Beyond Times Square. Beyond Success.

“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”  These wise words said by Mark Twain over one hundred years ago highlight an important lesson for businesses everywhere: effectively communicating through marketing efforts is an imperative tool for all businesses, especially those fighting for customers in a challenging economy. 

An expert in the travel industry with a lifetime of experience (he has literally been in the travel business since age 2!), Eric Gordon is the founder of Beyond Times Square, a destination management company that arranges New York City and Hudson Valley travel.  Eric is a friend and client of OfficeLinks.  Therefore, we were very pleased to hear that his business experienced its best year yet in 2009 (yes, you read right!).  I just had to know what Eric did to achieve this, which is exactly why I had a chat with him recently.  In Eric’s words, “everything answers to marketing.”

What Eric shared with me is that he focuses marketing efforts on specific groups, not casting a huge net and hoping to catch a random person here and there.  For instance, right now Eric is focused on students because parents want their children to be exposed to new places.  Eric admits that it is not a recession proof plan, but it is a good target group to focus on right now because parents do not think of travel as a luxury. 

Eric also prefers to use low cost means, such as trade shows, email marketing, mailings, and cold calling, which reach his targeted customer.  It is more effective and doesn’t break the bank for him to do.

In his outreach, Eric is sure that there is a consistent message coming from every piece of material, every phone call, every meeting that he has with a client.  Eric emphasized how crucial it is that businesses make sure that their company has a consistent message, in every single department, so that there is no confusion among customers.   Eric says that it is helpful to have a marketing department or team (whether in-house or outsourced) to help ensure that this happens.

What do you think, are you lightning or a lightning bug?  Beyond Times Square, located in OfficeLinks Chelsea New York office space location, sure is lightning, thanks to their effective marketing efforts.

To find out more about Beyond Times Square, click here.  To find out more about Eric Gordon’s Radio Talk Show, click here.