According to Forbes Magazine, it is the fastest growing company in the US. It focuses on customers signing up to be included in a daily email with special offers on spas, movies, hot air balloon rides and so much more. In order for the deal to be active, it must have a minimum number of participants.

The program will feature speaker, Dale Takio discussing who makes a great Groupon customer, who should include this new medium in their strategic marketing plan, and the successes/failures of various clients.

Register today to attend!

This year to do my 1099 paperwork and subsequent reporting to the IRS, I used a new website called OurEFiler.com.

It allowed me to do everything myself and submit it to the IRS for a small fee of only $3.99 each. This is a great solution for a small business who only has a few forms to fill out.

You should definitely check it out!

One of the most tempting things you will come across when you are working on your new website is to wait until the site is perfect before launching.

It is so easy to get into the mode of throwing something at a designer and expecting them to see what is in your head and when the perfect result is not achieved, tweak on the design endlessly.

It is important to remember that after a couple of tweaks, changes become billable and can be costly. In the graphic design industry, this is commonly known as the client ‘using you as their wrist’. This style of project scope creep is very common and can bleed your marketing dollars from your budget in very little time.

Time and time again, you may want to yell,”BUT WAIT! I NEED TO MAKE JUST ONE MORE LITTLE CHANGE!” not realizing that your ‘little change’ can take hours to accomplish.

So long as the design is professional, it is advisable some times to just launch the site and tweak on it as you are making money. That will give you a chance to see how your clients interact with your website and make more informed decisions as to what should be changed that will actually help you make more money.

It is a great gift for me because as anyone who knows me can tell you, I can get only two places well when left to my own devices: The Mall or Lost.

The tom tom was so convenient and portable, I even took it with me on a business trip to Vegas. After my business obligations were fulfilled, we jumped in the rental car and sped along our merry way. What I found so interesting is that when the GPS gave explicit directions to turn left or right, my husband sometimes insisted that we go his way. Of course, that led to a few u-turns and laughs.

I wonder if the voice on the GPS had been a male voice, would he have followed the directions a little more closely? Hmm…..

When developing a logo there are a few things to keep in mind.

Design for your demographic
Hello Kitty is pink for a reason. Their targeted demographic are very girly girls. The shape is round and non-threatening and works well on a coloring book as well as a plush toy. Had Sanrio developed a brown cat in camouflage, it would have been inappropriate for that demographic. They selected the appropriate shape, image and color that would appeal to their base audience.

A logo is not a brochure
Developing the skills of an editor is not an easy task. It can seem like a really good idea to add a person, a guitar, the ocean, the clouds, the sun, the stars…your mom to your logo. However, if you keep it simple, you leave the opportunity to add more elements to your website, brochure or postcards.

Develop for multiple uses
Your logo will be used on a multitude of items from pens to business cards to websites. A good logo will need to be adjusted to accommodate the medium. If you select a full color logo and you need a doormat for your store, you may need a “one off” logo in one color that will work with the rugs. Make sure that your logo can work in different one color scenarios.

According to their website, the Klout Score is the measurement of your overall online influence. The scores range from 0 to 100 with higher scores representing a wider and stronger sphere of influence. Klout uses over 25 variables to measure True Reach, Amplification Probability, and Network Score. The size of the sphere is calculated by measuring True Reach (engaged followers and friends vs. spam bots, dead accounts, etc.). Amplification Probability is the likelihood that messages will generate retweets or spark a conversation. If the user’s engaged followers are highly influential, they’ll have a high Network Score.

Welcome to the nex gen of page 6.

However, you can’t have a database of clean, active contacts until you have reviewed everyone and archived or deleted inactive clients. In my experience, this situation causes many sales people to become a character out of Hoarders.
EVERY contact must be saved because SOME DAY they will buy something.

Unfortunately, days, weeks and years go by and these prospects are never contacted and they never buy anything.
They just collect database dust and take up valuable room in your CRM.

It is important to periodically archive your inactive prospects because when you begin a direct email campaign, you can waste valuable dollars sending emails to prospects who:

• Don’t want to buy from you
• Aren’t a qualified and viable prospect
• No longer work for that company
• Are out of business completely.

Emailing to these inappropriate prospects can affect the overall quality and success of your overall campaign. The goal is to send a relevant message  to a qualified prospect.

No Means No

Originally the sign read:
Quiet Please-Audio recording in progress.

Then Sales Guy 2 decided to bust in during the recording session. When asked why he decided to interrupt the recording session the response was,” The sign only said to be quiet. I was quiet.”

Hence the edit and current verbiage.

I was watching the History channel the other day and saw how archeologists use various methodology to discover how different civilizations collapsed; like Machu Pichu.

What you may not realize is that your customers are using similar methods to discover your level of professionalism from something as simple as your work email address. Here is what your customers think when you email them from an account from a free provider.

• AOL: doesn’t know how to use the internet or is uncomfortable with technology
• Hotmail/Yahoo: signed up for the account in the 90′s
• Gmail: Knows how to use computers better than the AOL guy; but why is he emailing me from home?

Keep in mind that companies like Google will even let you use their interface by masking the domain so that you can use your domain, but the gmail software. There are both free and paid versions of this application.

In order to look like a pro you should use an email address that matches the domain  of your website. This presents a more consistent branding message and makes you look like one of the big guys.