Hidden Gems
Eric Brown
Writer/Published Author Specialized Coaching & Counseling for Female Entrepreneurs **Hire Eric for One on One Coaching **Help with Your Transition **Help with Having a GrowingFREE SimpleLife
Converting an Expense to Profits
What happens to your company when you turn what was an Expense Line Item on your Operating Statement and move it up to become a Revenue Line Item. For the naysayer bean counting accountant types, it is impossible, such creativity doesn’t exist; don’t try anything new, It Isn’t In the Budget, Yada Yada.
For the pioneering entrepreneur it is the part that changes the game. In my younger years I was a builder, and over my career have developed and built somewhere around 14,000 market rate apartment units, but in my early twenties, we had the opportunity to build a pretty cool house for a guy in mid state Ohio. It was one of only a few custom homes I did; they are way too much work and craziness, lol. The family we built this compound for were also in the airplane propeller business. This was a multi generational family business, and this guy’s contribution was pretty unique, and an excellent early lesson on innovation.
In the beginning, airplane propellers were crafted in wood, so you can imagine the amount of wood shavings, lots and lots of wood shavings that had to be hauled away as waste, at a pretty big Expense.
But what happens when you have truckloads of wood shavings? You get into the mulch business! Over time these guys became one of the largest mulch suppliers in the area. They turned what was an Expense Line Item on the Operating Statement and moved it up to become a Revenue Line Item.
But, it is really much, much more than that, They created an Asset. They created something that didn’t previously exist, and grew it. It took on a whole separate life of its own, fueled by what used to be an Expense. This was an amazing early lesson for me, one I have never forgotten.
There are a plethora of examples of this if you pay attention.
Great Marketing is and has always been getting people to talk about you. Do something Remarkable, and people will talk and share.
Every company could or should think like a media company. Red Bull has embraced that maxim in a full-throated way. Not only does the Austrian energy drink maker create TV shows, magazines, movies, books, music and more, but they also distribute their creations everywhere from newsstands, to theaters, TV, YouTube, mobile apps and, of course, the Web.
What makes them rare, if not unique, as a consumer brand, though, is that so much of the media they create stands on its own, as true media, enjoyed for its entertainment or informational value — rather than as, simply, marketing. They turned what was an Expense Line Item on the Operating Statement and moved it up to become a Revenue Line Item. They created an Asset.
? Their Red Bulletin lifestyle magazine has a circulation of more than 3.1 million per month globally, via newsstands and through newspapers.
? They license their media to Discovery Channel, Netflix, Crackle, Nintendo “and many more,” Brell’s colleague Patrice Radden told me in an email.
? They have sales teams throughout key cities in the U.S. and Europe, selling advertising spots to other big brands such as Nike, Casio, Dodge and Patagonia in the U.S., alone.
? They sell advertising and sponsorship packages for their 13-episode action sports TV series, broadcast by NBC, which also sells ads for the show.
While none of what they do with media “is record breaking for media companies, it’s pretty unique for a brand that’s known for selling energy drinks. Real “media companies don’t create media about themselves,” it as a stumbling block for so much of content marketing. While Red Bull’s media often feature their logo, they seldom overtly feature the beverage.
There are hundreds of emerging trends to keep up with in marketing right now. So how do you pick and choose which ones are best for your brand? Depending on your goals for the year, the list of must-haves can prove overwhelming.
The convergence of paid-owned-shared-earned media is disrupting how marketers … market. Those who do not integrate and align their POSE are now at a disadvantage.
? Paid Media is brand content enabled through payment (includes paid search, sponsored content, promotions, advertising, etc.);
? Owned Media is brand content published on a brand’s channel (includes websites, social media channels, blogs, apps);
? Shared Media is consumer content enabled by a third party (includes organic search, forums, user-generated content, “likes” and retweets or comments, etc.);
? Earned Media is consumer content enabled by a third party (media coverage, etc.).
Paid Media by itself no longer works as it used too. Brands must leverage paid and owned in order to scale. In our world, the goal is amplification—spreading messages to connect with customers and leveraging media to drive effectiveness, achieve authenticity, cultivate ideas, and cut through the noise.
MAKING MONEY FROM MARKETING
The media Red Bull creates — whether action shots on mountain tops or popular musical groups’ albums and concerts — comes at a cost that isn’t justified by sales of their beverages, alone.
What companies and entrepreneurs sometimes forget is that the purpose of innovation is not simply to make new, improved products and services; it is to make things that are meaningful to the people who use them. No business thrives unless it creates a difference for people who are willing to exchange money, time or loyalty for the value that difference brings to their lives.
? The world’s largest taxi firm, Uber, owns no cars.
? The world’s most popular media company Facebook, creates no content.
? The world’s most valuable retailer, Alibaba, carries no stock.
? The world’s largest accommodation provider, Airbnb, owns no property.
Companies that control the interface between the consumer and the provider of the goods or services are in an incredibly valuable position. They carry none of the costs of providing the service but take a cut from the millions of consumers that buy from them. The interface is where the profit is.
At MC Companies we are launching MC-Media Group, a business venture formed for the purpose of in house marketing, branding and PR services for MC Companies affiliated businesses. MC-Media Group to form as a stand-alone company inside the MC Companies family of businesses. MC Media’s main function will be apartment marketing and branding and leasing to fulfill the leasing and occupancy requirements of the various MC Residential Communities and to manage the 8,500 unit inventory to effectively and efficiently increase occupancy, increase rents and lower expenses.
Back in the Day, We developed a 555 Partnership Marketing Program, The top five Eat/Shop/Play businesses Five Minutes, Blocks, Five Miles around each of our Apartment Communities. That set the stage to fuel a solid advertising vertical for UrbaneMedia, a spinoff company to create content for our apartment brand, Urbane Apartments in Detroit MI. With (30) Businesses around each Urbane Apartment Community, we had over (900) Eat/Shop/Play related businesses on our websites. These rich relationships provide excellent cross marketing opportunities. For instance, helping promote the local burger joint is an opportunity to give away something as a promotion from the burger joint on our UrbaneLife Facebook page at no cost us. We are seeing these types of Partnership Marketing opportunities unfold now.
The next logical step is to integrate advertising revenue opportunities with these Eat/Shop/Play Partnerships we have created. We are turning what was an Expense Line Item on the Operating Statement and moved it up to become a Revenue Line Item. We are creating an Asset.
Apartment Operations poses an interesting growth opportunity that may be mostly misunderstood. If operations are doing even an average job at operating the property, the enterprise cannot expand like other businesses. There are a finite number of units to rent each year. As Leasing Traffic starts to exceed Rental Inventory, most apartment operators back down Paid Advertising to create a balance to hold occupancy levels at or around 93%-95%. They adjust rental rates in accordance with what the perceived competitor is doing, referred to as Comp Shops.
We believe that this is a flawed process. As Paid Advertising subsides and Organic Website Traffic increases to yield more Leasing Traffic than Inventory, Rental Rates Rise with the tide. This is different due to the convergence of paid-owned-shared-earned media, which is completely disrupting how marketers ... market.
Branded Media means that we become The Advertiser. It works, and is an extremely effective edge for LOWERING Apartment Marketing Costs. The dirty little secret is, that Apartment Marketing Costs continue to decrease over time as you build your Content Arsenal. As our Digital Footprint expands year over year with creative, useful content, our SEO benefit expands accordingly. The average apartment operator’s number of units to rent is static year over year and doesn’t expand unless there is a Lease Up.
Partnership Marketing is an excellent strategy to bridge the gap between starting our Branded Media Campaign and garnishing enough website traffic to self sustain enough Leasing Leads to keep our Apartment Communities full. Hitching Our Wagon to Someone Else’s Wagon when appropriately aligned, is very effective. Partnership Marketing will help us get noticed, and when we get noticed by the National Media, only good things happen.
That friends is taking an Expense Line Item on the Operating Statement and moving it up to become a Revenue Line Item. But, it is really much, much more than that, We Are Creating an Asset, and that’s what Entrepreneurs do Best.
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About Eric
Eric is an Entrepreneur, A Published Author and Writer. Eric lives a Nomadic Lifestyle and is an OffGrid Practitioner. He is also an Instructor for Melina Emerson Small Biz Lady and an Adjunct Instructor at Drexel University. Eric is well seasoned in urban housing development.
He has built and developed over 14,000 market rate apartments on a national scale. He founded Urbane Apartments in 2000 and oversaw new business, general operations, marketing and branding at the company until retiring in 2021.
He was long recognized by the multi-family housing industry as a vanguard of cutting edge social media marketing. Eric’s social media marketing and branding strategy has garnered national media attention