Happy winter out there Superstars and welcome the latest edition of our newsletter.

The continuing transformation of The Common Chef is sure keeping us on our toes around the Mother ship lately.

Episode 8 – “The Most “InShane” Meal Eva” is by far the most delectable episode yet. Shane’s Rib Shack made it possible for The Common Chef to cook an out of this world gourmet meal for the great folks over at Interfaith Emergency Services. It was truly an honor to be a part of something so special. We cooked for the residents, volunteers and staff and smiles were ear to ear. Shane himself came down from the main Rib Shack to not only see everything go down, but he got right in and started cooking. He ended up making a batch of awesome chili. He was put on the spot and delivered like a true champ. The secret ingredient was some of his own smoked pork he brought in from the restaurant.  Mr. PC just about outdid himself this time with his “world famous” double whammy noodles and award winning teriyaki beef sticks. Alex devised a real unique lettuce wrap with chicken sausage that was topped with roasted corn.  Chris stepped up with an artery clogging 5 way mac-n-cheese.  This dish had goat cheese, feta, smoked gruyère, sharp cheddar, and mozzarella. For a “normal” person you would think that this would be enough, but this is The Common Chef, and “normal” just won’t cut it. We just had to find a way to sneak some BACON in somewhere so we generously coated the top with crumbled bacon goodness.  There were more delicious items, but you will just have to watch and see.

With our bellies barely recovered from “The Most “InShane” Meal Eva” The Common Chef pressed on and began planning episode 9. This episode was filmed during the Super Bowl. We started thinking about football and football types of food and came up with the name before the menu….Super Fry…. I am not going to spoil any surprises in the episode, just know that your heart may not be able to take it. Like us on facebook to be the first to know when it is released.

The recipe contest is going well but there is still time left to enter.  Visit our website at http://www.thecommonchef.com/ to enter. Submit your recipe for a chance to be a guest star in an episode and cook your dish, on TV. Remember our motto if you really want to impress us… “Something that has never been done before!”

Remember that The Common Chef is not only blowing up the internet, you can also watch it every Sunday morning at 10:30 am on Central Florida’s very own Fox 51.

Happy New Year to everyone and welcome to 2012.

Although 2011 was a great year for us here at the home base, we are still looking forward to all the excitement and possibilities of a brand new year.

It is a time honored tradition to bring in the New Year with personal New Year’s resolutions. Well your business shouldn’t be left out in the cold. This is the year that you take your business to the next level. While that “next level” will be specifically different for each business, the philosophy behind it will be the same; more business. How? While there may be many ways of going about growing your business, a good start is to distinguish yourself from your competitors.

All too often people want a product that is like their competitors. This can be true of most anything whether it is an ad for a magazine, a TV commercial or even a website. Some business owners want to match or keep up with what the others are doing. Why? Why try to blend in with everyone else? If your product or service is better than your competitor, don’t try to simply match them. In this new and ever evolving digital world, your competition is literally a click away. What sets your product or service apart from the next line down on a Google search? Think of yourself as a consumer. Not just any consumer, but the person that will be looking for your good or service. What are you looking for? You may be looking for price, quality, guarantee, image or any multitude of things. 

Now look at your website. What does it say about who you are and what you represent? What impression does that first time visitor get about your company? Is your “virtual storefront” nice, neat, clean and organized? Or is it cluttered, messy and hard to get around.

Make 2012 the year that you stop keeping up with what everyone else is doing and start setting the bar that everyone else is chasing. Give us a call here at the mother ship and schedule your update consultation today. There is no cost or obligation and the only thing you have to lose is more business. Are you looking for a fun, unique and exciting way to market and showcase your business? The Common Chef is a local TV show that allows you to place your business directly in the middle of a fun cooking show. What a great way to set yourself apart. Each episode is customized and tailor made to show you or your business in the best light possible. You can even showcase a charity or organization. Visit www.thecommonchef.com or call 352-789-6093 for more details. The Common Chef has released episode 7 “Operation Delicious”. We had the opportunity to cook and serve a Christmas dinner to the founders of Operation Shoebox. In case you don’t know about the work they do please visit operationshoebox.com to find out more about this great organization. We started out the evening with a homemade fondue served in a bread bowl. We then moved onto the good stuff… the meal! We threaded bacon throughout a ham and then bacon wrapped the ham and baked it with a rum, brown sugar and pineapple glaze. Wow! We also roasted a turkey with a fruit stuffing that made the turkey so juicy that it dripped. We also roasted some carrots, potatoes and onions with the turkey and later turned them into homemade gravy. There is a lot more than that but you’ll just have to watch the episode. 

We also recently shot episode 8 with Shane’s Rib Shack. The owner of the franchise came to Ocala and teamed up with The Common Chefs to cook a feast for the good folks at Interfaith. This episode is due out in February. A great time was had by all. You can view some of the images of this upcoming episode as a primer. 

Episode 8 Shoot Gallery

Watch The Common Chef online in high definition at, thecommonchef.com or on Fox 51 Sunday mornings at 10:30

How are your website statistics looking these days? Not sure, then give us a call here at the office and lets go though them together. The analytics have a lot of useful information about how your site is performing. 789-6093

Greetings fellow Super Stars. We’ve been in slight recuperation mode since Culinary Combat, which was held on October 2, 2011. It was a tough event to pull off but we are proud to announce that we raised more than $20,000 for the Shriners Hospitals for Children! Thanks to all of our sponsors and all of our fellow Super Stars that attended the event. What a great evening. You won’t want to miss the next event to be sure.

A big high five and pat on the back to our brand new champion Chef James Schumann of Cuvee Wine & Bistro. Chef Schumann and sous chef Jeremy Zajac were ready, willing and able to step up to the plate and create a masterful 3 course meal showcasing the secret ingredient; venison. Hats off and knives up to our new champion, and we look forward to seeing (and tasting) what he comes up with next year, when he comes back to defend the title.

The Common Chef

PC House Productions has also released episode 5 of The Common Chef, “Three Little Piggies Went to Market”. We have teamed up with the Ocala Farm Market to create our gourmet dishes with local, fresh product. Watch episode 5 here. Our next episode with be done with Sunshine Air Conditioning. And there is more exciting news we are going to start airing the episodes on Fox 51 starting Sundays at 10:30 in November.

If you are interested in being a featured sponsor for our one of our up-coming episodes or if you are interested in product placing your business or service in one of the up-coming episodes please contact us.

No Business is an Island

It seems that the more technologically advanced we get, the less time that we actually have. All these things that we have are supposed to save us time by enabling us to multi-task. There was a time in which a phone was just a phone, to simply make phone calls. Now they seem to be interwoven into parts of our lives. They remind us when it’s Moms birthday. They let us have access to our emails almost anywhere in the world. They even allow us to record our favorite TV show on our home DVR. It is truly hard to find an area of our lives that is not touched by the digital age in one way or another. All these advances that we barely even take notice of anymore were designed for one thing; to make our busy lives streamlined and easier to manage. The same should be true to business as well. There are so many aspects of running a successful modern business that sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming.

As poet John Donne wrote “No man is an island”. That is why it is important, now more than ever, to have an experienced team behind you especially when it comes to marketing your business. In this day and age (and economy) you need to make sure that every dollar is spent wisely. Time is valuable and wiggle room for error is few and far between.
When considering your marketing, make sure that you are looking at the big overall picture. Be consistent not only in the look and style of your various marketing materials, but also in your ad message. What is it about your company that you want to emphasize? How do you want your customers to remember you? What is your hook? This consistency should be maintained across everything, including business cards, letterhead, envelopes, invoices, signage, banners, newspaper ads… everything.

You can spend hours, days or even weeks meeting with different companies, going over the same messaging details. But how much time is that taking away from your real job – Your Business.

Here at PC House Productions we have the team with the knowledge, experience and know how to take care of ALL your marketing needs. From logos and corporate identities to media buys to run your brand new T.V. commercial, we do it all under one roof. We take the time to get to know you and your business needs. Call us today to schedule your consultation.

Hello Superstars

This month we are going to talk about weathering the storm. And by that we’re not talking about storms like that of Irene who just recently skirted by us. We are talking about weathering the current storm known as The Modern Economy, or what most business owners are calling the graveyard. We talk to business owners from different walks of life every day. The one thing that remains constant is how bad it is out there in the marketplace.

When business starts to get a little slow, the first thing the business owner looks at phasing out is their advertising and marketing. That’s the “easiest” place to cut, but is it the best idea for your business? The answer my friends, is a resounding “No”.

Look at the companies that you consider successful and you will see robust, well rounded and targeted marketing, even in lean times. Most particularly, companies are turning to the web to get the most ‘bang for their buck’. And there is a very good reason that, because everyone else is cutting back. The most successful business owners know that this is the time to pick up market share. Your business may find itself open to an untapped customer base that your competitor may have had locked up. For small businesses there is still an economical approach to effective marketing.

CEO Jason Swenk of Solar Velocity, an Atlanta-based interactive marketing agency, has the perfect analogy for this exact scenario, “It is hard to hear conversations, if you are in a noisy room. But, if no one is speaking, a whisper can be heard loud and clear. If your competition is not advertising, your marketing dollars will go much further than you expect.”

“Advertising in a down economy is even more important than advertising during the good times,” says Joyce Gioia, president of the Herman Group, a firm of strategic business futurists in Greensboro, N.C. “That’s when you can build market share. That’s when you have less competition for share of mind. While others are in a cocoon, hibernating until things blow over, it’s a great time to invest in your business.” ~ reference – signindustry.com written by Jennifer LeClaire

There was a study done by Yankelovich Partners and Harris Interactive and in it they found more than 85% of business executives believe that down economies provide the best opportunity to increase the market share of their companies.

By no means do we mean to go out there and start throwing money around all willy nilly like. The keywords here are well rounded and targeted. What we mean by that is know your target market. Know how to reach them. Know how to give them what they want or need.

PC House Productions is here for all you advertising and marketing needs. We offer you a personal customized solution to help your business from getting swallowed by the storm. Contact us for more information about how we can help you in this rough market. It is our job to help you make money.

Culinary Combat

Culinary Combat is sneaking up on us pretty fast this year and already the excitement level is almost at a fever pitch. Now we want to introduce you to this year’s contestants.

First, is our 2 time champion Chef Rick Alabaugh, Executive Chef of the Country Club of Ocala. After winning the prestigious honor 2 years in a row we had to look pretty hard to find someone to take Chef Rick on. We found Chef Chuck Hurley of O!O Garden Grille in Gainesville and Chef James Schumann Executive Chef of Cuvee Wine and Bistro right here in Ocala.

Please visit www.culinarycombat.com for full details of the event and complete bio’s on this year’s Chefs. Remember tickets are going fast so don’t be the one on your block that is left out of this year’s fun. All the proceeds go to the Shriners Hospital for Children, but the memories are yours for a lifetime.

Video News

In other news, we just finished our very first music video. Our very own Chris Brack wrote a song to his daughter about being a divorced father. It has a very powerful message that resonates with any parent or anyone who has parents. Please click the like button (thumbs up) and leave a comment for us. If you think of someone that the video may touch, send them the link as well.

The Common Chef

Another one of our exciting products is The Common Chef If you haven’t heard about this project yet, pay close attention because it is about to blow up. The Common Chef follows a group of friends who have no training in the culinary arts. Yet, they are able to create some of the tastiest concoctions. One week they may be cooking for a bible study group, the next may be an executive chef at a fine restaurant. Our latest wepisode, “Curry Up And Wine” is available for your viewing pleasure at thecommonchef.com.

The next video is slated for shooting this Saturday on September 3^rd. The fellas from The Common Chef will be shopping and highlighting the delights of local, fresh product at our very own Ocala Farm Market on the downtown square. We know one of the dishes will be a tasty mixture of lamb, rib-eye, bacon, goat cheese, mint and some other secret ingredients. The rest of the menu is under tight wrap until the webisode is launched. Watch for this video due out in a week or so. You can like us on FaceBook to stay in the know.

Click here to visit Sunshine A/C's website

Every business has a product that they are proud of and want the world to see. We here at PC House Productions are no different. One of the things that make our product so unique is that our product helps to make our Clients shine. We don’t just settle for a sparkle, with PC House on your side, you are a SUPERSTAR!!!!

Here is our SUPERSTAR of the month. Sunshine Air Conditioning Sunshine Air Conditioning has been a loyal and valued Client since 2007. Back then we started with a brand new imaging campaign. We had the chance to let our creative side go wild on this project. We started with a (pardon the pun) cool new logo. The logo should always be the cornerstone of a branding campaign. After the logo was implemented, it was time to move on the website. A normal site just would not do, so we went with a totally customized look and feel. One of the most interesting parts of this project was coming up with a brand new mascot, and that’s how Sonny was born.

With those implements in place it was time to now get to work with a muli-tiered marketing strategy. Direct targeted mail, email blasts, strategic marketing, social media marketing, radio and T.V. commercials, and a huge creative campaign all helped to take Sunshine and Sonny to the next level. One of the things that make Sunshine A/C such a superstar is their commitment. We are not just talking about the commitment to their customers. That’s a given, you can’t get to where they are without that, but their commitment to the community.

Along with the many other charities that Sunshine generously donates to, Sunshine A/C is a cash sponsor of the 2011 Culinary Combat, an Iron Chef style competition to benefit the Shriners Children’s Hospital. We here at PC House Productions are very thankful for all the support from Sunshine A/C.

Hello again fellow Superstars and welcome to our May edition of the PC House Productions newsletter.

Before we get into the good stuff that we have planned for you in this edition… and let me tell you it’s exciting, we would like to give a huge virtual hand and a hug to all the mothers out there . We wouldn’t be here today without them, literally and figuratively. Just being a mother by itself is a tough job and many of you balance that with a career. Our hats off to you moms of the world, you are appreciated.

There is a definite shift happening in the world of the online market place and we here at PC House have seen it coming for a while now. Yes folks, websites, especially online storefronts, are becoming more interactive and drawing potential customers in with video. VideoBloom, a video advertising and distribution solutions platform, did a recent survey of 100 companies that have an established online presence. We are not talking about little companies either. We’re talking about names like Fox Sports, NFL.com, the Onion, Jokes.com, the National Review, the Weekly Standard and Newsweek to name a few. The study found that 79% utilize video on their websites to help engage visitors as well as effectively convey their branding messages. 51% of that 79% have a video right on the front page of the site.

Video on your website does a lot more than just make it look cool and trendy; it draws in your audience. Rather than giving your visitor all of the information in text form and having them draw a conclusion that you hope hit the mark, video allows you to brand your message with all the personality and flair that you would use if you were there. Video gives you a chance to put some personality into your product or service and let your customers know how passionate you are about what you do.

Video on your website can take on many forms. You may want a simple video to just introduce yourself and explain a little about what you do. Or, you want to produce a small scripted segment to reinforce a bigger creative campaign. Both are great avenues and you will be surprised at the effectiveness that small interaction can bring. As well, video can translate to social media to help build audience and long term messaging.

If you are considering or are not sure if video is right for your website, please give us a call here in the office. We would love to sit down and talk with you about what video can mean to you and your business.

CULINARY COMBAT

The date of October 2nd is getting closer and the buzz getting louder by the day. That’s right folks, the 3rd annual Culinary Combat is still 5 months away but there is plenty going on.

Tickets are a hot commodity and would make a great Mothers Day gift. Keep checking in at culinarycombat.com for new information, including this year’s television show for Culinary Combat. It’s a bargain of a price and 100% of the proceeds go to the Shriners Hospitals for Children (Tampa).

CLIENT APPRICIATION DAY

Please join us for our very first client appreciation day, June 15, 2011. All of us here at PC House Productions are honored to have such a great group of Clients that we would like to show our appreciation by inviting all of our Clients down to our conveniently located downtown office, for a gourmet Barbeque. You haven’t BBQ’ed until you’ve BBQ’ed PC House style. Check your mail for a supplemental newsletter or like us on facebook to get all the details.

Have a great May everyone and we look forward to talking with you about video and Culinary Combat very soon…

Welcome

Are you looking for a way to get your message
in front of a wide audience, and be able to track
the results? You’re reading it right now!
Newsletters are invaluable tools that business
owners often overlook, or put on the back burner.
It doesn’t matter whether you are a restaurant
owner showcasing the best prime rib in town on
Wednesday nights, or a lawyer who wants to
inform clients about how a recent ruling will affect
state planning. Newsletters are the way to go.

Not only are newsletters a great way to get your message to a large number of people, they allow you to deliver your message in a way that stands out. While the usual sales conversation in your store or office is direct, you can take a much softer approach in a newsletter. The reader feels like a friend sitting and chatting about what’s going on with your business. And, friends do business with friends.

I recently spoke with a client who used direct mailing postcards and flyers for years. He was hesitant at first to even talk about sending out a newsletter. We sat down and looked at the numbers, and he began to see a different picture. When we examined the costs of paper, postage, and the time he spent running around town and putting together the entire campaign, he was spending far more than he wanted to.

I don’t know about you, but my time is valuable!
How effective were his direct mailing campaigns? He really didn’t know! He had very little information available to him about how many people responded to his mailings, or who threw them away without reading. I asked him how many years had he sent postcards and flyers to the wrong address. He had no idea.
That’s when I got his attention. By using a very simple tool, you can instantly start gathering data about a newsletter’s effectiveness. You can see who is opening your newsletter, or who is just deleting it. Do they follow the newsletter back to your website? These advantages are on top of simply saving time and money (Although those are pretty good all by themselves).

When you’re considering ways to diversify your customer base, think about a newsletter. Give the professionals at PC House Productions a call. We will schedule a free consultation, so we can show you what an effective marketing strategy can do for your company.
 

Get ‘em while they’re hot!

Culinary Combat tickets are now available. That’s right, folks! They’re in, and looking for a home. Don’t be the last one on your block to get one! This year, we expect them to sell out quickly.

What? You don’t know what Culinary Combat is? Well, where have you been !?
Culinary combat is more than just an Iron Chef-type competition. It’s also a foodie’s dream! It features many different booths, action stations and tasting of the finest cuisine in the area. Don’t miss it!

All of the proceeds this year are going to Shriners’ Children’s Hospital. That’s right: Great food, great entertainment, and a great cause. How can you go wrong?

And the Award for Best Film Goes to …

Things here at PC House are getting a bit exciting. We are smack-dab in the middle of our brand-new documentary, “PC, Behind the Myth.” This thrilling new project takes us on a ride through the life and incredible rise to fame and fortune of the enigmatic “Mr. PC.”

I really don’t want to spoil any of the surprise, but you’ll need to take the laces out of your sneakers and dust off that old kanga hat.

  Another project that we are extremely proud to be a part of is The Common Chef. The website and introduction video have just been launched, and are getting rave reviews. The Common Chef follows the exploits of a group of everyday people shopping for, preparing, cooking and eating gourmet meals. The catch is… They have no training at all and still come up with some outstanding dishes. You have to see it for yourself. Check them out at www.thecommonchef.com for all the details. 

All This and BBQ too!

We here at PC House Productions think of our clients as much more than customers; we consider everyone as part of a big family. That’s one reason we are starting something new and a bit out of the ordinary (at least in our line of work). Starting very soon, we’re going to have a family-style get-together and gourmet BBQ!
That’s right! We want to invite all of our superstar family to come and check out our new office and taste some delicacies cooked up by no other than PETA’s most-hated man, Chef PC. Watch your e-mail for details, or like us on Facebook, to be the first with the inside scoop!

Don’t forget: Like us, follow us, and watch us.