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Much has been said about the demise of the printed press kit. Online and electronic versions - pundits say - are the way to go. No editors or reporters want to receive printed press kits when they could have electronic versions. Right?
Au contraire, mon frre! Let me posit an alternate view. I’ve often found that when conventional wisdom says to do one thing, you should do the other. Zig instead of zag.
Reporters and editors get too much email, just like the rest of us.
Besides you should never send a large attachment to anyone, especially an editor, unless it has been requested. And, if they don’t know the sender, they may worry about unwanted viruses and other digital things that go bump in the hard drive.
Many editors and reporters are still “old school.” They would rather review analog material instead of digital. Quite frankly, it’s quicker. I’ve been to trade shows as a reporter and a PR person and have seen how things work in the press room. An electronic press kit is not as useful as a printed one in such a venue.
You can sort through a printed press kit in mere moments, pulling the info, graphs and photos you need and discarding the rest.
I always develop and display both printed and electronic press kits for trade shows and let the journalists decide which format they want.
It’s also a good idea to load everything into your online press room. You don’t have an online press room!
Well, that is a subject for another time.
Harry Hoover is managing principal of Hoover ink PR. He has 30 years of experience in crafting and delivering bottom line messages that ensure success for serious businesses like Brent Dees Financial Planning, Focus Four, Levolor, New World Mortgage, North Carolina Tourism, TeamHeidi, Ty Boyd Executive Learning Systems, VELUX, Verbatim and Wicked Choppers.
I got another one of those calls the other day…Can you make me a brochure?” Many business owners have been sold on the notion that they need a tri-fold brochure or they are not in business. Forget it…everybody’s got one and no one uses it.
Your potential clients need an education. They need to know how you are different. (The typical tri-fold brochure simply confirms that you are the same.)
Every small business should create the following pieces of information and format them in a way that allows them be printed inexpensively and updated often. I like to call this approach, the Marketing Kit. Your marketing kit starts with several professionally printed pieces that are the framework for up to 10 or 12 different educational documents. The core components are:
1. A pocket folder - A multi-use workhorse, this piece alone, if designed well, can send the message that you are in business to stay. (This one will cost a little but it has many uses)
2. A marketing template - This should be a professionally printed piece that carries your logo and contact information but is different than your letterhead. This is the base piece then for the following pages that insert into your pocket folder. Your actual marketing files can be MSWord type documents that are laser printed. This gives you the ability to change and update your content and also allows you to tailor your marketing kit content to specific prospects.
Some combination of the following pages should be created for your marketing kit.
+ The Difference Page - Hit them with how you are different and shower them with benefits of doing business with you. Don’t tell them what you do. I like to keep this one to the top 3 or 4 things that you do that your target market will value. Think benefits that are unique
+ A list of services - Okay, now tell them what you do or what you offer.
+ Case Studies - Pick representative clients or industries and outline how your product or service solved someone else’s challenge. People learn in different ways and case studies allow them to see themselves getting relief. I think this format works well. State the situation, the problem, your solution, the result. Over time you can collect more and more of these and draw upon the ones that fit an industry or problem that in relevant to your prospect.
+ Testimonials - Get quotes from real live clients and create a page titled - “See what others have to say about us.” These quotes can be some of the strongest selling tools you have. New technologies make it easy to create audio and video testimonials too.
+ Process Description - Show them how you do what you do. Create detailed checklist and flow charts that show them how you keep your promise. In many cases you have these anyway but by making them part of your marketing you can demonstrate how much more professional your organization is. These also help you justify why you charge a premium for your services. Many people underestimate how much really goes into delivering a quality product or service. So show them.
+ Your Story - Many companies have interesting or even gut wrenching histories. Tell them your story in an open, honest, and entertaining way and you will win their hearts as well as their heads.
All of the above pieces can, in many cases, be word processed files that are laser printed onto the template I described above. You can learn even more about how to use this unique tool here
This format allow for very inexpensive printing and a great deal of flexibility when you need to update, change or even personalize your magnificent marketing materials.
Want to quickly create your own magnificent marketing materials. Join me as I coach up to 10 other small business owners through the process of creating marketing materials that educate and sell. Once a week for 4 weeks we will meet via teleconference to create and critique your written marketing kit content based on the above article. Each participant will also receive a workbook, feedback and real-life example marketing kits produced by John Jantsch for his clients. Find out more by sending an email to mailto:john@ducttapemarketing.com?subject=Marketing_Kit
Copyright 2004 John Jantsch
About The Author
John Jantsch is a marketing coach and creator of the Duct Tape Marketing System. You can get more information about the Duct Tape System and download your free copy of “How To Create the Ultimate Small Business Marketing System in 7 Simple Steps” by visiting http://www.DuctTapeMarketing.com.
The Perfect Gift For Anyone
An animal statue can be the perfect gift for a friend who is a nature or animal lover. Many people have pets that they are particularly fond of, and also there are many people who have collections of different types of animals as a hobby. Did you know that according to some, each animal represents a different character trait, and when you give it as a gift you can send a message to the recipient about something special that you may see in them? Or you can just give an animal statue as a gift because is fun or beautiful, and you think the recipient will enjoy the statue. Here is a list of animals and some of the characteristics that they represent.
Unique Meanings And Characteristics
Ant: These animals are seen as hard workers, community minded and patient. They are also virtuous, thrifty and they are good planners because they have foresight. A boss or co-worker, or even an employee might like this animal statue.
Bear: Many people have collections of teddy bears, but a statue of a bear could represent harmony, divinity, healing and stamina.
Cat: There are many cat lovers out there who are almost fanatic about their feline friends-an animal statue might be the perfect way to show them that you understand. Cats represent independence, cunning, strength, aloofness, and agility.
Coyote: This mysterious desert-dweller was extremely popular for southwest décor. It represents a cunning trickster who is creative and likes to have fun.
Deer: An animal statue of a deer would be a perfect gift for the nature lover in your life. The deer is seen as a symbol of grace, gentleness, love and safety. A stag also represents a warrior.
Dog: Maybe even more loyal than cat lovers are the dog lovers. You can probably guess that dogs represent loyalty protection, service, friendship, companionship and understanding and unconditional love. The best thing about this animal statue is that you can probably even find the breed that the person owns.
Fox: This animal is much like the cunning and crafty coyote. But, it can also represent shyness, wisdom and adaptability.
Frog: You will find many people that collect frogs for a hobby. An animal statue of a frog is fun because many are depicted by artists in a humorous way. You can also find realistic interpretations as well.They represent good luck, new beginnings, prosperity, creativity, and long life.
Horse: Many children as well as adults love horses. You can even find an animal statue of a horse that is made specifically for collection by children. Horses symbolize strength, beauty, agility, support, faithfulness, endurance, unconditional support, and overcoming obstacles.
Lion: When you think of a lion you may picture a majestic animal statue that graces the front of a palace or mansion. They represent strength, calmness, regality, and courage.
Mouse: This tiny animal represents shyness, organization, stealth, silence, and attention to detail.
Jaguar/Panther: If you want to add a sense of the exotic or mystical, this may be the perfect gift for you. It represents stealth, healing, perseverance, and beauty.
Rabbit: Understandably this animal represents fertility, but also long-life and quick-thinking.
Raccoon: Represents curiosity, playfulness, creativity, and adaptability.
Snake: A snake statue would represent sexuality, knowledge, creation, and wisdom.
Tiger: Tigers are a common mascot because they represent ferocity, tenacity, quick action, regality, and fearlessness.
Wolf: Once thought of as the loners of the animal kingdom, these animals actually represent family, cooperation, teaching, and loyalty along with insight, individuality and freedom.
When you give a gift, it is nice to attach a meaning to it. With a personally selected statue you can do that.
Margarette Tustle writes ideas for home and family. Find statue resources at dreamstatue.com
Shopping on the internet can be very convenient but also very disarming. Shoppers should be aware that although they feel anonymous they may not be. Common sense is a very important characteristic to keep in mind when conducting online shopping. To put your mind back into focus, try to follow some of the basic checklist trip falls.
1. Watch your security. Users should always be sure that the site they are using is secure, but how do you know? A secure site should have a security certificate. Usually there is a link somewhere on the site that allows you to view the certificate.
If you cannot find the certificate or you are still unsure about the privacy of the site, Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator have a built in feature that allows you to quickly check for site security and accuracy. In the lower right hand corner of both browsers is a padlock. When the padlock is opened the site is insecure or the certificate is out of date. When the padlock is closed the certificate is up to date and the site is recognized as secure.
2. Although, not despairing to your security, the issue of shipping is despairing to your wallet. Be aware of shipping costs, which occur 90 percent of the time. For example, on average, a CD cost between 1.80 to 2.00 to send through media mail. If you feel the shipping costs are outweighing the discounted price of the product then your best bet is to shop elsewhere or simply look locally for the product.
3. Comparison shop. You should always look locally first when shopping for expensive items. Some online merchants actually raise their prices hoping that you will not comparison shop and they will get the better price out of you.
So when shopping online, be careful. Not everyone is honest and not all the deals are the best ones. Mostly the online shopping experience is a pleasant one but once and awhile there a few trip falls to beware of.
Ken Austin
Online Discount Shopping Guide
Roses and Rose Gardening
Xiang Yang Lu is famous for having knockoff merchandises of world famous brands, which does not only include the extremely high-class ones aforementioned, but also mid-class brands such as Nike, Addidas, and Puma. Not only are there a variety of name brands, but also a variety of merchandise. You can find anything and everything you want in this place.
BARGAINING TIPS
Xiang Yang Lu consists of mini stores that sell similar products, and that’s why you have to look around first. All the sales people speak a little English, and they are excellent at tricking into paying them 10 times more than the base price they are willing to sell u at. So first of all, you have to have the right mentality. Converting RMB into Canadian or U.S currency makes everything seem extremely cheap, but you can definitely save more if you bargain.
1. Look Around: If you see a product you like A LOT, don’t buy it right away. Look around first. There are too many stores that sell the same products. Looking around allows you to get comparison between product quality and price, and also allows you to have an idea about how much this product is going to cost you.
2. Offer Low Price: Always offer a price that is at least 50% less than the asking price. The sales people usually gives an extremely high asking price simply because you are not from Shanghai and you are a tourist, which make them assume you don’t know anything about how things work there. Therefore, cut down the price by at least 50%. You can offer 10% of the cost at first, slowly raise it until you feel it is the right price.
3. BECAREFUL: Do not get tricked by the sales people. They will do anything to make a sale.
Part One
This is actually from my personal experience. I was looking at sunglasses that were on display, and they asked for 100RMB per pair, I said 20RMB. They agreed. However, I didn’t find anything I like that were on display. So the sales person opened the drawers underneath, with much nicer styles and brands. The sales person said these were of better quality and were of difference classes than the ones on display. So I paid 100RMB for three pairs. After I bought them, I realized that it was only one of their techniques. I saw the exact same sunglasses as the ones I bought in other stores and when I offered 20RMB per pair, they agreed.
Part Two
After looking around, I found a store that offered the best price for the jewelry set I wanted, which consisted of a necklace and a bracelet. I bought two sets. The first set, I looked at very carefully because I wanted to make sure it’s good quality. After telling them I wanted another set, they had to go to their storage and take out the second set. I didn’t look at the second set carefully because they told me it was the exact same thing. I paid, then left. After leaving for 5min, I took out the second set out of curiosity. I take a close look, and the set had metal tags that were much smaller than the one I paid for. I got very angry and went back. They played dumb with me and said they thought I wanted a smaller set, but they will do the exchange. THIS time, I trusted them. I left the market and went home. Taking the jewelry out, I took another closer look. Guess what, I have been tricked AGAIN. This time, the tags were the right size, but the chain is MUCH shorter than the first set.
The point is, these sales people have no ethics. They will do anything and everything to sell you stuff, even if they are crap. I am pretty sure they will come up with new tricks and lies every single day, so BECAREFUL
Find more interesting and useful travel information and resources at http://www.TourShanghai.net - the ultimate guide to visiting the great city of Shanghai in China.
Global Marketing Resources, LLC launches turnkey package
for Transcription Service Providers
- Global Marketing Resources, LLC is offering turnkey business
opportunity to transcription service providers who want to
significantly scale their business. - Its turnkey
transcription-website and marketing program; combined with
affordable setup and monthly fee enables any transcriptionist to
convert their skill to a successful home-based business.
Irvine, CA, January 27, 2006…Global Marketing Resources, LLC
(GMR), a Irvine, CA based website design, web management and
website marketing company launched a turnkey website for
transcription business. This is GMR’s first vertical market
product.
As part of the package, customers would get a turnkey
transcription website that enables any digital file to be
uploaded by transcription-service-provider’s clients and
downloaded by transcriptionists for transcribing the file.
Transcriptionists can upload the transcribed files in client’s
area remotely. Given that most of transcriptionists operate from
home,this transcription website allows a transcription
company to manage transcriptionists spread anywhere in the
world.
The transcription business package includes the website and
proven marketing programs to kick start a new transcription
business. This package of transcription website and marketing
program is priced such that anyone can start home-based
transcription service business with a very modest investment. It
takes only few weeks to setup and start the business.
This is the first vertical market project from Global Marketing
Resources, LLC.
Speaking about the development, Mr. Ajay Prasad , Founder
and President, Global Marketing Resources, LLC said, “I am
pleased to offer an affordable business solution for the
transcription service industry. We know that our website
features and marketing support can help transcription service
companies a mean to grow their business and add
transcriptionists from any part of the world in its team. On the
other hand, this package enables a transcriptionist to work from
home, spend fewer hours, and still make the equivalent amount of
money they are currently making.”
“Since we get transcription jobs from all over the world and our
panel of transcriptionists are spread across from US, India, UK
and Australia; the added features of the transcription website
will dramatically help us manage our business. I am not a big
fan of his low price turnkey option for transcriptionists
because it will increase my competition, but I wish Ajay all the
best for this new product,” said Shreekant, VP Operations of
Gmrtranscription.com, an established transcription business that
uses GMR designed transcription website & marketing programs.
Global Marketing Resources, LLC would manage websites for a low
monthly fee and keep on updating features of the
transcription-website as required by the changing transcription
business.
About Global Marketing Resources, LLC Global Marketing
Resources, LLC is marketing-focused company, actively involved
in website designing, web marketing, and website maintenance.
Global Marketing Resources has been focused on helping small
businesses market their products since its inception in 2001.
The company started to focus on the website needs of small
businesses in 2003 and designs turnkey websites, manages it, and
offers web marketing support at lower rates that allows good
returns on website presence investment by small companies.
Headquartered in Irvine, CA, Global Marketing Resources has a
development & marketing team of over 40 employees based in
Hyderabad, India.
For details or clarifications write to us at info@gmrwebteam.com
or visit us at www.gmrwebteam.com
Ever go to a site and there were a dozen or so banners and it
took forever for the page to load? If you are selling your own
product or service or selling for affiliate programs that you
belong to, you probably have banner ads available.
Most affiliate programs will have a good selection of
promotional tools for you to use when you sign up. Banners are
usually one of the tools that you are given. If you are trying
to develop multiple income streams you probably are associated
with a number of affiliate programs like we are. Some can be for
products, some for services and some may be network marketing
type programs. Plus as I mentioned earlier, you may also have
your own products/services too.
No matter what the type of program or product you are offering,
the one thing that you want to do is get exposure for them so
you get sales or member sign ups. For purposes of this
discussion let’s say you are associated with eight such programs
or products.
So here you have eight different banners you want to get
prospects to click on to increase your income stream. What do
you do? Do you place eight different banners on your web page? I
wouldn’t! First it doesn’t look very professional to have a page
cluttered up with eight to ten different banners. Secondly, it
will probably make your page load very slowly and you will then
create what I call “click aways”, when someone is waiting for
your page to load and it takes so long that they just click
another link to another site.
What’s the solution? Get yourself a rotating banner script. You
can get it free and it really isn’t that hard to set up. What is
a rotating banner script? The one we use is a cgi based script
which allows you to load as many banners into it as you want to
rotate and place a short one line of html code on your page.
Each time a new visitor goes to your page a new banner comes up
automatically. If you want to see one in action, go to one of
our pages at: http://www.homebizlink.com/newslt.htm The banner
on the top of the page is on a rotating script. Let the banner
load and then hit your browser “refresh” button and you will see
another banner come up in its place. Repeat it as many times as
you want, and it will randomly select a new banner from the
twelve or so we have loaded into the script.
One other neat thing about this is that you can have the banners
rotate on as many pages as you want and you only need to set the
script up once on your site. We have it on about 20 pages of our
site. All it takes is to put that one short line of code on the
html page you want the banners to appear on. The more pages you
have it on, the more exposure you get. If someone surfs six
pages of your site and your happen to have the banner script on
those pages, there is a good chance they will see six different
banners.
So where do you get it? While there are a number of the scripts
available both for free and for a fee, we got ours for free from
Cliff’s Perl Scripts site. Just go to his site at:
http://www.shavenferret.com/scripts and look for “Cliff’s Banner
Rotator Version 2.51″. There was a link to it right on the first
page the last time we were there. Then just download the files
(there’s only 3 small ones), follow the easy directions and
upload it to your site.
It is a great way to get exposure for the multiple activities
that you might be involved in. You can put 2, 5, 8 or 12 like we
have. You could even put different banners from the same program
(we have two from the same program in the rotation). Be
creative! You could even sell space on a rotating script! Take a
look at it and see if you might be able to use it to your
advantage and create a more economical use of your web real
estate.
The birthstone for those born in June and one of the popular choices for a fifty-fifth wedding anniversary, Alexandrite is the color change variety of the mineral species chrysoberyl. When this gem is illuminated by sunlight and many types of fluorescent light, which contain a large number of green and blue rays, its color is green. Under candlelight and incandescent light, which contain more red rays, the stone appears red. Fine alexandrite is a rich purple-red in incandescent lighting and a rich bluish green with daylight.
Alexandrite is a fairly modern gem, unknown before 1830 when it was discovered in Russia’s Ural Mountains. Discovered on Czar Alexander II’s birthday, the day he became of ruling age, the stone was named after him. Also notable is that the gem’s green and red colors were those of the Russian military. Alexandrite is still looked upon as a stone of good omen in that country.
Until recently, the most important sources of alexandrite were Russia and Sri Lanka. Mining of this gem in Russia probably peaked late in the 19th century. In recent times a number of sources of good quality alexandrite were discovered in Brazil and Tanzania. The Hematita mine in Brazil has been touted as producing the finest known alexandrite. Some collectors, however, will always argue that the Russian material is the finest. Alexandrite as found in gem form can vary in weight from country to country but rarely weighs over from one to three carats.
The rarest of all birthstones, alexandrite finds acceptance in clarity grades that would not be acceptable in other gems. It is considered one of the world’s most valuable gemstones. Even more rare and valuable is the Cat’s Eye alexandrite, the variety of chatoyancy and color change phenomena.
Julie Lee is a web designer and founder of Julie’s Jewelry Design, LLC. Julie’s Jewels is a Texas based retail jewelry company specializing in high quality, affordable jewelry pieces created to be treasured for a lifetime.
Where is Microsoft Office today? Today Microsoft Office
has evolved from a group of private productivity products to a
more complete and integrated system. Building on the well-known
tools that a lot of people are familiar with already, the
Microsoft Office System includes servers, services, programs and
solutions meant to work as one to help deal with a broad range
of business dilemmas.
What’s my benefit for getting Microsoft Office? A
Microsoft Office System gives you a building block for solutions
that helps: It gives business users enhanced access to data, and
therefore they can get better insight and take actions that are
more valuable. And it improves an organizations capability to
expect, handle, and react to changes in the market. Further it
is allowing teams and organizations to work jointly with
swiftness and quickness. And finally, the most important, it
improves individual efficiency and enables more business users
to contribute in the all the time more challenging environment
around them.
What is Microsoft Office? The servers, services, programs
and solutions, which put together, forms the Microsoft Office
System, are:
Office Editions is the successor to Microsoft Office XP, and the
foundation of the Microsoft Office System.
Microsoft Office Access is the Office database management
program, and offers an enhanced ease of use and an extended
ability to export, import, and work with XML data files.
Microsoft Office Excel is the Office spreadsheet program, and
includes support for XML plus features that make it easier to
analyze and share information.
Microsoft Office FrontPage is the Office Web site creation and
management program, which delivers powerful features plus
controls to help you design superior Web sites.
Microsoft Office InfoPath is the Office information gathering as
well as management program, which streamline the process of
gathering information.
Microsoft Office OneNote is the Office note-taking plus
management program, which enables you to organize, capture and
reuse notes on a laptop or desktop computer.
Microsoft Office Outlook, which is the Office personal
information manager plus communication program, provides a
integrated place to manage calendars, e-mail, contacts and other
personal or team information.
Microsoft Office PowerPoint is the Office presentation graphics
program, which allows you to produce an impact in person or
online.
Microsoft Office Project enables organizations to line up
business initiatives, resources and projects for improved
business results.
Microsoft Office Publisher is the Office business publishing
plus marketing materials program, which makes it easier than
ever to produce, design, and publish expert marketing and
communication materials.
Microsoft Office Visio is the Office business plus technical
diagramming program, which helps you transform ideas plus
conventional business data into diagrams.
And finally Microsoft Office Word is the Office word processor.
Final word about Microsoft Office. As you see, Microsoft
Office covers it all. Try it out. See if you or your business
can benefit from this fantastic office tool. Give it a go and
see for your self.
Search engine optimization seems to be becoming more and more difficult, with search engine algorithms becoming more complexed with what they require to be important. However, one thing for sure is that backlinks in particular are still one of the most effective search engine optimization techniques.
When you receive links to your website, search engines view this as a vote for your site. Now the value of this vote depends on a number of factors such as the number of outgoing links the page with your link on has, the number of incoming links the page has, and whether the site that contains your link is seen by the search engines as an “authority” site.
There are many contributing factors for your website to rank highly in SERP’s, but one thing for sure is that you need to continually build the number and quality of links pointing to your site. This could be through a number of methods:
1) Reciprocal linking - you contact other webmasters to offer the opportunity to provide a link to their website for the same in return.
2) One-way linking - this can be from many methods. Write articles and submit to article directories, add a link in your sig in forums, post opinions on blogs with a link back to your site (providing that the site owner does not mind!), and link directories.
There is no doubt that one-way linking is more powerful than reciprocal linking by a long way. Also consider that reciprocal linking should be conducted with sites that are relevant to your own websites theme.
Link building using your chosen keyword is also important. For example, should you have a website that you would like to rank highly in search engines for the phrase “Dog Beds”, then if possible have website owner’s link to your site using the search term as the actual link to your site. This shows the search engines that your site is relevant to this keyword phrase, and will rank it highly should you receive many links like this. Merely gaining links to your site is not the ONLY optimization that you must do for your site, as mentioned earlier, but it is certainly a significant contributing factor in search results.
An important note to remember is to never link to “link farms”. These are sites that contain hundreds upon hundreds of outgoing links on one page. Search engines do not tend to look upon them favorable, and in any case if your link is also on this “link farm” page, the benefit will be minimal due to the large number of other links taking a share of the value of links from the page.
There are many free article directories, and free link directories where it is possible to gain good quality links to your site. However, paying for a link from a link directory is often very rewarding. You may find that paid directories will guarantee the acceptance of your website within hours to a couple of days. This is compared to many free directories often taking months to review your submission, and may not even approve it in the end. There are some exceptions but the key is to find them. Another good point to remember is that many new link directories that are well setup will possibly have categories with very few websites currently accepted. This provides a great opportunity to submit your site to benefit from the page’s link value to the fullest.
The new directory at http://www.articleblotter.com/directory offers the perfect opportunity to gain one-way links to your website. The site also allows you to write and submit articles if you choose to in order to gain links. Also keep upto date with article marketing information and site news with the article marketing blog.