Using Scratch Cards as Promotional Items


The history of scratch cardsIt was in the seventies that the original scratch card was created. An American organisation was responsible for the very first card, which was computer-generated, but it was not until the eighties that the idea was patented. Scratch cards are popularly used by lots of different organisations such as charitable firms and other businesses that use them as part of their promotional marketing campaign. They do not necessarily need to be purchased. If you open a magazine you may find a scratch card that has been given away by a company to promote their products. Because they can be created using a PC they can be produced in large numbers and on demand. Although they can be used for promotional purposes, they are one of the most popular gaming products around the world such is the nature of their popularity. The basic idea that lies behind scratch cards is that 3 identical symbols should be scratched off and matched although some have become so advanced that they are similar to more complicated games such as monopoly, for instance. What a typical scratch card looks and feels likeA scratch card is instantly recognisable.

It is small and rectangular and usually very colourful and so quite attractive to the eye. A scratch panel will be found on the surface of the scratch card which can be removed with a coin or something similar to reveal the symbols that must be matched. The reason they are popular is because they are visually attractive and can produce a win without a great deal of effort. The rules can be written on the back so that the player is familiar with what is expected of them, and these should be written simply so that they are understandable.

If you find that you have not won you can then go and see where the symbols were that would have allowed you to win. Using scratch cards to promote your businessThere are some very reliable scratch card producers that will allow you to design your own game and scratch card panel which you can use to promote your company and draw interest to your product. You could even gear your scratch card to enable someone to win one of your products and get people talking about what it is you produce. You could give your scratch cards away through magazines or in newspapers or even as a fun game as part of a corporate gift bag. Scratch cards are long established but are an original idea that you can use to promote your business and raise your company’s profile significantly.

Showcase Your Hats With Hat Display Fixtures


This article will discuss five major ways on how to exhibit your hats and caps properly promising that you trade your hats in no time. There are a variety of factors that one needs to regard in arranging the area of the inner retail space, especially if the present space is not large to start with. Getting the right cap displays and determining the right position for these hat display fixtures will one way or another affect the success of your cap business. Easy Access to customers. It can be really convenient for your customers if your custom cap display fixtures could be easily seen. Cap display stands should be in a location where clients often move past. Precise positioning of your exhibit racks is one of the key strategies in pulling up your margins. In doing so, these are likely to make your caps or hats be rather prominent if they are placed in cap display stands and can be easily tried on by the customer.

Space management is often a challenge when it comes to determining the appropriate position for your display racks. Planning on where to place these racks is crucial. For you, as a merchandiser, you would certainly want to optimize budget and minimize other unwanted costs. These racks need to be strategically placed in areas and in a manner that they will not look crowded. Remember, the key here is to attract more customers. And crowded display racks are one big turn-off. They are so definitely not conducive to consumer spending. Arrange the caps in accordance to the type of target clients. Hats can be fairly lined up according to age, gender, application, whether these are for activities or for fashion. Kids hats presented in custom hat fixtures can be grouped together in an area near by the kids’ dresses. Place a mirror near these cap display stands. The clients would wish to see their reflection and confirm if the cap suits them and include a cap or more to their purchase. The mirror could be placed on top of your display racks, ideally in the centre or depending upon your creative taste when it comes to arranging products on shelves and racks.

Discounts. Placing a sign displaying discounts on hat display fixtures is still effective in drawing customer’s interest. Discounts one way or another dictate the way the customer behaves. While these discount tags are strategically placed on your custom hat fixtures, they are going to be so favorable for spending and that customers might want to add these hats in their purchase Put posters of celebrities near custom hat fixtures. This is the merchandising strategy that can be translated to greater market returns of profit margins. This is to retain a long lasting memory to the client as soon as they purchase the hats exhibited on your racks. This is what you call receptivity. Posters improve your product line. Anything which goes with a pleasurable and efficient representation of something like a famous celebrity donning the exact same brand exhibited on your racks can make the product more appealing.

Handling Complaints


No company can avoid it completely. Eventually you?re going to have a customer come in who?s angry with you.

There simply isn?t a way to please everyone, but how you handle a customer who?s mad can do a lot to ease back any potential damage and improve your standing with them in the end.

The first steps are the most basic and can be done before that angry customer ever walks through your door. Creating a friendly office environment will do wonders to prevent any further hostility when a person first walks in. The simple gestures like printing greeting cards or other ways of acknowledging them says from the very beginning that you care about their business and the troubles they?re facing.

Make sure you listen to exactly what the complaint is based on the assumption that the customer is justified in being angry. Don?t jump to any conclusions until you?ve heard everything they have to say.

One of the most important things is to make sure that you don?t confront emotion with more emotion. Stay clam and collected and also be sure that you let them know that you care about the issue they?re bringing up. If you sound too cold and detached they?ll only become more agitated, and if you return their hostility with any of your own, the situation is going to get a lot worse.

Once the problem is known make sure you come up with effective solutions, no matter what the problem may be. If it?s something on your end, do your best to offer them different ways to make things right.

Make sure that you handle everything yourself from beginning to end. Nothing can annoy someone more than the feeling that they?re being passed around from one person to another. I?ve had to deal with it before just as I?m sure plenty of other people have and it isn?t a pleasant feeling. If they know that you?re going to get to the bottom of the issue they?ll be a lot more confident in your companies ability to handle complaints.

Once the initial meeting is over make sure that you follow up with the person. Using postcard printing in combination with postcard marketing to send a response directly to them letting them know that the issue has been taken care of will help coax them into coming back to do additional business with you.

The follow up is particularly important due to the opportunity it gives you. By using postcard marketing you?re taking a greater effort to show them that you care about their concerns, which will not only make them happy, but also give you a person willing to tell their friends about how effectively you handled the situation.

So long as you aren?t surprised when those complaints do pop up you?ll be in a much better position to answer them. If you go above and beyond by printing greeting cards and using postcard printing you?ll not only solve the problem, but gain a strong customer base at the same time.

The Best Online Paid Surveys That Pay You For Your Opinions


Online paid survey is a great avenue for those who want to earn extra cash from home during their spare time. Hundreds of people are doing it. However, you do need to find those that actually pay you cash. Be careful of those fake ones lying around on the Internet.

How do you find the best online paid surveys that you can trust?

Well, you can use the search engines to find them but this is a very time-consuming method. You?ll be wasting time trying to find them instead of spending time filling out surveys and earn money. So this is not a good approach.

The more reliable way to find the best ones is through Paid Survey Directories. These are sites that provide you a long list of reliable companies that actually pay you for your opinions. They will charge you a small one-time fee but it?s well worth it because you?ll have full access to a long list of companies. These companies have also been pre-screened for their paying rates and reliable service.

These companies who pay people for filling out surveys online value their customer opinions and feedback. They use customer feedbacks to create better products in the future and hope to gain more market share. So, as you can see it?s a WIN-WIN proposition. You give them your opinions about their products or services, they pay you for your time.

We have searched through the Internet and tested many online paid surveys, most of them have low quality list of companies that you don?t want to associate with. They just want your personal information, they don?t pay you for your opinions.

But after tested many sites, we have managed to find 3 best online paid surveys that have reliable companies. They also update their databases on a regular basis, meaning that new companies are added periodically. So, you?ll never run out of surveys to fill.

Hope you find this article useful. See link below for the 3 best online paid surveys available on the Net right now!

The Right Choice Of Color For Your Collaterals


The right colors do make a difference not only in your merchandise but on your marketing collaterals as well. Color gives your brochure printing for one, the look of elegance and value. While the wrong color can make it look unappealing and tacky, too much or too little of it can make your marketing brochures definitely look cheap.

Studies have shown time and again that the human eye is conditioned to recognize colors that look like they do not belong in the group. So if you want your brochure printing collateral to be effective, a more subdued palette would work better than a flashier one. In addition, you must be able to provide one that reflects your core brand. This means that if you are into children?s items for example, marketing brochures that have pastel colors in it will indeed appeal to the younger audience and of course, to their parents.

Although it is better to know the importance of your choice of colors, it is another story to choose and use shades to your advantage. To have the best colors in your marketing brochures to emphasize your brand is vital if you want to be effective. Here are a few suggestions then to turn what you know into definite actions that would make your palette more effective than ever:

Determine your choice according to your brand.

The color menu of your choice reflects your brand identity. And it is not something that you can have right away. The best way to go about it is to have repeated rounds of testing in your brochure printing to ensure that you have the most appropriate palette that will work for your image. If you are a traditional company then subdued color backgrounds and silhouette shots of your stuff can do very well in featuring them in your brochures and catalog printing. On the other hand, a much younger competitor may use a color design that exudes an edgier and hip look in their background and photos.

It should be consistent with your message.

Do not be tempted to use color just because you know for a fact that it makes your collaterals look more attractive. It is one thing to choose your colors; and it is another to adhere to the principle even if your choice does not add to your collaterals? effectiveness. This just means that you cannot choose your color on a whim. If it does not emphasize your message, do not use your color. And if it makes your products fade instead of stand out, definitely, you should select another palette. The key is to establish your shades with the main purpose of your collaterals in mind ? to sell.

The importance of white space.

?White space? is crucial in directing the eye flow in your marketing brochures. The element ensures that each of your products gets its fair share of attention. The ideal balance to your marketing collaterals is to have strong content along with a great design and graphics. When you break up your information into small chunks, you allow your readers to easily digest and understand what you are trying to say. How you position your graphics is as important as the way you write your copy. Do not put too much and too many that your readers would have a hard time getting to your message.

Using your colors effectively can keep your brochure printing consistent and fresh. Your choice of palette ensures that you provide a brand identity that your readers will be able to connect with, and at the same time, provide them with something that they would feel excited every time they see your collaterals.

Does Squidoo Lens Creation Really Work?


Nowadays, if you have been reading the SEO news, you will notice that the term social bookmarking is one very common technique you might have heard so many times in the internet marketing world. These are the proven strategies people are using to drive traffic to their websites. Squidoo Lens Creation is one more, which is massively used in SEO these days. Squidoo is a fairly new company built-in 2005, but it?s already created huge changes in the way people do SEO. Now, it has become one of the more common ways in SEO services.

What Exactly the Squidoo Lenses Do?

The Squidoo site is all about sharing knowledge. The first people on the site used it as FAQ?s or DIY guides for a variety of things. Meanwhile, it?s your chance to show how much you (or at least the people writing for you) know about your niche. With a professional-looking Squidoo lens (a ?lens? being an individual page on Squidoo), you could make you and your company look like experts or the authority for your niche.

Now, imagine if you could combine that kind of promotion with links that point to your site. Remember, Squidoo is now one of the most popular sites on the Internet. It?s a killer combo that will attract both customers and better search engine rankings – if you make your lenses well enough, that is. It all boils down to the quality of the lenses that you upload to the site.

Creating Effective Squidoo Lenses

There?s no ?correct? or ?prescribed? formula for Squidoo lens creation; most of the SEO guys out there developed their methods through trial and error. It?d be a lot quicker and more practical if you were to just get the services of an established professional SEO company to create each lens for you. Not only will you save yourself the trouble of going through that trial and error process, but you?ll also make sure that your lenses will get made right, right away.

Most online marketing companies have their own system and methods for creating lenses for Squidoo. Each one has a unique blend of optimized content and other SEO techniques in order to give maximum results. You may want to use trial packages for two or three different service providers if you don?t have one of your own yet.

Don?t Just Rely On Lenses

A common mistake of many online marketers is to get Squidoo lenses and nothing else. If you?re going to work with a professional SEO company, ask them about their packages that combine Squidoo lens creation with other SEO services. Keep in mind that SEO works best when you integrate several techniques together into a cohesive strategy instead of using them one at a time.

You could, for example, get services to promote your own Squidoo lenses, which in turn promote your site. This little trick magnifies the effect of using the lenses alone, making for results that become visible quicker. The SEO Company you?ll work with will probably suggest some of their article marketing or link building services in conjunction with the lenses.

In the end, Squidoo lenses can be effective if used properly and done the right way. You could jack up the output from your lenses by using them with other SEO techniques. The best idea for using lenses would be to get a reliable SEO company that could integrate all those for you.

Coffee Mugs As Event Promo Items


All year round, many companies have certain events or occasions that they observe. During such events, companies like to take advantage and reward their employees or gift their clients with promotional items. Coffee is one of those beverages that many people cannot do without and is very popular in workplaces and at home. Because coffee is very popular, coffee mugs are widely used and this makes them one of the most ideal items for promotional campaigns. Coffee mugs can be used very effectively for promotion at events because of their versatility and durability. Coffee mugs are a great way to add color to your event and advertise your business and you can give them to your vendors in conferences, trade-shows and are promotional items that can be designed very quickly unlike other items. The advantage of promoting with coffee mugs is that this is a promotional item that will keep your company logo in front of your clients for a whole day every day of the working week. Mugs are handy and functional and apart from the fact that they are used everyday, they are items that can easily be transported from place to place conveniently. Thus using them as event promo items is a great idea because of the above factors. They also come in a wide range of shapes and sizes and this makes them very suitable for any promotional event that a company might want to host.

A company can use giveaway promotional coffee mugs to observe a specific occasion so that the guests will recall the event and the affiliation with the company will result in business for the company. Giving away mugs at company event promos such as tradeshows, product launches, company corporate events and exhibitions is a great way to build a brand image. Such giveaway gifts will always create a positive impression in the minds of clients. This always gives any company leverage with present and future clients. While the cost of such promotional campaigns should never be a factor, they are actually not expensive and the fact that they are cost effective makes them much more viable for use in advertising and marketing a company. Companies can take advantage of the wholesale prices available to purchase coffee mugs in bulk and cut costs further. This is because the cost of purchasing the coffee mugs and having them customized largely depends on the number of mugs you order, the quantity and how many colors you will use to get the coffee mugs customized to your liking.

What is important is that you will not lack a price that fits your budget and whether you go for the more expensive brands or the cheaper brands, coffee mugs will serve you well as event promo items. When you giveaway mugs at event promos, they serve as a symbolic souvenir of something precious that will not just be kept away after being it has been received as a gift. Instead it will go ahead and give your company lots of publicity and this will gradually but steadily build you’re the image of your brand because a coffee mug is an item that has to be used quite regularly. With your company name and logo on the coffee mug, when a customer picks it up at the event promo, it is not the end of acquaintances. It is in effect the beginning of a mutually beneficial business relationship that will last a long time because anytime the customer thinks about a business that you are engaged in, they will first think of you because the coffee mug is always in front of them.