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Who is Smallbizbuilder?
Trudy Van Buskirk, owner of Smallbizbuilder is a small business marketing coach, trainer, author, writer, and resource (she knows people, books, etc). Trudy has "do-it-yourself" products or can do the marketing she suggests for you. |
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Think About This Question .....
What do you do with YOUR "junk mail"?
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Do you have lots of "organizing ideas" but never get around to designing the forms you'll need to impement them?
I've already done some for you. You can start using them right away!
They only cost $9.95 each. Each comes with instructions. And the best part is that they're either done as spreadsheets in word processine program so you can use them repeatedly.
Check them out at the
Smallbizbuilder website under the button called "Products"
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It comes once a month from Trudy Van Buskirk..
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Greetings!
You should keep some 'junk
mail'. What did I say? You probably have a recycle bin close to the place where you check your mail
and
have
learned to throw your 'junk mail' in it right away. I'm telling you something a
little different. I want you to read it BEFORE you get rid of it. Keep some and
throw the rest away.
WHY? You have a small
business, don't you? You're always looking for marketing ideas, aren't you?
Read on to find out more about this 'radical' concept!
Read on to learn ...
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How To Decide What Junk Mail To Keep and What To Do With It.
Everyone receives what is called 'junk mail'. What do you
do with it? Do you throw it out or recycle it? Do you keep it and throw it away
later? Here are some business tips on what to do with it.
STEP 1. LOOK AT IT WHEN IT ARRIVES.
There are two kinds of flyers you receive. The flyer captures your
attention or it's terrible. If it's a good example of how you would like to
do your marketing then keep it. If it's lousy then either keep it as an example of what NOT to do or get rid of it.
How does it capture your attention? Is it the words?
Their font type or size? the font colour? the pictures? their colours? the simplicity? Is it something you want? or need? Is its timing right for you?
Remember that whether it's advertising a business like yours or not, it can be valuable and useful to you.
Ask yourself again why you stopped and read it.
STEP 2. PUT POOR ADVERTISING IN THE RECYCLE BIN.One of the best organizing tips I and others give people
is to handle your mail once. In it you probably receive things (cheques and
bills) that you need to keep,
Nowadays advertising produces a lot of "noise" so it's even more important to stand out. Keep a few of the "bad" junk mail you receive so you know what you DON'T want to do. STEP 3. HAVE A FOLDER OF EXAMPLES.Start a folder that you call "Marketing Examples". Start to collect flyers of all sizes, postcards, ads in the newspaper, brochures business people give you. The list goes on and on. Don't just put in the "junk mail" that comes to your mailbox.
STEP 4. LOOK THROUGH THE FOLDER WHEN YOU DEVELOP MARKETING MATERIAL - ELECTRONIC OR PRINT.Take out this folder with other material you've developed for your business whenever you are writing (or designing if you're a designer) anything new. Look at what you see for fresh ideas. Take these materials out of the folder and set them aside to use.
You may be printing AND/ OR sending out electronically (by email). a special. What about signage? Are you going to be in a trade show? Are you going to a networking event and want to pass something out? Maybe you're training and have a handout - this counts, too!
STEP 5. FOLLOWUP. FOLLOWUP. FOLLOWUP.I can't say that enough. Just as the most important thing to any home buyer should be location (and thus real estate agents always tell you this) then followup is just as important. If you can afford to do more than one ad or brochure or postcard then do it. Track what works best. In the online world, they call this "split testing". Even if you can't afford to produce more than one printed thing then ask others for their opinion BEFORE you send it out. Ask your business colleagues in the same business as you and those in a completely different business to see what they think. Hope this helps you to look at "junk mail" differently! I know that I do. Keep learning, and until next time. Trudy Van Buskirk |
Born To Read Book Review
CATS is the book for this
issue. From the front cover - "Companies don't innovate. People do." What a statement. Lundin is the coauthor of FISH! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results so when he came out with this book I had to get it. I haven't read Fish! yet but people I know like Anne Stone who owns Women in a Home Office raves about it.
As usual I own the book AND
and have read it.
CATS. The Nine Lives of Innovation by Stephen C. Lundin
Cats have nine lives and so does innovation.
Did Curiosity Kill the Cat? Lundin says that being curious is one of the components of innovation. Ask "why" something is the way it is when you see it. There are four basic challenges to innovation according to Lundin: distractions. normal, failure, and leadership and nine lives of innovation (CATS). He expands on these in subsequent chapters.
This book is filled with information and short accounts that you can use to set off the curiosity and creativity that's within each of us. You'll find boxes set off called "CATNip" with a question or statements to inspire you identify a different approach to an existing problem and boxes called "CATPause" with a question to make you stop and think.Buy this book and read it.
All in all, an easy to read (I read it in several chunks), packed with suggestions of what to do and how to do it - practically, and "CATPause" to give you pause.
Buy this book, read it and use it ...Buy this book and read it ....
Buy this book and read i
Buy this book and read i.Buy th
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A Quote For You ...."Life is not what you see, but what you've projected. It's not what you've felt, but what you've decided. It's not what you've experienced, but how you've remembered it. It's not what you've forged, but what you've allowed. And it's not who's appeared, but who you've summoned. And this should serve you well until you find what you already have." - Mike Dooley, Notes from the Universe
Trudy
Phone 416-778-7879 or email me at trudy@smallbizbuilder.com
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PRIVACY STATEMENT: I will not distribute your e-mail
address to anyone - ever. I respect your privacy and *do not* give out or sell
my subscribers' names and/or e-mail addresses.
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Reprinted from Inspired
Marketing by Trudy Van Buskirk of Smallbizbuilder, a f*r*e*e ezine published to
educate and communicate Tips, Tools, and Resources to build your business or
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