Finding that Advertising Solution that fits...

When considering advertising solutions, ensure that you maintain flexibility.

Here are a few items to consider when looking for something new....

• It is important to take it for a test drive before committing to a longer term.
• Find a solution that will allow you to scale from a minimal investment to larger audiences as your company grows.
• Choose a solution that can be modified along the way to keep up with changes to your customer's demands.
• Trust and confidence in the advertising company is key to allowing ideas to flourish. This does not happen overnight, but you should be on the same wave length initially.
• Don't expect huge results overnight, but look for small indications that you are on the right track like customer reactions, curiosity, ease of adoptability, and integration into your different marketing goals.

Sometimes it is a tall order to find a solution that fits like a glove, but whats important is that any solution will allow you to continue to retain and grow your clientele and that the solution does not become an anchor to your growing success.

Let us know if you have any further questions and how Scribulz coins may fit into your business lifestyle.

Five ways to interact with your customers in 2010

Bring in 2010 with some different ways to engage and interact with your customers. We all have that creativity side to us that is just screaming to get out. Put that urge to good use and focus your creative energy to benefit your clientele through honest and caring service.

Here are just 5 ways to get your thoughts flowing, but I am sure you can add many more to this :)

1.  Research your clients and find something that they personally like. It could be a favorite food, movie, or color. Then use this in your next conversation with them. Take a vested interest in them and they will do the same.
2. Find a new creative way to use your products or services. This will offer a refreshing new approach for your current customers and may even open up a new type of clientele for you to service.
3. Invest some time into communicating with current and future customers in a new way. The phone call should not be the only way to interact. Try social networking (Facebook/Twitter/Blogging/..). There are plenty of "get started" online resources to help. Be yourself when communicating, but keep a professional boundary when representing your company or image. Everyone is human, but your customers might not want to hear about who won UFC108 or what you ate for breakfast.
4. Don't be afraid to offer discounts, but do it in a creative way. Try running specials that are fun, raise curiosity, or just plain do not make sense. For example, with every purchase over $50 receive a pack of hot chocolate, a hug, and $5 off your next visit. Lowering your business guard to be more human will show customers a more well-rounded hip company that they may want to deal with.
5. Run a contest. Make it fun, like a coloring, poetry, or joke contests. Having different outlets for your customer to interact with you without buying something is a great way to build trust and a relationship.

Whatever you may think, people only buy when they want to, not when you want them to. So have fun and be there for them in a memorable way. It may be the difference between a quick sell and a long-term relationship.

Thinking is Free

The stock market is spiraling downwards. Large institutions are looking for handouts. Corporations are cutting head counts. Budgets are slashed to the bone. Time to huddle in the basement?

Not if you want to thrive in the next economy.

If your strategy for surviving the recession is to hunker down and try harder, you don’t have a strategy. You have a bomb shelter. And a bomb shelter won’t save you from the fundamental changes shaking the business world—namely, unprecedented speed and overwhelming choice.

When customers have nearly unlimited options and competitors play a perpetual game of leapfrog, the only real barrier to competition is brand strategy.

Brand strategy is really just a way of thinking about business. And since thinking is virtually free, it requires little in the way of special funding. Here are four questions to help you work through the recession, along with a simple chart to start the conversation among your team.

1. What makes you different?The active ingredient in any brand is differentiation. If it’s not different, it’s not strategic. What can you do to increase your difference? How can you make your difference more meaningful and compelling?

2. How well are you focused?Without focus, customers will have a hard time seeing your difference. What makes you the “only” in your category? Which of your offerings best support your difference? Which should be cut to make your focus stronger? What new offerings could be added as you pick up momentum?

3. What trend are you riding?Tomorrow’s economy will create new trends. What wave are you riding? Is it a wave that’s still forming, or one that’s already crashed on the shore? Is it possible to ride more than one trend at a time? What new trends are barely visible yet inevitable?

4. Are you communicating clearly?Good strategy paired with poor messaging is no better than poor strategy. What messages are your various constituents hearing from you? Do all your brand stories add up to one big story? Is your big story clear enough and bold enough to earn a place in their minds?

If you can respond to these four questions in a compelling manner, you’ll not only survive the recession, but be in a stronger market position when the dust settles. All it takes is the right kind of thinking.

by Jamey Aiken, Brand Strategist

Reference: http://www.neutronllc.com/ideas/brand_thinking

34 Interesting And Creative Advertisements

34 Interesting And Creative Advertisements - TutZone

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Nine awesome computer ads from the 70s and 80s | Royal Pingdom

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19 Best Ads I Have Ever Seen

http://anacortes.stumbleupon.com/s/#1pCr8G/uaddit.com/discussions/showthread.php?t=642/

Dillanos Coffee Roasters - a community company

Check out a local Washinton company on how they give back to children, our troops and the local community. Dillanos also creates and runs fundraising events...great work!

Dillanos Coffee Roasters, Inc. - Sumner Washington

Follow them on Twitter @coffeemaverick

http://www.dillanos.com/

Stand Out in a Crowded Market

Stand Out in a Crowded Market

http://sbinformation.about.com/cs/bestpractices/a/aa092702a.htm

Design Inspired: Awe Inspiring Scenery Photos

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How to Inspire Creativity in Your Kids

How to Inspire Creativity in Your Kids - wikiHow

Ten Tips to Inspire Creativity: Boost Your Art Inspiration with These Ideas

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Photos to spark your Creativity

Thought you might find these photos interesting on the Jacob Cass website. He can also be followed @justcreative .

I found the photo with the street grate and dishes one of my favorite in the collection.

Which one is your favorite?

92 More Must See Creative Photographs

http://justcreativedesign.com/2008/04/08/creative-photographs/