Questions to Assess Your Notepad Design (Reprint)

Are your custom notepads truly fit for marketing purposes? Notepad printing has of course been used for many purposes, and marketing is one of the more alternative but surprisingly effective uses for them. However not all types of notepad printing can be used for marketing.

So, to help you determine if your own color notepads are good for marketing, here are the five basic assessment questions that you should try to answer. Just go through the steps below and you should see if your custom notepad printing will work.

1. Is your header logo and design distinct? – For a color notepad to be used for marketing, its header logo and design should of course be distinct. This allows people using the notepad to recognize and identify the maker of the notepad, and hopefully trust it more in the future.

So you should always assess if your own color notepads have header logos and designs that are distinct and different from the rest. It must have something really original so that people won’t ignore it as they use the notepad. If it does not have that distinct header element, then you might as well not use them for marketing.

2. Is your design in full color? – A good color notepad for marketing is always printed in full color. Full color notepad printing allows designers to use full color graphics in their designs for the logos, headers, watermarks and footers in the layout. So you should ask yourself if your printing options for notepad printing are set for full color or for single color prints. Make sure that it is set for full color notepad printing if you really want you use those custom pads for marketing purposes.

3. Does your notepad have a call to action? – The next question to ask is if your notepads have a “call to action”. For those new to marketing, a call to action in a printed or visual marketing medium is the part of the print where you convince people to respond to the marketing message. This is crucial for the print to produce any kind of result in marketing. Typically this is something like a statement that says “buy now!” or “contact us now!” Your color notepads must have this if they are truly aimed for marketing. So check and see if you have this element.

4. Is the size of the notepad easily mobile and easily kept? – Also, you should ask yourself if your color notepads have the proper size and dimensions for it to be mobile and be easily kept. Marketing notepads must always be small enough so that people can easily carry them around. This allows for better distribution for marketing purposes and for better acceptance by the market in general. So make sure that your custom notepad’s size is appropriate for a more mobile marketing campaign. Anything smaller than 8.5 by 11 inches should be good.

5. Is your notepad easily functional and useful? – Finally and perhaps most importantly, you should ask yourself if your marketing notepads are functional and useful. If your designs take too much space and make the notepad hardly writable then your marketing notepads fail. Make sure that your notepads have ample space for note taking so that they can still be relevant and useful for your market.

That is your 5 assessment questions for marketing notepads. If your custom notepad designs pass these questions then you have a good print design there for proper marketing. For more article please visit http://www.unitedgraphics.com

Author : Brent Durell
Repost : Acarre Community Media

Mobile Text Message Marketing

Marketing is one of the most important things you can do as a business owner. Without a marketing strategy and targeted advertising, many businesses simply do not make it. Many business owners think that simply having a store front or running an ad in the yellow pages is all they need to do and soon realize, it's not that easy.

In today's world, businesses big or small are finding more and more challenges when it comes to traditional marketing strategies. Running an ad in a local publication or paying for a spot in the yellow pages, just doesn't produce the same results they once achieved and are very expensive.

The reason why this is happening is that we are in a rapid changing communication age. With the birth of the Internet and number of internet-ready cellphones expanding globally, the effects on marketing are tremendous and are taking the marketing challenges to a new level. International businesses large or small are facing the same challenges.

The technical requirements associated with setting up a website, understanding social media, creating campaigns that will promote brand and convert traffic into buyers, are all part of the requirements necessary to market a business in today's world. The problem is many business owners need to focus on running the business and do not have the time, can't manage, nor have all the skillset required to create and manage an effective marketing program.

One new marketing method that will have a tremendous impact on businesses globally has to do with mobile text marketing. Mobile text marketing targets cell phone users in a very unique way. Similar to the time when e-mail marketing was brand new, mobile text marketing has a much higher response rate. With response rates at 90% plus, business owners need pay attention and incorporate this strategy into the overall marketing strategy.

There are a lot of reasons for the high response rate in mobile text marketing. Here are a few:

* When a user receives a text message they almost never ignore it due to the alert features on cell phones.

* It's considered more personal than an e-mail because it is used primarily by personal friends and family. So, the user always responds to a new text.

* Most businesses have not yet utilized this strategy so; the opportunity is here right now to be on the cutting edge of this new marketing concept.

* Users do not ignore the messages when received.

* Messages are short and to the point.

* Newer cell phones display the message right on the front of the screen.

* Users almost always have their cell phone on them.

* Cell phones do not require internet access to receive a text..

* Almost every cell phone made today has text messaging built in.

The most important factor is that cell phone users out number internet users worldwide. With the rapid increase in internet-capable phones, there will also be a proportional increase in a business' ability to market to a cell phone user.

For those who don't know, here is how mobile text marketing works in general. Let's say you want to run a campaign to offer a discount for a product, service, or an event. As a business owner, you would target your existing customer base first. You would offer a coupon or discount, when a user sends a text message from their cell phone to your advertised campaign word. An example of this would look something like the following:

To receive a discount today, text "specialoffer" to 41242

What happens is the customer wants to receive a discount, so they text the word to the number. Then they immediately receive a response back with a promo code or message authorizing a discount. They are also informed they will receive future discount offers and can opt out anytime. Your customers are ok with this since they are already patrons of your business. This process all happens automatically.

Now, a month later you decide you want to have a sale or run a special on the weekend. If you didn't have a mobile marketing strategy, and in order to let your customers know you're having a sale, you would need to run an ad in the newspaper, pay for ads on TV, run an ad on the radio, send mail outs or some other means to let them know. This is expensive and takes time to plan and the customers response time may not coincide with time advertised was received.

But, as a smart business owner, you simply send out a text message to your existing customers and because you know they will read it, your sales are a success. You managed to increase business with the least amount of effort and greatest response.

With traditional marketing, the customer would need to read their junk mail, newspaper ads, or be in front of the TV at the exact time your ad ran. But with a cell phone in hand, your customer receives your promotion. You didn't need to pay for expensive ad materials or hope the customer was in the right place at the right time.

Did I say this was powerful, cutting edge stuff?

There is an added benefit to marketing this way. Consumers do not receive junk mail from you and you won't kill a tree to run an ad in the local paper.

Did I mention it is good for the environment?

In today's world, a customer will jump at the opportunity to do something good for the environment. This is especially true when it doesn't require much effort from them. I think most of us would be willing to receive a promo code to our cell phone in comparison to a bunch of junk mail at home that fills up our mailbox and usually gets tossed in the garbage and then finds its way to our landfills!

There is also another advantage over traditional advertising. I call it the on demand factor. This makes it a must strategy for restaurant owners or businesses that operate in a daily entertainment industry.

Here is an example of the on demand marketing factor. Let's say you own a restaurant. You expect the coming weekend lunch crowd to be slow due to an event in the area during that time of day. So, you have a message sent out to your mobile list letting them know they can get a free appetizer at lunch - but for this weekend only. You do this two hours before lunch to a hundred people on your list. Then an hour later you decide that the response wasn't enough to fill the seats up completely and you believe you will have a few open seats. So, you quickly have another message sent to another hundred people.

The result:

An hour later you have a small line at the door. You managed to let your customers know about your special for the weekend only. You also filled the seats and maximized your business without over promoting. You wouldn't want customers that would have come to your restaurant without a promo code to be turned away due to an extra-long wait.

On demand marketing lends itself to maximum flexibility in timing and number variations. There is no other marketing strategy that has this type of on demand capability. I wonder what happened to the other restaurants in the area that didn't have a mobile marketing strategy.

To this point we have only targeted existing customers. You can build your customer base in a more powerful way. All of the traditional marketing methods still work and can augment your mobile marketing strategy. It is important to not be tied to other marketing channels for all your marketing needs.

One reason to not be handcuffed to traditional marketing channels is that they dictate to you the options and the cost for advertisements. Most of them can be expensive because of the media that must be designed for the ads. The biggest factor is that the consumers of a particular media channel belong to that media company. But as a mobile text marketer, you can place your mobile text campaign word on printed ads, radio ads, and TV ads. This will enable you to capture more leads. When the consumer opts in to your mobile marketing list, you can then market to them over and over without paying the original media company another dime.

Building a list is one of the most important business strategies you can have. A mobile marketing list is the most effective.

Mobile text marketing may not work for every business. There are a few businesses where this strategy is very exciting. Here is a list of some businesses that could benefit:

1. Restaurants

2. Salons & Spas

3. Bars & Night Clubs

4. Florist

5. Theaters

6. Vacation Rentals

7. Events and Nightly Entertainment

8. Department Stores

9. Any service that the consumer does regularly

10. Most business that advertises a lot.

As you can see there are a lot of businesses that could save money on their advertising expenses while increasing their ROI.

So, how does a business owner get started?

Well if your business is a big brand, you can lease your own short code for $500 to $1000 a month. A short code is the number the campaign word is texted to. You will also need to pay web programmer money to develop a campaign management system to receive and respond to opt-ins. This can cost thousands of dollars to develop.

Option two; you can contact a mobile marketing consultant such as Rapid Action Marketing or Mobile Helpers and they will help tailor a marketing strategy to the size of your company and manage your campaigns for you. Plus they help build your list and leaving you to run the business. When you want to send a special offer out to your mobile list, you simply call and they will take it from there. They also implement various techniques to help increase opt-ins for your campaigns.

There are also many mobile text marketing platforms available. Most are tailored towards the big boys of marketing and priced accordingly. There are two in particular that I have found that offer all the features in the expensive services but at a price starting around $15 a month and as much as $1000 plus per month.

For the mid-size business, I recommend option two as the text marketing firm can get your mobile marketing campaign started right. But, for the smaller business a self-management option maybe the only option.

They will help tailor a marketing strategy to the size of your company and manage your campaigns for you. Plus they help build your list and leaving you to run the business. When you want to send a special offer out to your mobile list, you simply call and they will take it from there. They also implement various techniques to help increase opt-ins for your campaigns.

There are also many mobile text marketing platforms available. Most are tailored towards the big boys of marketing and priced accordingly. There are two in particular that I have found that offer all the features in the expensive services but at a price starting around $15 a month and as much as $1000 plus per month.For the mid-size business, I recommend option two as the text marketing firm can get your mobile marketing campaign started right. But, for the smaller business a self-management option maybe the only option. See Author Bio for recommended services.

To get more information on how to market your business via text message marketing. Please visit  http://wwwyeptext.com

Author : Eric Sullivan
Repost : Acarre Community Media

The Competitive Battle Plan For Flyer Marketing (Reprint)

You will undoubtedly have tough competition in flyer marketing. Thus, it is important to have a good and competitive battle plan for its deployment.

The objective here is to make each piece count so that the investment i will be well worth it, with all color flyers eliciting some kind of response from the market. Let me help you out with this by giving you my basic competitive battle plan. Use this as your guide to ensure more success for each piece of color flyer.

1. Do your oculars – The ocular inspection or actually looking at the different areas for deployment is important for a competitive battle plan. You will not only want to know if the place has people. You will also want to know if the places you are going for have the right people. Your key target markets should be there and you should know exactly the right times where they pass by or arrive in those places. Knowing all these should help you make your efforts more effective and efficient so make sure you do this ocular data gathering.

2. Do your consumer research – Next, you should also do your consumer research. As with most marketing tasks, knowing your consumer helps you gain insights on how exactly to deliver your marketing tool. For example if your consumers typically shop in certain days on certain places, then deploying precisely at those days and places should be ideal. Along with the ocular data above, you should be able to figure out the best locations where the environment and the people combine to give you the ideal climate.

3. Identify opportune times for distribution in the near future – Also, you should consider the public holidays and seasons that are opportune for distribution. Shopping holidays like black Fridays or Christmas holidays for examples are the most obvious times for good flyer distribution. Start of the season celebrations are also good for marketing as changing environments typically have people scrambling for new products.

4. Identify where your competitors are distributing – Of course, you should also be aware of the places where your competitors are distributing. This can be a threat to your marketing efforts. By knowing where they are, you will know which locations where you should double your efforts, so that you can be more competitive and beat them on those areas. Of course, if you see them having too much of a dominant stake in an area, you might also want to raise the white flag and leave it to them. You do not want to waste money on areas where you actually can gain no benefit at all.

5. Creating the ideal plan – Once you have all the data described above, you should then be able to create the ideal plan for a competitive deployment strategy. You should go deploy your flyers at the best places and the best times where your target markets or consumers are. Make sure that you take into account any competitor activity in those ideal areas and double your efforts if there is an increased threat. That is how you can maximize your efforts and succeed competitively.

Now you have a battle plan. Just go through each step above and there can be no doubt about your marketing campaign success.Visit http://www.unitedgraphics.com/product/flyers for more information.

Author : Kaye Marks
Repost : Acarre Community Media

Social Media Principle 6 – Be Open and Be Human (Reprint)

Social marketing earns, not buys attention so have an opinion, be true to what you say, be of value, be open - above all be human.

"Ask not what your customers can do for you; ask what you can do for your customers" Stan Rapp

As 'markets become conversations' customer relationships and advertising models are changing for good. Passive consumption becomes active interaction. Monologue becomes dialogue. Control becomes collaboration. Customers are empowered, well informed, connected. Companies are becoming more transparent whether they like it or not.

It's an environment in which the balance of effective communication shifts from being less about interruption to more about participation, less about delivering a message to more about being part of a conversation, less about what you say to people and more about what people are saying about you.

It's an environment, which operates to social principles - creating not subtracting value, serving a larger purpose than your own, being useful, facilitating.

It's an environment in which the more human elements matter - having a point of view, being true to yourself and what you say, being open, honest, transparent. Ford use social media to (in the words of Scott Monty) "humanize the Ford brand and put consumers in touch with Ford employees", and regularly reach out to bloggers for feedback and to encourage the spread of positive word of mouth.

Zappos believe that their "culture is their brand" and use social media to create touch points throughout every area of their business and ensure customer service isn't just a department, it’s the entire company. Authenticity is the currency that encourages trust, involvement, and engagement. Authenticity is what turns an audience into a following. To find out more about Jon and receive access to some awesome FREE gifts, go to: - http://whoisjonleuty.com

Author : Jon Leuty
Repost : Acarre Community Media

Developing A Strategy For Real Estate Mobile Marketing

Realtors are constantly seeking new ways to control business costs, in a slow market. Placing print advertisements, and printing up fliers to leave at listings, may eat a sizable portion of a realtor's budget. Fortunately, real estate mobile marketing, as part of an overall digital strategy, provides a no-paper, low-cost avenue for reaching potential clients. This type of marketing also helps realtors to be more proactive with advertising, rather than reactive.

Mobile marketing is defined as communicating with customers via a mobile device. This capability appeals to a clientele that is rapidly growing more technologically sophisticated. Realtors who have mobile capability may assist buyers twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. This availability gives the realtor a competitive advantage, in the recruitment and retention of clients.

Realtors are set back in a reactive position with print ads, and even with websites. In both cases, realtors have to wait for clients to contact them about the property. Even fliers will never be picked up unless a client actually sets up a property showing. Ideally, realtors should be able to proactively market their listings to potential clients. Mobile capability will give realtors a platform in which to be more assertive, while, at the same time, saving money.

Digital advertising may be realized in a number of ways. When realtors list a new property, for instance, they may choose to send the information to clients, using text messaging. Or, when an open house is about to begin, realtors could sent a text message to interested clients in their database.

Realtors should also take advantage of SMS. For instance, realtors could establish a service, in which clients could text a keyword to a specific number, and then receive property listing information, right on their smart phone. SMS would replace the hassle of printing and carrying fliers to every property site, producing a savings of both time and money, while still delivering a valuable service.

Advertising is only one aspect of an overall digital strategy. Many clients use their phones to look at property information online. For this reason, realtors should ensure that their websites are easily navigated with a smart phone, and that they do not publish too much Flash content. Additionally, good visuals on a website are important, and realtors may even consider adding a video element to their pages.

Of course, there are even less expensive alternatives for digital strategy. One idea is for realtors to list homes on real estate websites, like Zillow or Trulia. Both of these websites feature high-quality mobile applications, and are rich in visual features. Another idea is for realtors to use social media to communicate with their client base.

Real estate mobile marketing gives realtors new, fresh ways to reach out to potential clients. Web and phone-based services offer convenience to clients, at a low cost to realtors, thus helping them to recruit and retain more prospective buyers. Utilizing all of the capabilities of computers and smart phones allows realtors to match their services to the technological savvy of their client base. Click here for more information http://interactive-mobile.com.

Author : Dave Spearson
Repost : Acarre Community Media