"The lack of proper advertising and marketing is one of the top seven reasons cited by the SBA that lead businesses to failure."    - Alan Jackson, Global Cash Flow Network With the emergence of web and social media, mass advertising and marketing is no longer something only the fortune 500 companies can afford. With the power of online marketing, small and mid-size companies can reach to millions of people around the world cost-effectively. Not only can you reach them with powerful message and strategy, you also have the ability to track how people are responding to your marketing efforts and make ...

To many, the revolution in social media networks may seem like a fad that will fade out just as fast it appeared.  Yet, the truth is that social media is one of the fastest ways to reach out to prospective consumers. Between Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other similar social media platforms, everything that can be said about you, whether good or bad, is transmitted almost instantaneously across the globe. With over 300 million users, Facebook is by far one of the biggest social media networks out there.  While it may have begun as a tool to keep college students in touch, ...

Having a website and a presence on cyberspace doesn’t mean you’ll succeed, not in today’s competitive world of marketing.  While an online presence is key, you have to do more than just have a web address to keep your edge. Once you have a web address, you need to market yourself on all fronts.  This involves optimizing your website through either Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or by using Pay-Per-Click (PPC) technologies to drive more traffic to your site.  Yes, this is the equivalent of putting up a banner or awning outside your brick-and-mortar store telling a passerby who you are. SEO requires ...

By now, you’ve become accustomed to a variety of e-mail marketing tactics.  Small and large companies alike are using  e-mail marketing to engage their audience and to grow their sales.  The truth is that blasting an e-mail to everyone on your compiled client/prospect lists is not necessarily going to yield any results. The key to maximizing your conversions and improving the effectiveness of your e-mail campaigns is to have a strategic plan.  First, analyze the data you collected from previous campaigns.  By using behavior-based targeting, the likelihood of having better conversions is much greater.  Instead of sending your e-mail offers to ...

It seems that everyone’s talking about landing pages these days.  So you already have a website, why create a landing page?  Isn’t that just like having a one-page website in addition to your current website?  Not exactly. A landing page is a page that directly contains the content your visitor/customer is looking for.  This may mean that it’s a direct link to a promotion off your e-mail marketing campaign or newsletter, search engine advertisement or even a direct link from a directory or other related website.  The great advantage of landing pages is ...

Myth: Printed catalogs have been replaced by the internet. Fact: Catalog positively impact purchasing behavior. A printed catalog motivates online customers to visit retail web site more often, stay longer and spend more money. In fact, households receiving catalogs are twice as likely to make an online purchase (Source: comScore case study - USPS). A perfect example of this is Zappos.com, the online seller of shoes (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/07/business/media/07zappos.html) sends out printed catalogs to their customers. Aaron Magness, director for brand marketing and business development at Zappos.com in Henderson, Nev. states that lapsed customers have responded very well to the catalogs. Credits: MakingPaperFun.com and ...

Myth: Direct Mail is less effective than it used to be. Fact: Direct mail remains one of the most targeted forms of business communication. With an estimated 99% delivered to the right person at the right place at the right time, direct mail gets through the clutter (Source: "Deliverability: Print's Strong Suit" by Dr. Joe Webb). More than 8 out of 10 households read or scan the advertising mail they receive, (Source: Mail Moves America) and 55% look forward to their mail (Source: "The Mail Movement" - USPS). Besides, with the power of intelligent bar-code, you are able to track the exact location ...

Myth:  You can't recycle catalogs, magazines and direct mail. Fact: Most recycling programs accept a variety of materials. Most domestic curbside and drop-off recycling programs accept a variety of materials, including catalogs, magazines, and direct mail.  Over the past 10 years, the recovery rate for standard mail and magazines has doubled to approximately 40% (Source: Municipal Sold Waste Generation. Recycling and Disposal in the United States). Credits: MakingPaperFun.com and Printing Impressions (Dec. 2009).

Myth: A "paperless" office has no environmental footprint. Fact: The environmental footprint of information and communication technologies continues to grow rapidly. Going paperless comes with an environmental cost. Computers, data centers, mobile phones and telecommunication networks are projected to be the largest emitters of greenhouse gases by 2020 (McKinsey & Company). It is unreasonable to compare digital and print media without taking the entire lifecycle of each into account. Each format has a rightful place in the scope of sustainable communications. Credits: MakingPaperFun.com and Printing Impressions (Dec. 2009).

Myth: Using paper destroys forests. Fact: When people uses more paper, suppliers plant more trees. Paper comes from trees. But that doesn't mean that printer who use paper  are helping destroy forests. In fact, the amount of forestland in the United States has been stable for the past 100 years (Source: The State of America's Forests - Society of American Foresters). It is simple: When you use paper made by responsible paper companies, more trees are planted to meet future needs. These companies properly manage forests to provide a balance between protecting the environment and producing valuable products that we all ...

Having an online storefront means you’re always open for business Unlike other months, December is a critical month for just about any retailer.  According to the U.S. Census bureau, retailers’ sales during this busy month account for 15-24% of their total annual sales.  Besides Black Friday, the busiest shopping time during the year is the weekend right before Christmas. Typically, the Saturday before Christmas represents $15 billion worth of sales for retailers. This year, the United States East Coast was badly hit by a snowstorm that brought some areas up to two feet of snow, dashing the hopes of many retailers. With ...

Twitter is set to earn about $25 million dollars for its search engine deals with Google and Microsoft, according to the L.A. Times. This will allow the site to earn a profit, something many people wondered was possible. Before the site had little revenue since it is a free site for its users. However, now that millions have people have signed on to use Twitter (it's the third-most popular social networking site after Facebook and MySpace), each message has become a commodity. "We believe that our search results and user experience will greatly benefit from the inclusion of this up-to-the-minute data," ...