A few years back, I read an article about an entrepreneur who operated a tourism shuttle service in Orlando, Florida, USA, with one van and how over the years, he grew it into a multi-million dollar operation, but not without going through tough times while he was building the business.

He recalls how his business was shut down because of the aftermath of 9/11 with airports closed and no tourists coming in, and worrying how he’s going to make it through the subsequent downturn in their economy.

While trying to manage the situation, he got some relief from the American Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), but it was not enough to cover all his losses and also, he did not retrench a single worker during that time.

Despite the fact that there were no tourists arriving at the airports to visit Disney or Orlando Studios respectively, he would send his bus drivers out on a daily basis to continue plying their normal routes, and they would say, “We don’t understand, why do you send us out on the road when there are no tourists to pick up.”

He would reply every single time, “But you don’t understand. Go to Disney and call me once you have arrived there”.

The drivers would reluctantly follow his instructions and go to Disney and call him once they’ve arrived, saying, “I’m here at Disney in the parking lot and there are no buses. There’s nobody here.”

He would then turn around and say, “Now drive to Universal Studios” and the drivers would call him again, saying that there were no passengers to pick up.

What the drivers didn’t realise was that their boss was cunningly running an advertising campaign, with little clutter, because everybody else has stopped running their buses. In essence, people would only see his buses on the road and they’ve made a note of it, for when they were going to need, to hire bus-services in future again.

He continued with that strategy throughout the downturn at great personal cost to himself and his family, and when things came back to normal, he was in high demand with people calling and saying, “Wow! I saw your buses running” and he would reply, “Of course, I’m still in business, and we’ve never closed. How can I help you?”

With a plethora of online tools having become available, one of the most effective and affordable considerations is live streaming, which now allows marketers to reach their audience on the fly.

Having recently launched the “Go Live” online in-person video-broadcast channel, Gerom Media is now in a position to assist big and small businesses to reach a much wider audience through live streaming their marketing conversations.

The “Go Live” platform allows marketers to overlay the broadcast with their logo’s, web site and e-mail addresses, contact details as well as banners (lower-thirds), at the bottom of the screen.

None of the other meeting or webinar platforms are allowing businesses to use their marketing material or properties as extensively, like live streaming.

Viewer questions are also displayed live and the business could run a ticker at the bottom of the screen to continuously remind those watching about up-coming deals or important dates.

The “Go Live” marketing platform does not cost businesses an arm-and-leg, and for a few hundred Rand, it could literally reach thousands of their existing or new customers.

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For further details contact, Gerrit Davids MD
Gerom Media Web Site:
www.gerommedia.co.za
Office: + 27 (0) 87 702 8411
Mobile. +27 (0) 82 496 1657
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.