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•Seven Deadly Newsletter Sins and How to Cure Them
Seven Deadly Newsletter Sins (and How to Cure Them) by Claire CunninghamNewsletters can be great communication tools, but they take work. Here’s a quick list of common problems newsletters run into and how to fix them.1. The snooze-letter -- a newsletter so boring it puts readers to sleep.Cure: Find out what your readers want to know and write about it. Keep the tone lively. Don’t know what readers want? Ask!2. Audience too broad - a newsletter with a broad audience (customers, employees and...
•10 Steps to a GREAT Newsletter
by Claire CunninghamA newsletter can be a wonderful, economical way to communicate withprospects, customers, employees or distributors. Just follow these teneasy steps for newsletter success.1) Define Your Audience -- Who are you publishing for? Clients(customers) – present, past and prospective? Employees? Your audiencewill define your content.2) Set Objectives -- Create a solid foundation for your newsletter bywriting down what you want to achieve.3) Plan Content -- What interests your...
•Keeping Customers With Communication
by Claire CunninghamYou work hard to attract new customers, right? Mailings, phone calls, ads, publicity. You have an annual marketing plan devoted to bringing in new customers. What about the customers you already have? What are you doing for them? Of course, you’re delivering a top quality product or service at a competitive price. But that’s not enough.Business wisdom says current customers are your best source for new sales. After all, these folks have already established a dialogue...
•Easy Marketing Communications Planning Steps
by Claire Cunningham‘Tis the season to be planning. Most business people are familiar with strategic planning. But what about your marketing communications program? Do you have a plan for that?For those of you with marketing communications anxiety, here’s a step-by-step guide to follow to create a plan.1.Begin with the basics. Marketing communications involves what you say about your business (message) and who you say it to (audience). Start your plan with this information. 2.Solidify your...
•Postcard Marketing Low Cost Visibility
by Claire CunninghamYou need to be visible to attract customers, right? But how do you get that visibility when you’re short on cash? Here’s an idea that’s worked for many businesses. It’s postcard marketing, and it’s very affordable. You can design your own postcards or hire a designer. Print the cards on 67# card stock to meet USPS requirements. Two or four cards will fit on an 8 ½” x 11” sheet so you’ll have to use a paper cutter. Postage is just $.23 a card.Here are some ways to use...
•Being visible on a budget
Once upon a time a company introduced a new product. They didn’t want their competition to know, so they didn’t advertise or even send out a news release. Sales of the new product were disappointing. The manufacturer was unhappy. What went wrong? Any thoughts?
My answer is that this kind of “stealth marketing” doesn’t work. You need to be visible to sell something. When this manufacturer started promoting their new product, sales picked up.
So visibility is good for business. But how...
•Public Relations A Free Lunch
? by Claire CunninghamSeems like everyone is looking for the proverbial free lunch these days, particularly when it comes to marketing communications. Well, I hate to burst anyone's bubble, but there's no such thing. However, there are ways to stretch your budget and marketing public relations (PR) is one of them. By MARKETING PR I mean publicity that is directed towards your marketing target audience and carries marketing messages. (It's not the same as investor or employee relations.)...
•How to Create a GREAT Web Site
by: Claire Cunningham
Do you have a web site that hasn’t been touched in years? Or have you avoided the Internet bandwagon all together? Well, it’s time to hop aboard again – or for the first time. Here’s why:
1) Audience:
Young adults and teens spend more time on the Internet than they do watching TV. Also, they’re more likely to use the Internet than the Yellow Pages to find a product or service.
Engineers and other business people use the Internet as a key information source...
•Look Sharp Play Sharp
by Claire Cunningham“Look sharp. Play sharp.” That pithy statement comes courtesy of one of my older daughter’s softball coaches. His teams always had the whitest pants and socks. They didn’t win every game, but they did well – better than expected. And his words stuck with me.In business looks matter too. From your product to your place of business, your firm will be judged by how you look. So having a professional logo is especially important. Look at your logo, and how it’s used. Does it...
•What s Your Identity
? by Claire CunninghamIdentity theft is a hot topic these days – at least on a personal level. In business, though, the serious issue is identity neglect!What do I mean? I mean many businesses don’t pay attention to identity issues. That’s because they don’t understand maintaining a consistent identity is a low-cost way to maximize impact. Consistency and professionalism are the keys. That’s what can help even the smallest business over time. Consistency means repetition, and repetition is...
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