I Squidoo Do You?

Use Squidoo to promote your expertise in your field! You start by building a lens.

A lens is your view on a topic that matters to you and to your prospects. You share your knowledge, increase your profile and traffic to your website or blog.

It’s an easy-to-build, single web page that can point to blogs, favorite links, RSS feeds, Flickr photos, Google maps, your eBay auctions, CafePress designs, Amazon books or music, and much more. Now, when someone is looking for recommended information quickly, your lens gets her started and sends her off in the right direction.

It’s a great way to get free publicity for your business. I’ve just started using it and I’d love it if you’d check out my lenses and give me some feedback. Click on the Squidoo image above to check out my lenses.

Market Your Business with Your Ringtone!

Do you grope for your cell phone every time you hear one ring? Now you can use your cell phone ringtones to add an extra element to your marketing. You can have your business jingle play every time your cell phone rings. How’s that for free advertising? I don’t have a jingle yet but I’m thinking of writing one so my ringtone will give a jaunty commercial for Direct Marketing Rx.

Or create a ringtone for your top clients so you know it’s vital to grab that ringing phone and not miss closing the deal. I’m going to work on creating a ringtone for my key clients.

Maybe you just want to be able to identify your ringing cell phone. Half the time I can’t hear my cell phone ringing above the din of office noise, radios, TVs or everyone else’s ringing phone. I miss a call I was waiting for and get stuck playing phone tag. Cut through the frustration of not being able to distinguish your phone ringtone from the masses of generic ringtones with PhoneZoo.

PhoneZoo.com offers free personalized ringtones. You sign in and select your phone carrier and model of phone to insure you can download ring tones. All you need is a microphone for your computer and you can record your own ring tones. Hmmm, I need to go buy a microphone for my pc if I had one I can’t find it now.

And for non-business calls - there are fun ring tones you can use to alert you to calls from specific family members or friends. I have You Are My Sunshine play when my Mom calls me. Cute, huh? She used to sing that to me on Saturday mornings when I was a teenager to get me out of bed. I would get up just so she would quit singing…I’m not a morning person and dearest Mom is one!

I’d love to hear your business ring tone. Let me know how you like PhoneZoo.com.

May 1st is RSS Day!

I was slow to respond to this trend but now I’ve been won over. I check my Google RSS Reader and in seconds all my favorite blogs are right there. Categorized how I choose and I can scan or read what I want at my leisure. No pressure to hurry and read all my email. Here I get updates and take my time looking them over. And I don’t have to search out my bookmarked links.

Have your customers do the same for your Blog or website updates. Then they won’t have to bookmark the site and manually look for the link to see if there is a new post. Their RSS reader will let them know when something new is posted on your site. So they can find out about special promotions and new blog posts with almost no effort.

What is RSS?

RSS (Rich Site Summary or Real Simple Syndication) is a format for notifying interested individuals of changing web content on sites of interest. Many news-related sites, weblogs and other online publishers syndicate their content as an RSS Feed to whoever wants to know the latest info.

Why use RSS?

RSS keeps you easily informed up to the minute by retrieving the latest content from the sites you are interested in. You save time by not needing to visit each site individually and missing info on the ones you forget to visit. You keep your email from overflowing by not having to join each site’s email newsletter.

How do I set up an RSS Feed so I can get the latest info?

Feed Reader or News Aggregator software lets you grab the RSS feeds from various sites and display them for you to read and use. I use Google Reader which you can access through your iGoogle account. There are a lots of RSS readers out there for different platforms for Windows, Linux and Mac.

While you at it don’t forget to RSS my Direct Marketing Rx Blog! Click on the orange RSS button on the right sidebar menu.

How A $25.00 Gift Card Cost Me $78.00!

A friend gave me a $25.00 gift card. Once I was in the store I ended up spending an extra $78.00! Expensive gift for me…I thought I was getting something for free and ended up spending three times the value of the gift card. There went my budget…but it was sure fun. So speaks the shopaholic that lurks within me.

Get your customers to spend more by sending them a gift card to entice them into your store, restaurant, gym, auto repair, nursery or what ever business you operate. A gift card makes an unusual mailer that is sure to catch the eye. Dan Kennedy recommended www.ON-CARD.com in one of his NO B.S. Marketing Newsletters. It’s an innovative way to use direct mailers.

The cards are US Postal Service approved to go in the mail. According to the ON-CARD website the cards are slightly larger than a postcard, glossy and about as thick as a credit card with a detachable wallet sized gift card. You don’t have to worry about unopened envelopes with this intriguing direct mail idea. The front and back is customizable to whatever design you want.

Use the gift cards for special promotions, new product announcements, end of season or close out sales or maybe as a thank you for being a loyal customer. It’s an easy & unique way to get your customers to spend more. The potential uses seem endless and are sure to get attention.

Let me know if you use the card in a promotion and send me a photo of the card so we can all see what it looks like.

The Overlooked Office VIP!

Administrative Professionals Week is April 20^th – 26^th. Administrative Professionals are Very Important People in every office and unfortunately often taken for granted while working hard keeping the office operating without a glitch.

During World War II many women “manned” offices as secretaries, clerks and other positions to fill spots left by men off fighting in the war. Originally started in 1952 as Professional Secretaries Week (renamed in 2000 as Administrative Professionals Week) to recognize secretaries for their workplace contributions. It was also meant to attract people to administrative/secretarial careers.

Show your appreciation by rewarding your client’s secretaries and (don‘t forget your own clerical staff) the entire week. Start with a treat they’ll love: a day at a spa, a gift certificate to their favorite book or other store, a gym membership or chocolate is always a good stand by. And a meal is always appreciated: breakfast, lunch or brunch. It’s not too late to make time to show you recognize a job well done.

What is your favorite appreciation gift to give your Administrative staff? Let me know what gets the best results.

Unconditional Love is Possible!

Who can resist the unconditional love of a pet? Be Kind to Animals Week – National Pet Week is May 4^th -10^th. Keep the love alive with regular check ups.

Remind your customers to take care of their pets’ health. Provide pet gifts for you customers and have your logo on the gift so they think of you when Fido is happily playing with your present. Chew toys, cat nip and pet wear are welcome promotional giveaways.

If you are a veterinarian send out postcards for your patients’ owners to schedule regular veterinary visits. Consider offering customized pet care packages for dogs, cats, birds and any other animals you treat. If you offer pet grooming services offer special gifts with purchase.

Worried about the safety of your customer’s pets after all the stories in the news about unsafe products? For safe pet care products and edible treats check out http://www.petdreamers.com

I Mail, You Mail, We All Have Voice Mail!

Tired of the same old boring impersonal voice mail messages you hear…along with your own bland outgoing message? How would you like to have personal greetings for each of your customers on your cell phone? It adds to your customer service. Lets your clients know you remember who they are and how important they are to your business. Then you need to try YouMail.

Think of the marketing possibilities. You can make targeted offers for specific clients on your lists. You can record your own messages or use some of the free pre-recorded messages available on YouMail. Specific outgoing messages can be assigned to groups of contacts. Whether you are a sales rep, small business or other professional You Mail is worth trying out.

With YouMail you can check your voice mail online and choose to receive a text message notification of new messages. You can even set personalized messages for your family and friends so they don’t get stuck hearing your business spiel every time they have to leave a message on your cell phone.

I’m having fun using the personal message for friends and I have a new business message. The cool part is I can check and listen to my voice mail messages online after getting an email notification. You Mail even mentioned saving testimonial messages in mp3 format for your future use.

Let me know how it works for you (the kinds of messages you use) and the response from your customers. I’m not getting a nickel for sharing this nifty online tool so check it out.

Here is the link: http://www.youmail.com

Today is Elizabeth Ruiz is a Heck of a Lot Smarter than Everyone Else Day!

Dan Kennedy said today is Elizabeth Ruiz is a Heck of a Lot Smarter than Everyone Else Day!

Here’s why…as a direct marketer I know stuff others don’t. I thought it was common knowledge but apparently Dan says it’s a revelation to others. Not that I’m superior but about the following marketing tips:

• I know ROI- Return On Investment.
• I know message-market match.
• I know to get direct and immediate response.
• I know customer value.
• I know how to assemble an offer and put it in a sales letter.

The list of stuff I’ve learned from Dan Kennedy— its amazing how the overwhelming majority of business owners have no clue about these things. I had assumed they all knew the things I know.

According to Dan I need to take a minute here, smile and congratulate myself. And I need to get somebody to pat me on the back. I should observe some business ignorance today and snicker. Feel superior. I am! Woo Hoo. Not often I can say that!

I’ve invested time and studied and searched and learned, so Dan Kennedy says I deserve to feel superior. So I will walk around today basking in my own brilliance and pitying the poor, clueless fools I see all around me. I don’t want to be an arrogant jerk all the time. But every once in a while, I’ve earned it so today is the day I mention it!

Even Protest Groups Market Their Message Online!

Are you in the Stone Age with your marketing efforts? A protest group in England used an innovative way to get people thinking about the dangers of a coal fired power plant.

Instead of the usual picket line they posted a video as an April Fools prank that still gets people thinking about environmentally friendly power over coal burning.

How can you use video to get the word out about your business? Check out this nifty video that’s thought provoking and funny to help you think up some ideas. Watch the video: Drink Ev Eon