The Best Letter Types for Advertising

Advertising letters promote your products and services through text and visuals.

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Promotional writing requires a careful balance between grabbing the reader’s attention, presenting the information in an appealing format, and marketing to the needs of a specific audience. Successful advertising comes in both written and visual formats, and many types of advertising letters contain both text and images. While advertising is a creative business endeavor, some copywriting letters produce results on a consistent basis, earning them top spots in the ranks of promotional writing.

A sales letter promotes services and products, or markets your business, in general, to potential customers. Despite the name, a sales letter usually doesn’t try to make a sale in the actual letter. Instead, it employs creative content to introduce a special offer or a new item of interest. A sales letter, which is generally one or two pages in length, is often the first letter in a marketing campaign.

A follow-up letter is instrumental in keeping your product or service in the customer’s mind. Designed to arrive shortly after the receipt of a sales letter or after an initial meeting, a follow-up letter is friendly and assumes a congenial business relationship with the customer. The tone of a follow-up letter is conversational, and it thanks the potential customer for stopping by, for making a purchase, or for taking the time to read a sales letter. This type of letter lists contact information and might include a business card.

Advertising newsletters, whether sent by snail mail or email, are standbys for getting marketing messages out to a customer base. Newsletters offer information of interest, in addition to marketing content. Typical advertising newsletters contain a variety of articles that center on industry news, and they generally feature journalistic writing, as opposed to the report-type writing of sales letters. Newsletters create interest in products and services.

Case studies are usually contained within another type of advertising letter. A case study is a marketing tool that makes an emotional connection with the customer. Case studies can feature success stories, often called "testimonials," from real people or businesses that benefited from using your services or products. Case studies can be of any length, often ranging from one to three pages, and they make use of an entertaining story to help the reader make an informed buying decision.

White papers were originally used by lawmakers and government officials to document statistics and defend legislative proposals. Today, they’re a soft-sell method of informing clients of the benefits of your products or services. White papers are business-to-business letters that are typically between five and 10 pages in length, but can be much longer. A white paper details a problem, then proceeds to present statistics, graphics and other images to inform the reader of the depth of the problem. The paper then concludes with a solution. White papers are factual and informative, but they don't ask the reader to make a buying decision immediately.

Press releases are letters sent to local or national media sources. When you write a press release, you’re hoping that an editor or reporter will find your news interesting enough to publish. Press releases are among the items in press kits that companies develop for the media. Press releases document new products or services of general interest, inform the public about changes in your company, or announce major sales events, contests, or other promotional activities.

Glenda Taylor is a full-time freelance writer with work featured in national and international publications. Taylor specializes in health, business and construction writing, and she is a past editor of “Kansas Women—Focus on Fitness.” Taylor's education includes marketing and a bachelor's degree in journalism.

Examples of Generosity in a Company

Some companies get customers and employees involved with their charitable programs.

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Generosity at small and large companies is often associated with financial contributions. However, some companies show generosity by focusing on a cause and providing goods or services to people to support the cause. In any case, efforts to be generous can backfire if it appears a company is more interested in gaining publicity than helping people or community organizations.

Some corporate generosity stems from making product donations that are based on company sales. Toms Shoes, for example, donates a pair of shoes to a child in need for each pair a customer purchases from the company. Toms distributes the donated shoes to children in the United States and 24 other countries. More than 1 million pairs of shoes have been donated to children through the program, according to the company.

Some companies provide services to meet people’s basic needs following natural disasters. Procter and Gamble, for example, uses its Tide Loads of Hope program to provide laundry services to disaster victims. Company representatives bring in vans equipped with washers and dryers to clean residents’ clothing free of charge in areas struck by natural disasters. The company indicates that more than 30,000 loads of laundry have been cleaned for disaster victims through the program.

Employee job satisfaction tends to rise when employees participate in a company’s charitable programs, according to the “Nevada Business Journal.” Nonetheless, Harvard University professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter notes on the "Harvard Business Review" website that community leaders sometimes reject corporate gifts when they suspect companies are merely seeking publicity. She warns that authenticity is essential when businesses participate in charitable programs. For example, companies won’t appear to be generous if they make donations intended to overshadow a controversial issue linked to their operations.

Frances Burks has more than 15 years experience in staff and freelance writing positions, including work as a news analyst for executive briefings and as an Associated Press journalist. Burks has banking and business development experience, and she has written numerous articles on consumer issues and home improvement. Burks holds a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Michigan.

Ann Arbor SPARK September Roundtable – Startup-Friendly Marketing

On Tuesday September 11th, Ann Arbor SPARK will host its next free Marketing Roundtable event addressing the challenges of marketing for startups and small businesses. Join moderator David Bloom and his panel for a discussion of common challenges and successful marketing strategy used by real startups. Have specific questions for the panel? Bring them! There will be a Q&A session for attendees to ask for solutions to their real world marketing challenges.

This event will take place at SPARK Central in the Lower Level of 330 East Liberty. Registration and networking begins at 5:00pm and the program runs from 5:40pm to 7:00pm. Register for this free event here. If you cannot attend in person, you can access the live webcast or a recording of the presentation here.

To learn about more networking and educational opportunities, ask a Michigan marketing company. Visit our blog, or call Clarity Quest at 877-887-7611. Request a quote.

How We Get Things Done

The day that first computer appeared on a lawyer’s desk, it brought a promise of simplicity. Technology would organize, systematize and calendarize the daily chaos, leaving our human time and minds free to address the really critical stuff. Ha! If anything, the chaos deepens. So we’re particularly excited about Daniel Gold’s new column. He’ll be bringing us good ideas for amping up our productivity and changing the way we get things done—in a big way! 

As lawyers, almost everything we do is a project. Rarely do we handle things that can be completed in one action—and long gone are the days when using our red Lawyer’s Diary to plan our calendar and to-dos in one location was enough. Instead, we need the right system in place to help us get things done. So what’s the solution?

In 2007, I heard about a book by David Allen called Getting Things Done. And when I read it, I loved every page. This one book fundamentally shook the foundation of what I thought it meant to be organized and to manage my time. If you haven’t yet heard of this methodology—which is called “GTD” for short—it has a bit of a cult-like following online. In this first installment of “Get It Done,” I’m going to provide an overview of this system. In future posts, we’ll dive deeper into its discrete phases, and also look at apps for tablets and smartphones that can help skyrocket your productivity even further.

At its core, GTD is a simple—albeit not too simple—approach to managing your tasks and your calendar. The process involves writing down every single task that you have to accomplish. Then, through daily and weekly reviews, you analyze that list for “where” you need to be in order to get certain tasks done. For example, do you need to be at your computer to do a particular task? Can it only be done in your office? Is it an errand that requires being at a particular place? Is it a phone call or email that you can tackle anywhere from your smartphone? Or is it something that can only be done at home?  These “wheres” are otherwise known as “contexts” in the GTD system.

Next, you place each of your tasks by context into separate lists.

Once you’ve done that, examine your tasks even more. Will any of these tasks take more than one step to actually complete? For instance, let’s say your task is “File Motion for Summary Judgment in the Jones Matter.” Well, we all know that will require several steps. You will likely need to do case research, review deposition transcripts, draft the statement of facts, draft the legal argument, have the client review before filing, etc. Therefore, this seeming task is actually a “project,” according to the GTD methodology. As you go through this exercise, you will probably notice that you have placed several such projects in your task lists. Seeing this will help you better understand each and every real task you need to accomplish in order to get things done more effectively.

So now, you will erase the “file motion” entry from your tasks list and put it in what is called a projects list instead. Then add each one of the tasks required for the motion’s filing (the research, draftings, etc. from above) and put them on your context lists.

The final piece in this top-level review is learning how to better control your calendar.  David Allen advises that you do not, under any circumstances, fill your calendar with tasks! He calls the calendar your “hard landscape”—think of it as sacred ground for only those appointments that have specific actionable dates and times, such as your meeting with a client at 2 p.m. Tuesday or your oral arguments on Friday at 3 p.m.

So, how do you know when to get each of your tasks done if they have not been assigned due dates? The idea is to be more discerning and take a more strategic look at your tasks and appointments. Think about what you can accomplish in the time you have available. Weigh that against each task’s priority, along with the amount of energy you have to complete certain tasks. Then block out your calendar for two hours so you can write your statement of facts at 8:30 a.m. Then block out two hours later to do legal research at, say, 3 p.m. By strategically slating tasks this way, you are in control of your time and your calendar.

Also, by having separate lists of action items broken down by contexts, you can easily see what phone calls you can knock out while you’re in the car by looking at your calls list. Or, if you have some downtime at the courthouse, look at your emails list to see what you can easily cross off of that list, too.

In my next posts, I’ll break down the five phases of GTD more—and discuss how to take advantage of some paper tools and awesome apps for your iPhone and iPad, too.

Daniel Gold is a productivity author, consultant and presenter. He works with individuals and corporations in three core areas: productivity/time management; social media brand recognition; and presentation content and design. He is the author of  Evernote: The Unofficial Guide to Capturing Everything and Getting Things Done and Official Springpad eBook. Join him on Facebook and Google+ and on Twitter @degconsulting.

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Reducing Static in a PowerPoint Recording

Headset microphones help to reduce feedback from the computer speakers.

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Microsoft Office PowerPoint allows you to record narration for the slides in the presentation. Then, you can save and send the PowerPoint file with your narration included. But if the recorded audio is filled with static, the presentation won't make a good impression on the listeners. You can reduce static in your recording by using the Windows Recording Audio troubleshooter to pinpoint the problem. Static can come from the microphone, the connection to the computer or even from radio interference in the area.

Click "Start," type "troubleshooting" and press "Enter." Click "Troubleshoot Audio Recording."

Identify hardware issues. Click "Start," type "Sound" and click "Sound" under Control Panel. Connect your headphones to the headphone jack on your computer. Click on the "Recording" tab and then click to select your microphone. Click "Properties" and then click on the "Listen" tab. Click the check box next to "Listen to This Device" and then click "Apply." Speak into your microphone to listen for any static or other problems. If you have a wired microphone, move the cord of the mic while you talk and listen for static. If the static changes or increases due to you moving the cord, the cord is defective and the microphone needs to be replaced. If the movement of the plug in the jack causes the static, then the issue might be with your computer's sound card connection.

Test for radio interference by bringing a radio-transmitting device, like a cellphone, close to the microphone. The interference static will have a rhythmic nature to it, rather than a consistent hum or buzz. You can get shielded cables for your external microphone to reduce radio interference. You can also do your PowerPoint recordings away from radio-transmitting devices. Such devices include cellphones, BlueTooth devices, cordless phones and microwaves, among others.

Remove as many sources of ambient noise as you can before you record the narrations in PowerPoint. Fans are one of the most pervasive sources of noise, which can be difficult to escape since nearly all computers use fans to keep them cool. A foam muff on a microphone can filter out ambient noise and wind noise. Use a uni-directional microphone, if possible, so that it only captures sound from one direction. When you point the microphone directly at your mouth, the rest of the noise in the room will fade dramatically.

James Wood is a professional writer whose work has appeared in "The Bridge" at Harding University and in the book "People of Purpose." His work experience has spanned the gamut of the computer world, from sales and support to training and repair. He is also an accomplished public speaker, PowerPoint presenter and has traveled extensively in the U.S. and Europe.

I Want My Product Distributed

DetailsCreated on September 26, 2012 Posted by Paul Christ Craig Marks: I Want My MTV ( Studio 360 – NPR)

As we discuss in our How to Write a Marketing Plan tutorial, marketing success often is measured by whether the results lead to the achievement of specific objectives (i.e, goals). As we note, these objectives include two main types: 1) financial measures, such a revenue and profit; and 2) specific marketing areas objectives, such as gaining a certain percentage of market share or achieving a certain level of product awareness through promotion. Yet, marketers often discover that achieving these objectives can be heavily affected by factors that they do not control.

For instance, consider a company that is attempting to obtain distribution for a new consumer product. Marketers, who have enthusiastically worked hard to prepare the product for the market, often hit a roadblock because they cannot convince enough resellers to distribute their product. For these marketers, who have been generally free to design the product, set the price and create the promotions, they find the distribution component of the Marketing Mix to be frustrating as they cannot get their product distributed in desired outlets.

Of course, the Internet has lessened the impact of resellers’ reluctance to distribute a product by allowing companies to be their own distributor. But, to be truly successful, most consumer products marketers need to gain wider access to their product that is beyond their own website.

To address distribution problems, marketers can employ several tactics. One approach, called “push" promotion, has the marketer offering distributors incentives to handle the product. This typically means offering highly attractive financial terms (i.e., higher margins) or improved promotional opportunities (e.g., in-store promotions).

Another strategy takes a much different approach. Instead of directly offering incentives to resellers, marketers essentially bypass resellers and direct their message to final consumers. This type of tactic, dubbed “pull" promotion, generally contains a message that specifically directs consumers to request their product be carried by distributors. (See this post for a previous discussion of pull promotion.)

Now this audio link to a National Public Radio show offers insight on another example of pull promotion, this time with a more well-known brand – MTV. The discussion is with Craig Marks, co-author of a book chronicling the early history of this cable channel. The discussion of the pull promotion strategy occurs early in the program and does a nice job explaining how it impacted the company, and the cable industry.

In addition to the pull promotion discussion, this program provides several more examples of marketing decisions faced by MTV executives including circumstances that have lead to a changes in its product mix (i.e., types of videos it played) as well as changes to its target market strategy.

Thirty years ago, hardly anyone knew what a music video was. On the night MTV was launched, its founders — a ragtag bunch of music fans and rookie television execs — had to take a bus from Manhattan to New Jersey to watch the broadcast, because no New York cable company carried the fledgling channel.

Can the pull promotion technique used by MTV in the early 1980s still be relevant in today’s television market?

How Marketers are Innovating Beyond the Actual Product

DetailsCreated on October 08, 2012 Posted by Paul Christ

SERVILE BRANDS (Trendwatching)

In our What is Marketing? tutorial we observe how critical it is for marketers to build satisfying relationships with customers. In particular, we state: “A key objective of marketing is to provide products and services that customers really want AND to make customers feel their contact with the marketer is helping build a good relationship between the two.”

While, most leading companies have generally embraced this concept, they are now finding their customers are stretching their needs and expectations to levels that are making satisfaction much more challenging. In large part, significant technological innovations are leading customers to expect brands to provide much more. In most cases, what they are expecting goes beyond the composition of the Actual product.

For instance, as noted in this story, customers are particularly attracted to brands that are adapting to customer’s changing needs. These needs are being shaped by such issues as the desire for instant gratification and "need-it-now" information. For marketers, this means much greater emphasis needs to be placed on decisions that are not directly product related (i.e., product features). Instead, marketers need to focus more attention on decisions associated with the Augmented product.

The story contains many examples from around the world of innovation in the Augmented product including: printing customized recipes at the checkout counter based on products purchased during grocery visit; a website that allows customers to upload an image of their hand and then click to see what different nail polish will look like; and special refrigerator magnets that when pressed will automatically order pizza from a local pizza shop.

Yes, consumers are more demanding, time-starved, informed, and choice-saturated than ever-before (we know you know). For brands to prosper, the solution is simple though: turn SERVILE. This goes far beyond offering great customer service. SERVILE means turning your brand into a lifestyle servant focused on catering to the needs, desires and whims of your customers wherever and whenever they are.

What other examples of innovation in Augmented product are cited in this story?

E-Book Publishers Get Bad News on Pricing Strategy

DetailsCreated on September 12, 2012 Posted by Paul Christ Government's E-Book Case Helps Amazon Build Toward a Monopoly (Los Angeles Times)

E-Book Settlement Has Publishing World in Turmoil (Los Angeles Times)

In our past postings on the topic of price, we have often discussed how price is one of the toughest, yet often least understood marketing decisions. Consequently, many marketers often direct limited resources to issues related to this part of the marketing mix. The reasons for relegating price to the lower end of the marketing-decision checklist are numerous. For instance, to some marketers the pricing decision lacks real importance because they think their customers should not be thinking price first; rather they should be sold on product features and the benefits these provide. Others see price as an almost automated process where they just plug in a number to a standard markup equation (e.g., price is always 25% above cost) and whatever number comes out is what they charge.

Other companies, however, take price very seriously. Consider, for instance, how Amazon.com looks at price. For Amazon, price may rank as the most important marketing decisions they make. As the leader in online retailing, Amazon’s pricing strategy is certainly a key component of their success. Just looking at their website visitors will clearly see how price often takes center stage.

Because price is so crucial to Amazon, it was not surprising that they were clearly upset when several major book suppliers decided to get together to change what book retailers charge for their products. In 2010, leading publishers, including HarperCollins Publishers and Simon & Schuster, formed an alliance whereby they intended to limit how low book prices could be set (i.e., floor price). Additionally, retail sellers would only be able to sell these publishers’ books if they agreed to abide by the pricing rules. Of course, Amazon did not like this, nor did the U.S. Government which filed a lawsuit claiming the publishers were conspiring to restrict competition.

As discussed in these stories, a federal court has approved a settlement between the publishers and the U.S. Justice Department on issues related to collusion of book pricing. Specifically, it relates to the pricing of e-books, which the government claimed (and Amazon also argued) was being overly controlled by these companies. In particular, the companies were accused of joining forces to restrict competition by limiting how much e-books can be discounted at the consumer level.

The impact of the settlement has many thinking the bookselling market will never be the same. Some are even taking the position that Amazon is on its way to being a book selling monopoly. While that seems unlikely, this settlement is bound to strengthen Amazon’s position as the world’s largest online retailer.

The idea was (1) to entice Apple, which was just about to bring out the iPad, into the e-book market by guaranteeing Apple a profit on e-book sales, and (2) to create competition for Amazon. Amazon's $9.99 price often meant it was selling books at a loss, presumably to cement its dominance of a market that it then controlled to the tune of 90%. The publishers imposed the agency model on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other e-book sellers too. The prices of e-books, which were keyed to the hardcover price, moved up to as much as $14.99.

How exactly will Amazon benefit from this decision? Besides the publishers, who else is likely to be negatively impacted by the decision?

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Optimize mobile search ads

If you have a mobile website and use sponsored search adverting, but are not happy with low click-through rates, mention the fact you have a mobile website in the ad copy itself. If your shoppers are assured in mobile search ads that they will be directed to a site optimized for smartphones and mobile devices, click-through rates will be higher. For example, an IT company’s ad might read “Network down? Visit our mobile site now!

“Reasonable Care” in the Cloud: Decision-Making Pointers

Many firms use cloud computing services for remote access to data, email filtering, contacts and calendars, system backups and other hosted IT functions. In particular, lawyers are finding that cloud transfer and storage services (like Box, Dropbox, Google Drive and iCloud) are a great way to access client materials on their smartphones, tablets or off-site computers when working away from the office.

According to state ethics authorities that have spoken on the topic and the American Bar Association Commission on Ethics 20/20, a firm or an individual attorney may store client materials in the cloud ethically, provided that the lawyer takes reasonable care to protect the confidentiality of confidential client information. Most of these opinions explain that “reasonable care” includes learning enough about the technology you chose to use to make an informed decision about where to store client materials and staying up to date on developments in whatever technology you decide to use.

Using reasonable care to protect client confidences is nothing new for lawyers, of course—we make decisions about protecting client confidences when we read files on a crowded subway, discuss matters in elevators, decide what can be included in an email, or even take written notes during a conversation. But what might “reasonable care” entail in the context of cloud computing? While admittedly not comprehensive, here is a list to consider.

1. Know that the cloud will not be appropriate for all clients and materials.

You need to think carefully about the types of clients you handle. Clients who work in heavily regulated industries or who are extremely security-conscious (for whatever reason) may not permit any of their materials to be stored in the cloud.You must decide what can be stored in the cloud on a document-by-document basis. Publicly available information, like PDFs downloaded from PACER, can easily be stored in the cloud—but with more-sensitive documents you may decide to apply additional encryption before you move the materials to the cloud, or even to your tablet through cables.Even when you decide that a copy of a client-related document may be stored in the cloud, you should probably not store the only copy of an important document there.Know your options for the various materials you will store. Different cloud service providers may be appropriate for different client materials, depending on the sensitivity of each document.

2. Assess the agreements of every cloud service provider you use.

Read the promises being made concerning your data—especially any promises regarding what notice the provider will give you if someone else seeks access to your materials—and consider whether and how those promises can be enforced.Find out where your data will be kept, how it will be backed up, who will have access to it, and whether it will really be deleted from the cloud service when you delete it or when you close your account with the provider.Check online periodically for any changes to the agreement and, of course, whenever you get an e-mail notifying you that the terms of service have changed. Remember to save copies of all your latest agreements, too.

3. Keep informed—and keep notes.

Search for news reports regarding security breaches or service outages at any cloud service provider you intend to use. You might also want to set up a news feed to track reports on the topic.If you don’t see particular information you need online or in the provider’s documentation, or you don’t understand the information you’re given, call the company for clarification. Or choose another service.Keep notes about your conversations with each service provider, as well as other research you’ve done to support your decision, in case a problem ever arises.

4. Know that sometimes you get what you pay for.

You can find free cloud storage options, but you may get better security or better service with a paid account from the same provider.Even if your materials are secure once they get to the cloud, you should not use free, public, unencrypted networks to send them. Use your firm’s secure cloud-access system. If no firmwide system is available, use a password-protected home network or consider investing in a mobile hotspot so you can create a secure connection wherever you are.

Cloud storage services can give you flexibility in how and where you practice, and can allow you to be more responsive to your clients. You can use these services ethically, but it will take some due diligence and some decision-making each time you entrust clients’ materials to the cloud.

Carol J. Gerber is a lawyer and the owner and founder of Gerber Amalgamated LLC, a legal technology consulting company devoted to helping attorneys make better use of technology in their practices. 

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Hotels See Profit in Tangible Products

DetailsCreated on October 16, 2012 Posted by Paul Christ Bed, Bathrobe and Beyond (New York Times)

Today we celebrate the 4,000th posting of stories to our Marketing Stories Archive. The Marketing Stories Archive began back on May 14, 2004 when we posted two stories. The first story, titled CRM Superstars, appeared in CRM Magazine, and it examined how several organizations were integrating CRM software within different facets of their business including sales, marketing and customer service.

The second story, titled Can Burger King Rekindle the Sizzle?, appeared on the Harvard Working Knowledge website and looked at how the burger giant was fighting to keep up with McDonalds. Their strategy was targeted at the heart of the marketing concept by focusing on allowing customers to “customize” their purchases.

Reading both of these stories today one is struck by the fact that the problems faced by marketers in 2004 differ little from what marketers face in 2012. In many cases, the issues revolve around two market factors: 1) stiff competition and, 2) continually changing customer needs. Facing these conditions marketers are forced to adjust their plans and seek creative solutions.

This is evident in story #4000 where hotels, facing tough price competition, are finding new ways to generate income. The approach discussed here is for hotels to create their own branded line of products which are sold to their guests. In this way, hotels are extending their brand beyond the hotel service to tangible products.

Westin Hotels has been particularly successful with its line of Heavenly branded products, including robes, bedding, lotions and shampoos. Since 1999, according to the company, it has sold more than 100,000 of its Heavenly Bed mattresses, and 250,000 pillows identical to the ones it offers in its hotel rooms. It sells the products through its Web site and partners, including Nordstom, Amazon and Pottery Barn stores.

What issues discussed in the current story are similar to the issues presented in the stories published in 2004?

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Updates to KnowThis.com

DetailsCreated on August 29, 2012 Posted by Paul Christ

As some loyal visitors have noticed, today we rolled out a few changes to the KnowThis.com website.  Over the last few months, we have spent a considerable amount of time improving the site features and redoing the underlying structure.  This has resulted in a number of improvements including:  a redesign of Blog posts that features new Tag display and a new visitor Comment area; a new Marketing Terms section that includes a mouse-over option for seeing the definition of key terms contained within a definition; and a new layout for the Blog Archives.  In addition to these viewable changes, the underlying technical changes will enable the site to respond faster to visitors’ requests.

While the changes may not appear dramatic (for instance the general layout of the site is pretty much the same), what was changed took considerable man-hours.  The focus on updating the site led us to take a step away from adding a lot of new content over the last few months.  Consequently, we scaled back on postings to the Blog, Marketing Stories and other site sections in favor of  concentrating on the important software upgrades.

While, at this point, most of the work is completed, there are still a few nagging issues.  For instance, extra pages within the Marketing Links section are not quite working nor are those found in the Marketing Stories Archive.  Despite these areas not being 100%, we decided to roll out the upgrade in order to get back to providing regular updates.  Expect to see more frequent Blog postings, Stories and Tutorial updates beginning next week.

In the mean time, thank you for your patience during the upgrade and feel free to provide comments that will help us to continue the effort to improve KnowThis.com.

Ann Arbor SPARK Releases Podcast With Dave Brandon

In the latest installment of Ann Arbor SPARKS’ CEO Podcasts: Conversations on Economic Opportunity, Donna Doleman sits down with former Domino’s Pizza CEO and current University of Michigan Athletic Director, Dave Brandon.

Brandon served as the CEO of Domino’s for 11 years, leading the company to unprecedented results with marketing strategy innovations, before taking his current role with the University in 2010. In this podcast, Brandon will discuss how the Athletic Department continues to deliver a major economic boost to the city of Ann Arbor and how the Ann Arbor economy has been tied to athletics throughout it’s history.

To listen to this interview of one of Ann Arbor’s most prominent business leaders, visit Ann Arbor SPARK.

Learn more about marketing events, networking opportunities, and educational programs from a Michigan marketing company. Contact Clarity Quest today at 877-887-7611. Request a quote.

Most Marketing Lists Are Malarkey

If you want to know how to get more clients, there’s a flood of information out there. Google it! But just as there are good lawyers and … not so good lawyers, there’s good marketing advice and, well, let’s just say that some of it’s oversimplified. Bruce Marcus is a longtime authority on professional services marketing. It’s those “best marketing tools” lists that make him nuts. Today he explains why.

Every so often, another list of marketing activities appears, ranked, we are told, in the order in which each activity contributes to marketing success. Nonsense. There’s no such thing—at least not for marketing professional services. Let’s take a look at a recent list:

Proprietary researchSeminarsArticlesSpeechesAttendance at industry meetingsWebsitesNetworkingIndirect referral sourcesCommunity activitiesGetting quotedNewslettersBrochuresCold callsDirect mailAdvertising

Each of these marketing tools is different from the others in many ways, requires different skills and serves a different purpose. Any one of them may more effectively reach a specific market at a specific time. Each can contribute to enhancing your reputation and name recognition. Rarely, however, except in a well-rounded marketing program, do any of them work alone—no more than a cabinetmaker makes a piece of furniture with just one tool.

For example, proprietary research, of itself, produces no clients. But to run any marketing campaign without a careful and thorough analysis of the market is at the very least foolhardy, and will certainly diminish the total marketing program. Seminars, ranked second in importance in the list here, will demonstrate a firm’s talents, but they will produce clients only if there is some kind of thoughtful follow-up afterward that allows partners to begin the networking process.

Advertising sits at the bottom of this list—is that because it is deemed the least effective marketing tool? There’s a famous Business Week ad that makes the point about advertising’s purpose and value. It pictures a stern-looking man, in a swivel chair, saying: “I don’t know you, I don’t know your firm, I don’t know your product…. Now, what are you trying to sell me?”

Advertising professional services is very different than it is for products. It’s least effective when the expectations for it are larger than its ability to meet those expectations. Repeated often enough for impact, however, advertising delineates your skills and experience, and it can substantially boost your other marketing activities.

Direct mail and email work to demonstrate skills, but more importantly, these tools target specific prospects. Social media are too limited to function alone. Networking works if done correctly, but it’s just sociable otherwise. Articles are useful, particularly for small firms or solos, but only if there’s follow-up. And so forth.

Clients, particularly for an established practice, can come from anywhere. (By the way, I don’t see relatives on the list.) And yes, smaller or solo firms can get recognition locally by writing articles and joining local organizations. But as a firm grows and needs a larger influx of new clients to sustain that growth, a full-scale marketing program must use all or most of the tools on that list—in concert, with each supporting the activities of the others.

Unlike mass marketing for products, law firm marketing builds reputation and name recognition. It may develop leads, but ultimately it produces only one client at a time.

It’s important to consider your return on investment in this context: While the effectiveness of your marketing program is ultimately proven in the firm’s growth and success, it happens over time—and usually at some time away from any single marketing activity. A series of articles—or Facebook posts, or tweets—may display your specialties and competencies and lead, for example, to invitations to address an industry group and produce leads. But this rarely results in being directly retained. Joining an appropriate organization may lead to lunch with a banker, which may result in introductions to prospective clients. But the prospect must ultimately be sold—sold—and by the lawyer with the appropriate expertise to address the prospect’s needs.

Marketing a law firm is not simple. It requires a broad array of skills—often more skills than a single person can be expected to have mastered.

The marketing tools—or the combination and timing of the tools—that will be most effective for your practice will be unique. To determine them, answer three simple questions to define your marketing strategy:

Who will you market to? First you must know your target audience—who they are, what they do, what kinds of services you offer that they may need now or later. This is the definition of your market.How will you reach them? You have to figure out how to reach them—their preferred common media, their industries, their trade associations and so forth.What are their needs? You must know and understand their needs in order to sell your services directly to the given needs of the potential client. Only then can you choose your tools.

Looking again at that list, it is impossible to say that one is more effective than another, except in the context of the market, its needs and the role each plays in your marketing program.

Bruce W. Marcus is a Connecticut-based consultant in marketing and strategic planning for professional firms, the editor of The Marcus Letter on Professional Services Marketing, the author of Professional Services Marketing 3.0 (Bay Street Group, 2011) and the co-author of Client at the Core (John Wiley & Sons, 2004). His Email address is marcus@marcusletter.com. 

Illustration ©ImageZoo.

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How to Use the iPad with a VoIP Bluetooth Headset

Although the iPad cannot directly access cellular voice networks and make phone calls, it can make voice or video calls using Voice over IP (VoIP) networks. The device has a built-in speaker and microphone, but your calls will be clearer if you use a headset. The iPad is fully compatible with standard VoIP Bluetooth headsets, allowing you to make VoIP calls from the iPad without the need for a wired headset. Making a wireless Bluetooth connection is known as "pairing."

Tap the "General" button, followed by the "Bluetooth" button. Slide the Bluetooth switch to On. The Bluetooth logo is displayed in the upper right corner of the iPad's date bar to indicate that its Bluetooth connectivity is active.

Tap the Bluetooth headset's entry in the Nearby Devices section on the iPad. If required, enter the Bluetooth headset's PIN to pair the two devices. Check the headset's documentation for details on its factory default PIN.

Launch a VoIP app on your iPad—such as Tango, Skype or Viber—and place a call to one of your contacts. The app will automatically use the Bluetooth headset for audio whenever it is paired with the iPad.

Spanner Spencer has been writing since 2005 for a variety of print and online publications. Focusing on entertainment, gaming and technology, his work has been published by Eurogamer.net, "The Escapist," "GamesTM," "Retro Gamer," "Empire," "Total PC Gaming" "The Guardian," among others. Spencer is a qualified medical electronics engineer with a Business and Technology Education Council certificate in technical writing from Huddersfield Technical College.

Using QR Codes in B2B Marketing Collateral

When deciding whether or not to include a QR code in B2B collateral, always keep your audience in mind. For some of our technology clients whose customers are more tech-savvy, QR codes can be a good fit. For other clients, customers may be confused by the code or even ignore it altogether.

If you choose to utilize the QR code technology, make sure to take full advantage of the link to drive your current and prospective customers to the appropriate landing page, which should correspond to the customer’s position in the sales funnel. Depending on what you want customers to do next, the landing page could be your corporate website, LinkedIn page, or submission form. Whatever you choose, make sure the landing page is simple and the call-to-action is very clear. Also keep in mind that users are searching on mobile devices, so you are best served by developing a mobile site.

Consider creating a customized QR code that visually appeals to your consumers and attracts more interest. Here is a great tool for creating custom QR codes.

QR codes are also a great way to track engagement. By including a QR code on trade show collateral, catalogs, business cards, or direct mail, you can track how many people visit your landing page or respond to your designated call-to-action.

If you think your clientele would respond positively to QR codes on your B2B collateral, give it a try! Gauge the interest and response to this technology and decide if it is a good tactic for your business to utilize moving forward.

For more innovative ideas and marketing strategy, contact a CT Marketing agency today! Visit our blog, or contact Clarity Quest at 877-887-7611. Request a quote.

Assigning a Trust Manager Over a Corporate Trustee

Trustee managers oversee the corporation's handling of the deceased's estate.

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Establishing a trust for your estate in the event of your death is one of the best ways to protect your assets and pass them on to your family. When establishing a trust, you must determine the person or entity that will serve as the trustee in charge of protecting the assets of your estate for the beneficiaries you have designated. The choice of a trustee is an important decision and one that should not be made lightly. If choosing a corporation to serve as trustee, you also need to assign someone within the corporation to serve as manager over the corporation when it acts as trustee.

When choosing a trust manager, one of the considerations you have to make is how much and what kind of powers you will give to the trustee and the manager in handling your estate. A paper posted by the American Bar Association recommends giving those involved in overseeing your estate a wide degree of latitude. Restricting the trustee or the trustee manager can be detrimental to the growth of your estate since the law is constantly changing, and the powers of the manager and trustee are spelled out specifically in the trust agreement.

Jared Lewis is a professor of history, philosophy and the humanities. He has taught various courses in these fields since 2001. A former licensed financial adviser, he now works as a writer and has published numerous articles on education and business. He holds a bachelor's degree in history, a master's degree in theology and has completed doctoral work in American history.

Study Shows Importance of First Link

According to a new report by Compete.com, 53% of clicks on organic search results pages go to the top organic listing. If this statistic doesn’t convince you of the importance of being the top search result for your keywords, compare this 53% of clicks going to the first organic search result listing to the mere 15% of clicks on the second listing.

This research shows that being in the top 3 or top 5 of the SERPs is no longer sufficient if you want to drive traffic to your site. The third listing on an organic search results page has been shown to gather just 9% of the clicks, and the fifth listing accrues an abysmal 4%.

If your company is also running a pay-per-click marketing campaign, make sure your campaigns are optimized to perform well and rank highly for your target key phrases. While only 24% of ads on a search results page appear in the top bar, an overwhelming 85% of consumers click on theses ads, making the online advertising space increasingly competitive.

To learn more about search engine optimization services from a Michigan marketing company, contact Clarity Quest today at 877-887-7611. Request a quote.

Value of Employee Communication Sessions

Effective communication encourages a two-way exchange of information.

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Despite the many ways to pass information in the workplace -- email, social media, phone, text or via the company intranet -- inadequate communication between managers and employees exists. Employees need guidance from their supervisors, and management needs input from the entire team in order for the company to succeed. To help foster an open and honest culture, many companies host communication sessions that can provide measurable benefits to all employees.

An employee communication session is a give-and-take opportunity where employees can air their concerns and where management can share what's happening in the company. Hewlett Packard, for example, holds upward of 22 communication sessions with more than 10,000 employees in attendance at sites around the world. Many companies also encourage employees to complete surveys to voice their concerns regarding management or the company in general.

When a company is multifaceted, one department might not be aware of the strategic goals of another part of the business, -- or information trickles upward, but not downward. Companies such as Flextronics and Emerson Process Management use employee communication sessions. These scheduled meetings positively reinforce the objectives between management and employees, according to Alan Miu, managing director of TNT Express Worldwide. When an employee can communicate with management at its highest levels, it improves the transparency and openness in employee dialogue.

Employee communications programs help give the employees the perception that they are greatly involved in the company's objectives and goals. A 2001 study by the Hay Group revealed that employees who are engaged in the direction and decisions of the organization are more productive and will stay with the company longer. The employee communication session tells the employee at all levels: "You and your opinion matters to us." When employees take this message to heart, they tend to feel more inspired and are motivated to support company goals, according to a 2008 study published in the journal of the Public Relations Society of America.

Employee communication programs can be a tool to build a trust level that encourages employees to speak freely about their work, according to Evan Reineking of HR Tools.com. When an employee feels heard and is kept well-informed, he feels respected by his employer. While a company might not be able to disclose all the details about management decisions, keeping employees in the loop with accurate and complete information makes them more likely to trust what is shared.

Gossip is prevalent in many workplaces, especially where communication is nonexistent and where employees are left to speculate about conditions or the company's health. When employees don't receive necessary details from their supervisors, rumors are likely to be spread, which can damage morale and cause uncertainty among employees, according to Robert Hosking, executive director of OfficeTeam. Keeping employees abreast of the current climate in the workplace can alleviate the need to speculate.

Jay Delahousay has been a broadcast television advertising creative for more than 25 years. Her work for ABC, CBS and Sony Pictures Television has appeared on radio, on air, in print and outdoors. In addition, Delahousay has more than 30 years experience in marketing, graphic arts production, commercial photography and design. Delahousay attended University of California, Los Angeles and Los Angeles City College.

How to Build a Photo eCommerce Website With Individual Accounts

E-commerce photo websites offer convenience to customers.

Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images

An e-commerce website sells products online, and many smaller sites utilize an e-commerce platform that stores their data on the network's servers. Although the data resides on the provider's network, the website owner maintains ownership of the content and can edit the information through a Web-based interface. Photo e-commerce websites with individual accounts include mini-pages within the site that deliver static and dynamic content, e-commerce widgets to facilitate ordering and payment, and applications to promote interaction with the target audience.

Navigate to the website of a photo-publishing platform that offers templates, widgets and other Web elements geared to e-commerce websites. Create a new account. Typically, this requires entering information such as your business name and tax ID number. Most photo-publishing platforms offer Flash media templates and galleries to display content.

Create mini-pages within your e-commerce site. Mini-pages divide static and dynamic content. Static content refers to media provided directly from the server, while dynamic content refers to media created “on the fly” by an application such as Flash. Use mini-pages to create dedicated pages for a gallery, a description, a title and other information relevant to your photos but separate from the static content stored in HTML pages on the server.

Add your photos. Upload images stored on your computer or media drive, or import them from your photo website using your browser. E-commerce photo sites offer several options for displaying photos, such as galleries, splash pages and clip art pages. Many of these sites also allow you to edit the photos after you've uploaded them.

Set up an e-commerce shopping widget. Shopping widgets allow you to design a virtual shopping cart and customize it with skins and other graphic overlays. Some widgets allow you to manage labels, pricing, descriptions and images displayed to the customer.

Install widgets that encourage interaction between customers and your website. Widgets commonly offered on e-commerce photo sites include RSS feeds, visitor counters, payment options and contact forms. You can also mix music players and comment boxes with your photos.

Add static and dynamic effects to photos on your e-commerce website. Static effects include color, opacity, watermarks and transparency overlays; dynamic effects include blurring, image warping and image movement, such as expansion, rotation and pixilation.

Add text to your Web pages to improve search engine optimization. SEO can improve your website’s visibility in search engines. Adding strategically placed keywords within your e-commerce website increases its search engine rankings, which means increased traffic to your site. Effective keywords include the terms a potential customer might type in a search query when looking for the type of photos you sell. Make sure your keywords are relevant to the content of your site. Your photo e-commerce site should have at least 400 words on the homepage, keywords integrated in the headers of each page, and links to Web pages that showcase your photos.

Jkalal Assar's work has appeared in magazines such as "Food & Wine," "Gourmet" and "Wine Spectator." He is a graduate of the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts and has cooked professionally in Paris, New York and Las Vegas. Assar also holds an Associate of Science in information technology from Marshall University.

Congratulations To Our Client QTS on Their Launch of SaaS Enablement

On September 12, 2012, our client QTS announced the launch of their new SaaS Enablement service. On behalf of everyone at Clarity Quest, we would like to congratulate the entire QTS team on this service launch!

QTS is a leading national provider of HIPAA compliant data center solutions and fully managed services for enterprise businesses. With the launch of SaaS Enablement, QTS is now offering a free 30-day Legacy-to-Cloud program that migrates existing on-premises health care applications to the Cloud. The SaaS Enablement program solves the technical and business challenges of SaaS delivery to offer medical software vendors a fast track to a software-as-a-service model.

Read the entire press release here.

Hot Tips: Be More Visible and Productive

At the Legal Marketing Association’s 2012 Technology Conference West, held last week in San Francisco, a long list of experts and exhibitors were on hand to share their top tips with lawyers. The big focus was on sharing tech tips—of course!—that can increase your visibility, your productivity and, ultimately, your revenue.

Here are five of them.

1. Add slide sharing to your online marketing. Sheenika Shah, Business Development Coordinator for Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP, suggests giving SlideShare a try. It’s a nifty online tool for sharing presentations, documents and PDFs—which you can link to your website, send individually via email, and share on your social media channels, too. SlideShare is a free service, with a fee-based Pro option that allows you to track analytics. “This method of sharing information” Shah says, “is in line with the trend toward media-rich content, which is great for SEO efforts.”

2. Use Reeder to get through your news feeds—fast. Jeff Yerkey, Web + Interactive Director for Right Hat, says, “The single biggest workflow saver I use is the ‘lash-up’ between Google Reader and an iPhone/iPad app called Reeder.” Here’s how he works it in three steps: “I configure all of my news RSS feeds into folders through Google Reader. Then, in Reeder, I scan and read all my news feeds in record time. When I find a really long article, I send [it] to Instapaper to read it later on my computer, iPad, iPhone or Android phone.”

3. Add a poll with a quick “doodle.” Jacqueline Madarang, Marketing Technology Manager at Best, Best, Krieger LLP, and Jay Walsh of Ligature legal printing, love Doodle. “Doodle is free and radically simplifies the process of scheduling meetings and events,” Madarang says. “Whether it’s a partner, client or practice group meeting—or dinner with friends—you can easily poll a number of people on different meeting time options.” Doodle is simple, quick and requires no registration. “Simply set up a poll and send a link to all those whose input is required,” adds Walsh.

4. Try e-learning for better business development skills. How about a coaching program delivered straight to your computer screen? Two options presented at the LMA conference come from Mike O’Horo of RainmakerVT and David Ackert of Practice Boomers. Both programs provide 24-7 access to business development training and deliver performance metrics to law firm marketing and development professionals. O’Horo describes his as “a game-like simulation and virtual coach that teaches you practice growth strategies from your computer.” Ackert offers a compatible program that uses a combination of video, podcast and group conference calls to ensure implementation. You can see samples of the two approaches here and here.

5. Turn online lawyer bios into mini-sites. Ready to ditch those staid old bios? Deborah McMurray, CEO and Strategy Architect for Content Pilot LLC, recommends “using your IT resources to create website bios that offer an interactive experience for your visitors. Rather than the standard bio on one long page, when a visitor clicks your name a mini-website appears with tabs to view various aspects of your skill sets, experience and personal interests, allowing you to showcase what’s best and most unique about you in a clean elegant fashion.” Check out an example here.

Bonus fun-fact: Event Co-Chair Adam Stock, of Allen Matkins, opened the conference with a humorous texting video that other meeting planners may want to borrow.

David King Keller is author of two books on how to grow law firm revenue, titled 100 Ways to Grow a Thriving Law Practice and the ABA book The Associate As Rainmaker: Building Your Business Brain. He is CEO of Keller Business Development Advisory Group, which provides law firm business development training, 1:1 attorney biz dev coaching and MCLE instruction on various topics. Contact him at david@kbdag.com.

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Blog Action Day 2012

Clarity Quest is proud to participate in this year’s Blog Action Day, a worldwide effort to demonstrate the “Power of We”.  The Power of We is demonstrated by communities coming together to achieve a common goal. Blog Action Day 2012 celebrates all forms of activism, from small community events to massive global movements.

Today, bloggers from around the world will dedicate their voices to spreading the word about issues big and small that deserve attention. For example, the river systems, wetlands, and vast expanses of trees in the Boreal Forests of  Alberta, Canada are in danger of destruction due to harmful tar sands.

Want to take part in Blog Action Day? Dedicate a blog post to spreading the word about a local, national, or global issue! #powerofwe #BAD12

October 17 – LA2M Hosts Speaker From Campbell Ewald

On Wednesday, October 17th, LA2M will continue its series of lunchtime marketing presentations by hosting Dave Linabury, Director of Interactive at Campbell Ewald.

Dave has built an impressive resume – including former positions with General Motors and Disney, and a helping hand in developing WordPress – before joining Campbell Ewald in 2004. In his current role, Dave provides social media strategy and innovation for the agency, is a frequent guest on social media forums, and is a nationally prominent blogger whose work has been featured on Oprah and in The New York Times.

In his presentation, Dave plans to discuss how the touch screen has shaped our culture and what businesses can do to utilize touch screen technology from a business perspective, as well as discuss the possibility of life after touch screens.

Catch this dynamic speaker and network with other local online marketing professionals on Wednesday, October 17th from 11:45am – 1:00pm at Conor O’Neill’s in downtown Ann Arbor.

For more networking opportunities and educational marketing programs, please visit a MI marketing agency. Contact Clarity Quest today at 877-887-7611. Request a quote.

How to Incorporate Interactive and Telemarketing Efforts into your Campaign

Though telemarketing and interactive marketing are often overlooked in the creation of marketing campaigns, if used correctly they can be extremely viable marketing tactics that will help your campaign become more successful. Implementing telemarketing and interactive marketing efforts into your overall campaign can engage your target market and generate new business, better conversation, and increased revenue. The following tips will help your company learn to successful utilize telemarketing and interactive marketing efforts to enhance your marketing strategy.

1. Build a valuable target market list: In order to conduct telemarketing efforts that engage and entice customers, ensure that the customers you call will be interested in your business’s services. Create a list of existing customers, as well as those whose demographics match current customers, or the current customers of similar businesses. Having a list particular to your business is an extremely valuable resource that will help ensure the success of your telemarketing campaign.

2. Coordinate Telemarketing with Online Marketing Programs: Create engaging calling programs that go hand in hand with your online marketing efforts. Create an email marketing campaign and social media campaign that parallels your telemarketing efforts. You can also use telemarketing to do some preliminary research about customer needs, wants, and pain points before launching your interactive campaigns.  This is a great way for customers to better recall your business, and have a personal, one-on-one dialogue with your company that may lead to improved attitudes and opinions about your business. By developing a more personable connection.

3. Make Interactive Marketing Fun: Rather than spamming potential clients with banner and pop up ads, create fun and unique tactics that will break through the clutter and lead to more and longer page views. For example, implement online games that will engage visitors on your site and persuade them to spend more time looking around. Create quizzes and surveys that will entertain visitors, while also helping your company learn more about its market so it can better advertise to them. Conduct contests on your website and social media pages that will give visitors a reason to come to the site, and make them feel more apart of the company.

4. Create Visually Appealing Interactive Marketing: Ensure that all of your interactive marketing efforts pull potential customers to your site, rather than pushing them away. Intrigue them with visually appealing and educational infographics to display information, rather than bombarding them with long lists of data. Create aesthetically pleasing and easy to navigate graphic design for your website, mobile, and software applications that will draw in your target market. Integrate video into your interactive marketing efforts to attract more visitors and persuade them to stay on your site longer.

For telemarketing and interactive marketing advice and services, contact a Michigan marketing company. Visit our blog, or contact Clarity Quest today at 877-887-7611. Request a quote.