1973 to 1993 included pool and spa construction, roofing contractor, heaving and cooling technician, landscaper, antique restoration, and word processing/desktop publishing. My friends called me the "Five Year Man" because after five years working in any one industry, I'm always looking for something else to do or someone else to help create their businesses.
When I was two, I started playing the piano, took up the violin when I was in first grade, and took up voice when I was in second grade. I still play around on the piano and occasionally sing with community groups, having been a member of the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus (the world's larges gay male choral group) and the Gay Men's Chorus of San Diego. Reading, research, and typing came naturally to me, and I continue to read, learn, and teach others.
After moving to San Diego in April 1993 and sitting out on San Diego's beaches for 11 months, I re-entered the work force and took a consulting job in the wireless telecommunications industry (cell phones! ugh!) that took me to Detroit, Philadelphia, Tampa, San Franciso, and many other cities), although my home base remained San Diego—I just couldn't convince myself to move permanently out of such nice weather and beaches.
I currently live in La Mesa, California, a suburb of San Diego, and provide most of my marketing and business services via the Internet, although I do have several local Clients. With the world rapidly becoming a global economy, there's no reason why creativity in thinking outside the box and being different can't work just about anywhere. I live with my partner of 14 years, himself a Realtor with Century 21, and our domestic short hair ginger tabby animal shelter adoptee, Zoey. I attribute my succes in life to my wise old grandmother who adopted me when I was just shy of 11 and she was 55.
Business & Marketing
Most people start their own businesses because they become frustrated with the company they have been working for. Unfortunately, unless they were in business management or marketing, many skill sets don't readily translate into business management or marketing prowess, and many people find the ins and outs of business management and marketing to be somewhat boring. Perhaps that's why it requires a certain type of person to get a business up and running, and that's what I specialize in doing. If you're newly self-employed, or you're in charge of a new department at an otherwise large company, I can help you get started to make sure that your new company or your new department make it through the start-up phase and into sustainability and profitability.
Availability
I answer my phones 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with only five exceptions:
Feel free to contact me if you have a question about something related to marketing and business for the self-employed and small businesses. Although I do answer the phone at all hours, the best way to reach me is by email at russel@marketing-and-business.com. Leave a phone number, and if your question demands more than an email reply, I'll be happy to call you, on my dime.
If you have a simple question, I can answer it over the phone or by email at no charge to you. I'll even call you on my dime if you're an ActiveRain member. Just let me know when to call, and as noted previously, I'm available 24/7, so your convenience.
I do provide various discounts to military, "family" members (you know who you are!), public service professionals such as fire fighters and police, and repeat Clients.
Happy marketing for your happy business!
If you need a home inspector anywhere in Southern California's ten counties, I operate a full-time business in that area of real estate as well. Feel free to visit my Home Inspection profile here at ActiveRain at http://activerain.com/russel.
Russel Ray Photos
I am also a professional photographer. If you are looking for inexpensive, royalty-free photographs, please check out my web site at Russel Ray Photos.
I have five different types of photos available:
Guerrilla Marketing
I specialize in Guerrilla Marketing, particularly as it applies to small businesses; the self-employed; small, autonomous departments of otherwise large corporations; and charitable and similar organizations that need volunteer help. My love of Guerrilla Marketing was instilled in me back in 1984 when a friend gave me a newly published book titled "Guerrilla Marketing," by Jay Conrad Levinson, now widely recognized as the Father of Guerrilla Marketing. At the time, I was having problems with my own business, something that I had never gone through before, but it was a new business in a new city. While I was waiting for customers to walk in the door, I was reading "Guerrilla Marketing." The rest, as they say, is history.
Guerrilla Marketing simply requires ingenuity, creativity, time, and energy in order to differentiate one from one's competition. I'm a member of the Guerrilla Marketing web site and have read all of Levinson's books and keep them in my extensive library for ready reference. You don't have to have the marketing budget of Wal-Mart or IBM in order to create your own niche in whatever business you happen to be in.
I've been a fan ever since, having used Guerrilla Marketing to bring success not to only my own businesses—including pool/spa construction, heating and cooling, home inspections, landscaping, word processing, and several others—but also to many charitable, non-profit, community, church, and volunteer organizations (Houston Symphony, Red Cross, Muscular Dystrophy, Special Olympics, Alpha Phi Omega National Service Fraternity, San Franciso Gay Men's Chorus, and Gay Men's Chorus of San Diego), as well as to my Client's businesses. Feel free to contact me for a complete list, references, and a curriculum vita. In the true vein of Guerrilla Marketing, I provide a lot of free advice concerning marketing and business, and that's my purpose here at ActiveRain. Some would argue that "you get what you pay for," but I would submit that the proof is in the pudding—see the testimonials below.
Helping people help themselves
I particularly enjoy helping people think outside of the proverbial box, to do what their competitors are not doing, to differentiate themselves in order to create at least a niche market that can provide for them a healthy annual income. I have found that a great business plan with great marketing can not only create a profitable niche market, but persistently and consistent work can even create niche environments and niche economies that can insulate me from any doom and gloom going on around me, especially if it's doom and gloom over which I have no control.
My specialties within marketing are in areas pertaining to real estate and volunteer/charitable/non-profit organizations that need help but can't always afford to pay for it.
I do speak at special seminars and events, but rarely because it usually requires me to travel away from San Diego, the city I love. My most recent speaking engagements were at the National Convention of the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors, held in May 2007 in Toronto; and a local chapter NACHI meeting in June 2007 in Flint, Michigan.
If you need to think outside the box to get a leg up on your competition, feel free to contact me. You can also get lots of tips, tricks, ideas, and suggestions by reading through, and subscribing to, my ActiveRain blog.
I also work as a full-time home inspector throughout Southern California's ten counties: Imperial, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura. Please check out my ActiveRain home inspector profile and my home inspector web site.
If you're interested in my home inspection business, here are some testimonials in that area:
Past Clients
Since 1973, I have founded several companies, helped other companies get started, and helped some companies with specific marketing or business management tasks, including:
ActiveRain Corp. is not responsible for the accuracy of the site's content (which is written by members of the ActiveRain Real Estate Network) and does not endorse the views of the real estate agents, mortgage brokers, and others listed here.
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