Order Holiday Cards in October – Trust Me.
Between picking out what you like, finding the money and placing the order, it can take only an hour. When that hour occurs though, that’s the hard part. You’re busy!! However, if you wait until past November 6th to place your order, you won’t be sending out your cards in time for your clients to get them by the 2nd week of December, and…
…TIMING IS EVERYTHING.
Holiday, Christmas, Hanukkah, Winter, Generic, Thanksgiving, New Year – and anything. You can order it, and order it now (by clicking here, actually).
Now here’s a few ideas for you…
- Be different – don’t get the same ol’ Christmas card – get something FUN and don’t be afraid to get outside the box a little and inject humor into what you’re doing! It goes a long way.
- Why send a holiday card when you can send a New Year card, or a Thanksgiving card? Neither is religious and would help to set you apart
- What about an “Anyday” card? They’re
great year-round and can help to make your clients feel appreciated more than just at the end of the year.
Our Job Posting featured on Fox 25’s Job of the Day Online!
Tell your friends who have the talent, but not the great job!
Only One Fall Internship Position Left – Tell Your Young Friends!
Do you know an energetic college student that’s just itching to get their hands on some really fun projects and learn a TON about the real world of business and marketing and how things are ACTUALLY done? Students who intern with us have the chance to dive into a variety of meaningful things (NOT getting coffee – that’s so crummy) and really shape their careers in a positive way.
Simply either a) forward this blog/email to them and have them email their resume or b) send them to the web site and THEN email their resume. We are a young company and love working with our future leaders.
The students do NOT need to have a directly related major – dozens of majors can fit nicely! Communications, advertising, marketing, business, management, hospitality, and yep, even psychology.
We help all of our interns with their resumes and cover letters before they leave us, and all have gotten a great letter of recommendation to take with them on their job search. Thanks for helping to give a great yo/pro (young professional!) a defined advantage when they graduate!!
Omnipresence Found in LogMeIn
OK, so what do you do when you’re the owner of the company, the buck stops with you, you’re pretty much expected to be omnipresent – and you get sick?
Now, I don’t mean “I have the sniffles” kind of sick – I mean the kind where you feel like someone’s run you over with a dump truck and you can’t move much, let alone breathe.
I’ll tell you what you do – you make sure you have your laptop with you and use LogMeIn – familiar with it? If you’re not, here’s what Wikipedia says it is: LogMeIn is a suite of software services that provides remote access to computers over the Internet. The various product versions are designed for both end users and professional help desk personnel.
Its internet based, so I can access my office computer from virtually any other computer I find.
It works a lot like a VPN, where you can use your office computer from another computer.
It allows you to do whatever you need to do on your computer remotely – with only a minor sacrifice in image quality (see the image striping on the gradient?).
So when you’re in between bouts of feeling like the dump truck has backed up and run you over again and you have moments of lucidity, its a great way to stay caught up. The only thing that stinks more than being sick and missing work is going back to work after being sick with a huge pile of stuff waiting for you.
Try it out – LogMeIn is free!
PS – curious about my inspiration for this post? I feel like a dumptruck ran me over about 6 times, I can’t breathe (raging sinus infection), and am working from home when I can. Despite that, I’m NOT FALLING BEHIND.
Marketing on the Cheap – Social Networking
I just answered a great question on LinkedIn about marketing on the cheap and I thought you might be interested (since soooo many people want to know the answer to that same question). Enjoy!
The asker posed: “Marketing/Advertising at low costs? I have recently opened my real estate company in Dubai would like to know advertising/marketing methods which achieve desired results in low costs. Also are they any sites where I can place ads for free or low costs and still receive good leads? ”
I responded:
You may want to consider the power of social networking, and for the following reasons:
1. It is free.
2. It is simple.
3. It is effective.
4. It is popular.
5. It makes your other marketing 10x more effective.
6. It is the future.
What is social networking? Pardon me if you already know, but social networking is the activity of mass distributing yourself in a seemingly personal way while allowing you to maximize your time spent and financial investments. In simpler terms, its a way to stay connected to people and remind them that you exist in a relevant manner.
LinkedIn is a fabulous example of a business connection tool where you have the opportunity to connect with people through people. It’s a great concept on the principle of six degrees of separation.
FastPitch has created an excellent stand-alone utility that also allows you to use your LinkedIn profile, get more out of it and actively instant message (IM) new people and chat live. I like it, and have met some great people.
For outside of US bounds (primarily), you may want to consider Xing also – I have found it remarkably helpful and have met some amazing people all over the world. Based in Germany, it embraces cross-cultural networking. Some have called me from overseas to connect.
For Real Estate, which can be a B2C offering, you may also want to consider Facebook and Myspace.
How to tie it all together and make it work without going crazy? Twitter is an excellent and highly popular micro-blogging utility where you have to answer the question “what are you doing” in 140 characters or less. An example of what I might put: “answering an excellent question on LinkedIn about marketing with social networking”
How to wrap it up in a neat lil’ bow? ping.fm (current beta code: letmeping -not sure how long this is valid) – this utility allows you to update most of your status updates from that site – OR (and I love this:) AOL Instant Messenger (AIM).
All that being said on the topic of social networking, here is some very specific advice on usage: be specific enough to pique interest, but vague enough to not give away the house, and ALWAYS maintain the highest level of courtesy, professionalism and respect. People mistake social networking as a forum to be a little too familiar with people and it hurts them. Use your best judgment and you’ll do famously. 
NOW… to balance all of these activities out, I would NOT suggest advertising. It can be pricey and can yield low to depressing returns. I would highly suggest reading up on how to create and distribute interesting press releases and harnessing the power of word-of-mouth marketing.
I would also suggest email marketing (Constant Contact), blogging (WordPress or Blogger) and making the entire thing cyclical. If it can’t feed into itself, your marketing programs won’t work.
Strategic partnerships never hurt either.
I hope this helps you in your marketing adventures!
Now Interviewing for Fall Internships
Do you know an energetic college student that’s just itching to get their hands on some really fun projects and learn a TON about the real world of business and marketing and how things are ACTUALLY done? Students who intern with us have the chance to dive into a variety of meaningful things (NOT getting coffee – that’s so demeaning!) and really shape their careers in a positive way.
Simply either a) forward this email to them and have them email their resume or b) send them to the web site and THEN email their resume. We are a young company and love working with our future leaders.
The students do NOT need to have a directly related major – dozens of majors can fit nicely!
Thanks for helping to give a great yo/pro (young professional!) a defined advantage when they graduate!!
Just to give you an idea of how great of an experience this is – here’s what our current (and former) interns have to say:
“It’s hands-on, it’s actual experience, it’s not secretarial or menial. You feel like you’re actually contributing. You’re involved in client meetings, projects and proposals. It’s a laid back, comfortable atmosphere that is professional. I moved up here for the summer to intern here from Pennsylvania because I didn’t see myself as an “intern” – I saw myself as a part of the regular team where I have a real function, it’s important, and I get the opportunity to try a whole bunch of things. I had other internship offers elsewhere and closer to home, but I felt this opportunity would offer me the greatest breadth of experience in many different areas, and it has.”
Chris Agostini, Pennsylvania State University, Advertising Major
“It’s not a typical internship because of how closely we work with the owner and how much we are a part of the day-to-day activities. It’s not like we’re getting coffee, we’re significantly contributing to the success of the business while we’re getting so much out of this to help our careers.”
Kim Selwitz, Framingham State College, Psychology Major
“It’s a fantastic opportunity to really get your feet wet and to jump right into the field.”
Steve Monroe, Framingham State College, Communications Arts Major
“I chose Vision Advertising because even when I first met the team on career day, they were all really open and the interview process was easy, painless and welcoming. Now at the internship, even in a brief amount of time, I feel like I’m getting not only projects that reiterate what I’ve learned in the classroom, but also new experiences and tasks that go well beyond a textbook.”
Kaitlyn DePonte, Framingham State College, Communications Arts Major
Product Researchers Needed
One of our clients needs some product research done – if you know someone that might like to participate, would you please pass this along to them?
Could you (or someone you know) be interested in getting paid to assist in important product research project?
If so, the benefits to your business could be incalculable.
Ask yourself these questions: Has accounting ever frustrated you? Have you recently started a business? Have you ever wished you had that big “ah HA!” moment in truly understanding accounting and what it is?
If you can answer yes, then you could stand to benefit from participating in this project. Not only will you get a FREE copy of the software and accompanying literature, but you will also be paid to participate in this project and provide feedback at the end of the evaluation period.
WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU:
- $200 – paid at the end of the project
- Free copy of software and accompanying text
- FREEDOM from your accounting worries and that real “ah HA!” moment when you finally understand it!
To participate, you must meet this criteria:
- You have been in business LESS than 3 years.
- You feel you do not have a mastery of accounting.
- You manage your own books for your business.
Here is what we will ask of you:
- Participate in 2 in-person sessions – one at the beginning, and one at the conclusion.
- Commit to going through the product in 3 weeks (it will take 8-15 hours total).
- Complete an exit interview that will help us to set product price, place and market position.
- Provide suggestions and critique in a focus group setting.
Interested? Please respond to me at laura {at} vision-advertising(.)com Know someone else who might be? Please pass it along.
Date TBA. Paid participants limited to the first 12.
MEN: Get Involved & Make a Difference
As you know, we are very committed to community involvement. As part of our committment, Vision Advertising team members Adam Briere and Jeffrey Crumble have pledged to each raise $1,000 for the 15th Annual “Taking Steps to END Violence Against Women & Children Walkathon” organized by the Rape Crisis Center of Central Massachusetts.
To learn more about how you and your male colleagues can make a difference, please click here to download a small PDF that contains the details and a sign-up form.
Please contact Kim Dawkins at (508) 852-7600 ext.229 for questions.
Happy Holidays!!
Let it snow!
Just a random funny for you here. My birthday was last week (the 13th, for those of you keeping track). I’ve been whining for about 10 years now about how I’ve been getting screwed me out of my annual birthday blizzards that I used to get when I was a kid (anyone else with a December birthday can appreciate this).
Well, TWO big fat blizzards and 2 feet of fluffy white stuff later, I’m probably one of the only people happy about all this snow. Feel free to blame me for the AWESOME skiing conditions!
Have what you love and love what you have.
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Learn how to set one up, how to manage it, and most importantly, how to make money from it.
