4 Ways to Keep Your Marketing Materials Current |  |
- 4 Ways to Keep Your Marketing Materials Current
- Soon You Can Have a Smartphone – With a Zoom Lens Attached
- Health Insurance Exchanges and SHOP Exchanges for Small Businesses
- Samsung Introduces Hybrid All-in-One Running Windows 8 and Android 4.2
- Bizible Emerges as Replacement as Salesforce Discontinues Adwords Integration
| 4 Ways to Keep Your Marketing Materials Current Posted: 26 Jun 2013 04:00 PM PDT
If you hand out marketing materials at trade shows, networking events or conferences, you know what a pain it is when they're outdated. And with technology changing at the speed of light, your product or service offerings may be changing pretty quickly too. How do you keep your marketing materials up to date without going over budget? Affordable Ways to Keep Your Marketing Materials CurrentPrint On DemandWhether you physically print your marketing materials yourself or outsource the design and printing to a company like Vistaprint, don't print more than you can use for a given event or time period. Sure, it's tempting to print thousands to save a bit of money per sheet, but if you end up with 9,000 outdated fliers sitting in your garage, you're not really saving money. Marketing materials ideal for smaller print runs include:
Ask yourself what the maximum number of any item you will need for an event is. Printing fewer now means you can make changes next time, then print a new batch. Create Easily Modified DocumentsIf you hand out the same flier at every event, you can leave it as-is so you can use it for multiple events. For a more custom piece, it's easy to change out the event name on the document without modifying your marketing copy. Don't reinvent the wheel every time you need marketing materials. Reuse what you've got and update your files for each event. Consider storing your files in Dropbox or other cloud-based storage so that anyone who needs to access the files can get to them easily. Get Access to Your Native Art FilesEven if you're not a graphic designer, you need easy access to your art files – in every format possible. Even if your designer moves to Tahiti, if you have the files, a new designer can make modifications without redesigning and charging you for it. Ask for files in these formats:
Making sure you get a copy of your files at the completion of each project means you'll be able to use them in future projects without having to track down a graphic artist you may have worked with just once. Whether you work with an independent graphic designer or a site like 99designs, you're entitled to all versions of your design. Review Your Materials RegularlyYou may not even realize your marketing materials are out of date. Make a point of reviewing them every quarter or at regular intervals that give you plenty of time to keep them updated and printed in the proper quantities to ensure they accurately reflect the products or services you offer, as well as your company contact information. Review the materials for grammatical errors. Have co-workers read through the documents, too. The more eyes reviewing your materials, the less chance you'll miss an error that might be printed on hundreds or even thousands of fliers and brochures. Marketing materials are often the first impression people have of your brand. Take the time to make sure they're always up to date, professional and error free. Printing Brochure Photo via Shutterstock The post 4 Ways to Keep Your Marketing Materials Current appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Soon You Can Have a Smartphone – With a Zoom Lens Attached Posted: 26 Jun 2013 01:30 PM PDT
Camera phones can be an important tool for small business owners. But have you ever wished your camera phone could work just a little better, eliminating the need to carry a professional camera with you? Samsung is upping the game. The Korean company is introducing a smartphone camera hybrid that’s essentially like a phone with a 10X optical zoom on the front of it. The Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom could reach U.S. and European markets as early as this summer, Trusted Reviews reports What the Samsung Galaxy Zoom OffersA variety of Samsung S4 Galaxy smartphones are available on the market. But in the video review below, Sharif Sakr of Engadget suggests the new Samsung Galaxy Zoom phone camera hybrid can also be seen as the next generation of the Samsung Galaxy Camera. The difference is that the new device is less bulky, and has somewhat lower-end features besides also functioning as a mobile device. To look at these differences one by one, like the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini, the S4 Samsung Galaxy Zoom is just 4.91 by 2.41 inches. This makes it easy to slip into your pocket and carry anywhere, something you wouldn’t try with a bulkier digital camera. For all that sleek design, the phone does offer slightly stripped down features: a 10 X as opposed to a 21 X zoom and a lower res screen (qHD as opposed to 720p). But Sakr insists these differences are barely noticeable, especially if you are using the screen for taking images not so much for watching and editing them. Finally, as a mobile device, the S4 Samsung Galaxy Zoom is essentially a Galaxy smartphone with Android operating system and 4.3 inch screen. In fact, taking a look at the device, it looks like a camera on one side and a smartphone on the other. The price tag is still uncertain according to most sources we checked, though another Endgadget post mentioned early reports of around $618. This makes it just a bit cheaper than the Galaxy S4, a larger phone without the added camera features. Admittedly, the S4 Samsung Galaxy Zoom remains in a niche market as cameras or smartphones go. Would your business benefit from the portability and features of a camera smartphone hybrid? The post Soon You Can Have a Smartphone – With a Zoom Lens Attached appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Health Insurance Exchanges and SHOP Exchanges for Small Businesses Posted: 26 Jun 2013 11:00 AM PDT
As health care reform mandates take effect in 2014, small employers with fewer than 50 full time employees face more changes than large and medium-sized businesses. Several provisions in the new law means small businesses must not only make critical decisions regarding the health care benefits they offer to employees, but ensure they take appropriate implementation actions and adequate communications. Which leads me to the SHOP Exchange. Understanding the SHOP ExchangeA SHOP exchange is a Web portal where small businesses with up to 50 employees can shop for and buy private health insurance for their employees. Eligible employers that pursue this platform are required to offer SHOP insurance coverage to all full-time employees. Starting in 2015, SHOP exchanges will provide a premium aggregation service and will send a single invoice to the employer. These exchanges will offer two models:
More Competitive and Cost-Effective Benefit ProgramsSHOP Exchanges are expected to offer small businesses more competitive benefit plan options, similar to those that large company group plans provide – giving small businesses the advantage of larger group purchasing power. Additionally, small businesses participating in a SHOP exchange may be eligible for a tax credit up to 50 percent of their premium payments if they have 25 or fewer full-time employees whose average annual wages do not exceed $50,000. Tax-exempt organizations are eligible for a tax credit up to 35 percent. While it is still too early to tell exactly how competitive the exchanges will be, tax credits coupled with group rates in the exchanges may help small businesses to provide more cost-effective workplace benefits. [i] Educating Your EmployeesAccording to the 2013 Aflac WorkForces Report (AWR), 75 percent of employees expect their employer to educate them about changes to their health insurance as a result of health care reform. Shockingly, only 13 percent of employers identified this education as a priority in their organization. [ii] By not communicating about health care reform, employers are losing their employees' trust in their ability to keep them protected and informed, as well as their loyalty to the company. Unlike other office perks, health benefits help workers to feel secure about their financial future and their ability to cope with unexpected illness or injury. Exchanges can help small businesses offer benefits to stay competitive and keep top talent – so it's best that employees know it. [i] The Internal Revenue Service (2012) Small Business Health Care Tax Credit for Small Employers, accessed October 3, 2012. [ii] 2013 Aflac WorkForces Report, a study conducted by Research Now on behalf of Aflac, January 4–24 2013. Healthcare Photo via Shutterstock The post Health Insurance Exchanges and SHOP Exchanges for Small Businesses appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Samsung Introduces Hybrid All-in-One Running Windows 8 and Android 4.2 Posted: 26 Jun 2013 08:09 AM PDT
Samsung is set to introduce some new tablets and laptops, including one that works on both a Windows 8 and Android operating system simultaneously. The company introduced the expansion to its Ativ PC line this week at a “Premiere” event in London. There, Samsung wowed the crowd gathered with Ativ Q. This is fully-functional laptop with a hinged monitor that turns it into a slim tablet. Perhaps the most interesting feature on the Ativ Q is its ability to switch between Windows 8 and Android 4.2. If your business is constantly transferring files from smartphones to business computers, a machine that acts as both could be an answer to those problems. Ativ Q users can pin Apps from their Android system onto the Windows 8 Start screen and transferring files between the two systems is easy, according to an early review of the expanded Ativ line from TechLive.com. The Ativ Q also features the new Intel Haswell processor and a long battery life of nine hours. This hybrid laptop has a 13-inch display (serviceable for a laptop and impressive for a tablet), is just more than a half-inch thick and weighs less than three pounds, so it’s definitely portable. One drawback to the Ativ Q comes when it’s being used a laptop. The keyboard does not have a trackpad. Instead, it uses a cursor nub and if it’s been awhile since you’ve used one, there could be some time adjusting to using the nub over a trackpad. Samsung says its other introduction in the Ativ line, the Tab 3, is the “world’s thinnest Windows 8 tablet” available, according to the TechLive.com review. It’s about one-third of an inch thick and weighs 1.21 pounds. The Tab 3 features a 10.1-inch display and the Intel Atom Z2760 processor inside. In addition to those two new products, Samsung also introduced its Ativ Book 9 Plus and Lite laptops. Both feature a touchscreen display but the Lite version is also available with a non-touchscreen. The Lite, despite the name, is actually heavier than the Plus model. Samsung did not announce release dates or prices for any of its new products at the recent “Premiere” event, according to TechLive.com. Image: Samsung The post Samsung Introduces Hybrid All-in-One Running Windows 8 and Android 4.2 appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Bizible Emerges as Replacement as Salesforce Discontinues Adwords Integration Posted: 26 Jun 2013 05:00 AM PDT
On May 1st, Salesforce pulled the plug on its Google Adwords integration widget. Salesforce had already put this widget on life support for a long time, so the world's largest CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system discontinuing support for the world's largest search advertising platform surprised no one. According to the guys at Salesforce, the reason why it no longer tracks Google AdWords in its Web-to-lead forms is so that it can focus its efforts at innovating and improving core areas of its application. It's effectively handing over the control to third-party developers and partners who can offer users new and improved apps that track AdWords campaigns, which will be made available through Salesforce's AppExchange. There are two ways of looking at this. You can trust this reason implicitly and pat Salesforce on the back for choosing to focus on enhancing the core features of its CRM platform; or you can disbelieve it and say to yourself, "Salesforce was just not interested in investing in Salesforce for Google Adwords any more, for reasons unknown." Whatever the reason you choose to believe, the fact remains that this widget is dead and buried and you still haven't answered five important questions:
Five Questions, One Answer – Bizible
Salesforce has a list of partners on its site who are offering similar solutions to Salesforce for Google Adwords. Out of these, it's Bizible that comes the closest to offering features very similar to Salesforce's Google Adwords integration. It's the closest contender for the throne abdicated by the Salesforce widget. Not because it offers a similar solution, but because it has improved upon the features or the old app that it seeks to replace. There is no doubt in my mind that Bizible has emerged as a replacement that will help you manage the integration of your AdWords spending and the leads and opportunities generated from Salesforce.com I know you are "dying to know" why Bizible is such a good option for tracking and making sense of your Google Adwords campaign, but let's digress for a bit. What happens to your existing Google Adwords Data if you move to Bizible? Here's what will happen to it:
In a nutshell, all your data will be transferred to the replacement app you are going to use. Now let's get cracking on Bizible. Bizible has two versions; the 1.0 which is currently available and the 2.0, which is on its way. Bizible Version 1.0
Bizible Version 1.0 is out and can be downloaded now. It is for those who had sunk their teeth into Salesforce for Google Adwords and are looking for a replacement along similar lines. So, you have 30 pre-installed reports (Déjà vu anyone) that help you visualize your campaign data and its performance. Custom reports can also be built using your Salesforce data. Apart from report generation, you also get to find out how your leads found your site, the Google Adwords details, the organic keywords used for search and the referral social sites. Another critical feature is that it allows you to correlate your Google Adwords data with your Salesforce data. With this, you know which ad attracts the best clients. But there is a subtle improvement made to this feature as compared to the existing SFGA service. You can pre-define a field and ensure that every Adwords data lands in that field. It makes data analysis simpler. Bizible Version 2.0: Advance Cookie Tracking FeatureLet's go back to the reason why SFGA service was discontinued – Salesforce expected third party developers to come up with Google AdWords tracking breakthroughs that when combined with Salesforce leads and opportunities, data will help businesses get access to better and much improved sales and customer data as compared to what they were getting earlier. Bizible has come good on this expectation by telling you which keywords were used by the people who walked into your store and made a purchase. Yes, you heard that right. It helps you track and make sense of your offline sales as well. Of course, this is a feature that will be made available on version 2.0, which is still not out. But you are definitely going to get it. So credit, must be given where it's due. Let's take a closer look at this feature with an example: Your client has 5 furniture stores and all their sales and customer data is synced in Salesforce. This means you can now identify which keywords drove online sales, Web form submissions and phone calls. But what about the customer that walks into their store front and buys a chair? This is an offline sale. How did they come to the physical store front? Was it by clicking on the link to the furniture store's site made available through SERPs or through something else? Version 2.0 answers this question through "cookied" tracking. Website visitors are "cookied" when they access the furniture store website and "cookied" again when they receive an email from the furniture store after they have made a purchase from the store. This is critical because the Bizible Salesforce plugin can only drop a cookie into the customer's computer through an email. In the long run, this helps you identify the keyword that motivated the customer to walk into the store to buy a product. It May Revolutionize ROI TrackingJust the fact that it tells you how your offline customers are coming to your store means Bizible is not just a complete replacement for Salesforce for Google AdWords customers – but something much bigger and better. The scope of ROI tracking has been redefined and this isn't a hypothesis. All you need to do is wait for the Version 2.0 to be released and implement it when it does. The resultant Google Adwords Tracking will provide some startling clarity on the physical (offline) purchases as well, which is great news for businesses that have both an eCommerce and physical store front. Images: Bizible The post Bizible Emerges as Replacement as Salesforce Discontinues Adwords Integration appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
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