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Showing posts from December, 2018

Gain the Mouth-Watering, Competitive Advantage

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In 2011, Matt Salzberg was a restless associate at a Silicon Valley investment firm. He and his friend Ilia Papas wanted to create a business and were intrigued by food. "We both loved food," Salzberg said. "We liked trying new ingredients, new recipes, new techniques, but we found it really inaccessible to cook at home. It was expensive, time-consuming and difficult to find recipes that we trusted." The duo tried a few ideas before landing on the one that became Blue Apron: give people an easy way to make dinner using chef-recommended recipes and the fresh, precisely measured ingredients they'd need. With 20 friends beta-testing the product, Salzberg immediately realized they had a winner. Beyond rave reviews and contagious social media sharing, they had undeniable momentum: "Pretty much from day one we've had steady exponential customer growth. I think the moment we did our first week of deliveries we sort of knew that we had a business

How to Keep You and Your Team Motivated and On Task Before, During, and After the Holidays

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The holiday season is upon us yet again, which can be either a good or a bad thing depending on your perspective. On the one hand, it's a great opportunity to reconnect with all of those friends, family members, and other loved ones that you may not have had as much time with as you would have liked throughout the year. On the other hand, your attention is constantly being pulled in about a million different directions - which can have bad implications in terms of your business' productivity. But, in truth, the holidays don't have to kill the momentum you've been steadily building throughout the year. If you really want to keep yourself (and your team members) on task before, during, and after the holidays, there are a few key tips you'll want to keep in mind. Separate Your Work and Home Lives as Much as Possible We've written in the past about how important it is to maintain a work/life balance, but it is especially so for you and your team

4 Print Marketing Trends to Inspire You in the Year to Come

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Print marketing is compelling, memorable, and engaging. As people touch, hold, and even smell paper, they respond in a profoundly personal way. While digital communication is booming, this has only enhanced the unique voice that print brings for any business. Millennials and Gen Z are very difficult crowds to reach digitally, with 63 percent using AdBlocker and 82 percent ignoring online banner ads . This trend toward tactile is stirring potential for many exciting creative opportunities. Today, we'll highlight four print marketing trends from 2018 to inspire you in the year to come. Simplicity The world is filled with chaos, and fundamentally, viewers long for a return to simplicity. Minimalist designs offer the respite people crave. Minimalist designs include images with a clear, elegant purpose, maximizing white space and using layouts that are clean and authentic. Uncluttered visuals bring an honest, compelling point into focus in a quick and arr

7 Gifts that Delight (But Won't Break the Bank)

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Tis the season to be gifting! What is a gift? A gift is not comprised merely of what is given, but of the thoughtfulness or care that is behind it. A gift is appreciation on wheels. December is a great time to show your appreciation. Whether it's seasonal incentives, end of the year bonuses, or a just a friendly reminder that you care, here are seven unique (but inexpensive) gifts that your customers or employees will love: Favorite Flavors If you have a small staff or a handful of VIP clients, dig up info on the hobby or flavor of their choice (coffee, chocolate, classical guitar) and personalize a basket to their delight. Or if you know your friends enjoy golf, assemble a kit including items like towels, ball markers, balls, and tees. Use a stylish bag that can clip easily onto their golf bag. Or assemble a sports tote full of goodies featuring a college or professional team of their choice. Touchscreen Gloves Gloves are both a necessity and a perk,

Why You Should Serve, Not Sell

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Social media is an increasingly dominant medium for modern communication. According to facts from the Pew Research Center and the Hootsuite Social Media Barometer Report 2018: There are now 3.196 billion people using social media (up 13% from last year) 11 new people start using social media each second, which is about one million people every day 88 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds say they use social media The total number of mobile phone users is 5.14 billion (up 4% from last year), which means people are increasing in their social media accessibility As you look to grow your digital reach in conjuction with your print campaigns, social media is an obvious choice to feature ads, products, and (let's be honest), to feature yourself! But, how well does this go over with consumers? Not swimmingly. Take a quick scan through the business posts you see online. How would you best summarize these? Does the content bring an encouraging word to you, the reader

How to Use Customization to Gain Customers

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Coca-Cola is a brand built on scenes of enjoying life together. Coke has worked tirelessly to promote not only its product, but the message behind it: that sharing, or gathering family and friends together, brings happiness. "Enjoying a coke" is the message in every ad, every culture, and every medium Coke communicates through. The company's 2014 "Share a Coke" campaign was one of its memorable marketing initiatives in history. That summer, Coca-Cola removed its iconic logo on 20-ounce bottles and replaced them with 250 of the country's most popular names. Consumers were encouraged to find bottles with names that held personal meaning and to share them with others or post photos online with the hashtag #ShareaCoke. Within the first year, more than 500,000 photos were posted. Consumers ordered over six million virtual Coke bottles, and Coca-Cola gained roughly 25 million Facebook followers. A Distinctly Personal Experience What did Coke

How to Use a Clear Call to Action to Convert Customers

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"The maxim 'Nothing avails but perfection' may be spelt shorter: 'Paralysis.'" (Winston Churchill) Have you ever wondered how lion tamers keep wild cats nearly three times their size at bay? While methods have evolved over the years, traditionally lions were subdued by three tools: a whip, a stool, and a handful of tasty snacks. While the whip or snacks make sense, perhaps you wonder why a stool was used (instead of a sword or a flame, for example)? How can a small piece of furniture intimidate the king of all cats? The truth is, the lion is not afraid of the chair, he's confused by the multiple points on its legs. Cats are single-minded creatures, and the bobbing points of the chair legs confuse the lion into a less focused state. When the lion loses its train of thought, it is distracted from the instinct to pounce on a weaker opponent.  Muddled Communication Can Paralyze Your Prospects Ever try to rush your kids through b

Print: Use Faces to Command Viewer Attention

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Did you know that humans are the only primates with eyes that contain a white sclera around the dark iris and the pupil? Consequently, unlike our animal counterparts, we have the ability and tendency to follow each other's eye gaze, to pinpoint precisely what someone is focusing on, and even to read into the emotion behind a viewer's eye. This also gives us an innate ability to sense when we're being looked at or to hastily avert our gaze in awkward moments. Eye contact plays a crucial role in human communication, and faces have an incredible ability to command a viewer's attention. Imagine yourself walking down a busy street in a large city where you don't know anyone. Suddenly, among a sea of faces, you spy a family member. Among hundreds of people, you can immediately recognize one individual and you have a strong emotional response. Why is this experience so powerful? Scientist Nancy Kanwisher identified a special part of the brain called t