An adroit mixture of everyday settings and extraordinary events.
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A compendium of strange-but-true recent events as reported in the legitimate press.
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The world of business and finance gets skewered, as Bottom Liners tackles subjects such as foreign takeovers, office policies, getting a raise, and the fast-paced world of Wall Street.
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A wry look at the absurdities of every day life.
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In today's complex world of family issues, learn from Dr. Dobson's lifetime of practical experience in dealing with family problems.
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Take a lesson from the Census Bureau.
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A Positive Light
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To Fry or Dry? (That is the Question.)
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Sell Your Site Offline
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A Message From CCPRESS.NET, Inc. |
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One Smart Old Dog
If you’ve ever been surrounded by a bunch of young pups who make you feel old, here’s a humorous little story to put some pep in your step and remember that with age comes wisdom.
One day an old German Shepherd becomes lost in the woods while chasing rabbits. He notices a hungry panther approaching him, so he immediately lies down next to a nearby pile of bones. As the panther is about to attack, he says loudly, “Wow, that panther was delicious. I wonder where I can find another one.” The panther looked terrified and slinked back into the trees, relieved thinking he escaped the killer dog.
Meanwhile a squirrel who had been watching from a tree catches up with the panther and spills the beans about the farce. Furious about looking like a fool, the panther says, “Hop on my back and we’ll teach that old dog!” The German Shepherd sees them coming and just when they get close enough to hear, he says “Where is that squirrel? I sent him off an hour ago to bring me another panther!”
Here’s the way I see it: If you can’t beat ‘em, use your experience to outsmart ‘em! Stop by next time you need help creating print materials that will keep you one step ahead of the competition.
CCPRESS.NET, Inc.
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Idea of the Week |
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Customer Surveys That Inspire a Response
Customer response forms, whether they are surveys or feedback requests, are an invaluable part of your company’s go-ahead plans. The feedback you receive helps to drive your marketing and product improvement efforts. But, if these response forms are not pleasing to the eye, and easy to use, your customers will be more likely to throw them away than fill them out.
 If you are preparing your company’s survey or feedback forms, take a lesson from the U.S. Census Bureau. In 1995, while they were beginning preparations for Census 2000, they spent time rethinking the effectiveness of the Census forms in creating a desire to participate. They realized the forms were unappealing and hard to follow, and because they wanted to generate a 100% response rate, they needed to find a way to boost people’s desire to participate. What they came up with was a fresh look that combined fact gathering and encouraging language with a fluid design and color scheme.
While the sheer volume of participants in the 2000 Census make this project seem irrelevant to the information gathering of a small company, there are many things that can be learned about form and function from the Census design.- Keep your design simple.
- Use colors that set people at ease.
- Consider the use of rounded shapes and lines, which are more appealing than rigid boxes.
- Inform the participants of the value of their responses.
- Make your form a safe place to divulge information.
Customers want their voices to be heard. When you ask them questions about themselves, you are giving them a place to participate in the future decisions of your company. Presenting your request for information in a way that makes them comfortable and eager to participate will increase your response rate and ultimately, your bottom line.
See more great ideas like this!
Click here to visit the CCPRESS.NET, Inc. Ideas Collection.
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Marketing Tip |
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Dealing with Negative Feedback
Social media, product reviews, and online message boards are a great way to communicate openly with customers, and allows customers to communicate with each other as well. However, when you open up the lines of communication, you must be prepared to deal with negative feedback that may occur. Here are a few tips on how to stay on the positive side of negative comments:- Respond in a positive manner. Adding more negativity to the conversation by letting yourself be drawn into a fight with a customer will only reflect poorly on your business.
- Avoid corporate lingo and use a more conversational tone.
- Turn negative comments into teaching moments, but also be ready to take a conversation offline for resolution.
- Quickly resolve any complaints and reestablish credibility with your customer by offering refunds, discounts, gift cards, or coupons for future purchases.
- Negative feedback shows that your customers are listening, and helps you create better products and fine tune your marketing messages.
- Maintain a constant online presence to neutralize negative conversations and quickly delete any inappropriate comments.
- Always take the effort to thank those who took the time to provide you with a suggestion or comment.
- Your willingness to consider different perspectives makes your social presence and content much more believable. Negative feedback provides credibility and tells customers the retailer is confident enough to show a range of customer feedback.
Look to us next time you need help creating marketing materials that will put your company in a positive light.
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Tech Tips |
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Recover Your Computer After a Spill
If you’ve ever spilled liquid on your electronic gadgets, you know the gut wrenching feeling can be overwhelming. Here are a few recovery tips that may help save your gadget should you ever be faced with such a beverage soaked disaster:- Take action quickly. Start by unplugging your device or removing the battery. If it’s a keyboard, disconnect it from your computer. Liquid will create short-circuits inside your electronics, so unplugging quickly will improve chances of recovery.
- Evaluate the damage. If it’s just a few drops on the keyboard, pry off the surrounding keys and wipe them down with alcohol swabs (it’s a good idea to buy these and keep on hand before you need them) to prevent a sticky mess.
- If the spill goes beyond the surface, use a tiny screwdriver to carefully open the device. Be careful to save screws and label them so you know where they go when you put everything back together. Take photos on your phone or digital camera if you are worried you won’t know where to put things back together.
- Clean soiled areas with alcohol swabs and allow device to air dry completely, since cloth or paper towels can leave behind lint. If you use a fan or blow dryer to accelerate drying, do so from a distance and use a low-heat setting to avoid warping the circuit board.
- Once all pieces are clean and dry, carefully put everything back together, and refer to your photo if necessary.
If you’re looking for a secret stash of innovative printing ideas to help promote your business, give us a call today. We’d be happy to spill the beans!
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Uncommon Product |
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Promote Your Site with a Web Card
Believe it or not, many people still do not have access to the internet or are computer-challenged. Because this audience will not likely seek out your website online, a “web card” is a great way to highlight your site benefits and entice readers to visit.
Web cards are a versatile print marketing tool to help promote your website. Because the internet experience level of your audience may vary, web cards are a great unique way to announce a new (or re-designed) web site to your web savvy audience, and can also help pique interest among those who are new to or still learning how to use the internet.
A web card can be mailed as an oversized or folded postcard, as an enclosure in a standard #10 business envelope along with a cover letter, displayed in public areas, handed out at trade shows, enclosed in packages, distributed by partners, and handed to customers and prospects that are browsing or making a purchase.
When creating a web card, keep the message simple and define the primary benefit of your website and direct readers to it by using colorful visual images. When created to mimic the design of your site, web cards can highlight functionality and new features of your website. For example, a car dealership’s web card could show your home page and say, “Check out photos of new vehicles, view pricing, and get detailed information instantly.” If you want to highlight multiple site features, consider creating subsequent web cards that can be mailed to your mailing list over several weeks or months, which will also increase your top of mind awareness.
If you’re looking for other innovative ways to market your web site, give our creative team a call today!
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