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e_Marketing Blog WiMAX for Portland WiMAX service will soon be available in Portland, Oregon. What is WiMAX? It is a wireless alternative to cable or DSL. For a number of years this technology has promised to revolutionize the delivery of "last mile" service connecting homes and offices to internet access points. But these days the focus is more on mobile applications that make it a viable alternative to standard cell phone services. The provider of this service in Portland will be Clearwire, a company formed through joint cooperation of Sprint, Clearwire, Google, Intel, Comcast, and Time Warner. WiMAX will not be significantly cheaper than the alternatives, but it does promise to offer greater potential for merging disparate services such as internet, cell phone, Voip and cable tv. Upgrading to Wordpress 2.7 Just finished upgrading one of my many Wordpress blogs to v 2.7 - the newest upgrade which was released on Dec. 10 makes several attractive improvements to the interface. This upgrade is not so concerned with functionality as it is with improving the user interface. I was able to upgrade my Article Marketing blog in about 15 minutes when all was said and done. There were no suprises and no hitches along the way. I'm sure subsequent upgrades on other sites will go faster. What Makes A Good Blog? Since I'm writing a series on "Creating A Successful Blog" I've been looking (not very diligently) for other opinions on what makes for a successful blog. One thing I've discovered is that there is no magic answer to this question. First of all, every blog speaks to a different audience in a different tone of voice. So what one group likes another group will find boring or maybe even overtly aggravating. I stumbled on an instance of this today when I followed a link from Lisa Barone's post called "Six Kickass Writing Resources for Bloggers". First on her list was "What Makes a Good Blog?" by Merlin Mann. Now I must admit there are several things in Merlin's list which I agree with, but I find the overall tone fairly aggravating. For instance, he says, "People start real blogs because they think about something a lot...They make and consume smart forebrain porn. So: where do this person's obsessions take them." Frankly I don't see why "obsession" is a necessary part of blogging. Is it because in order to do real blogging we must express our personality; and expressing our personality necessarily involves creativity; and because creativity is so relatively scarce and difficult that it will not happen without an obsessive focus on something? Or is this just the way an obsessive person looks at it? Of course it takes all types. But there is a certain arrogance and air of superiority about talk of obsession and creativity that I can do without. |
EasyTrainerOnline.com is about online training - basic training courses, articles and demos of online technology that is used for training. Sources for corporate and institutional training programs.Online learning, online education resources. Trade Show Handouts that Stick Around After the ShowMay 1, 2006 - Linknet Business News Full Color Brochure Printing - Order brochure printing at PrintPelican.com PopUp Displays Low Cost - Beautiful graphics, shipped across North America PPC Advertising - Premierad.com lets webmasters earn up to 75% of ad revenue. Trade Show Handouts that Stick Around After the Show by Rick HendershotWhen planning your trade show marketing program, one of the important things to consider is the series of handouts you will make available to your booth visitors. Full color printed materials are by far your best bet when it comes to trade show handouts. But how do you maximize the impact of such a traditional item? You've spent significant money on staff training, beautiful graphics, and a professionally designed display. The traffic is pouring through your booth. But will they still remember you tomorrow? Let's face it, you only have two chances to make your message stick with your booth visitors: your follow-up strategy, and your handouts. Will your handouts make it past the waste basket? Are they an integral part of your follow-up strategy? Let's be clear here. We're not talking about handing out sexy things like cds, yoyos, ball caps, t-shirts, or beer mugs. Those things have their place, but this is not it. Right now we're talking about getting a piece of product literature into the hands of your prospects and hoping it doesn't get chucked into the garbage can just outside the exhibition hall. Why product literature? Product literature is always the "go to" handout because printed pieces of paper or card stock are cheap. And done correctly they can be more effective, have more staying power, and certainly communicate more about your actual product than things like hats or pens. So what makes a memorable piece of product literature -- one that a prospective customer will keep? Here are a few suggestions. Don't be cheap when it comes to graphic design A cheap one colour flier may save you money in the short run, but it is much more likely to be pitched into the waste basket. On the other hand, you probably don't need an expensive multi-page brochure. The first one is "underkill", and the second is "overkill". Do an attractive, simple advertising piece that has catchy graphics and a clear statement of "the pitch". Use full colour and use striking photographs Create a striking headline and don't just do a description of the product. Create a "benefit-rich" statement that focuses on some significant customer-oriented benefit of your product. For example, you can create a headline that says "Powerful Front End Loaders from Mega Loaders", or you can say, "Get the Job Done in Record Time for Half the Price." Which one would you look at? Content matters - make a substantial offer By content we mean the pitch...the offer. Create an offer they cannot discard or ignore. Give something substantial away if they fill in an inquiry form. Or tie your offer in with your website. Create a valuable special offer they can only access online. Put it in the form of a "valuable coupon", something like this: "Get off your next purchase when your register on line." This encourages your prospects to keep the handout, and also encourages them to respond by going to your website and having another close look at your special offer. What could be better? An automatic followup strategy. Give them something they will keep Often a business card is the best. Everybody keeps business cards. Often we keep them long after the person has left the company or the company has ceased to exist. Most of us have a little (or big) pile of business cards. And some of us have a drawer full of them. A few of us even have them carefully sorted in a Rolodex. Make your business card stand out from the crowd. Spend a little extra and do it in full color. Put a photo of your product on it, or use a striking photo that illustrates the benefits of your product. This says "credibility" -- "this company is for real". In other words, business cards -- especially full color cards -- are good. You might even consider a "double whammy" full color perforated post card / business card combination. The 3.5" x 6" (or whatever) postcard contains a coupon type offer, and the attached (perforated) business card can be neatly torn off and kept in your pile, drawer, or Rolodex. Remember to make your printed handouts memorable, creative, and substantial and enough people will keep them to pay you back many times over for the bit of extra cost involved. Rick Hendershot is the president of Linknet-Promotions.com -- an online marketing and advertising network.
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