| Strictly Business Magazine |
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| Strictly Business Magazine Copyright 1990-2003 A division of S&S Enterprises, a Floyd Snyder Production. Santa Maria, California. |
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| About Strictly Business Magazine by Floyd Snyder Strictly Business Magazine = Wall Street Journal? March 2003 - Below is the article we used to launch the very first edition (July 1991) of Strictly Business (Magazine was added to the name some time later). I read it now, and I’m not sure we ever really accomplished that many of our original goals. However, I do know we did accomplish a whole lot more then we ever thought possible. Probably the most stunning and biggest compliment we ever received was from a Wal-mart executive, an attorney out of the corporate office in charge of land acquisition and store expansion. As many of you may or may not know, some time back there was quite a uproar about Wal-mart coming to Santa Maria and requesting a rezoning on “their” selected location, a location that I did not think was right for the community. I wrote an editorial about it, and from that sprung up an opposition force that launched one of the biggest zoning/community wide issues of its time. It became a real knockdown, drag out battle. After many months of “take no prisoners” trench warfare, the City Council finally denied the request. That evening after that meeting, the Wal-mart executives and, as luck would have it, the victorious opponents chose the same watering-hole to drown there sorrows or celebrate, depending on which side of the fence you were on. The lead attorney approached our group and asked me if we would let him buy us a drink, no hard feelings, and all that stuff. And never one to turn down a free anything, we ended up sitting around, talking. Actually, it was a rather friendly finality to that episode of the Wal-mart issue. As they were departing, the attorney got to the door and turned around and asked me what other cities I published Strictly Business Magazine in. I looked at him rather puzzled and said, “None. We are just a little small town operation, why do you ask?” His reply was, “Because, I want to think twice before we go into any community where you have a publication. As far as we are concerned, you are the Wall Street Journal.” Like Butch and Sundance you are probably wondering….. WHO ARE THESE GUYS….?? We’re your all-new business magazine totally dedicated to the business community. We will be publishing monthly with a direct mail delivery date in the first week of each month. The recipients will be the entire Santa Maria business community. “Strictly Business” is published by S&S Enterprises. S&S Enterprises is owned by two “rip-roaring, free enterprise capitalist” that don’t believe profit is a dirty word but (over) taxation is. We are totally dedicated to helping “business” make money!! We want “Strictly Business” to be your magazine. We will be featuring a number of articles each month that will originate totally form the business community. We want to hear from you!! We are going to do this a number of was: First, we want you to send us your news releases. Anything your business is doing that you think is of newsworthy interest to your fellow businessman. Expansions, personal promotions, new managers, new key people managers, special achievements, awards and so on. Second, we want you to write us and let us know what you think of what you read in the magazine itself. We want your feedback even if you disagree. We will reprinting your letters and try to incorporate you ideas, when possible. Third, we are attempting to do a survey question each month about an important issue affecting the business community. We really need you help and cooperation with this. These surveys could have an effect on how the decisions makers look at the issues affecting the business climate in our community. Your opinion is important. This survey will be conduced by phone. If you are called, please take less than a minute and answer the question. Fourth, we will be doing feature stories on members of our local business community. Yes, our advertises will be given coverage in our editorials, and so will business that do not advertise. If you would like to take a short at writing your own story and submitting it, we welcome it. But we make no guarantees it will be published. We also ask that you don’t make a “commercial”. Remember the magazine is mailed only to business people. If it’s strictly hype, they’ll know it! Make it news worthy, behind the scenes type of stuff that’s interesting and maybe helpful to our business people. That’s what we will be looking for. We will be running stories from other agencies that we fell have an effect on the local business community. The Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Development Association are two of the more visible business organizations. Whether you belong to these groups or not, you should know who they are and what they are up to. We have made arrangements to bring you coverage of things going on in Sacramento and Washington that will have impact on you business in Santa Maria. The California State Chamber of Commerce does an excellent job of lobbing on behalf of California business. We will be passing on information from them. We have also made arrangements with various departments of both state and federal governments. We will identify the source of all information as we print. “Strictly Business” can become an important tool in helping your reach your business goals in a number of ways; informative, helpful articles, news coverage and public relations exposure for you business, and an important tool for you marketing department. There are some businesses that are more inclined to uses a business-to-business vehicle for their advertising. But every business should develop a business-to-business marketing program. The local business community uses and consumes all types of products and services like any other consumer. We are all in this together and as fellow business people we should by from and support our local business community especially if we are part of it! |
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