Atricle Dump - Business

Direct Marketing Ad: Nine Ways To Effectively Advertise Your Business In Magazines
Have you ever spent hundreds or thousands of dollars placing an ad in a magazine and not have a good response? Have you been confused as to why your ad did not work like you had hoped?Here are 9 basic tips for advertising your business in magazines.1. Color ads are generally more effective than black/white ads. The exception is, if the page you are advertising is in color and your ad is black/white. The black/white ad can even be more profitable if it is done well.2. A full page ad is often thought to do better. Again there can be exceptions to the rule. If you have a black/white ad against color ads, you can have the ad smaller and generate more response. Or, if your ad is placed in a more opportune location in the magazine.

runners in the pack.

4) Make it handy. Two of my current clients are getting lots of mileage by packaging tips -- handy advice and/or insights that are just long enough to be helpful, but short enough to be easily digested. It’s a format people love -- in fact, you’re reading a tips-based article right now!

The key is to break your know-how into bite-sized bits busy people can consume on the fly. Of my two “tips” clients, one is targeting the multi-billion dollar mergers and acquisitions market with a “top ten tips” guide; the other runs a tips-based website on a variety of subjects that interest consumers -- and draws eager sponsors who want to reach them. Upscale or down-market, tips attract favorable attention either way.

5) Make it “keepable.” When I was a kid, a mechanic’s garage just wasn’t real if it didn’t have at least one “girly” calendar, sponsored by a “Joe’

Factoring Volume Continues to Grow
Accounts receivable funding, also known as factoring, continued an upward trend in 2005 with volume exceeding $112 billion. This represented a 9.3% increase over the prior year, which is the strongest year to year growth rate since 2000. In fact, only 2001 was the only year in the past 20 that factoring volume did not rise. A/R funding continues to be an accepted part of financing, but according to the Commercial Finance Association’s Annual Asset Based Lending and Factoring 2005 Survey, two thirds of the volume came from the northeast and southeast parts of the country. The northeast is the major region for factoring volume with 42% of the total.The survey indicated that only 5% of factoring volume came from the Midwest, which includes some highly populated states with a plethora of companies that typically use A/R funding. States in the Midwest included in the survey were Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Missouri. Why are the total

If you work in marketing communications, you’ve probably seen this scenario a dozen times: A harried sales guy, shirts-sleeves rolled up to the elbow, storms into your cubicle. “I got a hot sales call in Toledo in three weeks. I got to have a brochure to leave behind,” he says, smacking his fist into his open palm.

You sigh. So it begins -- yet another brochure. And you know how it’ll end: Thousands of dollars and multiple late-nights-against-deadlines later, he’ll have his brochure. But the company won’t have the sale. And you’ll have a coat closet stacked with bulging boxes of forgotten collateral.

Is there a better way to support sales? Something you can leave with prospects that’s just a bit more memorable -- and more effective -- than the standard brochure with its forced march through company “visions,” product descriptions, and corporate bios? Yes, indeed. I offer eight suggestions, not as comprehensive answers to every sales-communications situation, but as inspiration and provocation for creating material less likely to gather dust -- and more likely to draw your company closer to a sale.

1) Make it a magazine. David Ogilvy once asked why print ads had to look like print ads -- why not make them look like articles? I say, why not go one step further and make your brochures look like magazines? Instead of the usual ho-hum content, create articles that position your company, products or services as ways to solve problems or achieve customer-desired goals.

For about a decade, Baystate Health Systems in Massachusetts has published a beautiful four-color glossy magazine, AlphaSights, that they distribute to referring medical professionals in central Massachusetts. Distributed three times a year, AlphaSights is loaded with articles about new procedures, protocols and initiatives at its flagship hospital, Baystate Medical Center. It’s been a phenomenal success: The first issue alone attracted an increase in referrals that more than offset the entire year’s production costs.

2) Make it useful. Here’s another lesson from healthcare. Every day, legions of pharma and medical device representatives leave tons of samples, coffee mugs and brochures in physician offices across the country -- clutter, clutter and more clutter. In a competitive field, how do you stand out?

One medical products manufacturer got wise. They developed a pad of forms, 8.5” x 11”, with pre-assigned check boxes and fast, no-brainer ordering fields a physician can complete in seconds. All she has to do is fill a few boxes, sign it, and run it through a fax machine to order the product. In a crowded field of competitors, this manufacturer got the most orders -- not because it had the nicest mug or the most beautiful brochure, but because they left something behind that made their product the easiest to get.

3) Make it educational. Give your prospects a taste of your expertise. Professional services companies have been doing this for your years with the ubiquitous white paper, a kind of extended essay about a relevant topic of business interest.

Why not apply the “report” idea to products and consumer services as well? For years, the Wall Street Journal has been offering personal finance guides as subscription lures. Anything complex could benefit by an educational report that simplifies: Imagine a guide to countertop selection for a kitchen remodeling firm, or an explanation of housing values for real estate agencies. With a little research and imagination, these businesses and others like them can distinguish themselves as authorities, not just other runners in the pack.

5) Make it “keepable.” When I was a kid, a mechanic’s garage just wasn’t real if it didn’t have at least one “girly” calendar, sponsored by a “Joe’

Metal Pallets
With the boom in the technology industry, one can safely assume that there ought to be a rise in the level of durability, sophistication and efficiency of a product. Metal pallets have proven this very assumption for the pallet industry. With the huge proportion of investment, which is made in the metallurgical industry, there are a large number of alloys, which are not only far stronger and more durable than wood or plastic, but are also by far more dependable than their counterparts.If you are one of those people who have used plastic or wooden pallets then you are sure to know that these pallets are not only very expensive, but there is always a fear of the pallets themselves cracking up or being contaminated. With metal pallets you need not have any such worries, as these are not only extremely cost effective but there is also no question of them breaking up. There is even no fear of contamination as you can always galvanize them.<

not as comprehensive answers to every sales-communications situation, but as inspiration and provocation for creating material less likely to gather dust -- and more likely to draw your company closer to a sale.

5) Make it “keepable.” When I was a kid, a mechanic’s garage just wasn’t real if it didn’t have at least one “girly” calendar, sponsored by a “Joe’

When Are You Coming Home? Five Practical Tips to Realizing Work / Life Balance
So let's talk about over-used terms for a minute.If you've been in the business world since the mid 1990s you've likely heard your management espouse the desire for employees to achieve greater work/life balance. Many U.S. companies have adopted programs to help employees strike a better life balance by providing health club benefits, entertainment discount programs, and additional time off for events such as the birth of a child. Despite all this, Americans are of the most overworked and flat-out busy people on earth, recently surpassing the Japanese and long surpassing the Europeans. With all this discussion of work/life balance, how can we in the U.S. also be of the most overworked people in the world? The answer is pretty simple; many of us talk work/life balance, but don't live work/life balance primarily because we don't know how to do it.First let's get clear on the primary purpose of achieving work/life balance. It's

cols and initiatives at its flagship hospital, Baystate Medical Center. It’s been a phenomenal success: The first issue alone attracted an increase in referrals that more than offset the entire year’s production costs.

5) Make it “keepable.” When I was a kid, a mechanic’s garage just wasn’t real if it didn’t have at least one “girly” calendar, sponsored by a “Joe’

5 Golden Online/Offline Business Rules To LIVE Or DIE By
Whether online or off, if you plan on running or maintaining any type of credibility within your business, there are some guidelines that are safe to say any existing or potential customer expects if they are to do immediate or future business with you.As an online entrepreneur for over 3 years I have found that even though I don’t have the pleasure of meeting face-to-face with my customers, ones perception of you and your business can be viewed as good or bad all depending on the way you handle questions or comments posted by people interested in your product.Here is a list of 5 MUST DO’S that any one customer will come to expect if they are to do business with you.(1) Be Prompt – although it may be an exhausting task to keep up with all the general inquiries or questions about any one product that your visitors have, be sure to respond as soon as possible because the more time it takes for your reply, the more likel

it had the nicest mug or the most beautiful brochure, but because they left something behind that made their product the easiest to get.

5) Make it “keepable.” When I was a kid, a mechanic’s garage just wasn’t real if it didn’t have at least one “girly” calendar, sponsored by a “Joe’

Building Your Ideal Practice: What's in Your Work Model?
The credit card commercial asks:"What's in your wallet?"The message is that they want to save you from the ravages of high interest from other credit card companies.When I ask:"What's in your work model?"I want to save you from the ravages of having a job and living paycheck to paycheck.Work once - get paid onceIf you get paid per hour for what you do, you have a job. And in most cases, J-O-B stands for Just Over Broke.Even if you have a very high hourly fee, you still have a job and are trading time for money. In my private practice, my hourly fee is high enough to pay the bill and provide for a family of four people.That's the good news.The bad news is that I am still trading time for money and I'm limited by the number of hours I can put in. If I'm not there in my chair, I'm not making any income.Work once - get paid, get paid, get paid, paid, paid runners in the pack.

5) Make it “keepable.” When I was a kid, a mechanic’s garage just wasn’t real if it didn’t have at least one “girly” calendar, sponsored by a “Joe’s Auto Parts” or “Cranwick’s Plumbing Supply” on its walls. Cheesy? Perhaps. But you can be sure that the target audience saw the sponsor’s name and phone number every day -- often long after the calendars expired!

In addition to calendars, consider attractive posters, playing cards, puzzles and entertaining cubicle toys. Of course, you want to select options that are as closely associated to your business, proposition or message as possible. I know of one enterprise that creates decks of custom cards for authors (especially consultant or motivational authors), with each card serving as a chapter or topic summary. The decks are much more memorable than business cards or brochures, yet are less cumbersome and expensive than giving away free copies of books themselves.

6) Make it from the customer’s point of view. If the familiar brochure format still remains as your best option, then at least consider changing the perspective. Too much collateral is narcissistic, packed with empty chest-beating that attempts to wow the reader with the company’s alleged greatness.

Instead, write from the customer’s point of view. Skip the boring company history and honor’s won stuff, and talk about the real problems or issues your customers face. Then tell them how you solve these problems with precise, specific evidence that makes your claims credible. By adopting this shift in perspective, you demonstrate empathy with the customer -- you’re on their side -- and you show a grasp of real-world circumstances prospects can recognize and respect.

7) Make it mailable. Or, if it’s going to be shared by hand, easy to ship or transport. In any event, consider how you’re going to distribute your new collateral before you commit to creating it.

Years ago, I worked on a spiral-bound booklet that the client adored. Unfortunately, the spiral binding bulged within its envelope and jammed the post office’s machines. Worse, the book was an awkward size -- just small enough to rattle around in an ordinary cardboard “express” envelope. While the design was lovely, the project was impractical and ultimately failed its intended purpose. Don’t make the same mistake: If you’re distributing in large quantities, make it easy to mail.

8) Make it work for you. A final thought: You’re not in the business of publishing collateral for its own sake; you should always have a specific marketing or business goal in mind for each piece you create. Everything you make must serve a dynamic role in your sales process, an objective that moves the prospect one step closer to buying. What do you want the customer to do as a consequence of getting or receiving your piece? Whatever that is, make it explicit.

If nothing else, at least end your collateral copy with a “call to action,” a directive to phone, write or otherwise respond to you. If you can provide an incentive -- a discount, a premium, a free analysis -- all the better. But at the very least, ASK for the response and tell readers exactly how to reach you.

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Fifteen Areas Reviewed in a Due Diligence Study

If your business is at the stage where it needs to raise capital from investors or lenders, you must have all of your books and records in good order. Start early before you want to raise capital and get your books and records in good order to make the process go more smoothly. Your investors or lenders will want to see organized and complete records that they will review while doing their due diligence.

Set up your own Merchant Account

Have your own merchant account and build your credibility with your customers.

Turning the Table: Questions for Your Interviewer

The fateful final question of all interviewers may carry more weight than you would think. Upon hearing “Now, do you have any questions,” you are given a chance to show the quality of your character and interest in the company. No matter how well the interview went, passively responding to this question with a shake of the head and a polite smile will only communicate to the employer that you are not interested in inquiring about the job, the company, and your place within their organization.

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