Various 1950s Chevys at the Route 66 Cruisin’ Reunion on Saturday, September 21, 2024. The original Instagram reel is here.
And if your Inland Empire business needs help with B2B written content, find out how Bredemarket can drive content results.
Tag Archives: ontario california content marketing expert
Too Many Dollar Trees?
Are there/will there be too many Dollar Trees in or near Ontario, California?
This used to be my Alpha Beta, a grocery store chain acquired by Kroger and Albertsons.
Then it became a 99 Cents Only Store. (Actually a 99.99 Cents Only Store, but close enough.) And we know what happened there.
Now this location, on Mountain Avenue near D St. in Ontario, California, is slated to become a Dollar Tree. (Actually a Dollar Twenty Five Tree, but close enough.)
Just like the former 99 Cents Only Store on Euclid near Francis, which has already reopened as a Dollar Tree.
And just like the three Dollar Trees within a two mile radius in Ontario, Upland, and Montclair.
Maybe it’s just me, but I doubt all of them will survive. The dollar store market hasn’t gotten appreciably better.
Jay Littleton Ball Park Destroyed By Fire
Jay Littleton Ball Park in Ontario, California was destroyed by fire this week.
From the ABC7 story:
The historic baseball field was built in the 1930s with a wooden frame grandstand.
It’s owned by the city and operated by the public works agency. It was designated a historic landmark back in 2003.
It’s been renovated several times, but officials said there was still likely a lot of old wood in the structure, which is dry and burns quickly.
The Ontario Eastern Little League is sponsoring a GoFundMe for repairs.
Graber For Sale Confirmed
According to Loopnet (and, according to Amanda Matthiesen, Coldwell Banker), the Graber Olive Company property at E 4th St in Ontario IS for sale at an asking price of $4 million.
“They would love a partner or someone to continue the Graber Olive brand but understand the property may be developed.”
(If zoning allows. I’m sure some residents would raise a stink if a condo developer bought the property.)
Oh, and some business details:
“Their online sales are normally $75000 to $150000 per month, including selling to Augusta National for the past 70 years. This last year due to poor Olive production they elected not to produce the Olives in 2023.”
My Visit to Graber Olive House This Morning
No visible indication that the Graber Olive House property truly is for sale.
Maybe it’s not.
But if it is, what will become of the historical artifacts?
When I Had To Describe This Technology, Words Failed Me
(TL;DR people can click here.)
What is this technology?
Last Saturday I hoped to gain inspiration so that I could shoot a video or capture an image to promote Bredemarket’s technology writing services—namely, writing blog posts, case studies, white papers, or other content to empower technology firms.
By mid-morning, with no inspiration, I captured a technology image of…something.
As I confessed in my “behind the scenes” video that day, I have no idea what this thing is, or whether this is used for water, gas, or something else entirely.
Why I did not know
And do you want to know WHY I couldn’t describe what I saw?
Because I failed to get a collaborator to work with me.
If an appropriate person from Chaffey High School presented themselves to me, they could have described:
- Why this technology was necessary.
- How the technology worked.
- What the technology was.
You’ll notice that I asked the “why” question BEFORE I asked the “how” and “what” questions. Because “why” is most important. If a student or staff member sees this thing on the Chaffey campus, they naturally want to know why it’s there. They don’t really care if it pumps 100 liters of whatever per second.
How I can produce the right words for your technology firm
And that’s how I will work with YOUR technology firm when Bredemarket creates content. We work TOGETHER to create the content you need.
Do you need to create content that converts prospects for your technology product/service and drives content results?
Learn more by clicking on the image.
P.S. Don’t wait. There’s a cost to waiting.
Start Your Engines: Writing Your Non-Traditional Words
All too often, Bredemarket confines its writing discussions to the traditional ABCW (articles, blog posts, case studies, white papers) categories.
But what if your content needs are non-traditional and fall outside of the usual nice neat business writing categories?
If you are an Inland Empire business who needs words, but not in the traditional “ABCW” (articles, blog posts, case studies, white papers) business types, Bredemarket will help you with your non-traditional writing needs.
Take a look at the examples I’ve provided below, and if these spark interest within you, authorize Bredemarket, Ontario California’s content marketing expert, to help your firm produce words that return results.
- Email me at john.bredehoft@bredemarket.com.
- Book a meeting with me at calendly.com/bredemarket. Be sure to fill out the information form so I can best help you. For example, if you’re an Inland Empire business requiring non-traditional content, fill out the form accordingly.
- Contact me at bredemarket.com/contact/.
- Subscribe to my mailing list at http://eepurl.com/hdHIaT.
Here’s what I’m going to talk about in this post.
- The traditional 22+ content categories
- Non-traditional content: going to a car show
- Your non-traditional business communication needs
- Why and how Bredemarket creates non-traditional content
The traditional 22+ content categories
Sometimes I’m guilty of traditional thinking. Too traditional.
I won’t say a lot about this because I’ve said it before, but I’ve defined 22 fairly traditional categories of content that I (and Bredemarket) have created and can create.
I won’t go into all 22 types again, especially since some of them are internal content rather than customer-facing content. But I’d like to highlight the “ABCW” four types that I mentioned at the beginning of this blog post, plus a couple of others.
Articles and blog posts
I’m lumping articles and blog posts together, because while some “experts” try to draw hard-and-fast distinctions between the two, they’re pretty much the same thing.
Whether it’s a blog post on your website, a post or article on LinkedIn, or even some extended text associated with an Instagram picture or a TikTok video, what you’re creating is some text that entertains, persuades, inspires, or educates your reader, or perhaps all four. You set the goal for the article or blog post, then tailor the content to meet the goal. (I’ll talk more about goals later.)
Case studies
Case studies show your readers how your solution was applied to someone else’s problem, and how your solution can benefit your prospects with similar problems.
Maybe your prospect is a city police agency that needs a tool to solve crimes, and your case study describes how your solution solved crimes in a similar city. Again, you set the goal for the case study, then tailor the content to meet the goal.
White papers
On the surface, white papers are informational, but when a company issues a white paper, the “information” that the white paper provides should gently guide the reader toward doing business with the company that issued the paper. Using the example above, you could write a white paper that outlines “Five Critical Elements for a Local Crime-Solving Solution.” By remarkable coincidence, your own solution happens to include all five of those critical elements. Again, you set the goal and tailor the content.
Briefs, data sheets, and literature sheets
Perhaps you need to provide handouts to your prospects that describe your product or service.
Regardless of whether you call these handouts briefs, data, sheets, literature sheets, or something else, they should at a minimum contain both “educate” and “persuade” elements—educate your prospects on the benefits of your product or service, and persuade your prospects to move closer to a sale (conversion).
Again, you set the goal and tailor the content.
Web page content
If your business has a web page, I hope that it has more words than “Under construction.” Whether you have imagery, video, audio, text, or all four on your web page, it needs to answer the questions that your prospects and customers have.
You know what I’m going to say here, but it’s still important. You set the goal and tailor the content.
But…what if your business needs content that doesn’t fall into these traditional business categories?
Non-traditional content: going to a car show
I went to a car show this weekend—specifically, this year’s Route 66 Cruisin’ Reunion in downtown Ontario, California. (Yes, I know that Route 66 actually passed three miles north of downtown Ontario, but work with me here.)
While some of the exhibitors were personal, some of them were businesses. As businesses, what was the major marketing collateral that they generated?
Not a blog post, or LinkedIn article, or any of the traditional business media collateral.
Their marketing tools were the cars themselves.
So perhaps you may assume that car show exhibitors don’t need textual content. Your assumption would be incorrect.
In addition to the car itself, this exhibitor included poster boards with words describing the car.
Another exhibitor did the same thing.
So while these car show exhibitors didn’t choose a traditional way to convey their words, they shared written text anyway.
Your non-traditional business communication needs
Maybe you don’t have a classic car. Maybe you don’t have a car at all. Do you need to share words with your prospects and customers anyway?
Now I don’t know your business communication needs. You do. But I can guess a few things.
- Do you need to tell your clients/potential clients why you do what you do?
- Do you need to tell them how you do it?
- And last but not least, do you need to tell them what you do?
I know that this may seem like an unusual order to you. Why not start with what you do?
Because your customers don’t care about what you do. Your customers care about themselves.
If you keep the focus on your customers, the answer to the “why” question will induce your customers to care about you, because it shows how you can solve their problems.
Let’s illustrate this.
Why and how Bredemarket creates non-traditional content
You may be asking why I create content in the first place. There are countless content creators, both human and non-human. Why turn to me when OpenAI and its bot buddies are a lot cheaper and faster?
The simple answer is that I am obsessed with writing, and in this era of self-description, I self-describe as a “you can pry my keyboard out of my cold dead hands” type. (It used to be a typewriter, but let’s stick to this millennium.) And with my many years of personal and professional writing, I’ve honed my ability to take concepts and make them meaningful to readers.
Which brings me to how Bredemarket works.
- Bredemarket’s service is independent of content type. I don’t have a “Bredemarket blog writing service” or “Bredemarket data sheet writing service” or “Bredemarket case study writing service.” My services are based on word length, not content type, with my most popular service targeted to customers who need between 400 and 600 words of text. From this perspective, I don’t care if you want the words to appear on your website or your social media channel or a paper flyer or a sign next to your car or a really really long banner towed behind an airplane. (Read about the Bredemarket 400 Short Writing Service here.)
- Before I write a thing, I ask your some questions. It won’t surprise you to learn that my first questions to you are why, how, and what. I then move on to questions about your goal for the content, the benefits of your solution, the target audience for your solution, and many additional questions. (Read about the Six Questions Your Content Creator Should Ask You here.)
- Once the questions are out of the way, content creation is collaborative and iterative. I create a draft, you review it, and we repeat. The Bredemarket 400 service includes two review cycles; longer content needs include three review cycles. The goal is to ensure that both of us are happy with the final product.
Bredemarket’s process applies regardless of the specific content type, so I should be able to support whatever content you need, whether it’s traditional or non-traditional.
Can I help you?
- Email me at john.bredehoft@bredemarket.com.
- Book a meeting with me at calendly.com/bredemarket.
- Contact me at bredemarket.com/contact/.
- Subscribe to my mailing list at http://eepurl.com/hdHIaT.
And as an added bonus, here are some additional images from this weekend’s Cruisin’ Reunion. Enjoy.
Blogging: The Secret Growth Weapon for Riverside and San Bernardino County Firms
(Updated blog post count 10/23/2023)
There are many ways for Inland Empire firms to raise awareness about their offerings. For certain firms, blogging provides quantifiable benefits. Can your firm take advantage of blogging’s fresh immediacy?
Blogging benefits
I recently wrote a post, “The Secret to Beating Half of All Fortune 500 Marketers and Growing Your Business,” that lists 14 quantifiable benefits from blogging. Here are the top 4:
- Awareness: the average company that blogs generates 55% more website visitors.
- Lead generation: B2B marketers that use blogs get 67% more leads than those who do not.
- Conversions: marketers who have prioritized blogging are 13x more likely to enjoy positive ROI.
- Conversions (again): 92% of companies who blog multiple times per day have acquired a customer from their blog.
Why Bredemarket?
If you need help writing blog posts so that your Inland Empire firm stands out, I, John E. Bredehoft of Bredemarket, can help.
- I’ve written more than 500 business blog posts.
- I can create blog content that has an immediate business impact, is easy to reshare, and is easy to repurpose as other content.
- I ask you critical questions before I start blogging, to ensure you get the right content.
- I collaborate with you throughout the process to ensure the blog post is on target and meets your goals.
- As the Ontario California content marketing expert, I know the territory. (But not the territory of the other Ontario; my French skills are extremely limited. Sorry.)
In most cases, I can provide your blog post via my standard package, the Bredemarket 400 Short Writing Service. I offer other packages and options if you have special needs.
Get in touch
Authorize Bredemarket, Ontario California’s content marketing expert, to help your firm produce words that return results.
- Email me at john.bredehoft@bredemarket.com.
- Book a meeting with me at calendly.com/bredemarket.
- Contact me at bredemarket.com/contact/.
- Subscribe to my mailing list at http://eepurl.com/hdHIaT.
Four Restrictions on Bredemarket’s City of Ontario Business License, and Why You Should Care
Remember when I said that I spent Labor Day renewing my City of Ontario business license?
Well, the approved license arrived in the mail today.
The electronic mail, not the snail mail.
This coming year will be the fourth year of Bredemarket’s existence. I started in August 2020, but it took a few weeks for the city business license and other paperwork to complete.
Now while the City of Ontario (California, not Canada) business license renewal entitles me to conduct business in the city as Bredemarket (when coupled with the Fictitious Business Name statement I filed with San Bernardino County), it is not an official endorsement of my activity by the city, and is definitely NOT an endorsement of the call to action at the end of this post.
More importantly, the City of Ontario has imposed four significant restrictions on the way that Bredemarket conducts business. Do they affect how I do business with you? We’ll see.
First: I must post the business license in a conspicuous place
Done.
Although as we will see when we get to the third restriction, the whole meaning of “conspicuous place” is irrelevant to Bredemarket’s business.
Second: I can’t conduct just ANY business
The business license is issued “for consulting services, including marketing and writing services.” The license does NOT allow me to bake pies, perform auto maintenance, launch rockets into space, or perform heart surgery.
Dang guvmint.
Third: No visitation from clients
Remember how the city requires that I post my license in a conspicuous place? Well, the city also prohibits me from having clients visit me at my work location. This makes sense, since residential neighborhoods aren’t really built to have a bunch of cars park outside a house where business is conducted.
This means that when I do have a person-to-person meeting (rather than a videoconference) to conduct business, the meeting has to be offsite. For example, a couple of years ago I met with an advisor at Brandon’s Diner in Upland. (And the lunch was tax deductible!)
Fourth: No signage permitted
Again, because my work location is in a residential neighborhood, I can’t put a huge neon sign in my front yard with the Bredemarket logo.
And no, I can’t put a small neon sign in my front yard.
Or any neon sign.
I wonder if the city will let me put signage on my mailbox? Actually, the UPS Store probably won’t allow that either.
So what?
The reason that these city restrictions don’t matter to you is because (since we still have the Internet) Bredemarket is perfectly capable of conducting its business online.
You don’t have to look for my business sign, or a parking place in front of the place where I conduct business. Why not? Because I can meet with you via Google Meet or another videoconferencing service, or we can talk on the phone, or even exchange emails with each other.
I’ve worked from home since March 2020—first for IDEMIA, then for Bredemarket, then for Incode Technologies, then for Bredemarket again. During that time I’ve been able to meet all of the needs of Bredemarket clients remotely, despite no public parking and no signage.
Well, almost all the needs. I haven’t been able to perform aortic valve surgery for my clients.
Dang guvmint.
The city does not endorse this call to action
Do you want to use the marketing and writing services of a government-licensed consulting firm?
More importantly, do you want to use the marketing and writing services of a consulting firm that ensures the right questions are asked at the beginning of the project, and that you have complete input during the writing and review cycles?
Authorize Bredemarket, Ontario California’s content marketing expert, to help your firm produce words that return results.
- Email me at john.bredehoft@bredemarket.com.
- Book a meeting with me at calendly.com/bredemarket.
- Contact me at bredemarket.com/contact/.
- Subscribe to my mailing list at http://eepurl.com/hdHIaT.
Could Bredemarket survive without the Internet?
I wasn’t going to labor on this Labor Day, but I ended up renewing my City of Ontario business license. (This coming year will be the fourth that Bredemarket has conducted business in Ontario.)
To receive that mailing from the City, Bredemarket of course has to have a mailing address, courtesy of a local UPS Store (formerly known as Mailboxes Etc.).
Now most people don’t interact with Bredemarket via my physical mailing address. The few that do include the City of Ontario, and three of my clients who have chosen to pay me via paper checks. (I’m flexible.)
This got me curious.
What if?
What if the Internet were to disappear tomorrow? What if the only way my clients could interact with Bredemarket was through my Bredemarket physical mailing address? Could Bredemarket still conduct business?
Possibly.
Some of my business would disappear overnight. Blog posts, for example, are meaningless in a non-Internet world, unless companies choose to post long text-based communications on utility poles. Or in laundromats.
Even if the Internet were to disappear, I could still write text for case studies (maintaining my Inland Empire case study writing business) and white papers. I could send my client a Microsoft Word file (perhaps an old version of Word), and the firm could send the file to their printer. But how would I send the file? Put a CD in the mail?
Back to reality
Luckily, we DO have the Internet.
If you need to communicate with Bredemarket regarding your marketing and writing needs, you can go to my contact page at https://bredemarket.com/contact/. As of today, my contact methods include email, phone, and web page form. You can even book a calendar meeting with me.
And yes, you can “snail mail” me also at 1030 N Mountain Ave #259, Ontario, CA 91762-2114.
Bredemarket 