Posts Tagged ‘Should’

Should You Pay For Carbon Offsets When You Fly?

Should You Pay For Carbon Offsets When You Fly?
Most domestic airlines and many international carriers offer the option of paying for a carbon offset when you fly, but relatively few people take advantage of them. Is there any point in making flying more expensive, and does it make any real difference to the health of the planet? (more…)

Read more on Lifehacker Australia

10 things you should know about Microsoft Small Business Server 2011

10 things you should know about Microsoft Small Business Server 2011
Windows Small Business Server 2011 has arrived, bringing with it some significant changes. Erik Eckel discusses what’s new and explains some of the more complex aspects of this release.

Read more on TechRepublic

Where should strip clubs be located?

Where should strip clubs be located?
An ordinance that would govern where adult entertainment businesses could be located was discussed by the Williston City Commission Tuesday night.

Read more on Williston Herald

Opinion: Game Developers Should Love Their Pirates

Opinion: Game Developers Should Love Their Pirates
[In this Gamasutra opinion piece, London-based lead designer and producer Tadhg Kelly tackles the issue of making money in the face of piracy, offering tips and examples to help developers earn what they deserve, without the need for restrictive DRM.] I came across this video from Extra Credits yesterday. It’s about piracy, and concludes that although DRM (digital rights management) never works …

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How Colorful Should Your Color Business Cards Be?

Color business cards are so easy to create these days. This sparked one of the great debates today in the printing industry. What is the standard amount of color and level of ostentation that is needed in business card designs?

It is no wonder that plenty of people are questioning the advantages and disadvantages of having too much or too little color in proper business card printing.

What I can tell you about this is that it actually depends on your purpose and specific use for such advertising tool. There are different types to suit each purpose. You do not have to follow the prevailing norm about color in your marketing material, as long as the design suits the purpose.

As such, to help you out, here is my advice on the proper level of colorful design depending on the purpose and type of your cards.

• Your advertising business card – For this type, people believe that the more color they have, the better it is. Generally, this is a nice rule of thumb to abide by. Since this type of advertising material are repackaged flyers with a sales representative’s name on it, it is only logical for it to have the loud and colorful design that competes with all other promotional materials.

This type need to stand out and what more can you do but to print them in full color regalia, to the delight of most of your potential consumers. Such that if you are a sales representative, or if you want to advertise your products in your card, you should do not worry too much and let loose your colorful imagination into your advertising materials.

• Your professional business card – For the professional type, the general rule however is more formal. In most corporate environments, loud and colorful ones are always frowned upon. This is because it is usually considered a sign of immaturity to print a loud card. The more formal your card is, the better it is in this case.

Using simple, clean and minimalist designs are usually used in the corporate crowd, with only a few little embellishments, used as a sign of personality. This is the way to go, if you want to be respected and accepted within the circle of corporate culture.

• Your personal business card – Finally for your own personal type (as a freelancer or as an employer) the best level of color and ostentation really depends on your own taste. Opting to have a personal card means that you can really dictate how loud or how formal it would be.

The more colorful your card is, the more it gets attention. The more formal and simple it becomes, the more functional and formal it turns out. It is up to you to decide whatever you want since of course this is your own business advertising tool after all.

Great! Hopefully this should give you a general idea of the proper design conventions of each type of business cards, especially regarding their level of color. Just try to ask yourself what kind of card you want to have, and you already know what kind of design is ideal for that. Good Luck!

Learn about the developments in color business cards or business card printing industry.

Why You Should Advertise Your Business Online

Just about every small business can benefit from online advertising as there are just so many advantages to this type of advertising. It is extremely affordable to market your business online. You have the ability to reach a large target audience and the ability to tailor the marketing for your target audience. You have the capability to reach possible patrons all over the globe. We will explore the advantages of online advertising and how you might learn more concerning this worthwhile method.

The Affordability of Internet Marketing

A lot of business owners are turning to the Internet for advertising simply because it is affordable. Especially after you reflect on how many potential customers a small business owner can access with an online marketing campaign.

Reaching A Huge Target Audience

When you take your advertising to the Internet you drastically boost your potential target audience since you now have the ability to reach members of your target audience everywhere there is Internet.

Reaching Customers Around The Globe

Regardless of where you reside and conduct your business, you possess the capability to connect with those who have an interest in the products you sell or the services you provide no matter where they reside. This makes it achievable for you to do business with customers around the globe.

The Internet Is Available 24 Hours A Day

Small business owners who have an online presence are much more convenient to their customers because unlike stores, the website never closes. This expediency provides prospective patrons the ability to look at products and services and make a purchase at any hour of any day.

Just like there are no magical weight loss cures or ways to earn income from home without a great deal of effort, there is no one easy answer to ensure Internet marketing success. In spite of this, Internet advertising is not overly difficult and a lot of small business owners can enjoy at least some degree of Internet advertising success with only limited knowledge about the industry. A number of small business owners may have a great deal of difficulty trying to operate their business and manage their Internet marketing strategies. Outsourcing this work eases the load on the small business manager and will likely produce more favorable results.

If you are a small business owner who does not already hold a strong online presence, you need to immediately begin learning more about the world of Internet marketing. If your competitors are currently marketing on the internet, you may well find they are gaining a steady advantage. Before too many of your prospective customers become loyal customers of the competition it is time to start figuring out how you can advertise your business on the internet and keep up with the competition.

There are a variety of options for learning about Internet advertising. These options can consist of online research, reading published books and studying successful online marketing campaigns.

Researching Internet advertising on the world wide web can be very useful and can provide the small business owner with a good deal of advice and other information. However, it can also provide the business owner with a great deal of misinformation, so be careful about merely accepting information as being accurate, You may wish to substantiate the information prior to implementing an online advertising strategy.

Published books about Internet marketing offer a wealth of useful information. When selecting a book for use as research material it is imperative to seek out a book which received independent reviews and these reviews were positive. It is also important to seek out books which were published lately. This is important because the online advertising business is developing continuously and a book that was published only a few years ago may possibly be out-of-date and could lack information on some of the up-to-the-minute developments in the industry. The appeal of utilizing published books to learn about Internet marketing is you can keep the books on hand for easy reference.

Studying successful online advertising campaigns provides you with insight into your competition and what online marketing tools they are using. If your small business offers products and services in a specific niche consider entering applicable terms in prevalent search engines and studying the websites of some of the highest ranking businesses. This can provide you with a significant deal of insight into what these small business owners are doing which may be contributing to their success. Examining everything from their website design to their search engine optimization strategies and even the content on their website can help you to uncover why they are thriving. You must also consider how they are promoting their website which may possibly include banner ads, affiliate marketing programs or other types of promotion. Equipped with this information you can take the opportunity to put into practice your own online marketing strategy.

Rockand selectmen discuss what fire chief should be paid

Rockand selectmen discuss what fire chief should be paid
To attract the best men and women for the job, selectmen opted this to advertise the Rockland fire chief position for at least $90,000 per year, or possibly more depending on experience. The last permanent chief—Michael Sammon—earned $83,000 per year.

Read more on The Patriot Ledger

13 Marketing And Advertising Reasons Small Nonprofit Groups Should Use Paid And Unpaid Advertising

To make better use of your nonprofit’s organization’s resources; you need to put all your members on the same track to elicit maximum support from your community. You need to help your members understand why every meeting or event that occurs in front of the public is important. Simply put it is a chance to get the word out and build support for your organization’s causes.

To help move the organization along here are 12 reasons to always make the most of each event.

1. Potential Exposure – your nonprofit organization gets your message out to your immediate area and to

those not specifically concerned with your message.

2. Newspaper Credibility – A widely read and well respected newspaper circulation is usually in the

thousands and sometimes hundred of thousands and gets you great pr in one example when say starting a

nonprofit.

3. Guaranteed Inclusion – when you pay, you know exactly where and when the press release will be

released. This helps you increase the effects of your advertising campaign.

4. Competitive Advertising – If there is competition for your nonprofit mission or dollars you can be

highly visible at another organizations highest visibility time.

5. Branding – Allows your group to differentiate and clearly establish your own brand.

6. Membership Drive – Launch your membership campaign and gain additional members.

7. Newsletter Announcement – perfect timing to announce your nonprofits upcoming scheduled newsletter on a

wider scale.

Near Term Advertising Usage and Benefits

8. Special Target or Related Market Inserts – sometimes a magazine or newspaper has special inserts that

talk to your specific group’s mission or a related market. This will help you reach your targeted market with

an affinity message.

9. Advertiser and In Kind services support demonstrate to your potential or existing advertisers, business

owners, vendor partners ad supporters that they should partner with your organization.

Long Term Usage and Benefits

10. Ongoing Local Exposure – Press releases stay on the local newspapers websites for a long time in most

cases and this means an additional how many eyeballs will read it and get your message.

11. Continued Regional Exposure -once a press release is on the newspaper web site, you get to use it to

market your organization from the prestige of the newspapers’ name.

12. Extended National Exposure – Press releases found half way around the world get read by someone who

lived near your cause but has moved far away. They will still support your nonprofit mission from a far because

they care.

13. Your Nonprofit’s Website – You get to capture a major article and use it on your website to promote

your nonprofit mission which gives your website more credibility with your targeted readers.

So can one press release and advertisement help your nonprofit mission? Can it support all that is listed for a

small fee per eyeball? The answer is an emphatic yes.

Advertising and Small Business: Should You?

I worked in an advertising agency for 5 years and then in the advertising sales department at a radio and television station for another 4 years, and believe me, every client wanted to be on the front cover, above the fold, on during the Super Bowl, or air during rush-hour traffic.

For the bigger multi-national companies advertising was a no-brainer in many cases – it’s what they needed to do to keep up awareness of their brand and keep top-of-mind.

The answer for small business owners was a bit different. Some advertising opportunities were a good fit and made sense but many times, spending money on traditional advertising just doesn’t make sense. This is especially true if you provide your products and services to a large geographic area – not just a local location.

In reality, there are several things inherent in advertising that just do not make business and money sense for small businesses and service professionals.

1. Advertising is usually a mass medium

This means that advertising is usually aimed at everyone – it’s hard to just “talk” to a niche market with advertising. Because of the large focus of TV, radio, newspaper and magazines, small business owners can spend a lot of wasted money – advertising to people who aren’t in their niche target group.

2. Advertising is expensive

Because of the larger audience available via traditional advertising (think of all the people who watch TV and listen to the radio!), the costs associated are usually quite high. To produce, create and run a television commercial can run you in the 6 – 7 figures; ads in national magazines can costs in the tens of thousands and even radio commercials can be several thousand dollars.

3. Advertising doesn’t allow for frequent exposure

Due to the high cost of advertising and the limited space and time to purchase, it’s very expensive to advertise enough times to get noticed. We had a saying in the advertising world that you needed to have a 3+ frequency – this meant a person needed to see/hear your advertisement at least 3 times before they even barely noticed it.

In this media-saturated world we live in, where we’re bombarded with thousands and thousands of messages each day, advertising doesn’t get our attention like it did in the old days. If you can only afford to run one magazine ad or a handful of radio commercials, you’re really just throwing your money away.

4. Advertising doesn’t have the ability for strong follow-up and call-to-action

Getting someone’s attention is only the first step – you then need them to take a specific action, such as visit a website, pick up the phone, visit a location, and so on. Because many times small business owners can only afford a small ad, there isn’t the space or size to outline a clear call-to-action and next steps. Many prospects can be left not knowing what they should do next if they’re interested.

As well, follow-up is key to converting prospects into customers and the expense and lead time of advertising doesn’t allow for much follow-up at all. Again, prospective clients are lost due to advertising’s inability to provide follow-up.

Advertising has its place and can work for small businesses, but there are many more cost-effective and high-impact marketing strategies that you can employ to get a return on investment much quicker, effectively and consistently.

Should I Sell My New South Wales Business for Sale Privately?

If you are toying with the idea of selling your business you have a few decisions to make. Firstly are you going to advertise it everywhere or are you going to try and get a private sale without letting the world know that you want to exchange owners. They both have their advantages over each other and should both be considered in order to give you the best results. Firstly if you decide to let everyone know that you are looking to sell your company the word will get round much faster so that there is a much bigger chance that you will find the buyer much quicker. However, there are certain disadvantages that you may foresee if you globally let everyone know that your New South Wales business is for sale. One of these could be the fact that people would avoid using you because many people give up with their companies as they are selling them. This mainly depends on what type of business you are running, if you are doing something such as web hosting then people may look elsewhere because they cannot afford to have any downtime or lack in customer services while the transfer is taking place. More times than not this wouldn’t happen but not many people would like to take the risk as it could make them lose money.

If you feel this could potentially happen if you were to let your customers know that you plan on selling your company you could go for the private sale route. This is keeping it quite so that people won’t even know that the business has changed hands, thousands of companies are doing this every year and no one can tell the difference because it still operates in exactly the same way as it did before. The major disadvantage of this method is that it can take a lot longer to actually find a potential buyer because you cannot broadly advertise the fact that your New South Wales business is for sale in the normal places people advertise businesses for sale. Don’t get me wrong, there are still many different places that you can advertise it for sale so this method could be better for you, it jut requires more research but the you still would go about it the same way in the fact of giving the required information to potential buyers. If you can, you should get all your revenue figures beforehand because everyone would want to see proof of these before they invest any money in the company.

If you feel overwhelmed finding people and talking to them then there are methods which you can use to make it easier and more comfortable for yourself, professional advice can be found in many places. These will help you keep everything quiet and recommend the best places to advertise the fact that you are willing to sell up. Another hard task they can help you with is the asking price of your company, they will be able to look through the information and come up with an unbiased figure that is both fair to yourself and the buyer.

Make sure you consider advertising your company on the internet as well as locally, this will give you a better chance of finding genuine buyers which will no doubt speed the whole process up. It could also mean that you get more money than expected if you have people desperately trying to buy your business. Don’t be afraid of letting people know the reason for selling and don’t try to come up with false reasons as this may show and would deter many people from buying from you.