Paradise Advertisement

Postcard mailing campaigns work in much the same way. You’re trying to get the prospect to meet you face-to-face, or on your Web site. Postcards are sent out to generate leads on sales, not to close sales.

To get prospects to your door, you need to follow a few simple tips. Here are some top tips of how to run a successful postcard marketing campaign:

Don’t overcomplicate things
Just because you have a ton of font and color options available in your postcard designing software, like Adobe InDesign or QuarkXPress, doesn’t mean you need to showcase all of them on your postcards! It’s tempting to mix it up and use all your cool fonts in one postcard, but you can resist! And you should resist. If your postcard looks complicated, no one will want to read it. You should treat your postcard like a billboard – you only have a few seconds to make an impression. The easiest thing to read in a few seconds is something with a simple design and a simple font.

Use the postcard as a personal message from you to the consumer
As noted in the introduction, postcards have long been a personal form of communication. Use this to your advantage and create personal messages to a niche group of your target market. Send out postcards that say to visit your location on Tibbs Street to those who live within a five-mile radius of that location. Send a different postcard to people that live near another location. You can also personalize it by scanning a signature of the president or whoever the postcard is from and copying it onto the bottom of each postcard. Add whatever touches you can to make it look personal.

Use the postcard as a way to track its own effectiveness
If you include a coupon on your postcard, make sure that you require customers to bring the postcard back in to redeem the coupon. Make the entire postcard the coupon, not just a small cutout. Most people won’t take the time to cut it anyway, and that way they have to keep your entire postcard, and therefore entire message, with them as they make their way from their house to your store. Then you can collect the postcards and compare how many you receive back from the number you sent out to gauge its effectiveness.

Use the same slogan as you do on the rest of your marketing materials Read the rest of this entry »

Direct mail marketing can be effective only if certain rules are followed by the businessmen. If you are chalking out a marketing plan for your business, here are some of the things you should keep in mind:

Avoid Spam

Do not make your direct mail look spammy; make sure it gives the appearance of an authentic and credible mail. Customers rarely respond to mails that seem like Spam-mail. Do not bombard the customers with direct mail continuously, since this can seem a bit pushy. Send the mails at regular intervals so that the customers do not feel like you are trying too hard to market yourself.

Conduct Surveys and Research

It is always better to carry out a customer survey or research to fathom the public opinion and find out what changes or new things need to be incorporated into your marketing strategies. Create a specialized database of customer contacts with attention to individual preferences. This helps you to know what your customers

Personalize it

Marketing is all about making the customer feel special, since no one likes to be one of crowd. Always personalize your marketing to make the customers feel more special. Address it directly to a particular person for example To: Mr. John Smith. In case you really want to cheer the customers, send a along a free gift to grab their attention and create a ‘feel-good’ factor.

Be Concise and Clear

Do not beat around the bush when it comes to your content – talk numbers and talk facts. Explain your offer in a brief and clear way. People like to know why you have sent the mail, without reading too much. If possible put a headline on the envelope so that the person knows what the mail is all about. Keep the content short and succinct. If there is too much of text, then break the monotony with the use of attractive graphics and pictures.

Encourage Response

Many a times it happens that the customers might just read your marketing message and forget about it later, unless you encourage them to take some immediate action. Two-way communication is always more effective and hence encouraging your customers to respond to you. Send along a suggestion form or membership form, which will act as an invitation for the customers to communicate with the company.

Before deciding upon the theme, you need to consider the following points:
•Budget of the client
•Total area to be used
•Product(s) to be advertised
•Target group
•The flexibility required in terms of themes and designs (This is useful when the exhibition or trade fair is held in different cities and therefore, would require portable displays.)
Planning for exhibit booth themes will require you to consider many elements to make the booth look as attractive as possible and also establish a connection between the company and the consumer. You can begin by thinking about the logo. A stand-alone board can be a useful addition that displays the logo on the board. The logo can be used creatively and repeatedly in the booth to establish the brand image. You can incorporate the logo on the clothing of the company representatives. The tablecloths placed on the table and the banners used can all display the logo. A logo-based theme will thus help to impress the name of the company on the minds of the viewers.

Color-coding can be used to successfully brand any company or product. Company representatives can wear clothing with colors used in the product or company logo. Similar colored jackets or even shirts are a good way of creating a unity and harmony in design. This can be matched with matching boards and displays in the booth. A simple idea such as balloons can also help to make an exhibit booth look interesting. The colors of the balloons can be chosen accordingly and this is bound to attract visitors.

You can even plan to have international themes for the trade show exhibit booths. This will also depend upon the product to be advertised. You can create a scene of an international location to attract many visitors to the booth. A beautiful set that is based on Italy such as a Venice scene with a gondola will only add to the beauty of the setting and attract visitors to take a look at the product being advertised.

Another option would be to plan an entire theme for the exhibition with innovative structures for the booth. Hollywood is one such popular theme. This can include the lights, posters or cutouts, the red carpet and even the famous Hollywood sidewalk for the flooring. Each booth can then be planned accordingly and can incorporate many such ideas based completely on Hollywood. The booths can include movie set props. Such themes are particularly useful to transform any ordinary area into a beautiful and lavish setting!

Is the product known locally and is competing with well-known brands? Well, then the booths can be given a local flavor in terms of design. If there is a festive occasion, it can be incorporated in the design along with important elements from that particular area. Using slogans in the local language or creating an atmosphere where locals can easily connect and identify with the brand, helps in brand promotion. Using such locally-relevant themes can also help to launch new products and make these acceptable amongst the people. Read the rest of this entry »

Financial Consultancy
This is the right time to start a financial consultancy. In the past three-four years, due to the economic downturn, many individuals and businesses have lost out on their investments. That’s why, they need a professional to plan out their future savings and investments, more than anything! Another reason why a financial consultancy is expected to do well today is due to the demographics of the United States. The population is aging, which means that millions of people are nearing retirement. These people need someone to plan their investments in such a way that they can lead a comfortable life, post retirement. Thus, whether it is individuals or small businesses, everyone needs a financial consultant!

Beauty Services
Now, you would ask, why on earth would people splurge on grooming and beautifying themselves, when so many have lost their jobs due to recession! Well, the reasoning behind this is that people, especially women, in order to feel good, try to look good instead! Researches have shown that when recession was at its peak, sales of lipsticks actually went up! Considering this logic, one of the best small business to start in recession is a beauty salon or a spa.

Food
A food business, which offers low-cost, healthier alternatives to people, has the potential to do well in recession. For instance, a business which offers pre-packaged foods to the office goers, who would otherwise have to spend a lot in eating out at hotels during lunch, can prove to be a lucrative recession proof business. Another food business that will find many takers today is the one which offers discounted food items in bulk, such as sugar, salt, flour, meats, veggies and fruits.

Repair Services
One of the best business to start in a recession is a repair service. It can be a home repair service i.e. plumbing, electrical wiring, tiling, etc., or an auto repair service. Due to the uncertainly of job and regular income in the future, people are in no mood to put their money in buying a new house or a car. At the same time, people do not mind spending a small amount of money to keep whatever they own in the best condition. This means that repair businesses will do well in today’s time.

Recruitment Agency
As people are losing jobs left, right and center, they need to find a new job to take care of themselves as well as their families. As the population of the United States ages, there are going to be many retirees in the future, so, the employers would soon need good professionals to replace them. A recruitment agency is the meeting ground for employers and candidates who can be potential employees. This makes a recruitment agency, one of the best business to start in recession.

Education Read the rest of this entry »