Friday, September 28, 2012

Hiring the Best Vehicle Magnet Printing Services

Vehicle magnet printing has become a very popular means of getting messages across in places with high traffic. Some people call this means of communication mobile billboards. It is used in relaying important information of a business such as the tag line, brand name and contacts. When designed properly, this means of communication can be very effective in spreading promotional messages of a business. Currently, there are many companies offering vehicle magnet printing services. Majority of these companies claim to deliver the best services to clients who hire their services. However, you cannot be certain about this. This is why you should take time to learn more about different companies before hiring their services.

Choosing services of the best company

• Professionalism: The best company to contact when you want to use this means in communicating your promotional messages with clients is the one that offer professional services. It should avoid using words and methods that may cause controversy with the authorities. Basically, this means of communication enables you to promote your business while accomplishing other tasks. This is because you spread promotional messages everywhere you go with your truck. Therefore, these messages should be designed professional to promote your business without causing controversy.

• Quality materials: Quality materials should be used to ensure that you promote your business for long. Use of quality colors and magnets ensure that they do not fade after a long duration of exposure to harsh weather conditions. Dimensions of the materials and font size should also be ideal to ensure that your ad capture attention of even the most casual people who see it.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Should You Brand Yourself Or A Company Name?

One of those big hairy decisions you'll need to make when creating your brand is whether you want to brand your name or a company name.

The natural tendency for a solopreneur is to shy away from branding their name because they feel like that would be too self absorbed and that they aren't important enough that people will be searching for them.

My answer to that is simple: No one knows who you are right now whether you use a name or a company name.

Even if you brand your company, system or product. No one knows what it is until you start marketing it, so they aren't going to be any more likely to be searching for your company name as they would be searching for you yourself.

Which is why it's up to you to build your brand into something people will be searching for.

There are distinct advantages to branding your name instead of just the name of your company, system, or product.

The biggest one is that being an entrepreneur, chances are you come up with brilliant ideas all the time. If you lock yourself into a company name then decide later to change your direction you'll have to rebrand and start from square one.

On the other hand, if you brand your name then you can build credibility for yourself (while co-branding your system or product) and you can take that credibility with you as you grow on your entrepreneurial journey.

Your brand is an asset and if you handle it right it will support you through all of your future endeavors.

And if you think you know exactly what you want to do right now you're wrong. Your business is going to be constantly changing throughout it's life. Not necessarily drastic changes, but enough that having your name behind you is going to be a good thing.

The bottom line is, your focus and keywords may change. Your name likely won't!

If your name does change due to getting married (or divorced) then you'll have a decision to make about whether you want to change it in relation to your business. Regardless if you've branded your name or a company name, changing your name within your brand will make an impact.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Fundamentals of Email Marketing

Email Marketing has boomed over the last several years. The cost of print marketing, combined with the time sensitive email generation, has pushed email marketing to the top of many company marketing strategies. So what do you need to know about email marketing? There are some basic ideas that prove to benefit both the consumer and the company if followed.

First, you need to build a list. Not any list, you want a precise, categorized list. There are several ways to build your list. The easiest is to start with your current customer base. Once you have this starting point, you'll want to segment your contacts by date. Putting customers into buckets gives you an idea of the "purchase commitment time" they have. For example, some customers may remember you and want to buy from you 3 months after their initial contact. Others will need more frequent reminders to keep them on-board. Once you have your current customer base setup, you'll want to send a notification asking them to "opt-in" to your newsletter. This is a soft way to get your foot back in the door, and ensure you're getting explicit permission to send them correspondence.

Getting new customers emails is the second phase of building a list. There are several ways to do so, and the most reliable is creating a "join my email" button on your website. This allows anyone that happened to find your website, as well as those currently familiar with your business to sign up for email updates. If you have a service provider that gives you options, then take advantage of trying to collect as much information as necessary to later categorize your new email customers. Other options for collecting new emails is to create an actual sign up form at your front desk. Ask people to join. Avoid doing "raffles" due to the lack of commitment by those who typically sign up. You want solid, interested customers receiving your correspondence.

Now that you have a list, when should you mail? Studies show you should mail frequent enough to keep customers informed, but not too much to overwhelm them. It's a good idea to pepper in business related ideas, along with your normal articles to give your readers "value" outside of just a sales pitch. Most experts say the best time to mail is on Tuesday morning. This gives your customer a chance to read their emails from the weekend, get their week started, and take time to peruse non-immediate email content. Other studies have shown that Sundays are also a good time to send emails, as people who keep up on their email, will often check in on Sunday to see what the week has in store for them.