EcoBlast

Is it worth printing?

PRINT NOT ONLY PAYS OFF — it pays back to the environment. It’s true. When you use paper, you’re making a contribution to the environment by keeping forests growing and responsibly managed. These are facts that are worth repeating. • Roughly 600 million trees are planted every year by the paper and forest products industry, surpassing the amount harvested. • Improved forest management, regeneration of forest areas and selective tree harvesting have resulted in a net uptake (sequestration) of carbon from 1990 to 2005. This is...

Test … Test … Test

Whether you use direct mail, email or both, testing and refinement can help to improve the effectiveness of your marketing. By varying or testing elements of a direct mail campaign — such as the mailing list, design, copy, call to action or response mechanism — over multiple mailings, you can continually hone your marketing and improve your response rates. Generally speaking, there are three direct mail testing and refinement processes: • Baselining. Establishing baseline response rates allows you to set expectations for...

Becoming a Better Listener

A good listener not only hears what is being said, but listens, responds and acts accordingly. People who are considered good listeners are sought out by colleagues and friends. Likewise, companies that are considered good listeners are rewarded by a higher level of customer loyalty. According to Forrester Research, despite the widespread use of customer feedback programs, fewer than a third of firms contacted closely monitor the quality of their interactions with target customers or systematically incorporate customer needs into...

QC – January 2011

Which US president declared Christmas a national holiday? A. Ulysses S. Grant B. Grover Cleveland C. Theodore Roosevelt D. Woodrow Wilson A. President Ulysses S. Grant declared Christmas a legal holiday in 1870.

Customer Value Measurement – An Art and a Science

How should a company measure customer value? According to Onat Unal, a senior consultant at Peppers & Rogers Group Instanbul, there is no one-size fits-all answer. In fact, the definition of a high-value customer is often different for companies that compete in the same market space. Rather than sticking to one single measurement, Unal suggests using several different calculations of customer value: Current revenue: The most basic approach is to calculate the monthly revenue average for each customer and analyze the trend and variance...

Making Sense of It All

Managers can’t take advantage of business opportunities unless they see them clearly. In today’s fast-paced, information-overloaded environment, making information actionable means making it fit for use; in other words, making it meaningful in the context of the decisions at hand and organized in such a way as to get its meaning across quickly. According to Jane Linder and Drew Phelps of the Accenture Institute for Strategic Change, the best way to make information actionable is to design it to communicate visually. When a clutter of raw...

Are Pixels GREENER than paper?

Many believe that electronic media are more environmentally friendly than paper and have a smaller environmental footprint. Before you choose, weigh all the tradeoffs between electronic devices and paper. Start by asking the right questions: Is the medium made from a renewable resource? Paper is made from wood – a resource that is being renewed on a daily basis by the paper and forest products industry, which plants millions of trees every year. Electronic devices are made of plastics and other non-renewable resources and often contain...

QC – October 2010

The promotional products industry experienced unprecedented growth in one particular decade during which one image was very widely seen. What was the decade and what was the image? A. The 20s – Flapper girls B. The 40s – Betty Grable pin-up pose C. The 60s – “Smiley” Face D. The 80s – Princess Diana C. The Smiley Face was designed in 1964 by Harvey Ball, co-owner of an advertising and public relations firm in Worcester, Massachusetts....

Forging Ahead Despite a Weak Eocnomy

Warren Buffett once said, “Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.” Despite the fact that economic uncertainty remains, companies need not wait until the recession completely runs its course before getting back to growth activities. Now is the perfect time for companies to focus on growth plans. Profitable, sustainable growth starts when you have a deeper understanding of customers’ needs than your competitors have. Consider this: The average hit rate for products under development is 1 in 4, ...

The Right Message

from: Business to Business As a marketer, you might have a hard time believing that contacting your customers can be detrimental to your business. The truth is, communicating too often can easily offend even your most loyal customers. Let’s face it — customers today are inundated with e-mails, text messages and mailers. Some have even created their own “do not buy” lists. It’s not that they don’t like a certain company’s products; it’s that they’re tired of receiving multiple e-mails and/or can’t stand the thought of...