Judge a book by its cover...

Posted on August 09, 2007 by Jeff Sanchez.

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We all do it...walking through a bookstore or browsing a website an attractive and enticing book/magazine cover always can draw us right in, no matter what the content may be. The blog Cover is now dedicated to the art of book cover design. Several recently released books are stacked up against each other based solely on their cover designs.

Take a gander to see if your favorite summer reads are in there and which books you would take a pass on. Other designers and industry professionals provide great two sense, also. Start judging.

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August 9, 2007 in award winning magazine, Award winning publications, Brand enhancement, Building B2B Relationships, Building Customer Community, create newsletter, creating newsletter, Custom email, Custom publication, Custom publisher, Custom publishing, Customer Intuition, customer magazine, customer retention, email marketing solution, email newsletter marketing, Email Newsletter Outsourcing, Email newsletter template, email services, how to publish a magazine, how to publish and promote online, how to publish online, how to write a newsletter, how to write and publish a paper, magazine design, magazine publishing, Marketing Communication, marketing magazine, marketing newsletter, Newsletter Marketing | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Hitting Two Birds With One Stone With SEO

Posted on June 13, 2007 by Kevin G.

It appears that even Google and Yahoo’s search engines can be consolidated in one main service. The search engine, SearchBoth.com allows users to simultaneously search on the Google and Yahoo search engines on the same screen.

The interface is easy to work with and search results are easy to navigate through. Powered by Yellow Pages Corp., it seems to be the easiest solution to win leverage against the two internet powerhouses. Check it out.

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June 13, 2007 in award winning blog, award winning magazine, award winning newsletter, Brand enhancement, build credibility, Business editorial, Business relationships, Corporate Blogging, create newsletter, custom newsletter, Custom publication, Customer Intuition, e-newsletter, Educating Clients, Educating Prospects, email marketing solution, email services, Newsletter Marketing, newsletter outsource solution, Newsletter ROI, Print newsletter | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Keep Your Company On Target: Top 3 Lessons Learned from the Target Corporation

Posted on May 31, 2007 by Kathryn Regina.

The Target Corporation has a loyal customer base whose enthusiasm has become somewhat of a cultural phenomenon. From the pet name Tarzhay (a “French” pronunciation of Target) to the scores of shoppers professing their love for the red bull’s-eye, Target is a force to be reckoned with in the discount retail industry.

In her book On Target: How the World’s Hottest Retailer Hit a Bull’s-eye, author Laura Rowley expounds on Target’s business and marketing strategies. And although the book is retail-centric (and at times a bit promotional), I think it offers some valuable insight into what makes a business—any business—successful. The following are my top three lessons learned from the Target Corporation.

Lesson One: Take the best of both worlds

Die-hard Target shoppers will adamantly dispute the idea that Target is “just another discount store” like Walmart or Kmart. How has Target so effectively differentiated itself from its competitors? They did it by taking the best elements of a high-end department store--a clean well-lit sales floor, stylish products and friendly customer service--and tailoring those elements to fit a discount store.

“’Before I was a professor, I worked at a housewares distribution company which sold to Target,’ said Michael Levy, a professor of retailing at Babson College in Massachusetts and co-editor of the Journal of Retailing. ‘They always paid a lot of attention to detail. Their stores always looked a lot better than the discount store competition. Even though the shelves were stacked a little higher and the displays were not as slick as department stores, they looked more like department stores in those days than the sort of dark, dingy look of a discount store (On Target, p11).’”

Consider your chief competitors, and companies that provide high-end services in your industry. What are the most attractive elements of their offers, and how can you integrate those elements into your business in a realistic, manageable way? Take the best of both worlds and you’ll make your customers feel like they’ve hit the jackpot.

Lesson Two: Design is king

From the basics of product selection to larger decisions about its marketing campaigns, Target takes design very seriously.

Tupperware chairman and CEO Rick Goings: “I think they are looking for brands that really draw people into Target stores.  If you compare them to some other retailers, they have a fairly narrow product line that they show in any category in Target, but it’s usually brands or product categories where there’s a panache to it, or a design element (On Target, p23).”

Following the iMac model of “show, don’t tell” Target ads and commercials are visually compelling, with very little text. The bulls-eye logo is so strongly branded that the Target name is usually not even included in advertisements.

“This is the ultimate emotional connection,” says Mark Gobe, founder of the branding and design firm Desgrippes Gobe Group, “when your message is so powerful and so unique that visual expressions can stand alone (On Target, p58).”

Lesson Three: Partner with people who are experts in their fields

The “do-it-yourself” method seems like a frugal choice for home owners, but it isn’t always the best financial decision for a business. So when Target decided to join the e-commerce market, it turned over its Web operations to Amazon.com.

“’I think [the Amazon deal] gives them an edge,’ said Cynthia Cohen of Strategic Mindshare. ‘You can create your own infrastructure for e-commerce, hire people, teach them—but that is expensive and time-consuming, versus going to somebody whose core competency is e-commerce. Amazon already has this knowledge—so [Target is] buying the knowledge—their dollars versus their time frame, their risk. This isn’t entirely risk-free, but Target is reducing risk by using knowledge from a company whose core competency is e-commerce (On Target, p76).’”

Whether you’re trying to break into e-commerce or start a custom publication, partnering with an expert can increase efficiency, reduce risk and optimize results while sparing your company the cost of internal time and resources.

Visit Laura Rowley.com


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May 31, 2007 in award winning blog, award winning design, blog publish, Blogs, Brand enhancement, build credibility, Building Customer Community, Building Customer Intuition, business credibility, Business Marketing, Business relationships, Corporate Blogging, Customer Intuition, customer retention, E-Marketing, Email Marketing, email marketing solution, grow relationships, Marketing Communication, marketing solutions, nurturing relationships, online marketing, publish, Strategic Internet Marketing | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Obama Focuses Attention on Telemarketing and the FTC

Posted on May 23, 2007 by Kevin G.

It may not be the topic of global warming or the war in Iraq, but presidential hopeful, Senator Barack Obama, offered his concern on telemarketing to the elderly.  The FTC and databases like Infousa.com are mentioned in his statement.  Read the full article here.

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May 23, 2007 in blog publish, Brand enhancement, build credibility, Building B2B Relationships, Building Customer Community, Building Customer Intuition, Business editorial, Business relationships, Company publication, Corporate Blogging, create a newsletter, creating newsletter, Custom email, Custom publishing, Customizable publication, electronic newsletter, email marketing solution, email service, grow relationships | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

The Latest Strategy for Spam: Hijacking

Posted on April 25, 2007 by Kevin G.

Spam messages infest our inboxes and inundate filters on a daily basis.  It seems to be a continuous war of programmers vs. spammers. 

According to Commtouch’s 2007 Spam Trend Report, 85-90 percent of all emails are sneaky spam messages.  According to the report, the newest and most prominent form of spam aims to hijack the likeness of a legitimate email message.

The early forms of spam were easy to spot from subject lines using the seven words never to use in email marketing.  Now they carry the likeness of a normal message with a mixture of images and text.  Since most email service providers track an opened message from images populating, the average spam will now have an image at the top to fool spam filters.

When the newest methods of filtering are developed and integrated, they are already outdated by the continuous cycle of spam sophistication.  It seems like an endless rat race to stay on top.  You can read more about the newest trend in spam messages here.

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April 25, 2007 in build credibility, Building B2B Relationships, bulk email marketing, Business relationships, create newsletter, Creative emails, direct email marketing, E-Marketing, e-newsletter, Educating Clients, Email blast, email marketing campaign, email marketing solution, grow relationships, How to do a Newsletter, html email newsletter, Interactive Marketing, opt-in email, Opt-in Email Marketing, Strategic Internet Marketing | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack