The Holy Grail of Swag
Filed Under Keep In Touch | 15 Comments
Capella University dishes out fabulous freebies. When I look over the swag (free promotional stuff) they’ve shipped, it seems they’re tuned in to the needs of their learners.
But a keen understanding of their demographic doesn’t equate to knowing diddly squat about me. So while their freebies score 100% on the IttyBiz Test of Great Swag, they’re at 25% with Crystal. Read on for what Capella sent, which item was head and shoulders above, and what this means for your business promotions. Read more
Optimizing the Power of Free
Filed Under Keep In Touch | 6 Comments
Swag: any corporate/branded merchandise given out for free to promote the company/brand (urbandictionary.com, #5)
Giving away stuff with your business name on it is a standard promotion tactic. Current customers and potentials will accept whatever goodies you’re handing out with glee. But wielding the power of free can easily demolish our tiny promotion budgets, so read on for tips on giving the right things to the right people. Read more
Note: You’ll have bad business karma if you use this post as a how-to
Impression: the first and immediate effect of an experience or perception upon the mind
Illusion: something that deceives by producing a false or misleading impression of reality
—from Dictionary.com Unabridged v1.1
Intro: A long-lived lie
“Cameras never lie” as the saying goes, but the adage itself is a fib. Decades before Photoshop, a decent photographer could make a mountain out of a molehill (and vice versa) with a simple shift in perspective.
Cameras most certainly can lie—as can digital photographs and illustrations—and sometimes they do. Here’s a brief study on how to show customers something far different from what they’ll be buying: Read more
Do You Have Secret Business Syndrome?
Filed Under In General | 12 Comments
In her comments on managing customer expectations, Kelly from Maximum Customer Experience noted a trend in business cards: omitting your name. She said:
I get handed a lot of cards that have a business name but no human’s name…It is such a doh! But I still see LOTS of them. Maybe they think its a privacy thing, but hey, you’re in business! It’s not supposed to be a secret!
When you have a business, you have to tell the world about it…or at least, the corner of the world that needs what you’re offering. Making meaningful connections is critical for your business success and—by its nature—it can’t be done incognito.
So how and why are we (yup, I’m guilty!) working in secret? Read on… Read more
The finest steel…
Filed Under Quotations | Leave a Comment
The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire.
John N. Mitchell
Manage Customer Expectations With Your Business Card
Filed Under Keep In Touch, Look The Part | 19 Comments
Sam Leader of Flying Solo offered this story on setting expectations for customer contact: she got an immediate—though automated—company email reply that promised someone would “get back in touch soon”. Months later she still hasn’t heard from them.
She notes her frustration isn’t because they didn’t reply, but because they failed to keep the promise they made. The first (and only) step she offers to avoid disappointing your own customers is
…review what channels of communication you make available. If your business card includes your landline, mobile and email, then you must be prepared to handle all interaction that follows.
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