Archive for the ‘tips’ Category

One Marketing Tip To Heed Now

Posted by Eryn Willard on September 29, 2008

As Steve McKee said on Business Week’s Small Business website this summer, “Marketing is muscle, not fat. Be careful about cutting it.”

Don’t risk losing market share to your competitors in a downturn. This is a time when a slow — but steady — marketing presence can help you come out on top when things turn around.

Can’t justify the cost of a full-page ad series? Cut the size to a half-page. Not sure if you should print the full-sized catalog you planned…and mail it? Reduce the page count or change the dimensions. The point is to maintain your presence.

Your clients and customers still need what your company provides, even during economic lows. If your competitors are cutting their marketing budgets, you can gain some of their market share by being the more visible company to your prospective clients.

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Posted in advertising, marketing, short and sweet, tips

Other Uses For: Your Letterhead

Posted by Eryn Willard on August 13, 2008

Did a recent office move render your letterhead unusable? Is your letterhead simply unnecessary because you send office correspondence electronically?

Give your letterhead new life with these ideas:

  • Have a print shop cut the sheets in half, flip them over and glue one end to create scratch pads.*

  • Print on the reverse side of the sheets for inter-office paperwork.

  • Ask a print shop or copy shop to trim the contact information from the sheets to create unique note paper that you can use for handwritten correspondence to clients, pairing it with colored envelopes.*

  • Donate it to a school’s art department to use for sketch paper or paper-maché.

  • Shred it (envelopes, too) and use it as packing material to protect fragile items during shipping.*

  • At the very least, recycle what you don’t use!

*These can look especially cool if your letterhead design is graphic-heavy.

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Posted in eco-friendly, environment, paper, tips

Patagonia’s Footprint Chronicles Site

Posted by Eryn Willard on June 11, 2008

Call us behind the times, but we recently discovered Patagonia’s Footprint Chronicles website. There, the apparel manufacturing company tells the story of specific products’ marks on the environment. The highly interactive site is not only well designed, but truly informative.

“We believe that to avoid complacency, we must constantly examine our internal processes to improve upon the positive and mitigate the negative,” said Casey Sheahan, president and CEO of Patagonia. “The Footprint Chronicles allows us to do this publicly — sort of learning out loud.”

Site users are also able to leave comments relating to each product detail. Pretty brave on Patagonia’s part!

Not every person or company can be perfect, but we can all implement strategies to reduce our impact. Could you do this in some way with your business?

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Posted in corporate citizenship, CSR, eco-friendly, environment, manufacturing, marketing, outdoor, sustainability, tips

The Growing Demand for Sustainability

Posted by Eryn Willard on October 9, 2007

Recent headlines have said:
“Gen Y Shoppers Drawn To Greener Marketers,”
“Retailers Push Packagers To Think ‘Green’,”
“Good workplaces bring about focused, energetic employees,”
and “Virgin Mobile to Green Up Product Packaging.”

So, the question is…how can your business cater to the growing demand for more sustainable products and services? A few ideas, just for starters:

FOR THOSE PRODUCING PRODUCTS
- Create smaller packaging using recycled (optimal) or renewable, and recyclable material.

- Audit your supply chain. (Did you know that 80% of Honda’s North American suppliers are green certified?)

- “Climate cool” your shipping. Check out the Climate Neutral Network for information.

FOR THOSE PROVIDING SERVICES
- Turn off your equipment when you leave the office each evening; and put it in a sleep or power-down mode when not in use for more than 10 minutes.

- Offset your carbon emissions for all business travel — whether road or air.

- Choose a green design firm (who will specify sustainable options for your promotional pieces) to help you market your services!

FOR BOTH
- Offer green benefits packages to employees.

- Allow time off for volunteer activities.

- Allow employees to telecommute 1 or more days per week.

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Posted in article, carbon offsetting, corporate citizenship, CSR, eco-friendly, packaging, paper, sustainability, tips

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