Arran Events, Advertising and Marketing

Do you own a mobile auto detailing business or perhaps a mobile carwash? Do you have weekly and monthly customers? Do you go to both homes and offices to detail people’s cars while they’re at work or at home? Do your customers often refer you to other customers through word-of-mouth advertising and referrals? Have you noticed that you get the most amount of new customers when you do a little advertising and then the referral and word-of-mouth advertising works from there like a wildfire?

If you answered yes to any of these questions then perhaps direct mail and direct mail marketing coupon packages would be a good choice in your advertising campaigns. Direct mail marketing can be sent out to customers within a number of zip codes close to your very best customers and this means you will cluster your customers and routes close together.

By strategically planning your direct mail and direct-mail marketing coupon packages you can offer incentives and coupons to potential customers, which will entice them to call you and once you do you can kill them with great customer service and kindness. Direct-mail marketing works for the mobile detailer who is serious about their business and if that is you then perhaps you will consider this in 2006.

“Lance Winslow” – Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

Tags: direct mail, Direct Mail Marketing, Mobile Detailers

Are you opening a new business, or is your current company offering a
new product or service? If so, a press release may be just what you
need to inform potential customers about this.

Crafting an effective press release doesn’t have to be difficult. Just
follow these steps if you want to create a press release that will get
noticed:

1. Ask yourself who? What? Where? When? Why? And how? Answer
these questions about the information you want to share with the public.
These will be the facts you will want to include somewhere in your news
release.

2. Now determine which of these pieces of information is the most
important. What will grab an editor’s or a reader’s attention? If you are
opening a new ice cream shop, for instance, what makes your business
stand out? If you are having a large grand opening celebration, then that
should be in your first paragraph, or lead.

3. Start with the most important facts and then add details and quotes in
the following paragraphs. The first sentence can have a catchy phrase,
“Get the scoop on a new ice cream shop, Chauncy’s, opening March 1
at Park and 95th streets” Just don’t go overboard with a cute title or
language. Many editors cringe at poor puns.

4. If you are writing the release for someone else, make sure you ask
probing questions. Ask, “Why are you opening an ice cream store?” If
the answer is, “to make money,” then ask additional questions until you
get an answer readers will connect with.

Sometimes the real story will rise to the top during the interview. After
you ask a few questions, you might find out that the person opening the
ice cream store has great memories of her grandfather’s old ice cream
parlor in a small town. Perhaps she wants to help others create their
own special memories and traditions by providing the only ice cream
shop in town with an old-time feel.

5. Keep paragraphs and sentences short. It’s easier to read a piece of
writing if the sentences and paragraphs are short. Frequent, short
paragraphs also provide lots of white space on the page which is less
intimidating to read than a page black with type. A good rule is to keep
your paragraphs under four sentences and your sentences under 35
words.

6. Use simple, clear language. You are writing this for as many people
to read as possible. An average sixth-grader should be able to read and
understand your writing.

7. Edit, rewrite and proofread. The revision part of any writing project
can sometimes be the most difficult. You’ve fallen in love with those
words. Keep in mind, though, that too many words can get in the way
and confuse, rather than clarify, your point. One trick is to lay your copy
aside for a day or two and then read it aloud to yourself. You’ll be
surprised at how many little errors you’ll catch or awkward sentences
you’ll want to rework. Make sure you proofread for spelling and usage
errors.

8. Remember your audience. Contact the newspapers or other media
where you’d like to see your information used. Find out their procedures
for news releases. They might prefer email or fax submissions. You can
also get a contact name of the correct person to send your release to.

9. Use the correct format. Make sure your release is typed double-
spaced with at least a one-inch margin around the sides. The top left
should read “For immediate release” with the date and the top right
should have a contact name and phone number. This top information
should be single-spaced.

Begin your release with a title about half-way down the page. Then
double-space, indent and begin your release. At the bottom of the page,
type “more” if there is more than one page. That way if your pages get
separated, the editor knows there were additional pages and may
contact you for them. At the end, you may type, “end,” or “###,” which is
an old printing mark that stands for the end of a piece.

10. Be ready for a response. A smaller paper will rarely print your press
release in its entirety. It’s more likely that a reporter will use it for its facts
and set up his or her own interviews. Either way, be available to answer
questions and help with photography requests. Remember, even a short
story in a paper can get noticed!

Many small papers are hungry for items to fill up their calendar or
business sections. They have a paper to fill every week, after all. A short,
simple news release many times fits the bill for them, and provides
excellent, free publicity for your business.

Diane Samson is a writer with The Lieurance Group, a freelance writers’
cooperative in Kansas City, Missouri. Samson can provide writing,
reporting and editing services for magazines, newspapers, corporate
communications and especially animal publications. Find out more
about her writing services at http://www.lieurancegroup.blogspot.com or
email her at dianesamson@birch.net

Tags: get noticed, news release, Press release, writing a press release

This list has been compiled as a result of years of working with business owners who didn’t quite lay the right groundwork when they started up, and ended up paying for it later. Sometimes, what seems like a means of saving money actually ends up costing more in the long run. Some of these tips work for all different kinds of businesses, while others are more relevant to consultancies.

1. Always get your logo in multiple file formats.

It will probably cost you extra, but it will save you a whole lot of trauma and expense later. Make sure you receive:

- a high-resolution TIFF file

- a web-ready JPEG

- vector version – preferably Illustrator

- a layered version (PSD)

2. Have a copy-less brochure designed – one that can be run through your laser printer.

You can have a letter or legal-sized brochure created in colour with only your company name and logo, address, and USP (or tag line) plus a nice watermark done in full colour (uncoated, no folds) that allows you to print the copy as you need it. This way you can create custom brochures as you need them, instead of having a thousand copies (or more) of a single brochure that might get changed.

3. Get business cards for all staff – even part-timers.

People love to hand out business cards. Can you find a cheaper advertising method?

4. Invest in blank business card stock.

The same way you can have your brochures printed without any copy on them, you can have your printer set 8.5 x 11 sheets set up for business cards, which you can use for people who are representing your company on a contract basis.

If you are placing anyone at a client site, they should have a business card with your company information.

5. Have an MSWord document template designed, at the same time as your letterhead and other marketing collateral.

Make sure it has a cover page as well. It will be good for proposals, quotes, white papers, specifications, faxes, notices, and so on. You can also use this to generate polished and professional PDFs for your website.

6. If you give presentations, have your own PowerPoint template designed as well.

7. Have your own domain name.

Even when you start with only a one-page placeholder describing your company, make sure it is on your own domain name, unless you are part of an industry association website that clearly states what you do. When I receive email addressed from businessname@LargeInternetServiceProvider.com it really appears as though this person does not understand the Internet, or is too cheap to get his own domain name. A domain name can cost you as little as $7 US for a year, and you may be surprised how inexpensive hosting will cost. Look into it – it will make your business seem more solid.

8. Make sure every employee has an email address at your business domain.

This is one of those peculiar areas, as with business cards, where companies tend to skimp out as though saving a few pennies in server traffic, is worth the cost in professionalism and name placement. There have been many times when I have received an email from someone I don’t know, or a message that has been forwarded to me by someone I know, and I have typed in the domain name (the part after the @ sign) out of pure curiosity. It’s a perfect opportunity to showcase your company for surprisingly little – and you never know who it is going to reach.

9. Create a standard company email signature.

Everyone working for your company should have a standard email signature attached to every email message that goes out the door – that is those four or five lines that follow all email correspondence. Most email clients have a function that will automatically insert the specified text. Everyone who receives mail from you or your employees and representatives should be given an easy way to find out more information and to contact your company.
A standard email signature file might consist of:

[or some way to signify this is the end of the message body]
[Full name of the person sending the mail][, Title optional]
[Company name]
[Phone number]
[Web address]
[Company USP (Unique Selling Proposition or "tag line"]

10. Get training.

Learn how to use your office tools efficiently. If it’s not you managing the administrative side of operations, pay to have that person trained. For the investment of a day or two, knowing how to use the software will save many many hours of frustration and lost document.

How is this marketing-related? How do you think it looks or sounds to your client to have to say, “I can’t do that,” or, “just a minute – I just lost the record.”

© 2005 Gisela McKay. Gisela McKay is Chief Technology Officer of pixcode Inc., an Internet Property Management company, with such properties as NaturalHealthcare.ca, CanadaEventsCalendar.ca, and BusinessPartnerships.ca.
Gisela works with businesses of all sizes – helping them devise the right online marketing strategy and then matching the technology to the strategy.

Tags: entrepreneur, marketing materials, new businesses, start up