The Holy Grail of Swag

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 ...

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March 30, 2008

Optimizing the Power of Free

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 ...

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March 28, 2008

Impression or Illusion? 4 Ways to NOT Bullshit Customers

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 ...

15

March 26, 2008

Do You Have Secret Business Syndrome?

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 ...

14

March 24, 2008

Manage Customer Expectations With Your Business Card

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 ...

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March 19, 2008

Build a Better Business Card #02

Summary Business: More Than Coffee! Lounge, Restaurant Pluses: Strong and simple layout, suitably soothing colors, readable font and text, effective graphics Minuses: Too much text, blank back What's great about it I love the mood of this card. The flowing lava lamp background appropriately resembles cream being stirred into coffee. The logo is a series ...

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March 12, 2008