Celebrating a business anniversary!

And breaking the mold in doing it..

By JEFF JOBE
jobe@jobeinc.com

The Internet is full of suggestions and ways to celebrate a company anniversary or milestone. I began this year thinking about what I might do to celebrate Jobe Publishing’s 20th year of being in business. It all began back on February 1, 1998.

They range with ideas varying from commissioning a team of editors to write or video my company story to ordering thousands of pens and passing them out commemorating our 20th year in business.

There are a thousand ways to celebrate a company anniversary, but I’ll save us the tedium of detailing the long long list of suggestions. As a matter of fact it could be proven that I have made a pretty good living coordinating these exact events for paying customers.

However much like the carpenter who has been working on the side porch for a decade, the plumber who has had his bathroom tore out for months or the blacktop guy who has pot holes in his driveway; I’m sitting here accepting excuses for months from myself or staff for just being too busy to tell our story. Wow, it is amazing that the company hired to market thousands of successful businesses in South Central Kentucky has neglected to do our own.

As I write this I am reminded of the numerous times I have pushed my friends and customers to celebrate their successes. They are all around us, but too many times we only focus on the failures and gosh knows there are plenty of them as well.

One might even begin to wonder if marketing such milestones are even needed or if the money spent and drawing attention will even net a positive return at all.

I believe marketing is every bit as important as advertising but so many managers and business leaders don’t understand the difference. Advertising is an effort to drive sales while marketing drives opinion. Both are key elements for a truly successful company.

This successful partnership over the next few months will be my personal goal. I want to of course continue to grow; but even if we don’t sell a single advertisement or new paid subscription, I have created a company and grown it from one small county publication to seven and literally made a difference in the lives of so many people along the way.

So we begin this weekend, Saturday October 27, with a FREE showing of the movie Rocky Horror Picture Show at the beautiful downtown Plaza Theatre in Glasgow, Kentucky. We will be printing FREE tickets in every single Jobe Publishing Newspaper and sharing this ad with everyone in our social media outlets.

I am so very pleased to be the body to make this movie available for the first time in Glasgow, Kentucky. Of course this movie may fall outside our traditional realm of marketing and this too gives me pleasure. It carries the R Rating: Restricted – under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. There is a very good chance some could be offended so I suggest you google it, or ask a friend about it before showing up.

I’m thrilled to prove that just because a man and his company defends our community values, and fights for good conservative fiscal government doesn’t mean he can’t love all people and celebrate the diversity right here at home. We are even encouraging individuals to dress in character and stop by the local Yancey’s Gastropub and Brewery on the square for a chance to win prizes for the best costumes.

I absolutely can’t stand the boxed mentality of politics that dictate what we must do, say or promote. So get ready to have a fun year ahead as Jobe Publishing moves into our 3rd decade of serving South Central Kentucky.

For the thousands of readers who get this column outside Barren County, please understand I invite you to come to Barren County because I love this community and want to share something special with you; but also I ask you to help me think of a great event to sponsor and invite all others to come visit us in your community as well.

I first wrote back in 1998 and it is still true today; Together We Grow!