 Hi everyone and welcome to another show of staying young and hard. My name is Maria Mera. I'm your host. I'm also a financial advisor with Edgar Jones. And one of the things that I was thinking that we really need to stay young and hard is creativity and what a better way to just work on that creativity that market. And I brought my guest today. His name is Curtis Bruder and he's a marketing specialist. He's been doing this for many years and he's here with us. So hi, Curtis. Thank you very much for joining us. Hey, Maria. Hey, thanks for having me on. I really appreciate it. Oh, our pleasure. Well, let's go into what is marketing. Tell me what is marketing and how long have you been doing it? Well, I've been doing marketing over 25 years and basically sales and marketing. It's a company. You have a product or service and you need to get people to know about it and you need them to buy it. And so through sales and marketing, promoting what you do, that's all part of your business plan. So that's what I've specialized in. So that's what I do. And you are the owner of Bruder Associates and the owner of Fusion, Hawaii, Fusion Marketing, Hawaii. Correct me if I'm wrong. So what is the difference between both companies? Well, Bruder and Associates, I started that in 1995. And so I've been doing that a long time. And I specialized in marketing, consulting and media buying, which is kind of old school. That's, you know, when companies need to buy newspaper, TV, radio, stuff like that. Fusion Marketing is just over five years old. I have a business partner, Steve Underwood. And what we primarily do is we do events at Pearl Ridge Center and Kamakana Elite eShopping Center. So we are seeing some pictures of your events and your fairs. So who do you work with? Who's your client here? Basically, you know, the shows will have different themes like we had a home improvement show recently. And we'll have like a Loha Pacific FCU, Atlas Construction, My Key Closet, Solutions, insurance companies like National Life Group. So everybody in the construction industry, really, for those. And then we do senior fairs also. And that's more people that have products or services that service seniors in medical and things of this sort. Okay. So these are the small owners who are your clients more than they are. It's a mixture. Yeah, we, you know, we have some small business owners, but we have corporations do and that's a mixture. Okay, I think that we have some videos that will enlighten and we will give a more clear picture of what we're talking about. Okay, so there was a little bit that that was Kamakana Elite. Yes, that was our event that we had in June. And it was like a fly video. I was pretending I was a fly and I just had my camera and I walked down so you can see all the booths and all that. So did it have a topic or was it some sort of specific? Yeah, that was a home improvement fair. So we had the improvement guys out there. And we just did a one day event. We did a Saturday only. Some of the purge events we do today. So how was, and we'll get to talk a little more, but how was the welcoming of this event this year? It was really good. I mean, the folks that live out by Kamakana Elite, they're over by Kapolei and Ocean Point out west on the island of Wahoo. That mall was cooking. They had tons of foot traffic. The selection of restaurants they have now is, I mean, it's one of the best on the island. So we scouted all that before we did the event. We knew there were going to be people that are walking around. And we were real happy with the results we got from it. Okay, excellent. Let's see the other one, the one on Pell Creek. Okay, we're going to have to, St. Young and Hart should be in the senior fair. Maybe next year. So when was this one? Okay, well you probably could tell because people didn't have masks on. This is 2019. This is the end of 2019. And that was a senior lifestyle fair. We had a purge. So are you going to hold that one this year as well? We are. Yes, we are. Okay, so when is that? That one's going to be October 16th and 17th. It's a Saturday and Sunday. And, you know, we're obviously we're following all the guidelines that the state and the malls, the properties have rules on what to do for COVID as well. So tell us a little bit of those rules. How is that different? I think it was, it was responsible on their part. We basically are all masked up. So the exhibitors are all have masks on. And then we do the social distancing as well. And they've been good about that. So, you know, when you look at the footprint of our fairs, usually we had people much closer together. So we have less, less exhibitors in the same space, but it's the right thing to do, I think. Yeah. What about vaccinations? Are they requiring vaccinations or? Yeah, no, there isn't any requirement to have a vaccination to take part in the fairs or to be, you know, to work with the mall to put on an event. So there's nothing like that. Okay. So back to when you were doing it in previous years, because probably now you don't have those many numbers. But how do you follow the metrics? How do you know if it's successful or not? Well, I mean, I think the main thing is that these exhibitors, they entrust us with getting them leads for their business. And if we're not successful doing that, then we don't get repeat business. So the main metric is the satisfaction of the exhibitors. And if when they're satisfied, they keep coming back. And that's, we've been good at doing that. So basically, you're trying to do the marketing for them, right? Not only with their own clients, but also with their prospects. Yeah, I mean, well, some of the people that exhibit with us, we also, we do consulting with them too, as you saw my business partner Steve, he was, he did the interview with the TV station. So we do have some clients, we do both those things, but a lot of the businesses, they just want an event. They want a good event, they can take part in, get their salespeople out there and get some leads, you know. So it's very, it's very clear this one time and let's see how many leads we get. And that's how we measure this success. That's basically it. I mean, yeah, I was going to say because, and correct me if I'm wrong, but for my time doing marketing as well, consistency and long term, same as with finances, right? It's one thing that pays, pays off. Oh, yeah. I mean, you and I, we both know how important it is to be a good salesperson and, and, you know, cultivate leads and you put it in the sales funnel and, and then they become clients and, you know, that's the whole process. If you do that well, you're going to be successful. And yeah, yeah, it's a lot of, it doesn't, it doesn't seem intuitive, but, but marketing and sales, it requires a lot of discipline. Totally. Yeah. I mean, and it's difficult sometimes because you might, you know, be, be, have your mood where you're like, Oh, things aren't going well. And you've got to be out there, you got to be doing what you're doing, you know, got to keep looking for leads, right? Yeah. Yeah. So how do you see the business changing or do you, do you see the same moving forward? Well, you know, obviously I'm not that young a guy, but, you know, I've seen a lot of changes in marketing in general. And a lot of it had to do with the media that people use. You know, because when, when you're a marketing consultant and you're going to use media to reach potential customers for a client, you got to figure out with, with media, who uses that media, who uses it and how do they use it. And the traditional media, a lot of the stuff that were the mainstays in the past are losing an audience. Okay. So, so the social media is the paper click and under websites, all this are used to be, okay, be a good thing to do. Now it's essential. All the digital stuff has to be on point. You don't have that on point here in trouble used to be have a yellow pages ad and a newspaper ad and a landline phone and you're in business. Yeah, more. Yeah, more. So, yeah, and the, and the pie, right, the budget for the companies is kind of the same. It's just the pie is more split before, as you said, it's just maybe the newspaper and the TV stations and the radio. And now is Instagram and Facebook and think it in. And yeah, so yeah. So within your business, do you work with all those strategies? Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, we have to, we have to understand what the options are. And then the other thing is with the different companies, it depends on who their customers are. I mean, I have a, I have a hearing aid company I consult for. And so, you know, you're looking at people that are, we're targeting people that are 55 and older. You can get away a little bit more with the traditional media, you're going to want to do that newspaper, you know, you probably want to have a little bit of a yellow pages ad still, even with Google. I have other clients that they're targeting people much younger. I mean, they're under 50, for instance. And that's a whole different, that's a whole different thing. I mean, if you don't have your social media and your website and the rest of the things correct, that you're not going to capture that younger audience. So, yeah, but it depends on who your customers are on what you have to totally make sure you have correct. So, unfortunately, before we go to the break, do you do you cover every sector or do you specialize in it? Do you like to specialize? Yeah, I have a I have a pretty diverse portfolio like a different different business categories. I have a bankruptcy attorney I'm consulting for a hearing aid company I have an estate attorney. And we have construction company. So it we have varying categories of businesses, which means we got to learn all those business, you know, learn, you know, who their customers are and what are they, you know, what's it like if you have a construction company what's important to the customer. Now, what do they need to feel comfortable that's different than say a bankruptcy attorney. So it is interesting but it is a lot of homework. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So it's a lot of work on your part and and extremely fascinating because you're learning from every single business out there, right. You need to learn it. Oh, yeah. Yeah, let me let me stop us here go to the break and we'll be right back. I'm Mitch Ewan, host of Hawaii, the state of clean energy on think tech Hawaii. Hawaii, the state of clean energy is about following the many clean energy initiatives in Hawaii. Hawaii, the state of clean energy appears weekly on think tech Hawaii at 4pm on Wednesdays. Thank you so much for watching our show. We'll see you then. Welcome back to stay any other hard today we are talking to our marketing specialist activities for their owner of their associates and corner of fusion marketing Hawaii. So are you are we before we went to the to the break we were talking about all these sectors and all these businesses that you're working with. Are you are you focused on Hawaii or are you working also in the mainland or anywhere else. Yeah, you know, I'm focusing just on clients in Hawaii and basically my whole career. I basically done that my whole career. I mean I've had clients that they had multiple locations on the neighbor islands and stuff. But this is the market that you know I feel I understand and So when when when we are sorry I keep interrupting you. But I never do that. It's like my biggest blow but sorry. When when we're talking about how why are we talking about all the islands as you were saying or just. Yeah, all the islands. And you know there there were some companies I did in the past where they had multiple locations right and so they needed a comprehensive marketing plan. And actually the neighbor islands are a little bit different to you know, as far as the way you want to promote products and stuff, which is kind of interesting. Yeah, in which in which way will give us an example. Well, I think, you know, basically. Like, when I think like Hawaii, for instance, why is beautiful people are super nice. The community is really strong there. And I was doing some consulting work with the credit union. And the way that they worked with their customers was really like they were, you know how you always hear, you know, like family, you hear the ads over here. They actually did that they'd have a big party for the, the people that were customers of the bank and they'd be giving stuff away. Very, it was nice. It was really fun to take part in that but that, you know, that was the way they did it on Kawaii, I think we should all do it that way but but. You know, not these days. Right, right. Yeah, but I mean a lot of it, you know, I've been in Hawaii a long time that I'm working with the business people are working quite ago. Hey look, you know, we ought to do this and this and this would work well with the customers and back and forth thing, you know. And again, I'm coming from Spain, right? But then from the mainland, I live in Ohio, in San Diego, in San Francisco. The way things are done in Hawaii are so, so, so different and either you adjust or because no one is going to adjust to what you're bringing. Where are you originally from? I'm originally, I'm from Delaware. I'm on the East Coast. And, you know, so it's, if you went East from Washington DC, you would have run into my hometown. I grew up at the beach on the Atlantic Ocean. Yeah, me for it. Yeah, so East Coast is very different from Hawaii, yes, very much. Yeah. So what brought you, what brought you to Hawaii? When I got out, I went to University of Delaware, I was a communication major and my first goal I wanted to be a professional broadcaster. I was doing radio. And so I got my first job on the East Coast. I worked in Atlantic City, New Jersey. And my career was not going great. And so my parents live in Hawaii. And so I came out to see him and I actually got a job at AQMQ. I was just like a part-time guy. But that was the old timers will remember like when Lily Moku and Michael Cusang and those guys are big. And so I was over there, I worked at AQMQ and I was filling in for people. And then I said, hey, how about sales? Would you teach me how to be a salesman? And so they did. Then they said, look, you got to choose. You can't be a salesman and on air. And I knew my radio career wasn't going to go anywhere. So I was like, I'll do sales. So they taught me how to sell. And I went to KGU a couple years later and that's when KGU AM 760 used to have UH sports. So I was selling advertising for the radio broadcast of UH sports. And I did that. Then I started my ad agency after that. But yeah, it's been fun. So do you work on the content for the ad? Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, throughout the whole process, when I was a disc jockey, you would be doing, you'd be creating the ads with the salespeople. And some stations would have copywriters that would help write the ads up. So I was on the actually the creative side of the business. And then when I became a salesman, I still had knowledge of how to do the creative stuff from what I've been doing before. Yeah. Yeah. It seems like you had the perfect, you, you are the combination of the perfect, everything that requires, that is required from your job, right? Like your small business owner, you work on content, communication, marketing. I mean, it's like the perfect combination. Yeah. Well, it was weird. I, you know, I thought what I wanted to do was get into management. I actually thought I wanted to be a manager, one of the radio stations. But when I got into sales, I loved it so much. There's, there is freedom with it. You got to work hard. And it's, it can be emotionally difficult at times, but I really loved it. There's freedom in it. And, and I never wanted to be in management after that. So that's why I started my own ad agency because I didn't, I wasn't looking to go up the ladder and radio after that. Yeah. So do you have any weakness for any of the, of the tools that you have? Do you, do you go more for radio? Yes, because you work there. Yeah, I think, you know, radio is probably my strength. I have clients that do quite a bit of that because it's my background. I have people I work with. My business partner in Fusion, Steve is a, he's a graphic artist. He's the guy that did the down to earth logo. I don't know if you've seen that. Of course, yes. He's like, he's like a master artist. And so, you know, I partner up with people when, for what I'm weekend. And Steve, Steve's amazing. We're all happy to be working with him at Fusion. Yeah. Okay, well, we'll have to have him sometime also. He's an interesting guy. Absolutely. Definitely. We like interesting people here. That's why you're here. And I'm here. Good. So I was going to ask you, so who are your competitors here in the island? Well, you know, it's interesting because it used to be, you know, not that long ago, maybe, maybe 15 years ago, there were just tons of ad agencies in town. And you had some that were handling huge accounts like, like a low high airlines and guys like that, you know, like, yeah, but big, big, huge budgets and stuff. When we went through, I think it was like 2005 or something. This was a while ago. There was, we had a recessionary period and that kind of thinned the hurt. Some of the, some of the companies went under or so on and so forth. The social media became like the big deal. Okay. And the public relations firms grew during that time because social media was is a cousin of public relations, you know, and public relations would be instead of running ads, right? You're trying to get news coverage, right? So, so that, that leaned out the market. And so there are, I have competitors today, but I have, I feel like I have a lot less locally than I used to because people got out of it. Yeah, because the, it had to do with social media companies doing their own stuff and then the PR firms were doing it, but the advertising part, which used to be traditional became a lot less a piece of what was going on. And so, yeah, that's, that's my kind of arbitrary look at it, you know, that's kind of how it looks to me. So, let's say I'm coming new to Hawaii and I have a small business. Do you have a process that you would recommend to go through or like an SOP? Yeah. Yeah, I think basically, you know, the first thing is like with your business, and it's tough. Hawaii is very difficult because a small business here, when you take a look at the expenses of a small business, it's not like in most places. Usually where you're at, where, you know, your office space, and that that's changing to a COVID, right? Less people are going to be using office space. But, but that there are a lot of things, employment costs, and how much it costs to rent and all the rest of it. The advertising budget gets squeezed over here, I think more than, than maybe some other markets. And so the business owners have to be disciplined in, you know, what they're going to spend. They got to set aside some money that they're going to use to get business in the door. Okay. I mean, yeah, it's easy not to do it because you got to pay to rent, you got to pay this and you got to do payroll, and you do. But you need to be disciplined enough to set money aside. And then the other thing is with the plan is like, you don't want to pay for people. The people laugh when I tell them this usually, we want to find out who your potential customers are. We don't want to spend any money on people. There's like no chance they're going to be your customer. Just cross them out, you know, and so if it's a certain age group or whatever, you just say, okay, we're going to, you need to be very smart about who you're targeting as your customer. And the better you are at doing that, the more efficiently that money you set aside is going to return an investment. If you try to reach everybody all the time, you're going to go broke. I mean, you got to be smart about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's the main thing. Okay. Any other words of wisdom that you want to share with us today before we say goodbye? I don't know if it's words of wisdom, but I, you know, any, any of the small business people or even the bigger businesses out there, congratulations on it looks like we're getting through COVID. And I mean, I just, I have never seen anything like that. You know, pat yourself on the back, because, you know, that was, I've been in business over 25 years and that was a real challenge last year, really a challenge to congratulate yourself for that. And I think better days are ahead for all of us. You know, I really do. Those are awesome words, very positive. And I completely, I cannot agree with you more. Yes, sometimes hanging in there is good enough, right? It is. Good job. Yeah. Yeah, that's an A plus. If you made it through last year, you get an A plus. That's what I think. Exactly. Yeah. Thank you so much, Curtis. Thank you for always being so professional. So on top of things, and for me, at least that I've worked with you, I definitely only have good words and experiences. Same for me. Same for me. Yeah. Let's bring you, let's bring you and Steve some other time and but not your dog. We won't bring your dog next time. Yeah, you heard her dog. Yeah, it's my dog. I'll talk to my dog after this. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Thank you everyone. And we'll talk soon, Curtis. And thank you everyone. We'll see you next Tuesday on another episode of Spain.