Marketing Basics, Thanks to Celebrity Apprentice

By Kamea Zelisko

Do you watch Celebrity Apprentice? If not, you really are missing out. Sure, the show is filled with a lot of hype and drama, but it is also full of great little golden nuggets of business and marketing information.

For example, in a recent episode where the competitors had to create a four-page ad spread for Trump’s luxury hotel chain (which both teams ultimately failed at, by the way), one team created an ad that the client referred to as looking like an ad for sleazy nightclubs you’d find on the dash of your car. The other team also had an epic fail in not including any contact information (or, “Call to Action”) on their ads.
While watching, it suddenly dawned on me that these mistakes that seemed obvious (to me anyways) were not immediately apparent to those who are involved in marketing. So, I’ve decided to include some quick pointers to help people avoid making the same mistakes in their marketing materials.

1. Hire a designer.
I can’t stress this point enough. Just because you know how to ad Clip Art to a Word document does not make you a designer. It takes years of education, (and more importantly experience) to get graphic and layout design down pat, and if you don’t have that expertise you run a high risk of making your marketing materials look cheap and cheesy. And the result of that? Your company looks cheap and cheesy.
In fact, even if you have some design experience, I recommend you still hire an outside source who is not so closely involved in the project – they can help provide an outsider’s perspective which will ultimately help convey your marketing message more effectively and efficiently.

2. Editing is crucial.
Not a great writer and/or speller? Hey, there’s nothing wrong with that. While hiring a Writer and/or Editor would be the best choice, we realize that’s not always a possibility. So if you’re going to DIY, here are some quick editing tips to help your company’s marketing copy look professional:

Spell Check it.
Spell Check is a great starting point to help minimize spelling errors (and even some grammatical ones). So make it a point to add a quick Spell Check to all documents before doing anything else.

Read, re-read, and read it again.
Like we said above, Spell Check can be a great starting tool, but it is not the end all and be all of editing. If it were, Editors would no longer exist. Spell Check may catch the big mistakes, but wrong words can still be left in the copy (e.g., “He” instead of “The). And because Word is an American program that has still neglected to add the Canadian spelling choice to its program, you will end up with the American spelling of numerous words (e.g. Theater vs. Theatre). This is enough to drive any cold-blooded Canadian absolutely nuts.
So once you’ve done your Spell Check, be sure to read your copy over and over and over again (three times at least). Also, here’s a great tip – read it out loud. This really helps to not only point out spelling mistakes but also fix grammatical errors and improve the overall flow of the copy.

Pass it Along.
Once you’ve poured over the copy until your eyes have blurred over and you know you are no longer useful in your editing role, pass the copy along to someone else who is capable of making any spelling, grammar or content edits it may need. If you have more than one person who can fill this role, then pass it to them person as well – the more eyes the better.

Sometimes mistakes are inevitable.
Even Editors know that mistakes can still get through the editing process, so if you’ve taken all these steps and your copy goes out and there are still mistakes, don’t beat yourself up about it. Editing is a skill that is learned over time, and during your journey you will pinpoint your own editing strengths and weaknesses and be able to fine-tune your editing skills as you go.

3. Never, ever, ever forget to add contact information.
This one should be a given, but apparently it wasn’t to the players on Celebrity Apprentice – ALWAYS include the website, phone number and any other crucial contact information on your ads. The point of advertising is to get the attention of potential clients and to get them to use your product and/or service, so be sure to lead them to where they can do so.