April, 2006
Experienced Advertising Agency Gets Results
By Kathy Kahn

While "do it yourself" marketing may seem like the fastest and most cost-effective way to get your product out to the marketplace, more often than not, it's an uphill battle. That's when it is time to turn to professionals to get the product you are trying to sell the attention and revenue it needs to keep going.

After spending years with other marketing and advertising agencies, June Bisel, Gene Bove and Deborah Garry decided they might make a winning team. At BBG&G Advertising, they've spent the past decade putting their heads together to come up with strategies to sell client products.

Among its more recent clients is My College Advisor, a service designed to help parents and high school students navigate successfully through the college admissions and financial aid process.

My College Advisor came to recognize they were not reaching their target audience. That's when they turned to BBG&G.

"We researched the product, the audience that would use it and what strategies would provide the best approach," said Gene Bove. "We know how to get the job done. Our motto is, "It's the work we do before we do the work." That's what keeps our marketing right on target. You really need to understand your client, what they have to offer and the best way to get it out to the audience they're trying to reach."

Right now, BBG&G are working on a new approach for My College Advisor to reach a wider audience in time for the back-to-school year.

"They had a great product with a reasonable price, but marketing it through infomercials and QVC wasn't doing anything for them. We've worked out a great marketing campaign for them that is really going to help win them their audience."

"The biggest part of the marketing strategy is the communication between the marketers and the clients," says Ms. Garry. "We have to be able to talk to each other and understand each other's reasoning. We never boilerplate anything and I believe that's why we've remained so strong."

"My College Advisor" is approved by the National Association for College Admission Counseling. Created by Harvard-trained Dr. Anthony J. Guerra and his staff in Hartsdale, the program consists of CDs, easy-to-use manuals, and a web-based financial aid calculator.

Unlike any other product on the market, My College Advisor is a complete kit, with everything needed to take users through the college application process, even college applications, financial aid forms, and school codes. Broken down into stages, each stage guides parents and students through the steps of creating a list of schools that match student preferences, applying to schools, essays and interviews, financial aid and scholarships, and much more.

My College Advisor based in Fishkill is an alternative for parents who are mystified by the college-admissions process and a boon to those who find their overworked high-school guidance counselor losing their child in the college-bound maze.

BBG&G is located at 633 Route 211 East, Middletown, New York 10941.
For more information contact SmartStrategies.