Some Great Web and Software Tips

Every once in a while I publish tips which I have found useful on a variety of programs . Let me know of any you use and I will add them to my next list. I recommend you take the time to try them rather than just read them.

Phones

• Pressing the space bar twice on your Blackberry (or iPhone) gives you a period, a space, and then a capital letter.
• When your cell phone is ringing in a public place, you should push any button on the side of the phone as soon as possible to silence the ringer. The call will still be there and ringing, just not audibly. You can then answer the phone at your convenience, or you can let it go to voicemail if it is not an appropriate time to answer the phone.

Browsers (IE and Firefox)

• Pressing the “/” key in Firefox brings up a quick search to locate terms in any webpage.
• Pressing “ctrl” “enter” in IE or Firefox adds a “www.” prefix and a “.com” suffix to any address you type in.
• Use ctrl-tab to move from tab to tab within a browser.
• The F5 key will refresh the webpage.
• F11 makers the browser window fill the screen.  Press F11 for normal size.

Microsoft Word

• Shift+F3 makes a word change from all uppercase to all lowercase to just the first letter upper case and so on.
• You can use Print-screen to put the screen in your clipboard, and later do Ctrl-V to paste the screen in a Word document.
• Triple clicking on a word will select the entire paragraph the word is in.

Google

• Put quotes around your search terms i.e. “microwave oven” and Google won’t waste your time finding one set of web pages containing the word “microwave” and another set containing the word “oven.”  It will only display pages with the words “microwave oven” together.
• After entering words in a search box, you can just hit the Enter key instead of using the mouse to click the Search button.

General

• Press Alt-Tab to toggle between different programs.
• Ctrl-x to cut
• Ctrl-c to copy
• Ctrl-v to paste
• Ctrl-a to select all of the current doc or window.
• Triple clicking on a word will select the entire paragraph the word is in.
• Copy objects from one folder to the other by holding down the alt key while dragging.

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So How Do People Really Search For a Home on the Internet?

I am always amazed at the assumptions web developers make about the average internet user. When I am surfing web sites that have been designed by a “professional” more often than not I get the feeling that the site has been developed above the ability of the average user.  In particular I rarely find a website with a search engine that actually crawls the site I am on to retrieve the information I am looking for, in language I understand.  Usually I know what I am looking for, but I am not sure how to describe it.

A good example of where searching fails is the average real estate web site. We know a lot of people search for homes on the internet.  Depending on the source it is reported that in 2006 more than 70% of home buyers start their home search on the internet. In 2007 the National Association of Realtors reported that 84% of home buyers use the internet as an information source.

If this is true then it stands to reason that they will eventually get to your web site where they will continue their search. If your web site is like most it will fail the searcher. A post in 1000 Watt Blog entitled “Real Estate Searches Finest Hour…” was right on the money when it exposed the problem with programmers not responding to human needs. The post accurately defines the problem with searching for homes on a web site:

1. Humans don’t search by ZIP code.
2. Humans don’t search homes from space. Or on maps filled with little blue markers.
3. Human don’t analyze comprehensive census data that pop off listings like a Crayola box of colored graphs, charts and heat maps.
4. Humans don’t understand the difference between a “Hybrid, Satellite, or List View”.
5. Humans don’t sift through 12,000 listings that “match my criteria”.
6. Humans don’t “save searches”.
7. Humans don’t want to view only 8 crappy pictures of a home.
8. Humans don’t want their search experience cluttered with advertising.
9. Human don’t benefit from poorly executed applications that include home value estimates that can never be accurate, no matter how many PhD’s are thrown at them.

So what do people want when they are searching for a home?

1. Humans drive around neighborhoods.
2. Humans meet neighbors.
3. Humans ask lots of questions.
4. Humans like to talk to the seller.
5. Humans spend time vibing the neighborhood.
6. Humans test drive the commute from prospective home to work.
7. Humans like to look at 6 homes that match their criteria, to a tee.
8. Humans require affirmation. They like to be gently nudged and influenced.

The solution? Developing a better search engine is going to take time, but in the meantime the writer recommends the following to Realtors:

1) Describe homes in a manner that reflects how people think.

i.e. Beautiful Arts and Crafts house, close enough to the city but far enough away to enjoy crickets. Or a starlight night. A home perfect for a young family, empty nester and anyone inspired by decor. With a great flow. And a backyard perfect for planting. Sunning. And gathering your thoughts.

2) Post 50 pictures. That are clear. With a description of what every picture is.

3) Incorporate local data and write about it.

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It’s Official - I’m a Twit (erer)

After years of being referred to as a Twit it is now official.  I am a Twitterer or perhaps it is more accurate to say I Twitter.  Being north of 50 years old means I can never tell my friends as they will think I’ve gone over to the dark side and might even start sending text messages (with 6 kids I can’t live without texting as it is the easiest way to ask all of them over for dinner on a Sunday with a text message because they screen my calls).

So why Twitter? Because the world is shrinking and my marketing opportunities are not limited to the city I live in.  I have email stationery clients, branding clients and set up web sites for clients throughout North America and I want to be informed and keep people informed on an on-going basis.

I know the next question on your mind is what is my Twitter address -
https://twitter.com/GoodIdeas
If you are reading this blog and already on Twitter please follow me…I need friends.

Let’s got through a quick FAQ on Twitter:

1. What is it? Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?
2. How do I use it? Tell us what you’re doing in 140 characters or less!  Send your thoughts, observations, and goings-on in your day. Whether you’re “eating an apple” or “looking foward to the weekend” or “Heading out of town” it’s twitter-worthy.  Join Twitter here.
3. Do I need anything special to use Twitter? In order to use Twitter you will need one of these things: an internet connection or a mobile phone.
4. How can I send updates to Twitter? Send updates to friends and family about what you’re doing in the way that works best for you; from your phone, your logged in web page or other ways I do not understand.

Still curious what Twitter is and how it might help your business?  So am I. I have tried a number of social networking ideas as detailed in my post “Social Networking or Not Working“, so I am going to give this a fair shot and will keep you posted on any business opportunities it might uncover. I plan to Twitter that I have written this post about Twitter on this blog and people whor are “following” me may just click on the link and visit my blog and them learn I design email stationery and promotional packaging, brand clients and develop web sites among many other things and will contract me…or not.

If you enjoyed this article and don’t want to miss the next one click here to get my marketing posts by email as soon as they are published. You will be prompted for an email address and you are set to go.

Holiday Marketing

It is never too early to plan your holiday marketing as we have Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Kwanzaa and Hanukkah coming up to name a few.

I was recently interviewed for a golf driving range holiday marketing article by Golf Range Times which was remarkable

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for two reasons; one is I was contacted through this marketing blog based on previous articles I have posted and secondly, that I knew anything about holiday marketing for Golf Driving Ranges.

As it turns out, marketing is marketing and the ideas I proposed for a Golf Driving Range are useful for many other businesses.  The most important thing is whether you have started your planning yet.

The key points for driving ranges were:

1. During holiday times, people are looking for things to do as a family. Families are looking for family activities. Holiday marketing has to be around family activities - and extended family activities, too.
2. Save the big special events for Christmas, when kids have winter break for a week or more. During this holiday season, when families enjoy more time to spend together, go all-out, possibly even with a Santa Claus on the range, and perhaps free presents for the kids.
3. Set up an on-site day care in your pro shop, complete with a TV and cookie to keep the kids occupied while their parents practice their swing. This is a sure way to establish goodwill among your parent customers.
4. Typically, ranges are in higher ¬traffic areas and you don’t drive past one to get to another. So to advertise your hottest holiday promotion use a banner, right on your range.
5. Use postcards. Get a few hundred printed, at 50 cents per card, and pass them out at your range - or bring them to local sporting goods stores - to advertise your facility’s upcoming holiday events.

The sidebar of being contacted through this blog is an interesting one as I am always being asked if blogging works.  Without a blog I never would have been interviewed for this article and my revenues would be lower as I receive inquiries every week, many of which I convert to orders or new business.  Yes, blogging works.

How did it help me.  The article starts out with the following:

“ Family” is the operative word in holiday marketing, says Mike Blaney, a Vancouver, B.C., Canada-based marketing expert who operates an online marketing blog for small businesses at www.themarketingguy.wordpress.com.

This ensures people know who I am , what I do, where I do it and how to find out more. Want to build credibility?  Start a blog.

And call or contact me about your holiday marketing plan.

If you enjoyed this article and don’t want to miss the next one click here to get my marketing posts by email as soon as they are published. You will be prompted for an email address and you are set to go.

Email Audit Trail - Email Stationery

Have you ever wanted to have an audit trail of every email you send?  While sent emails can be found in your Sent Folder it can get clogged up quickly with mundane replys that are not worth keeping.  If you have more than one email address you also have more than one Sent Folder so it makes it hard to maintain an audit trail.

Adding a bcc to every email is also time-consuming and what if you forget?

We have the solution at inboxFX.com the leading, “on-the-fly” email stationery in the world.  We have now added the ability to automatically bcc or blind copy yourself on every email that you send so you can easily find your email correspondence.  One idea is to set up a different account just for this purpose which will accumulate your emails.  Any email sent using our service will automatically be blind copied to you.

You can then refer to sent emails as a tickler system to follow up on proposals, as proof you actually sent an email or as reference for future emails.

This service is available with or without our customer email stationery designs.  Samples of our customa stationery can be found by clicking here.

Call Mike Blaney at 800-568-8338 or email me at mike@inboxfx.com for more information.

Halloween Marketing - Pumpkin Hangers

Have you ever thought of giving away pumpkins to your clients?

I am not sure how widespread the practice of pumpkin carving is at Halloween, but in our neck of the woods a carved pumpkin means you should knock on the door.

One of my clients hand delivered pumpkins to her client’s and used a doorhanger as a pumpkin hanger. It had tips on carving and an amusing message on the other side. I deleted the client’s name, but you get the idea. Click on the thumbnail for a larger image.

If you don’t want to hand deliver why not set up a display at a local gas station or mall and give away the pumpkins there. An even better idea is to accept donations for the pumpkins on behalf of a charity.

This a sample layout of a postcard that hangs over the stem of the pumpkin:

Click for a larger image.

If you enjoyed this article and don’t want to miss the next one click here to get my marketing posts by email as soon as they are published. You will be prompted for an email address and you are set to go.

15 Ideas for the Back of a Business Card

The back of your business card is valuable marketing real estate and can be utilized in many ways depending on your business or service you offer.

The first thing to understand is that printing on the back of the card does not double the price, but even if it did, you only get one chance to make an impression so your business card is like a silent salesman advertising who you are and what you do.

I have written a number of posts about business cards, but this one is about the back only.

Recent Business Card Designs, Business Card Stuff , How To Make Your Business Card Unforgettable, How To Make Your Business Card Stand Out and Business Card Tricks - How To Make Them Work.

The back of a typical business card is only 3-1/2″ wide by 2″ high so you don’t have a lot of room to play with but there are a number of things that  you can consider.

1. Amortization Schedule
2. Appointment Times
3. Before and After Photos
4. Blank Lines for Writing
5. Calendar
6. Checklist
7. Emergency Phone Numbers
8. Eye-Catching Picture
9. Frequently Asked Questions
10. Map and Directions to Your Business
11. Mission Statement
12. Product Comparison Chart
13. Return or Refund Policy
14. Ruler
15. Team Schedule

There is a web site with 175 ideas, but it is overwhelming to read through.

I used to have a directory publishing business called Regent Publishing and the business card I handed out was designed to do three things:

• Provide as much information as possible
  

  Click on picture for larger size

• Demonstrate what the actual product looks like
• Stand out from all other business cards

The picture at the right shows the color back and front of the business card with the actual cover from one of the publications.  The back list the dates each directory was going to be published.

The black and white inside was designed to look like pages out of the directory with all of my contact information.

Another real life sample is my current business card pictured below.  I expound on my marketing philosophy, added lines for writing and added my slogan.

While it is a personal decision I recommend you consider using the back of your business card as soon as possible.

Click for a larger version

If you have any other ideas please share them with us.

If you enjoyed this article and don’t want to miss the next one click here to get my marketing posts by email as soon as they are published. You will be prompted for an email address and you are set to go.

Measuring the Effectiveness of Your Marketing

I believe if a marketing strategy / campaign / piece / program cannot be measured it should not be made or started. Well there are some exceptions, but like everything else in life you have to have a scorecard to see what is working and what is not.

When you are trying to measure the effectiveness of a marketing campaign there are three things you need to know. I am going to refer to our marketing strategy as a piece ( i.e. postcard, brochure, ad etc):

1) The cost of the marketing piece.
2) The revenue and profit from the piece.
3) The lifetime value of the customer.

Now let’s work backwards and compare two campaigns to see which one is actually the more effective taking into account the Lifetime Value of a Customer.

Lifetime Value of a Customer (LTV)
The LTV is the amount of gross profit generated per year by a customer multiplied by the number of years that they continue as a customer. For example if I sell business cards to a client for $250 and my gross margin is $100 and they buy business cards from me once a year for 5 years then the LTV is $500.

Cost of the Marketing Piece - A comparison of two campaigns
If I was to send out a brochure advertising my business cards to 2,000 prospects and paid $ 2.50 per brochure then my cost would be $5000.

If I placed 4 weekly ads in a business newspaper with a reach of 25,000 readers advertising my business cards and the ad cost was $250 per week then my cost would be $1000.

Revenue and Profit Per Piece
For comparison purposes the results were as follows:

1. New clients from the brochure mailed out - 40 clients x $250 = $10,000 revenue with a GP of $4000
2. New clients responding to newspaper ad - 15 clients x $250 = $3,750 revenue with a GP of $1500

So which campaign generated the best return in investment?

On the surface it would appear I am farther ahead with the results from my brochure as my Gross Profit is almost 3 times higher than that produced by the newspaper ad.  The brochure generated gross profit of $ 4000 and we have 40 new clients with an LTV of $20,000 (40 sales per year x $100 GP x 5 years)

The newspaper ad only generated 15 clients with a gross profit $1500.  The LTV is $7,500 (15 sales per year x $100 GP x 5 years)

Now we deduct the cost of the ad from the LTV it generated to determine our Return on Investment (ROI)

Brochure: $20,000 LTV - $5000 (brochure cost) = $15,000 / $5,000 (cost of brochure) = $3.00 ROI

Newspaper ad: $7,500 LTV -  $1,000 (ad cost) = $6,500 / $1,000 (cost of ad) = $ 5.50 ROI

So if I spend $ 1.00 on a brochure my ROI is $ 3.00…but if I spend $ 1.00 on the newspaper ad my ROI is $ 5.50.

The newspaper ad generated a higher ROI, but does that mean I should not use a brochure? No because it created $4,000 of  gross profit and making a profit is what it is all about.  Calculating or estimating the ROI is effective at ensuring your marketing is going to return a profit. If you are not going to make more than you spend then don’t fall into the age old trap of thinking “I will make it up in volume” because you can’t.

Most importantly ensure all of your marketing has a purpose, results that can be measured and call me to make sure it is top notch.

If you enjoyed this article and don’t want to miss the next one click here to get my marketing posts by email as soon as they are published. You will be prompted for an email address and you are set to go.

Realtor Marketing - Do Just Sold Flyers Work?

A lot of my clients are Realtors and this blog started out with an emphasis on Real Estate Marketing, but evolved into a general marketing blog over the first few months. For non-Realtor readers I am going to sprinkle a few more Realtor-specific posts into the mix every month, but I am confident the content applies equally to most businesses. I hope you enjoy reading them.

The Million Dollar Question? - Are Just Sold flyers an effective marketing tool?

One of my clients send Just Sold flyers to about 3,000 homes in the area surrounding the listing, but they always have

Just Sold Flyer in Black and White - Click for larger image

an important message and a call to action. Humor is always a big part of the message and some people have commented that they look forward to them. The combination of seeing a few Just Listed and Just Sold flyers over the course of 6 months can influence who a seller calls for an evaluation.

Most of the feedback is anecdotal, but there is no question the campaign is making an impact based on the number of people who make comments to the Realtor and the number that mention the flyers during listing presentations. Many of the recipients are clients of the Realtor so it helps to keep them at the top of their minds too.

We print 80,000 color shells at a time and then imprint in black the listing photos and text for the current listing. The cost for the shell, imprinting and mailing works out to about $ 0.21 each, plus labor of course, but we reach 3,000 homes for $ 630.00. If the average of 7% of people move each year there are 210 homes that will come on the market or about 17 per month.

Just Sold Flyer in Color - Click for larger image

The answer is yes! Because there is no more effective way to target these 210 homes.  If the timing is right the homeowners will read anything about real estate that comes through their door.

It is our challenge to provide the most compelling marketing material to stand out among all of the other direct mail.

A well-written Just Sold flyer educates the public that there are two sides to a transaction and that the Buyer’s Agent plays an important role representing their interests.

Just Sold Flyer in Color - Click for larger image

The flyer to the left was mailed out at a time when the average days on market was on the up swing and provided a forum to explain the importance of pricing a home properly.

The flyer on the right was sent out after a home had been on the market for a few months without

Just Sold Flyer - Click for larger image

selling so most of the neighbors would know it had taken a long time to sell the home.  The Just Sold flyer provided a forum to explain “Not Everything Sells in a Week..but it is Sold”.

Just Sold flyers should be considered as part of your overall marketing mix as they reach the people most likely to need your services and provide a forum for differentiating your marketing from others.

Marketing Idea for Halloween

Halloween is one of the bigger holiday events of the year and a great time to take treats to clients and prospects. If you want to make a great, lasting impression you need to deliver treats in a customized donut, candy or cookie box. (Click here for more information or to place your order.)

Talk about a great Halloween marketing tool…this Jack O Lantern branding tool has everything you’d expect for

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Halloween. There is also a Trick Or Treat and Dancing Skeleton design. More than enough room for your logo, location information and slogan. The are three different sizes to choose from; Donut Box, Cookie Box or Candy Box. (see dimensions below)

Best of all you can add your contact information and marketing message to the white oval and on the donut and cookie box attach a card to the roof.

Donut Box Size
“Oval” imprint area is 3 3/4″ by 2 1/4″

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Dimensions:10″ x 4 3/8″ x 5 7/8″ plus roof - does include business card slot.
Cookie Box Size
“Oval” imprint area is 3″ by 1 3/4″
Dimensions: 6 3/8″ x 3 3/8″ x 3 7/8″ plus roof - does include business card slot.

Candy Box Size
“Oval” imprint area is 2″ by 1 1/4″
Dimensions: 4 3/8″ x 1 7/8″ x 2 1/2″ plus roof - does not include business card slot.

Imprinting
You can have a 4 color imprint in the white oval area. We can design this for you at no charge. (See samples below)

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Imprint for Customer boxes. (Click for larger image. )

Prospect imprint. (Click for larger image)

Pricing
There is a $ 19.99 set-up fee in addition to the printing cost.
No proofs are available and you must allow 10 days for delivery.
Payment by credit card is required with each order.
Shipping is extra.

(Click for larger image)

Orders must be placed by October 1st to ensure delivery. Call for pricing larger quantities. Click here to place your order, email me at marketingguy@shaw.ca or call Mike Blaney at 800-568-8338 for more information.