Pen Porter

By sometime this evening, Pen Porter will have a new website. It's the same name as the current one, PenPorter.com. The complete redesign was necessary because we're moving the site from web.com to GoDaddy.com. Although web.com had a great three-month introductory deal (free), by the time we launched Pen Porter itself a few months later the price had gone up. Since Pen Porter is a REALLY small business, it was necessary to find a better price, which GoDaddy.com offered. I also, quite frankly, like my new website better. I can't afford a professional website designer. If you can, I can recommend several, including one who will design a basic but functional website for as low as $300. If you need more bells and whistles like a shopping cart, I'll have to recommend someone a bit higher priced. But seriously, give it a try using a template at GoDaddy.com. I did. I'm happy. I was even able to incorporate a blog onto GoDaddy.com. It uses WordPress, so I'm not sure...

If you are a business owner, you are focused on the best ways possible to make money. You know your product or service, and you are confident you can provide excellent customer service to those who buy from you. But how do you find those customers? You even know the answer to that is "marketing." If you have been in business awhile, you probably have tried some of the "traditional" methods for marketing. Things like putting ads in the local newspaper or Yellow Pages, cold calling the people you want to serve, joining community organizations like your local Chamber of Commerce and service clubs, and telling people everywhere you meet what you do. I actually recommend all of them except the cold calling, and that's only because I don't like telemarketers and I live in a guarded community where you would not be permitted to go door-knocking. But these tactics do work for some companies. But ask almost any marketing expert, this one included, and we will tel...

I hear this often. But, my question to those who make this statement would be “Is that the best use of your time?” Usually, the answer is no. Let’s take the one I hear it from the most often, a real estate broker. She is the owner of one of the most successful agencies in my city. There are two reasons for that. First, she and her agents actually canvass neighborhoods, asking people if they want to sell their homes. Second, for those listings they already have, they provide excellent customer service to the sellers. Third, they provide excellent customer service to people who contact them about buying a home. Fourth, she also has a strong advertising campaign, both on real estate websites like Zillow and in media local readers will see, like the advertisements in the movie theater. Yet, she could do a little bit more. A few months ago, she gave a free seminar to other real estate agents on how to market. She took the time to draft a flier and send it to about 100 agents, title...

Blogging may seem like a trend, but it's one that isn't going away. It offers numerous benefits to those who want to establish a presence online. This could be to market a company for which you are employed, a company you own, or even to establish yourself as an expert in a hobby which you love. I'm trying with not much success to maintain two hobby blogs (one of which is a hobby I'm losing interest in). But what I'm really committed to is that people know about Pen Porter;'s public relations and marketing services, so that is why I am also committed to weekly blogging. Sometimes, though, you don't want to reinvent the wheel. I only recently graduated from University of California - Riverside Extension with a certificate in marketing. For me to have obtained that certificate, it was fairly necessary for me to study social media marketing.(It was an elective, but for a number of reasons I HAD to take the class. First of all, because I wanted to.) My social...

This week, Pen Porter is doing something new with blogging. As of Thursday, March 20 (yesterday) Pen Porter's blog can also now be read on its website, When this blog started in 2013, I was a student in a social media course at University of California-Riverside, and I was a few weeks away from launching Pen Porter PR. I had also just started another blog as a class project, and wanted this blog to promote the services Pen Porter provides. Those services are in the area of public relations and marketing, primarily media relations. However, the services also provided include blogging. In 2014 Pen Porter is going to further develop that service. In the process, Pen Porter will also further develop this blog by keeping its readers up to date on new things we learn about public relations. One thing we learned about some in the social media course last year, and have received some more in-depth training in recently, is the importance of a blog. Blogs are where a company provides...

Here I am doing what I love and am very good at - interviewing a source for a story. The source for this story is Eugene Montanez and the story is the press release below.  This is the short version of my press release announcing formation of the VIP Mastermind Club in Corona. Although I am only paying a little bit less than the price shown below (as a charter member), I feel even for my small, young business the services provided by Dr. Marc Dussault through this club are worth the price. I also will soon be posting here (and on the web version of this blog) a photo collage Marc Dussault and Eugene Montanez created of some stories I have had published in the Press-Enterprise about the two of them over the past two years. This kind of coverage cost them way less than paid ads would have, and was placed in a more visible location in the newspaper than paid ads are.  Also, I have created on my website a gallery of my press releases with links to their results. This ...

Cardelli's Deli in Jurupa Valley opened in 2008, and now thrives on the good recommendations its customers provide . Remax/Impact opened in 2013, eleven years after broker Hasina Hason first began her career as a real estate agent. Hason started her real estate business back in 2002 by mostly making direct contact with potential sellers. Twelve years later, although she now relies on other marketing tactics, face-to-face contact is still how she usually finds customers. Bob Hernandez, shown here with a technician working in veterinarian Dr. Butchko's office, was a successful businessman in the Rubidoux area of Jurupa Valley for more than 30 years. He and his father started Hernandez Tire simply by telling all of their friends and participating in Jurupa Valley Chamber of Commerce events to meet others in the community - even though they couldn't afford the Chamber's dues at that time. Bob has been a member, either as Hernandez Tire or in the last few yea...

I wanted to let all readers know a few significant things about me since I last posted here. 1. I obtained my marketing management certificate from the University of California-Riverside Extension in December. 2. I was named a "Rising Star" by the university this month. This recognition is given to students who did well in their program, and now have demonstrated success outside the classroom. 3. Pen Porter has grown quite a bit since summer. My biggest client right now is the Jurupa Valley Chamber of Commerce, because I'm serving as its marketing manager. So, you will usually find me during the day at 7920 Limonite Ave., Suite B, Jurupa Valley instead of at my official address on Juan Diaz. By working as the marketing manager, I get more exposure to the businesses closest to my home, and I get a fairly quiet place to work. 4. I decided I needed a quieter place to work because I know business will grow in 2014. I have joined a new business networking group called...