Technology & The Web | Martin Print Blog

March 11, 2013

STRAW FOR BRAINS
The Business Owner Who Believed
His Potential Customers Were Fools

The baffling opinion came from out of the blue, and everyone down at Smokey Joe’s Small Business Bar was taken completely by surprise.

We were all quite happily chatting and laughing about the latest collection of spelling mistakes and grammatical howlers on Smokey Joe’s new Bar Snacks menu, when Flash Harry suddenly piped up with one of the most ludicrous statements that I’ve ever heard.

“You know, I should be rich beyond my wildest dreams by now,” he began.
“But the problem is that all my potential customers are stupid. It really is very frustrating, but there’s not much that I can do about it, I suppose.”

As a few of the regulars spat out mouthfuls of drinks in disbelief, Flash Harry took the opportunity to expand on his theory.

“You see, I’ve been promoting the most amazing offers over the last few years. Absolutely unbeatable stuff which only a fool would ignore. But unfortunately, that’s exactly what most of them do!
“Hardly anybody out there has the brainpower to understand how good my offers are. It’s such a pity that my target audience don’t have a bit more intelligence. It’s not much fun dealing with a bunch of idiots!”

It took me a while to absorb his words and get my breath.
It was certainly true that Flash Harry did run some pretty incredible offers which should have pulled in truly sensational results.
But despite the strength and quality of the offers, they were actually turning out to be disappointing flops.

Flash Harry was now rather lamely trying to shift the responsibility for all this onto his target audience – which was an utterly futile approach as his audience couldn’t actually do anything to fix the problem.
The true responsibility for this failure lay entirely on Flash Harry’s shoulders, and he was the only person who had the power to find a solution.

The offers were actually of quite a complex nature, and Harry simply wasn’t communicating them effectively enough to his potential customers.

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Posted In Business Clinic, Creative Marketing, Customer Care, Email Campaigns, Email Marketing, Entrepreneur Zone, How-To's and Tutorials, Marketing Secrets, Offline Marketing, Online Marketing, Promotional Material, Social Media Marketing, Video Campaigns, Website Advertising

March 07, 2013

JUST ONE MORE THING…
Why the Upsell is one of the Easiest and Most Effective Ways of Gaining Business Momentum

There’s every chance that the last time you made a major purchase from a big store, you weren’t simply allowed to pay for your goods, smile politely, and head for the exit.

No, that would be way too easy.
It’s far more likely that the store assistant paused during the transaction to push another product or service in your general direction.

The classic Upsell Technique in motion.

Some customers may find this a little bit annoying.
I’m certainly not keen on the new policy that they’ve introduced down at the Sweet Pastry Shop just around the corner.
I used to be able to just buy my sweet pastry, thank the assistant, and then get on with the rest of my day.

Now I find that I can’t even get my hands on the pastry until the assistant has finished asking me if I’d like to upgrade to a Mega Jumbo Sweet Pastry, or if I’d have any interest in buying an extra-frothy cappuccino and a slice of peach melba cheesecake to go with my snack.
It takes him so long to get all this nonsense out of the way, I usually have to eat a couple of my own Business Cards just to try and keep my hunger at bay.

But does the Upsell strategy always have to be quite so infuriating?
Are you at risk of driving away your clients by aggressive Upsell techniques, or is this a golden opportunity which is far too good to throw away?
And do we have to upsell our actual products and services anyway?
What if we could ‘upsell’ something else of genuine worth to our business?

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Posted In Business Clinic, Creative Marketing, Customer Care, Customer Rewards, Email Campaigns, Email Marketing, Entrepreneur Zone, Offline Marketing, Online Marketing, Social Media Marketing

February 28, 2013

STEPPING INTO THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS CARDS
Why New NFC Cards Will Deliver an
Extra Digital Dimension to Your Business!

Brand new NFC Business Cards are coming very soon from Martin Print…
And here’s a quick taster of why this Next Generation Business Card is going to unlock all kinds of thrilling new digital opportunities for the 21^st Century entrepreneur…

Business Cards may have been around for literally hundreds of years, but the new NFC Microchip presents the biggest and most radical shake-up to the enduring format for at least four centuries.

Of course, I still believe that the traditional Business Card will continue to play a crucial role in solid business marketing for many, many years to come.

Whilst some experts predicted that the traditional card would quickly get replaced by virtual electronic equivalents in the digital age, this has proved to be far from the truth.
A reassuringly physical card is always going to pack more promotional punch than a virtual blob of code floating aimlessly around in Cyberspace.

But what if you could have the best of both worlds?
How about a stylish and stunningly designed physical Business Card crammed with incredible hidden features and functionality which can be unlocked with just a quick tap from a Smartphone?

The NFC Business Card is destined to become the fashionable new format of the future which provides this extra digital dimension to your Business Card.

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Posted In Business Cards, Entrepreneur Zone, February 2013, Mobile Phones/Smartphones, Newsdesk, NFC Business Cards, Offline Marketing, Online Marketing, Print and Design, Promotional Material, Technology & The Web

February 25, 2013

THE CURSE OF THE NEVER-ENDING EMAIL
Why Most Business Emails are Far Too Long
– and How to Trim Down Your Own Email Content!

Ping!
A new email from a business associate! Great stuff!
I wonder what kind of intriguing secrets and exciting new revelations will spill out onto my monitor screen when I click on the mouse button to open it up…

Ah. Yes. Hmm. I see. Right. Hmm. Yes. Hmm. It’s going on a bit. Hmm. Yawn. Zzzzzz……

You may be surprised to discover that the overwhelming majority of Business Emails are in fact way too long.
We may supposedly live in an age of instant communication, but many of us still seem determined to try and slow everything right back down again!

Overlong emails may seem perfectly harmless to some.
They could reasonably be viewed as being comprehensive, or wide-ranging, or even just downright friendly and chatty.

But these emails can also deliver a crushing blow to your daily productivity.
On a very obvious level, they can take far too long to read.
But they can also lead to long-term confusion, panic, and gloom.

After ploughing bravely through a particularly complex and long-winded email, the recipient may well be left unsure as to how they are going to respond and which points actually need addressing.

Some readers may find the size and scope of an email to be so daunting that it ends up getting put on the backburner to be answered during a quieter period. So, by writing an overlong email, you could realistically just be shoving yourself right to the back of the queue!

Perhaps most worryingly of all, the most important and critical points of a lengthy email can end up getting missed altogether if they’re buried somewhere in a rambling message that’s about the same size as a short novel!

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Posted In Business Clinic, Customer Care, Email Campaigns, Email Marketing, Entrepreneur Zone, How-To's and Tutorials, Online Marketing, Staff Management, Technology & The Web

February 21, 2013

THE CREEPING HORROR OF THE BLANK PAGE!
How to Nail Your Marketing Content
and Overcome the Fear of Copywriting

The chills! The nightmares! The lurking terror!

When you’re trying to dream up your next slice of compelling marketing copy, nothing conjures up more dread than the sinister sight of a blank page in need of filling up with all the right words in all the right order.

Whether you’re attempting to compose enticing new marketing content for a Flyer, a Brochure, an online advertisement, or even a simple but effective Post Card, the journey always begins with that same single blank page on your screen.
But how and where do we really get started with our crucial copywriting?

It’s funny how a completely empty page has the power to incite so much panic and distress in the minds of perfectly rational people.

Even after all this time writing regular articles for the Martin Print Blog, I still find that first step to be the most daunting of all;
Getting past the blank page!

Of course, the longer it stays blank, the more terrifying it becomes!
It’s all too easy to sit at your desk and stare miserably at the screen whilst chewing a whole packet of pencils, drinking coffee by the gallon, and getting tied up in increasingly tougher mental knots.

Conjuring up the right words from thin air is never going to be an easy task.
You may well have endless ideas and goals and thoughts and concerns and points and phrases, all jostling around in your head at once!
Then again, if you’re having a particularly bad day, you may have nothing at all to work with. Just a mind seemingly empty of any good words, and that blank page staring right back at you and making everything worse by the second!
AAAARGH!

But let’s not panic.
Here a few basic steps and pointers to overcome the initial terror of crucial business copywriting, conquer the fear of the empty page, and pull out the perfect words for your next marketing communication…

CONTINUE READING

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Posted In Brochures & Catalogues, Business Clinic, Content Bombs, Creative Marketing, Email Campaigns, Email Marketing, Entrepreneur Zone, Flyers/Leaflets, How-To's and Tutorials, Marketing Secrets, Offline Marketing, Online Competitions, Online Marketing, Print and Design, Promotional Material, Social Media Marketing

February 14, 2013

DON’T FEED THE TROLLS!
How to Respond to Negative Feedback
and Unfair Online Criticism of Your Business

“RAAAAAAARGH!”

The whole team froze as that horrifying familiar roar echoed around the winding corridors of Martin Print H.Q.

To the untrained ear, it may well have sounded like the war cry of a monstrous creature on the rampage.
But we all knew from crushing experience that it was far, far worse than that.

Old Bert, our resident caretaker, had been let loose on the internet again…and he was venting his fury at the online Trolls.

But has your Business ever become involved in a long-winded and ultimately pointless battle with the fiendishly provocative creatures that lurk in the darker corners of Cyberspace?
And just how do you defeat the nasty internet Trolls?

Old Bert is currently running a Barn Dancing Class on Thursday evenings, and he recently enlisted the help of our tech-savvy Martin Print designer, Josh, to help him promote the new venture online with Social Media pages and Message Boards.

Unfortunately, poor Old Bert’s perfectly innocent promotional updates have been targeted by the hate-fuelled beasts of the internet!

Every single time he posts an update or a message for the benefit of his new Barn Dancing gang, he comes back to the computer to find a string of abusive new comments relating to the pricing of his classes, the quality of his lessons, the style of his haircut, and the inevitable aggression in his defensive responses.

I’ve advised Old Bert a million times that the best course of action here is to simply ignore those messages that have clearly been engineered by people with way too much time on their hands, and who are only trying to stir up trouble.
After all, rule number one is;
You don’t feed the Trolls!

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Posted In Business Clinic, Customer Care, Customer Complaints, Entrepreneur Zone, How-To's and Tutorials, Online Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Technology & The Web

February 12, 2013

TAKING THE WRONG TURN IN CYBERSPACE
Avoiding the Pitfalls and Busting the Myths of Online Marketing!

“Yes, if I admit it myself, I’m pretty much on the cutting-edge of business marketing. It’s all online these days, you know. Did you know that?

“Yep, the internet is the future of great business and I’m proud to be a part of the new digital revolution. Traditional marketing is a thing of the past. You need to be online like me if you want to start pulling in the results these days.”

Oh dear.
I’d popped in for a quick quiet drink down at Smokey Joe’s Small Business Bar, but the peaceful ambience had been rudely disturbed by the noisy arrival of Flash Harry.

Don’t get me wrong, he’s not a bad bloke, really. But he’s one of those slightly annoying people who talks at you instead of talking with you.
He very rarely absorbs anything you have to say to him. I’m not entirely sure that he even remembers what it is that I do for a living.
Whilst it’s very thoughtful of him to sit right next to me and give me woefully vague advice on the power of online marketing, he’s probably forgotten that I’ve been running an easy online printing company for over ten years.
Maybe he thinks I just pop into the Small Business Bar every now and then to help Smokey Joe fix the jukebox.

Another problem with Flash Harry is that he likes to think of himself as a world-leading expert on everything, despite his painfully obvious lack of deep knowledge or insight on his chosen topics.
For example, he was now attempting to deliver a fuzzy lecture on how he had become the Grandmaster of online marketing, and why his internet-based business was so incredibly successful.

But to be honest, I wasn’t entirely convinced.
The thing that really gave the game away was when Flash Harry asked if he could borrow some money to buy a few drinks, as business had been a little slow over the last few months…

I’m sure every Martin Print Blog reader is already acutely aware of the importance of building up a strong online presence for your brilliant Small Business.
But do we sometimes overlook a few of the finer details of great online marketing?
And are far too many Business owners making the same common mistakes and falling into the same black holes of Cyberspace?

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Posted In Business Clinic, Creative Marketing, Entrepreneur Zone, Facebook, Google+, How-To's and Tutorials, Marketing Secrets, Online Marketing, Running a Business Website, Search Engine Optimisation, Social Media Marketing, Starting a New Business, Technology & The Web, Twitter, Website Building

February 11, 2013

SHOOTING HOOPS FOR YOUTUBE STARDOM!
An Incredible Video Starring the World’s Most Amazing Basketball Toddler!

Today on the Martin Print Blog,
I just have to share a jaw-dropping short video which is already well on the way to becoming a global viral sensation.
It just might be one of the most genuinely inspiring videos you’ll see this year…

YouTube is naturally bubbling over with endless home-made videos filmed by proud family members, in which we see cute footage of little toddlers running around, learning new skills and tricks, getting into arguments with the dog, falling over, and generally giving viewers a good laugh.
But the video below goes the extra mile to deliver something a little bit special…

For just three wonderful minutes, we follow the sporty exploits of 2-year old Titus, as he begins to hone his burgeoning Basketball skills and faces increasingly tough challenges along the way.
It’s an engaging visual demonstration of talent, determination, and quite staggering winning results!

Actually, a few years back, I decided to have several Basketball hoops installed throughout the winding corridors of Martin Print H.Q.
It was supposed to be a high-spirited attempt at keeping the team fit and healthy and active as they dashed around the building.
After all, who could possibly resist grabbing the opportunity to shoot a quick hoop on their way to the canteen to stuff their faces with pickled onion sandwiches?
I really felt that I was onto a winner.

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Posted In Creative Marketing, Entrepreneur Zone, Online Marketing, Technology & The Web, Video Campaigns, Video Marketing, Weird & Wonderful

February 07, 2013

DANGER! SMARTPHONE AT WORK!
How to Protect Your Business From the Security Risks of YOUR Mobile Phone

Hmm. An unattended Smartphone.
Stand back everyone, this could get very dangerous…

In recent years, the good old mobile phone has gradually earned a trusted spot in the pockets of our everyday lives.
In fact, some of us even seem to treat these funny little gadgets as vital new body appendages which leave us distressed and confused whenever they suddenly stop functioning!

But could some Small Business owners be in danger of overlooking the very serious security threats posed by these innocent devices which we use every day without a second thought?

I’m reminded of a certain entrepreneur who pops into Smokey Joe’s Small Business Bar nearly every week.
Timothy is very rarely seen without a mobile phone in his hand.
I’m not even entirely sure why he bothers to call into the Small Business Bar, as he never has the time to chat with any of us. He’s usually far too busy having an intense business discussion with somebody else on his Smartphone, or tapping away furiously at the touch screen as he clinches another incredible deal.

However, despite his obvious attachment to his beloved little gadget, Timothy still insists on casually leaving his Smartphone on the bar whenever he has to nip off for a moment.
Now, we’re all a trustworthy bunch down at Smokey Joe’s Small Business Bar, but if just one unscrupulous stranger happened to walk through those doors during a busy period, then Timothy could very easily lose that mobile phone in a matter of seconds – along with all his crucial contact details, business information, and highly sensitive data.

I did politely question him over this sloppy behaviour a while ago, but I only managed to get five words out of him before his attention wandered right back to the immersive world of his Smartphone screen.
“Relax,” said Timothy. “It’s just a phone.”

Perhaps this indifferent attitude perfectly sums up the problem that we’re facing in the age of the Smartphone;
It’s just a phone. We use it every day. It fits snugly into our pocket. We talk to friends and family on it. What’s the big problem?

Well, perhaps the real security risks arise when the distinction between personal life and business life begins to get a little muddled.
The trouble is that a Smartphone isn’t really just a phone at all. It’s a computer.

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Posted In Business Clinic, Entrepreneur Zone, How-To's and Tutorials, Mobile Phones/Smartphones, Online Security, Technology & The Web

February 04, 2013

THE FASTEST GROWING SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM IN THE WORLD
Which Social Networking Site Saw the Biggest Rise of the Year?

Is your Small Business taking every advantage of the fastest growing Social Media platform in Cyberspace?
And exactly which one of the many Social Networking sites made the biggest and most dramatic leap in active users over the last year?
Place your bets now. The answer may just surprise you…

I posed this very question down at Smokey Joe’s Small Business Bar over the weekend, and offered a free drink for the first person to come up with the right answer.
As you can imagine, hands suddenly started flying up all over the place as everyone began to shout out their answers in a frantic bid to win the prize.

A few younger members of this entrepreneurial crowd felt sure that the crown for the Biggest Rising Social Media Site of the Year would naturally belong to one of the relatively new platforms which still had a lot of growing-up to do.
Perhaps the much-hyped Google+ or the visual innovations of Pinterest?
But they were wrong.

Most of the regular drinkers at the Bar concluded that it was more likely to be the kind of platform that had been around for a little while and was already a huge success in its own right, without ever really reaching the interstellar heights of something like Facebook.
This line of thinking included such notable names as LinkedIn and Tumblr.
But they were wrong.

One shrewd entrepreneur was certain that he knew the right answer.
In fact, he felt that I’d thrown everybody a bit of a trick question.
We all know that Facebook is the undisputed leader of the Social Media pack by several million miles…but this guy reckoned that Facebook had gained even more ground over the last year to further widen the gap.
He was so confident of triumph that he oven ordered his winning free drink at the Bar.
But he ended up paying for it himself, as he too was wrong.

Facebook may still be the King of Social Media, and of course it does continue to grow in popularity every day.
But in terms of the biggest and most significant growth of active users over the last year, Facebook could only manage second place.

So, which Social Media platform is now the official fastest growing success story on the planet?

Well, the answer is…

CONTINUE READING

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Posted In Archives, Creative Marketing, Entrepreneur Zone, February 2013, Marketing Secrets, Newsdesk, Online Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Technology & The Web, Twitter