Monthly Archives: March 2013

  • What Colours Mean for Your Logo

    The colours used in your logo are probably more important that you think. Colour can instantly convey a message and invoke feelings. Your business logo design combined with colour can immediately tell a consumer a great deal about your brand. Here is some information on what colours can mean to your brand so that you are getting the right message across to your target customers. Red is a colour that can have different meanings, so be cautious about how you use red in your logo. Red is a strong colour that has been said to activate the pituitary gland and increase heart rate and make people breathe rapidly. It can mean love, passion, sportiness, or aggression. In many cases it represents blood, danger, indebtedness, or …

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  • Keep Up With a Recycled Jotter Pad

    Going Forward It seems that the old ways of advertising aren’t having the impact they used to.  All of us are exposed to hundreds of ads on radio, TV, billboards, and direct mail pieces on a daily basis so we are becoming a bit jaded by them.  But as a business owner or someone in charge of marketing you still need to find a way to make your business stand out from the competition. Differences This means you need to be on the move making more business connections in order to grow your business name and the services or products you produce.  Naturally it’s always easier to talk about than it is to do, but there are several effective methods for accomplishing this goal.  By …

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  • The Growth of Retail Apps: Brick and Mortar’s Digital Light at the End of the Tunnel

    Despite the increase in ecommerce and online shopping, the offline retail industry is still going strong world-wide. Retail stores large and small just need to learn to adapt to a digital world and that adaption seems to be emerging in the form of retail store apps. That is applications built for mobile devices that help shoppers identify sales or join loyalty programs for retail stores. A recent study from Flurry.com shoes that shoppers are spending an increasing amount of time using retailers’ applications. “Consumer time spent in Retailer Apps has skyrocketed by 525% from December 2011 to December 2012. This growth far exceeds total shopping app growth of 274%, as well as overall app growth of 132%.” It is important to note that time spent …

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  • Harvard Pens Write On!

    More than Most Having an advertising and sales plan in place for your business is pretty much required.  Whether you are running a “Main Street” business or an internet company you have to make people know you exist.  You may have used more traditional methods to spread the word about your company along with some social media but one of the cheapest and best things to do is hand out promotional merchandise. Good Stuff But there is a lot of junk out there so you need to be sure you are buying good quality and products that people will actually use.  If it goes in the trash it won’t help your marketing effort!  So the way this works is that everyone loves to get gifts …

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  • Consider a Golf Day

    Warm Up So your company uses promotional merchandise all the time to market your company right?  It’s time to think about another way to use these products to further your name recognition and have a good time too!  Something to consider is to have a Corporate Golf Day for all your clients and your marketing department.  This is a big organizational effort to pull together but it’s also an opportunity to further your relationships which in turn will grow your company. Get Together Your marketing efforts are always beneficial and they can have even more impact when they are all gathered together on a particular day.  Of course you continue with all your other marketing efforts as usual, the social media, the TV and radio …

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  • Networking Etiquette Tips

    When you attend business events with the purpose of networking and making new business contacts, there is a set of etiquette rules that you should follow to make the best impression. Here are some great pointers to make the most of your connections: Do your research. If at all possible, try to find out about the people you are meeting. Wear proper attire. Make sure to find out what the dress code is for the event and dress appropriately. Put your name badge near your right shoulder. Since most people shake with their right hand upon meeting, placing your name badge on the right shoulder puts it in a place where it is easily seen and read. Don’t network with your mouth full. Although many …

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  • Australian Marketing Trends for 2013

    A recent study on the state of digital marketing was conducted by ‘The APAC Digital Marketing Performance Dashboard 2012‘ and was released by the CMO Council in partnership with Adobe in late 2012.  The report clearly shows a trend toward digital marketing for all businesses regardless if they are selling online or offline and even if they previously only practiced traditional marketing methods, with Australia trailblazing the way into the interactive marketing world. The study revealed that “Australian marketers are more advanced digital marketers than their Asia Pacific counterparts, exhibiting higher levels of spend and a more extensive use of digital techniques; 41% of Australian marketers invest 25% or more of their total marketing budgets on digital. This was well ahead of any other APAC nation.” Key local …

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  • Customer Retention Costs Less than New Customer Acquisition

    In our super-sized world of big business, customer relationships have fallen by the wayside.  In the past, the small business owner had a “corner store” and knew all of his customers by name and had their preferences committed to memory. In today’s market, a small business might have thousands of customers and the owner may hardly know a single one. The connection between the proprietor and customer is often a missing component for businesses even though common sense tells us that a customer that feels special or important has a much greater propensity to stay with a company. Instead of concentrating on knowing the customers they already have, businesses have taken to spending money on acquiring new customers, in the “bigger is better” mentality. Studies …

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  • Spread the Word with a Conference Bag

    Moving On When a marketing manager is looking around for the very best products to use in your promotional marketing plan then that is a smart manager who is aware of how effective these products are for a marketing plan.  Those businesses that use promotional merchandise to hand out to their clients and their target market audience are more successful than those who choose not to.  These products are very popular with all industries, budget friendly, and are an effective technique to increase the business name recognition. Everyone Goes A particular event which most businesses participate in is the tradeshows or conferences and these are always good opportunities to spread the word about your company.  One particular item that is great for tradeshow or conference …

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  • Getting Prepared for a Job Interview – When You Are Doing the Hiring

    Advice for the Interviewer – How to Find the Right Job Candidate Just because you are the one doing the hiring and conducting the interview does not mean that you do not need to get prepared. Quite the contrary, it is very important for the interviewer to be prepared with multiple interview questions, alternative question possibilities, and be ready to answer questions too. How to Get Prepared for the Interviewing Process: Have a Outline Set Up. This can set the path and tone for the interview and make sure you touch on all the points and questions you wanted to. Have the job details, company details, and answers to frequently asked questions prepared ahead of time. Prepare a list of questions. Have the questions you …

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