Sales Tip: Bringing Dead Customers Back to Life | Sign & Digital Graphics

Sales Tip: Bringing Dead Customers Back to Life | Sign & Digital Graphics

Some More of the Coolist QR Codes

Brand: Dupard Benedict
Linked to: New York City tribute video featuring iconic photography and Frank Sinatra singing in the background.
Credit: Dupard Benedict

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Some of the Coolist QR Codes

Brand: The Conversion Scientist
Advertisers are smitten with the small, square patterns that can be scanned by smartphones. Here are some of my favorites from major brands that don't look like anything you'd expect.

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6 Ways Print Newsletters Beat Email Newsletters – And Why They Need to Be Part of Your Marketing Mix

1. Printed mail gets delivered – It's never blocked or caught in spam filters.  Faulty connections, email authentication and webmail service idiosyncrasies are not issues. And, you have no worries about connection speeds.

2. Print newsletters have more perceived value – Think about it: How many companies are willing to do this? Your clients aren't stupid. They understand the energy, cost and time required to send them a great newsletter every month. It will get their immediate attention.

3. Print newsletters let you use unlimited amount of images – A picture really is worth a thousand words. Print newsletters are not shackled by bandwidth. That means you can use a variety of text, graphics and formatting styles to capture the interest of your clients.

4. Print newsletter are sticky - Print newsletters have great 'hang-time'. Not only are they likely to be read from start to finish, they usually get passed around. Hand-along readership can be as high as four-to-one. Talk about free marketing!

5. Print newsletters offer convenient and comfortable reading - Printed newsletters are much easier on the eyes. Reading articles of any length on a computer screen is uncomfortable and often inconvenient. Plus, a print newsletter allows you to mark sections you find interesting, take it to work and leave it there to be picked up by workmates.

6. Print newsletters stand out and get noticed – By using color, logos and a familiar return address, a print newsletter is easy to spot. With an inbox filled with subject lines, every message looks the same.

Here's Your Best Bet

Make no mistake. There is a place for electronic communication with your customers. Websites and email are an important part of any business. 

But the hands down best choice for keeping customers and getting more referrals and building relationships is to include print newsletters within your marketing mix

You can even offer your customers a choice. They will see that you really care about what they want, not just what you are willing to provide for them.

And that's what relationship marketing is all about, isn't it?

http://www.icontact-archive.com/0RWwgbbVIRc_pI6KrlsS05rnEpR51hxw?w=1

http://www.icontact-archive.com/0RWwgbbVIRc_pI6KrlsS05rnEpR51hxw?w=1

First Impressions Matter

Yes, You Still Need Business Cards

In these days of BlackBerrys (Nasdaq: RIMM – News) and e-mail contact lists, the humble paper business card may look like a relic. Does passing them out signal you as hopelessly behind the curve?

Not at all. In a world where so much communication happens electronically, the business card remains a valuable, tangible way to promote yourself and your company. The key is to produce cards that are memorable and informative, ones that can instantly sum up your brand in a glance.

While social media may get all the press hype, the vast majority of business interaction in this country still takes place face to face. Most business owners still interact with potential customers and partners personally at Chamber of Commerce events, the local Rotary Club or informal social gatherings.

In all those instances, exchanging business cards remains a primary way to formalize your interaction. It helps the person you’ve met remember your name and the name of your business — sealing the deal, if you will. (How often have you been introduced to someone, only to forget their name within minutes?)
In the best-case scenario, the person you meet keeps your card and adds you to their list of contacts, either by putting the card in a Rolodex or scanning it into an electronic database (the card itself will probably get tossed, but by then it has served its purpose). Either way, the card helped cement you and your business in the mind of the person you met.

Business cards may be a tried-and-true marketing device, but that’s not to say they haven’t changed with the times. For a look at recent trends, browse The Business Card group on Flickr or go to Cardonizer, where users have posted stylish, creative examples.
The key is to keep your cards looking up-to-date but not overcrowded. Cards these days cram ever more information into a small space — in addition to the company name, address, phone number and email address, some people are adding their company’s website, Facebook fan page link and Twitter stream. The result? A visually confusing mess.

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If you are active in social media, a better bet is to simply list your website. Then, on your site, add prominent links to social-media sites visitors can quickly access if they’re interested.
The days when your color choices were limited to white or cream are also long gone. Nowadays, cards come in full color, many with photographs — and again, that leads many businesses to overcrowd their cards with logos and pictures. Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL – News) co-founder Steve Wozniak even hands out custom-designed stainless steel cards, which fall into the memorable-but-not-exactly-practical category.

While you can  design and print your own cards, hiring a pro is the only way to go if you want to project a professional image.

When designing a business card, think of it as a miniature introduction to you and your business. Do you want to present yourself as innovative and forward-thinking? Then your card should be designed with a modern font and color palette.

By contrast, a simple, two-color business card sends its own message: that you and your company are traditional and no-frills. Even so, the card should include your e-mail address and website — modern-day business necessities. A good designer can integrate that information with your company’s logo and other details to make sure the card isn’t overwhelmed with type.

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Although creative types may be tempted to make their cards stand out by using nontraditional materials or shapes, make sure the finished product still fits easily into a standard wallet pocket; otherwise they’re more likely to get tossed. Also, avoid glossy paper, which makes it difficult for someone to scribble a note on the back.


And remember that business cards aren’t meant to be hoarded and admired in private. Get in the habit of handing them out, which is easy if you have one you want to show off.

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Full Color Printing Always Makes a Great Impression

When you sit down with a blank sheet of paper in front of you, does your vision for filling that page include color? Whether that page is meant to inform, invite, or inspire, it will make the greatest impression if it is printed in full color.

Black and white printing works for certain things - text documents and photographs. But full color printing is the best way to make the right impression.

Here are some reasons why:

• It's more professional. If you're trying to sell your company's products or services, choosing full color printing for marketing materials and business cards shows your prospective customers you are a company that is worth doing business with. It can help add legitimacy to your company that will make people more likely to consider doing business with you.
• Printing in full color grabs attention. If you are standing at a bulletin board or sifting though a pile of mail and there are five items, four of them in black and white and one of them in color, it's a given that your eyes will be drawn to the one that has been done in color. You can write a solid brochure, flyer or newsletter, but if it doesn't get someones attention, it won't make a difference.
• Pictures will look better. While of course you can add pictures in black and white, color pictures are more crisp and true to life. Often times when you print a picture in black and white, you end up with an image that is almost impossible to make out. Full color printing can help prevent this problem.

One thing that may deter you from choosing color over black and white is cost. You may assume that it is much more expensive to print in color than it is in black and white. In some cases, that is true. However, as technology has changed, new dyes and methods have been created that can allow you to choose full color without adding a great cost to the project.

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