ON THE ROAD

I was once accused of just doing something - anything - when I was unsure what to do.  My accuser was my boss and an important business mentor in my life and he was right.  My gut reaction when things aren't going as I think they should, is to do something . . .  even if it's wrong to do something. American Antiquities has suffered and enjoyed that business axiom for 20 years and we are once again practicing it today with this writing.
A few years ago when fuel prices were spiraling upward as they are today and diesel fuel was cheaper than gasoline, we invested in a somewhat fuel efficient diesel powered vehicle for distribution.  Shortly thereafter diesel became more expensive than gasoline and to my knowledge has remained so despite the fact that diesel is less expensive to produce ... so much for doing something!
Most everyone appreciates and we understand the importance of the face-to-face contact we establish and maintain with our current and potential customers.  As best we can tell no other street-sheet-based print media publication maintains a larger market footprint than American Antiquities, and we plan to keep it that way.  We expect to continue growing both the print and Digital branches of our media package by prudently taking advantage of any and all opportunities as they arise.  In spite of usurious fuel prices and fill ups approaching  $125, you will continue to see my smiling face as I visit your shop to remind you how we can work together and help each other prosper.
I must admit, I sometimes feel as though I've written and spoken too much about the advantages of using our service.  We truly believe we have the best service for the least amount of money available in the market today.  We've used every catch phrase and fact sheet imaginable to explain what we do, and I still worry you may not understand the full scope of what we do ... otherwise you would be our customer.
Our most recent attempt to keep you up to date is available on the index page of AmericanAntiquities.com.  Click on "Our Bottom Line for Improving Your Bottom Line," and you will be almost up to speed.  To be fully apprised also review the back cover of The American Antiquities Journal and notice how we are growing the GPS Atlas by offering a wide range of new services to complement that part of our package of services.  We hope these new offerings will go viral and establish us as the premier national guide for the American Heritage tourist … so much for doing something.
I look forward to seeing you On the Road, Art

THE AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES JOURNAL

THE AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES JOURNAL

is published two times a year and features interesting articles, an events calendar listing antique shows, events and fairs and festivals. Our Antique America maps geographically locate a variety of businesses that appeal to the antiques enthusiast. The full print version of the Journal is widely distributed. If it is not yet available in your area you may wish to subscribe. If you are interested in becoming a part of the American Antiquities website, please see our list of services and prices.

The Spring-Summer 2011 issue is ready for distribution and available for download at http://www.americanantiquities.com/journal.html

Our publication is theme based and this issue is primarily about magic and magic history.  I think you will find the articles informative and interesting.  

We have events and classifieds as well as places to go in "Antique America".  We geographically list places for shopping, dining, lodging, recreation, entertainment, art & historic points of interest for The American Heritage Tourist.

Here are a some of our major features in the issue:

There's Gold in Your Attic - Blue smoke and mirrors – It’s magic

The Indescribable Phenomenon

Is Magic Disappearing?

Mamzelle Marie - Voodoo Queen of New Orleans

8 to 80

My father passed away when I was 5 years old and my mother did not remarry, even though she was a beautiful young woman in her early 30's … but that's another story. The point is, my first male role model as a preteen, aside from my older brother, was a larger-than-life used car salesman. He looked like a movie star and exuded the confidence of a royal family member. All the neighborhood girls swooned in his presence, and all the guys wanted to emulate his every move.
My brother and I were privileged to have after-school and summer jobs working for him at his home and car lot. Working at the lot was particularly interesting because we could observe him in action practicing his trade.
He would often taunt his salespeople by saying, "Give me a customer and I’ll sell ‘em! Any customer, 8 to 80, crippled, blind or crazy and I‘ll still sell ‘em! “ He was good at selling cars and motivating others to sell for him. He soon became a very successful new car dealership owner who provided a very comfortable living for himself and his family.
The over-arching message of this posting is not how politically incorrect his statements were in the '50s, but that business needs customers to be successful… and that's what we do at American Antiquities… we bring you customers. The print media side of our business is tried and tested and obvious in its unparalleled offerings. The electronics side of our operation is easy to quantify.

2010 numbers are follows:
42,505 unique visitors to our websites
19,797 revisits
175,831 pages viewed
812,332 hits

ALL OF WHICH WILL BRING YOU CUSTOMERS TO BUY YOUR INVENTORY

DO THE MATH

At least once a year we have a chance to "do the math" and get some idea of where American Antiquities stands in the "media world" scheme of things. The Super Bowl last Sunday was the event, and cost per exposure is the comparison we made.
Sunday February 6, 2011, a lot of really smart, highly paid marketing executives from 33 really big and very successful corporations decided to pay $3 million for each of 50 advertisements during the Super Bowl. The spots were 30 seconds in length and were aired once that day and viewed potentially by a little over 100-million football fans. That works out to about 3¢ per exposure. Keep in mind that does not include production costs which often exceed the spot cost.

Considering our readership, unique visitors, and the bottom-line cost of tapping into everything we do, our cost per exposure is 2/100 of one cent. In other words those really smart, highly paid marketing guys paid at least 15 times more for one exposure than they would've paid had they chosen American Antiquities. Don't you make that same mistake!

Frozen Solid!

Ice, Ice, Ice, Ice, Ice
Just got back to the office after a few days. Our parking lot is an ice skating rink. As a matter of fact so is our back yard at home.
Hope you all have made it through the last few days safely. Now it's back to the business of business.
Don't let your business get stale. Try new things.
American Antiquities has a great package.
http://www.americanantiquties.com/  Click on "Our Bottom Line for Improving Your Bottom Line" for all the great programs we offer.
Nancy

You Should Use the Internet to Improve Your Business

You should consider making the Internet a part of your business. We did in 1993 with the launching of our flagship site, American Antiquities.com. To this day we regularly review the features of our sites to make sure we are staying abreast of the latest popular innovations. We were fortunate the first few years of our Internet experience to have had 2 Internet service providers partner with us to help with the details necessary to establish an important presence on the Web. Without the assistance of EriNet & MainNet we would probably have suffered economically & administratively to the point of having to incorporate the Internet into our business. With nearly 2 decades' experience working the Web, we are now in a position to do for you what EriNet & MainNet did for us.
American Antiquities will establish, manage, & maintain a professional presence on the Internet for less than any comparable service available in the market today.
Browse our site for the facts & give us a call.

Don't be a bump on a blog

Don't be a bump on a blog. Use the Olde News Blog to write about your business and see what others think of you. List your events and sell your inventory. This is all FREE. The only thing it takes is your time and I hope your business is worth your time.  See for yourself at www.TheOldeNewsBlog.com

Help Me Understand !

Other things equal, i.e. one is not buying from a friend or relative, how is it that a business person will pay more for fewer products or services? Your customers won't & neither should you. Help me understand why some are opting for Sunday Driver Directories over American Antiquities.
AW

The Know-It-All?

I am from time to time affectionately referred to by some in the office/shop as a know-it-all and a control freak. I, of course, know nothing could be further from the truth and present two points to support my position:

#1 I need only refer to my OSU grade point to establish the fact that I do not know it all.

#2 When you review all the services we provide (see "Our Bottom Line for Improving Your Bottom Line" at AmericanAntiquities.com), one can easily conclude that no one person could effectively control most, let alone all, the things we do.

On the other hand, there are some things about which I feel certain. One of those is that every ongoing retail business must do all they can to encourage customers to visit their store and purchase their inventory. I also know that American Antiquities is the best deal from a service and cost standpoint available in the market today to accomplish both these goals.

And we back up that boast with a written guarantee! (Once again, see "Our Bottom Line for Improving Your Bottom Line" at AmericanAntiquities.com)

Thank you to those who may and who are Asking American Antiquities.

AW

The Urbana Antique Show

Art & I went to the Urbana OH Antique Show & Flea Market today, visited with friends & clients, & as usual, found some great bargains. Our dealer friends are happy with their sales, & along with them, we encourage you to contact Steve @ 937-788-2058 about a space.

No Soliciting does more harm than good.

Until recently suggestions we draft tweets & blog postings and use Facebook and You Tube to establish and build business relationships were not considered the best use of our time.  However, with the new year and a new local, state and National political mix and the promise of a more job friendly business climate we have reconsidered.... so here goes.  You've just read our first blog and this is our first tweet of 2011:  A "No Soliciting" sign on your front door does more harm than good!