A reader has asked to see some examples of email designs that I have done. Right off the top of my head here are examples I have recently produced with four very different formats:

Sacramento Zinfandel Grille This one’s really cool. It’s the birthday card I designed for the Sacramento Zinfandel Grille eClub. When it gets emailed two weeks before a person’s birthday, it is personalized for that individual and includes their birth date in the email headline.

Like everyone, I get dozens of pieces of junk mail a day.

99% of the messages are clearly junk … but every once in a while a message I need, or want, gets tossed in the can.

It’s a good practice to check your junk mail box at the end of each day. The one message that doesn’t belong there could be important. Then toss the rest as tomorrow’s another day and there will another batch of junk email awaiting you.

Poochie needs to stop by a fire hydrant.

It’s simply criminal that greedy people have caused Mr. and Mrs. Main Street to lose their jobs … homes … savings … retirement funds … investments.

I could write volumes about this subject, but in the interest of not chewing up too much of your time, or mine, I’ll try to be short and to the point.

Suffice it to say, I’m like most people … somewhat panicked, but really pissed off. I’m not an anarchist, by nature, but it’s time that people in this country stand up and speak their piece.

About the upcoming election

The election won’t change anything but replace a lame president with someone else. Neither candidate has the influence to pressure the people who wield the most power in our society … big business.

Stop the golden parachutes!

It should be the law that if you are responsible for your company being taken over or provided support by the government (we, the taxpayers), you walk away with nothing. Golden parachutes should be reserved for successful business people, not those who are sent packing because they’ve raped their companies and investors. Former heads of companies are being paid big time as they are escorted out the door. This just isn’t right.

(more…)

Anyone who has taken Econ 101 should know that there’s only one reason to be in business … to make a profit.

Profit is what you have left over after accounting for all expenses “including” wages paid to yourself and any family members that work in your business, but before you account for taxes.

When you create your financial plan, your projected profit should be at least 10% including an allowance for contingencies. After all, if you simply took the $100,000 (or much more) that you were going to use to start a business and put the money in CDs (Certificates of Deposit) you could make somewhere around 4% per annum. From an economic perspective, there is no reason why you should make less.

From a human point of view, there are reasons why many people consider owning their own business. The number one reason, and this certainly hits close to home, is that you don’t have to work for some jerk who really doesn’t give a darn about you. If you are the boss, and make bad decisions, you have only yourself to blame. We also think we can choose a better work schedule (as a self-employed person my work schedule more often than not is 7 days a week) and we can make more money working for ourselves. This sounds good in theory and often works out well, but not always. My guess is that 80% of self-employed people actually make less than people doing the same job working for others … especially when you consider fringe benefits, paid vacation, health insurance, 401k plans, etc. It’d also be nice to get a regular paycheck, complete with overtime.

Don’t pay taxes on money you don’t have!

If you account for your income on an accrual business, you can make a profit and pay taxes but have no cash because of a hefty amount of accounts receivable (money due from people who haven’t paid you). If your business is more cash and less inventory-based, you may want to consider keeping your books on a cash basis because you generally will pay income on the money you received. You should make sure and check with a qualified accountant, not bookkeeper, for advice on the best method for your accounting.

(more…)

I ran into an old friend yesterday. With the lousy market and all, he asked me how things were going. Of course, I told him business was tough.

My friend said that he had spoken to a realtor earlier in the week who he asked the same question. The realtor replied: “The real estate business is down by 70%, but I’m doing okay.”

My friend asked about his success in a down market. The realtor said: “I just have to make sure I’m getting a bigger share of the 70% of transactions that are happening.”

Let’s assume you are a manufacturer or distributor of dozens, if not hundreds or thousands, of products.

In a perfect world, which at the moment it’s anything but, you’d have a task group of designers and web technicians at your beck and call to create your very own custom web site. Whether you do the project in-house or outsource it, if you figure in your overhead burden you could be looking at an investment starting in the low-five figure range and the cost easily could escalate rapidly and substantially.

Whoa!

There is a very feasible, low-cost option: the Yahoo Store. For a $50.00 start-up charge, $39.95 a month base fee, and 1.5% commission on each sale (plus credit card costs), you can create your own web site in Yahoo using built-in, nicely designed templates which you can tailor to your needs. Or, you could start from scratch using bare-bones templates or your own team which would be significantly more time consuming and costly.

Yahoo says you can have a web site functioning in a flash, but it’s not quite as simple as it sounds if you want any sort of customization.

To personalize the site to your liking, one really needs a basic working knowledge of HTML (or variations thereof) and CSS (cascading style sheets). And, if you want your site to look pretty, a person should have some graphic design skills, as well.

I spent 30-40 hours designing this site and reworking the template which I think is very attractive and extremely functional. At times the process was frustrating because Yahoo’s instructions, which generally are very good (if you know what you are looking for and understand the lingo), are incomplete. I’m the type of person that needs an answer to a problem now, before I am able to move along to the next step.

(more…)

Maintaining a blog is just like having a pet. The blog needs walking, feeding, pampering, training (potty and otherwise) and constant supervision. It even likes, and expects, treats. And, even though I try to keep it on a short leash, it keeps pulling me over towards fire hydrants (which means I need to be careful what I say).

In order to be an effective communications tool, a blog needs fresh content all the time. It has to be original content, too … my own thoughts, ideas, solutions … not some text commandeered (read lifted) from someone else unless it’s professionally prepared and paid for.

A former client of mine sends out a tacky boilerplate newsletter which has been poorly personalized and probably does more harm than good. On the other side of the coin is John and Rena Williams, owners of Strategy First Mortgage, who send out a quality newsletter on a regular basis. Some of content may be purchased, but the concepts and presentation are good stuff.

I’m an old newspaper man: the operative word is “old.” Just kidding. But I did get my career start as a sports writer for my high school newspaper (Titan Shield, San Marino, California) when I was 16. While over nearly 50 years I have amassed a lengthy list of skills including design, marketing, sales, print, internet/web, photography, and so on, I love to write.

Yesterday’s chore was to provide some examples of eMarketing pieces I’ve created and produced, even though I did not write them. Thank you, Wade, for requesting them. Naturally, this required me to learn how to code the look I wanted to create in WordPress … which isn’t any where near as easy as in a print-based program like InDesign where you move text and objects at will until satisfied with the result.

(more…)

If you think you’re going to send one email, and expect the world to beat a path to your door, then wind up and throw in your towel now and head to the showers.

Email marketing requires planning and needs to be consistent and ongoing. Yes, I admit there will be times when an opportunity will present itself where you will want to do a spur-of-the-moment mailing. But this is an exception to the rule.

You should establish a calendar of your emailings up to a year in advance. This allows everyone involved … you, staff, your service provider and the recipient … to know what mail to expect and when. If it’s the fifth and you have an email due out the 20th, at the most you have 10 days to develop your content and get it in the hands of your provider … whether that person is in-house or someone like me.

If you’re a retailer, I’ m high on the eclub concept. The opt-in (permission-giving) process is easy because you offer sometime tasty for registering, special offers during the year to eClub members, and maybe something special for one’s birthday or anniversary. The personal approach is well-appreciated and easy to maintain. Once we have a date in the system a birthday greeting, for example, goes out like clockwork on the specified day without human intervention.

(more…)

So you want to use email to promote your business? In most cases, this probably is a very wise choice.

The first step:

Create your list. Sorry, your Outlook address book or names in QuickBooks is not a proper email list.

You require a database which contains the fields you will need to effectively use various marketing techniques such as email, direct mail and telephone solicitation. The database also will collect registrations from sign ups on your web site … and you will be notified for each new sign up for personal follow up, when desired or necessary, as the new contact receives an auto response from registering for your list.

Over your head already? I offer my clients a web-hosted database called Relevant Tools. Although I do all the set up work and create the interface with the client’s web site, the database is easy for the client to access and maintain, requires no programming and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.

The second step:

Now you need to collect all names you wish to enter in your database: be it electronic lists from your email client, contact manager, accounting program, Excel files, business cards or pieces of paper. You can enter the data manually, import the electronic files or let a service, like mine, do it for you.

(more…)