A Sticky Decision… Which envelopes do you use?

A customer called the other day to order envelopes for their business. Once we determined which style of envelope best suited his needs, we discussed the merits of traditional sealing envelopes versus self-sealing envelopes. Because we wound up having a rather lengthy conversation on this topic I thought it might be worth sharing the points we discussed in the event that they are helpful to someone else faced with the same decision.

The first feature we discussed was cost. Not a shocking starting point considering that people are still being very diligent with their expenses. For the purposes of conversation, let’s work with an estimate of 1,000 double window style envelopes. A standard version of this envelope in this quantity is approximately $59.53 while the self-seal version is around $80.16. At first glance this seems like a big jump in cost and the knee jerk response would be to go with the traditional. Before making this decision, however, consider that with a quantity of 1,000 envelopes the cost difference equates to around $.02 per envelope.

With this $.02 per envelope realization in mind, you might want to consider how these envelopes are going to be used. More importantly, how many of them will you use on a daily basis? If you will only use a few at a time throughout the week, you may be better off sticking with the traditional envelopes and saving that $.02 per envelope. However, if you plan to use all 1,000 in a single project that requires a fast and timely completion, that extra $.02 could save you in the long run. Take a moment and consider how much time (and taste buds) might be wasted if you have to moisten each individual envelope during this project. Now consider how much faster the project could be completed if all you have to do is fold over the envelope flap and press it to the envelope to seal it. Take another minute and think about how impressive your skills will appear to your boss when you complete the project in less time than expected. Suddenly that $.02 extra per envelope does not seem like such an expensive upgrade after all…

Holiday Hours for 2010

Wishing everyone a Happy Holiday!

Traffic Trends for the New Year

There have been quite a few articles and blog posts lately attempting to predict trends for 2011 related to building website links and what it means for online businesses. As with most things internet and technology related, just when you think you understand how it all works it changes! After sorting through a stack of reading on this topic, one article stood out to me above the rest as a succinct overview of the current speculations and what exactly they mean to those of us non-tech savvy individuals trying to build our business presence on the World Wide Web. Below is a brief recap of the points discussed by Kristi Hines, but I suggest you also can also check out the full article by clicking here.

Consideration #1 – Less keywords, more brand names

Due to recent adjustments in how sites are searched such as the Mayday changes the trend appears to be moving from keyword anchor text in favor of targeting brand and/or business names. One possible “pro” of this adjustment is that it could make management of your online business reputation easier.

Wondering what “Mayday Changes”  means? Click here to read more…

Consideration #2 – Quality over quantity

Following the social trends, searches appear to be moving to a quality preference rather than quantity. Think of it in Facebook terms – it’s not about who has 1000 friends, its about who has the highest quality of actively engaged friends. If the links to your site are low in number, but highly relevant you may still see better results than those sites with high numbers and less relevance. Choose your links wisely, my friends!

Consideration #3 – Authority over Rank

Ok. This one required me to do some terminology research, so let me see if I can recap in non-tech terms. The general rule of thumb has been to aim for a high PageRank to ensure that in a search your site comes up as close to the top of the list as possible. Various methods have been developed to achieve this and you could go through numerous cups of coffee trying to sort through all of them. The good news is that you don’t have to consume mass quantities of coffee understanding PageRank theories as the trends are moving toward page and domain authority to establish ranking. How is this different? Remember back in high school when your parents were concerned with the kind of kids you were hanging out with? Apply this parental concern to your website and the links attached to it. If the spammy crowd has adopted your site as its newest member, you will want to work on ditching them in favor of the class president type of links to establish your domain and page authority.

Wondering what “PageRank”  means? Click here to read more…

Wondering what “Authority”  means? Click here to read more…

Consideration #4 – Go beyond the home page

Whether you are sending traffic to your site from PPC or other sources, consider carefully where you are sending them. Your home page is a great place to start, but as we mentioned above the trends are moving toward quality over quantity and this applies to all scenarios. Getting customers to your site is a key objective. Putting them on a page full of relevant and useful product content is better! Investigate where your traffic is landing and see if you can tweak it to put them in more engaging area of your site based on what triggered their click interest in the first place.

Consideration #5 – Rank is cool, but conversions are better

For those of us still learning the ways of internet advertising and analytics, think of this as a sort of AP Course. Having high rankings for your site is great as it means more exposure to potential customers engaging in a shopping search. However, just being seen is not going to fill your bank account. Paying closer attention to the analytics details available from your traffic helps hone your efforts to convert a search into a sale. When you are placing your bids for keywords to boost your ability to be seen, keep in mind what terms customers are actually using in their searches. If you and the customer are calling the same product by different names, you are wasting your time, energy and money.

Consideration #6 – The relevance of Social Media

As mentioned earlier, things change quickly in the online world and social media now holds importance on many levels. There are the marketing bonuses of reaching and interacting with customers in a forum comfortable to them. Advertising options now exist in these media entities to reach new potential customers, as well. Adding to the bonus of these connections and advertising options, an active business presence in social media also counts as a positive sentiment for your company and/or brand. If you have not already investigated the use of sites such as Facebook and Twitter for your business, now might be the time to do so.

Of course, my usual disclaimer applies. This is information to consider and you should always take into account your business goals and needs before making major changes.

Easy Does It Marketing

I have recently encountered a number of people striking out on their own to make a living. As they begin their entrepreneurial journey, I have seen a number of approaches to making it work and thought that it might be helpful to share a few of the choices that seem to be helpful to these business newcomers. Please keep in mind, though, that these suggestions are based on a broad brush approach. Each type of business has different needs to address on the road to success. What a retail business needs to gain dedicated customers is very different that what a new plumber needs to get going. As you scroll through these suggestions, please keep in mind the kind of business you are building and whether these things REALLY fit your business model. As has been stated before, every penny counts when you are getting started. Spend the money on the things that are most likely to give you a return on investment. As your business starts to boom, you can add more wish list items to your expenses list and watch your dreams come to life!

Develop a company logo. It does not have to be flashy and you don’t have to spend a ton of money on it, but creating a logo for your company will help convey to potential customers what services you offer, as well as set you on the right track to develop marketing efforts. This logo can and probably should be used on as many pieces of company correspondence as possible to build continuity for you business. Think about it this way – if you are searching for a company to fulfill a shopping need, are you more drawn to those with logos or those without? My guess is that like most people, the presence of a logo helps to lend some perceived solidarity to the company you are checking out making you feel more comfortable that they are legitimate and safe for you to do business with. (If I am wrong, please leave a comment below and let me know how and why!) One last thing to note – if you are hiring someone to create a logo for you, have them make several versions in various sizes. The logo size needed for business cards and checks is going to be different than that required for advertising and other larger scale items.

Logo applications you should consider include business cards, letterhead, envelopes, business checks, websites, social media outlets and advertising. Before you get overwhelmed by all the places you need to stick a logo, take a deep breath and review which ones are REALLY going to be used in getting your company up and running. If company does not write a ton of checks or send loads of letters, you might be able to hold off on logo imprinting for these items at first. I would strongly suggest adding it later, though, as it will help to create visual continuity for your branding efforts. Is your company primarily web based? If so, your concerns with logo application should consider the needs for a website, blog, social media and PPC advertising efforts. For businesses on the go requiring a lot of driving to customers, you may want to investigate the magnetic signs. Yes, I know they are a bit old school, but until your company can afford those super cool vehicle wraps, this item can offer some basic mobile advertising without busting your start up budget.

One item that I would suggest for ALL business initiatives regardless of their direct or indirect contact with customers is the business card. You never know where you may meet your next big account and not having something as simple as a business card to hand out could cost you loads of potential revenue. They don’t have to be super fancy, just an efficient way of communicating your business and contact information so that they can check you out. Of course it goes without saying that you will want to get their card, too!

Again, keep in mind what your business goals are right now and spend your marketing money accordingly. As your company grows you can upgrade your efforts and add from your marketing wish list to maintain your business momentum. There is a reason that some small businesses last and others do not – those who stick around longest usually started with the basics and waited to get fancy until they had money rolling into their coffers.