What’s new with Neil
Well, it been a while since I’ve posted here on Inside the Marketing Mind. Yeah, I know. I’m bad. But, I have a good excuse, or, rather several of them. As I wrote earlier, I was in Fort Lauderdale on family business. During that time, Cat Morley, Jay Wickham and I launched BoDo. When I got myself back to Ohio, it was catch up time, followed by an interesting turn of events.
Aside from doing a lot of writing for BoDo and writing a feature article for HOW’s December, 2007 Business Annual, I merged my business, Tortorella Design, into Odell Advertising/Marketing, Inc. After 21 years working under the moniker of Tortorella Design and being pretty dang on my own, it was, needless to say, a huge step and a wee bit scary. But, it’s been great. The staff are a bunch of really nice folks and Monty Python fans. I mean, really, how can you not like a Monty Python fan? When I walked in my first day it was like I had been there for years (and I mean that in a good way). Plus, the office is less than 3/4 of a mile from my abode. Heck, my car doesn’t even have time to warm up during the commute from here to there.
At Odell, I’m the Senior Account Manager. That’s a fancy way of saying my job involves generating new business and managing projects. Actually, we don’t do much in the way of broadcast, so Odell is really more of a design firm than an agency. Right up my alley. Plus, I’m still keeping my fingers in the creative pot. I couldn’t turn all suit in one fell swoop. Speaking of suits, if you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend David Parrish’s book, T-Shirts & Suits. Great stuff about being a businesslike designer. I wrote a review of it on BoDo.
So, given my nifty new responsibilities, I thought it would fun to share what I’m up to at the firm, here and there. Hopefully you can glean some useful insights from my activities and maybe even my blunders. I’ll also be writing about this on BoDo.
Here goes.
Odell isn’t a new kid on the block. The firm was started back in 1944. Yup, we’ve some history. Actually, I think we’re the oldest, no, strike that, “most mature” (sounds better) agency in the local area. But the business and competitive landscape has been and is changing. Historically, NE Ohio has been a hardcore manufacturing hub. As such, many Odell clients were in that arena. We still do pretty well, but a reinvention / re-branding is in order to to remain competitive, relevant, really reflect what we’re all about and what we can do for our clients.
Dean Crawford, Odell’s Senior VP, Sales and I have rolled up our sleeves and started to look at our strengths ... and our weaknesses, along with threats to the firm and opportunities. Hey, that has SWOT Analysis written all over it. I guess that’s because that’s what it is. I would behoove you to do something similar. A SWOT can be an enlightening process. There’s a section devoted to it in my book, Marketing Tune Up, which is available on BoDo.
Anywho, we’ve been going through past work to find out where we shine. Ever try going through over 60 years worth of stuff? Holy smokes! What we’re finding is that Odell has a lot of strength and experience in branding for household products, food and healthcare. That’s going to be our focus. That doesn’t mean that’s all we’ll do. It simply means that’s what we’ll promote.
Speaking of promotion, we’re working on several points of contact to reach our prospects. These include a new, beefy site with lots of useful stuff for clients and prospects, an e-newsletter and a targeted public relations program. All this will compliment the usual sales tactics that include sending out intro letters, phone follow-ups, face time and just keeping in touch.
So, bookmark this blog or sign up for the feed, hop on and follow us on the wild ride.
Aside from doing a lot of writing for BoDo and writing a feature article for HOW’s December, 2007 Business Annual, I merged my business, Tortorella Design, into Odell Advertising/Marketing, Inc. After 21 years working under the moniker of Tortorella Design and being pretty dang on my own, it was, needless to say, a huge step and a wee bit scary. But, it’s been great. The staff are a bunch of really nice folks and Monty Python fans. I mean, really, how can you not like a Monty Python fan? When I walked in my first day it was like I had been there for years (and I mean that in a good way). Plus, the office is less than 3/4 of a mile from my abode. Heck, my car doesn’t even have time to warm up during the commute from here to there.
At Odell, I’m the Senior Account Manager. That’s a fancy way of saying my job involves generating new business and managing projects. Actually, we don’t do much in the way of broadcast, so Odell is really more of a design firm than an agency. Right up my alley. Plus, I’m still keeping my fingers in the creative pot. I couldn’t turn all suit in one fell swoop. Speaking of suits, if you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend David Parrish’s book, T-Shirts & Suits. Great stuff about being a businesslike designer. I wrote a review of it on BoDo.
So, given my nifty new responsibilities, I thought it would fun to share what I’m up to at the firm, here and there. Hopefully you can glean some useful insights from my activities and maybe even my blunders. I’ll also be writing about this on BoDo.
Here goes.
Odell isn’t a new kid on the block. The firm was started back in 1944. Yup, we’ve some history. Actually, I think we’re the oldest, no, strike that, “most mature” (sounds better) agency in the local area. But the business and competitive landscape has been and is changing. Historically, NE Ohio has been a hardcore manufacturing hub. As such, many Odell clients were in that arena. We still do pretty well, but a reinvention / re-branding is in order to to remain competitive, relevant, really reflect what we’re all about and what we can do for our clients.
Dean Crawford, Odell’s Senior VP, Sales and I have rolled up our sleeves and started to look at our strengths ... and our weaknesses, along with threats to the firm and opportunities. Hey, that has SWOT Analysis written all over it. I guess that’s because that’s what it is. I would behoove you to do something similar. A SWOT can be an enlightening process. There’s a section devoted to it in my book, Marketing Tune Up, which is available on BoDo.
Anywho, we’ve been going through past work to find out where we shine. Ever try going through over 60 years worth of stuff? Holy smokes! What we’re finding is that Odell has a lot of strength and experience in branding for household products, food and healthcare. That’s going to be our focus. That doesn’t mean that’s all we’ll do. It simply means that’s what we’ll promote.
Speaking of promotion, we’re working on several points of contact to reach our prospects. These include a new, beefy site with lots of useful stuff for clients and prospects, an e-newsletter and a targeted public relations program. All this will compliment the usual sales tactics that include sending out intro letters, phone follow-ups, face time and just keeping in touch.
So, bookmark this blog or sign up for the feed, hop on and follow us on the wild ride.
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