Direct marketing remains one of the most effective strategies for some types of products and businesses. If you are one of those who uses direct mail to get the word out about your business, Chief Marketer has a great list of 10 things you need to consider in order to prepare your direct marketing data. Given the costs involve of running a direct mail campaign, you’d want to make sure that the first step — your data — is clean and accurate. The 10 steps you need to do are: 1. Properly integrate all your data2. Validate your data and

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PowerHomeBiz.com accepts article contributions from other writers. However, we publish only a handful of those submitted to us (of the 100+ articles per day we receive, we publish 1 or 2 of that — either because we know the authors, or because we like the article because it is instructive and the topic/perspective is fresh). One thing I’ve noticed though is the uptick of articles ripped off from other writers. Not just a paragraph or two, but the whole article! Some “authors” submit to us articles they claim as their own (they click “Yes” on the question “Do you own

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I remember the fearless forecasts made by Web commerce drumbeaters back in the 90s – that the Web will revolutionize the way we shop, and we will now choose to shop in front of our computers instead of going to brick n’ mortar stores. Well, it did happen — but only for some. In fact, the magazine Internet Retailer says that the retail web industry is “persistently faced” with the 40% obstacle — “about 40% of consumers do not buy online.” This view was shared by the latest results of the Retail Forward Inc.’s E-tailing Shopper Update, which showed that

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Going through the articles submitted to PowerHomeBiz.com for possible publication, I have noticed a significant uptick on articles focusing on RSS. Many article writers are proclaiming the wonders of RSS, asserting that businesses must jump on the RSS bandwagon in order to grow their market reach. Same with podcasting – that this is the new nifty tool that businesses must use. But how are RSS and podcasting being used? Are they actually being used out there? An October 2005 white paper published by Yahoo entitled “RSS – Crossing into the Mainstream” showed that RSS have very limited adoption — even

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Business loans can be defined as money lent for a specified amount of time at a specific interest rate to a specific person or people that operate a business or plan to operate a business. This definition is very broad, but so are the various types of loans available to business people. Deciding on which type of business loan that you and your company will benefit from the most is very important. Often times, a start-up business or someone that has never owned a business will find themselves more or less applying for a personal loan. This can be a

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A brand goes beyond a company name and tagline. It is a complete personality or set of values, sometimes even a story line, along with repeated visual, auditory and behavioral elements. When you decide to invest in creating a brand, follow these guidelines to ensure that you get your money’s worth: 1. Be distinctive. You’ll land your company in expensive legal hot water if you attempt to steal or encroach on another company’s identity. Apart from legalities, you tend to get the most bang for your branding buck when you generate a powerful contrast with competitors’ images. Do something different.

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Graphic designers frequently play a prominent role in launching or repositioning a company. When they create a look (or new look) for a company’s stationery, brochure, ads and web site, this often goes by the name of an “identity package.” Don’t let this convenient term mislead you into believing that a company’s identity consists of merely the logo and look. No, every company has an identity or image in the minds of its customers comprised of at least nine other factors besides the graphic look. How your market perceives your company should be deliberate, calculated and coherent rather than accidental

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While being your own boss and owning your own company has many advantages and benefits, there are many challenges that you face as a small business owner. One of those challenges involves meeting the cash requirements of operating your business. Getting the money to start your business was challenging enough, getting additional cash once your business has been started can prove to be even more difficult. Banks are more than willing to greet you with open arms when it comes to providing you with a business checking account and other services that they can charge fees for, but quickly change

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Every business owner knows that to succeed in the market, people must know your products, or at least have heard about your products. One extremely effective way to ensure that many people learn and hear about your product is to have them talk and get excited about it. But how do you get the market to actually talk about your product? I stumbled across this Powerpoint presentation made by Terry Pittman, the head of AOL’s Digital Research Division, on “What Makes a Product Worth Talking About?”, which was presented during the Word of Mouth Marketing Association’s July conference (a great

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Blogging has been a growing phenomenon, with bloggers beginning to take on the role as word of mouth influentials. Yet many businesses do not as yet realize the importance of bloggers in their own marketing mix. A negative blog post from an influential blogger about a product may adversely affect the perception of would-be customers to the product. Hence what bloggers say about your business, and how you could influence a blogger to champion your business, should be an important aspect of any marketing mix. I found this short report from GfK (Growth from Knowledge) entitled “Reason to Pay Attention

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I’m always amused at books that try to predict the hot jobs for the future. Leafing through one book, I saw “Underwater Archeologist.” I’m not sure why that’s a high-growth area, but I noticed the book failed to predict any Internet-based careers, such as web designer! The book didn’t foresee the development of the Internet. Clearly, predicting the future isn’t easy! None of these businesses is earth-shattering. But, they all offer real opportunities for entrepreneurs, if the business matches the entrepreneur’s personality and desires. We’ll briefly describe the nature of the business, why the business provides value to clients or

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Generating new and fresh ideas is paramount to running a successful home business. Ideas are needed for developing, marketing and advertising your products or services, and used for resolving different problems you may encounter. If you think you’re in a rut, below are four (4) ways for generating new ideas that can help improve your home business. Read Finding New Ideas for Your Home Business

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