Learn One Thing from Mary Gillen

Learn One Thing from David Mankin: Adobe Acrobat - Optimize Your PDF Files

Today, Tuesday, May 30, David Mankin explains how to optimize your Adobe PDF files.

You've converted your document to pdf. You've added bookmarks, links, buttons. You've cleverly rearranged the page order and re-numbered your pages. Everything looks great and works perfectly! Think you're done and ready to distribute your pdf file?

NOT YET!

If you check the Description Tab of Document Properties (ctrl D on PC or cmd D on Mac), you can see your file size. Jot the number down.

Even though you have been diligently saving your work all along, perform a Save-As (no need to change the file name - just overwrite the original file) and check the file size again.

EUREKA! You have not only saved the file one last time, but optimized it as well, making it leaner and cleaner. NOW your pdf file is ready for distribution.

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WEDNESDAY 5/31/06: More sales ideas from Bob Brown.

Learn One Thing from Mary Gillen: Email Signature Campaign That Drives Web Traffic - Part 3

Today, Thursday May 25, Mary Gillen explains how to write the rest of the copy for Your Email Signature Campaign.

In Part 1 we discussed how email signatures act as little billboards that draw attention to some aspect of your business and how four unique signature ads should be written, then scheduled for use by four different departments in your organization.

In Part 2, we learned about writing strong signature headlines that speak to the "pain points" of prospects and customers. Today, let's discuss writing the rest of the copy and the importance of specific landing pages for signature links.

Here's a sample headline from the Part 2 discussion:

Example 1:

17 Ways to Save for Your Child's College Education

Pain Point: Being a good parent. Use of the unusual number 17 draws the eye to the headline.

Let's look at the rest of the copy:

Line 1: Sign up now for our complimentary monthly email newsletter at
Line 2: >> http://www.bank.com/17_ways_to_save.htm
Line 3: and receive your new Resource Guide (PDF format)
Line 4: >> 17 Ways to Save for Your Child's College Education

Line 1: Call to action. Tell 'em what to do. Ask them to sign up for your newsletter, which means they must supply their email address at

Line 2: this specific HTML "landing page" on the organization's Web site. (TIP: Very important to write out the entire URL, not embed it under a word link. Many people print out their email messages, and become annoyed when they have to go back and find the email, open it, then click on the link again.)

Line 3: They are told what they will receive in exchange for their information: a Resource Guide

Line 4: on a topic that answers to some emotion the prospect feels. The pain point of being a good parent.

Spliced together, the signature looks like this:

--------------------------------------------------------------
17 Ways to Save for Your Child's College Education

Sign up now for our complimentary monthly email newsletter at
http://www.bank.com/17_ways_to_save.htm
and receive your new Resource Guide (PDF format)
>> 17 Ways to Save for Your Child's College Education
--------------------------------------------------------------

TIP: Watch your line lengths. Do not exceed 65 characters (including spaces) as this will cause ugly line breaks in some of the text-only email applications.

It's important that each email signature you use in the campaign contains a link to a unique "landing page" on your Web site. Directing the prospect to your Web site's home page will not allow you to track the success of each email signature when you review the metric reports your Web server provides on site traffic during the time of the campaign.

This type of campaign has worked time and time again for many organizations, expecially those that don't have a whole lot of dough for marketing. The key: strong offers, good copy and efficient scheduling.

Good luck with it. Let me know how it goes.

Contact Mary | About Mary

FRIDAY 5/26/06: More sales ideas from Bob Brown.

Learn One Thing from Mary Gillen: Creative Ways to Use Unique Promotional Products

Today, Wednesday, May 24, Mary Gillen shares info on some unique promotional products, with suggestions on how to use them.

The Rear View Mirror That Drives Traffic

OK. I admit it, arms up in the air. I am Irish, but also part-Geek. My computer is a member of the family. Have a look at this clever little giveaway. It's called the Computer Rear View Mirror. You can clip it to your computer monitor and get a bird's eye view of who is sneaking up behind you.

From a marketing standpoint, this is more than just cute. Take a look at the mirror. You can have your Web site or blog URL imprinted on it. Think about how many times a day your prospects and customers will be reminded of you and your organization. Makes a great tradeshow giveaway or salescall leave-behind gift. Find out more about the Computer Rear View Mirror here.

It's a Pen...It's a Hard Drive...It's a Pen...It's a Hard Drive

Now that I am over 50, it is my theory that the mature woman should be able to cook/host a dinner party for 100 people as well as be able to rebuild a Web server. And the mature geek woman never EVER goes anywhere without her trusty removable Flash drive.

Here's the 512KB Executive USB Flash Storage Writing Pen complete with USB Flash drive tucked neatly in the barrel. It takes a standard pen refill, and looks pretty sharp.

Here's an idea for this pen. It has come to my attention that associations and other organizations are now providing Flash drives to their conference attendees instead of tons and tons of paper handouts. All the Powerpoint presentations and handout document files can be pre-loaded on to this Executive Pen. The attendee simply attaches the pen's storage drive to the USB port on his/her laptop, and they are good to go. And I bet the conference organizers can save a ton 'o dough on paper, copying, shipping and the manpower it takes to put all the presentation support materials together. These expenditures alone make the cost of the pens worth it! And, as a conference attendee, I would appreciate not having to schlep tons of paper back home after the show is over. Saves trees...and your back. Find out more about the Executive USB Flash Storage Writing Pen here.

Say It...with Donuts

Years and years ago, when I was employed full-time with one of the Big American Corporations, I got a postcard in the mail. It had a photo of donuts on the front of it. The message on the back of the card read, "You make the coffee. We'll bring the donuts." It was from an ad agency. I've never forgotten it.

You can also captivate 'em with carbs using these Custom Donut Boxes.

Taking donuts and other treats helps your sales force make early morning sales calls. It literally buys 15-20 minutes of your prospect's or customer's time.

These custom food boxes can be adapted for Lunch and Learn programs and seminars where your sales reps develop captive audiences without the typical distractions in a restaurant or food service setting.

Don't like donuts? These custom boxes can also be used for the delivery of bagels, sandwiches, cookies and candy. Find out more about the Custom Donut Boxes here.

So where does one find these types of promo items? I use a company called Innovative Business Products, Inc. located in Winston-Salem, NC. It's owned by a fine fellow named John Loftis. If you are looking for more unique promo products, check out John's Promo Product Ideas blog or give him a call at 1-800-262-5414. I recommend him highly.

Tomorrow, Thursday, May 25, we will finish up the series Writing the Rest of the Copy for Your Email Signature Campaign. See you then.

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THURSDAY 5/25/06: Writing the Rest of the Copy for Your Email Signature Campaign from Mary Gillen.

Learn One Thing from Mary Gillen: Email Signature Campaign - Part 2 - Writing Headline Copy That Grabs Attention

Today, Tuesday, May 23, Mary Gillen shares some copywriting ideas for email signature campaign headlines.

Yesterday we talked about email signature campaigns and how to schedule them. Today let's talk about headline copy that grabs attention in signatures.

Before you start, you need to know a little bit about your prospect's/customer's "pain points" and how your organization offers relief.

Back in the good old days, there was a direct marketer named Victor O. Schwab (who wrote the famous body-builder Charles Atlas ads and went on to help create the giant Book-of-the-Month Club) who penned a list of what he called "pain points," spelling out the reasons why people buy what they don't necessarily need but feel they want. People purchase stuff and services because it eases some pain they have about themselves. Schwab wrote:

"People want to gain health, popularity, praise from others, pride of accomplishment, self-confidence, time, improved appearance, comfort, social and business advancement, money, security in old age, leisure, increased enjoyment, and personal prestige. They want to save time, money, and work. They want to avoid discomfort, risks, worry, embarrassment, and doubts. They want to express their personalities, satisfy their curiosities, appreciate beauty, win others' affections, resist domination by others, emulate the admirable, acquire or collect things, and generally improve themselves. They want to be good parents, creative, efficient, recognized authorities, up to date, gregarious, leaders, sociable, hospitable, proud of their possessions, and influential over others."

Let's say you're writing email signature campaign copy for a lending institution that offers college savings plans and loans. Here are some sample signature headlines that answer some pain points:

Example 1:

17 Ways to Save for Your Child's College Education

Pain Point: Being a good parent

Example 2:

Save for College Every Time You Buy: The RoundUp Savings Plan

Pain Points: Save time and money

Example 3:

Real World: How a Single Mother Successfully Saved for Her Child's 4-Year College Education

Pain Points: admirable, creative

TIP: Use a number other than 10 in the headline if you can. Note the use of the number 17 in Example 1. It attracts the eye.

Thursday, May 25: Writing the Rest of the Copy for Your Email Signature Campaign

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WEDNESDAY 5/24/06: Creative ways to use unique promotional products from Mary Gillen.

Learn One Thing from Mary Gillen: Email Signature Campaign That Drives Web Traffic - Part 1

Today, Monday, May 22, Mary Gillen starts a series of posts on how an organization can increase traffic to its Web site or blog without spending big bucks.

Email programs (such as Outlook, Thunderbird, Eudora, etc.) can be configured to add a message to the bottom of each email sent out. These text messages are called signatures, and are typically the most under-utilized marketing space on the planet.

Think of these email signatures as little billboards that draw attention to some aspect of your business. If the folks in your organization send out a lot of email every day, these signature messages can get noticed by a bunch 'o people. But there is a scheduling trick that makes this really work.

Let's say there are four departments in your organization called Sales, Human Resources, IT and Accounting. What makes this type of campaign work is to get the signature message out to as many different audiences as possible. Copy for four different signatures should be created for use in the campaign.

Schedule each department's personnel to use one of the campaign's signatures starting every Monday for a full week. The next week, each department uses a different signature.

Here's a sample schedule:

Tomorrow: Writing Copy for Your Email Signature Campaign

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TUESDAY 5/23/06: Email Signature Campaign - Part 2 - Writing Copy for Your Email Signature Campaign from Mary Gillen.

Learn One Thing from Mary Gillen: Section 508: ALT Tag Character Limit

Today, Friday, May 19, Mary Gillen writes about Section 508 Compliance and the Alternative Text (ALT) Tag Character Limit.

Yesterday, in class, a question came up: "To be 508 compliant, are we limited to a certain number of characters when we create keyword-rich ALT tags for our Web page or blog graphics?"

Good question.

Thanks to Debbie Myers, webmaster with the Air National Guard and class participant, we all have an answer.

"For ALT tags to be 508-compliant, the text must be greater than 7 and less than 81 characters in length." Investigating further, we discovered that:

Image alternative text should not contain the word "image" or mention the image file extensions, such as .jpg, .gif, .bmp, .jpeg in the ALT text

We found this information at http://www.contentquality.com/

Thanks Deb.

You all have a great weekend. See you Monday.

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MONDAY 5/22/06: More on blogging for business from Mary Gillen.

Learn One Thing from Allen Dubbs: Microsoft Project Tip

Today, Tuesday May 16, Allen Dubbs offers us a way to avoid unnecessary contraints when using Microsoft Project.

Don’t enter dates in the Start or Finish fields of the Entry table of the Gantt Chart. This causes an unnecessary constraint to be added to the task. If you need a task constraint, assign the constraint in the Task Information Form (Shift+F2). This method will allow you to pick the correct constraint and date for the task.

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FRIDAY 5/19/06: Section 508: ALT Tag Character Limit from Mary Gillen.

Learn One Thing from Jo Soard: Answering Machine Tip of the Day

Today, Monday May 15, Jo Soard leaves us a message on how to make your voice mail work harder for you.

Make the most of voice mail by posting a better-than-standard answering message. Include a "tip of the day" on your message tape, which can prove to be entertaining and educational to callers, as well as a credibility builder for you.

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TUESDAY 5/16/06: A Microsoft Project software tip from Allen Dubbs.

Learn One Thing from Mary Gillen: New Google Trends Tool a Must for Online Copywriters and Marketers

A new online tool called Google Trends analyzes Google searches to determine the popularity of certain terms - up to five can be compared - and also includes a news-volume tool that displays the number of times a topic has appeared in Google News. Take it for a spin to figure out how people are searching for you and your competitors and what keyword phrases they are using. http://www.google.com/trends

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MONDAY, MAY 15: More customer service ideas from Jo Soard.

Learn One Thing from Quinn McDonald: Never Make a Business Decision Out of Fear

Today artist and life coach Quinn McDonald writes about how it never pays to make a business decision out of fear.

Today, a writer client who is busy writing, but hasn't published in a while, got an offer to write on spec. "Should I take it?" he asked.

I asked, "Why would you consider doing it?" He thought it over and said, "If I refuse, the editor won't use me again."

"How do you know that?" I asked.

"I just think that's why I'm being tapped for spec," he said.

"When you worked in a business, did your boss ever ask you to work a day for free?" I asked.

"No, but I did put in a lot of overtime that I didn't get paid for because I was on salary," he said.

"And you did that because. . . " I asked.

"I wanted to show my loyalty," he said.

"What is the advantage of showing loyalty in this case?" I asked.

"Well, if I write the first article for free, I might get more work," he said.

"Do you know you will?" I asked.

"No. I just think I will," he said.

"I don't hear a lot of enthusiasm for this project in your voice. How long will it take you to write that article?" I asked.

"Well, with the research and interviews, maybe 12 hours or so," he said.

"You've been writing a while. What are you getting paid by other clients?" I asked.

"Well, hourly it's $75 an hour. Some clients pay me per word. But that depends a lot on the publication. A well-known national publication will pay me $5 a word, a small start-up maybe fifty cents a word," he said.

"So we're talking about $900 dollars on an hourly rate, maybe $750 for a 1,500-word article for a start-up. Would you risk that on a stock that may turn into something? Would you bet it on a horse race, knowing you could lose it all or win a lot?"

"No," he said, "And I'm starting to see that giving away what I've taken a long time to perfect doesn't sound like a good business decision. I was making it out of fear," he said.

Another great lesson: never make a business decision out of fear.

Read the whole article and more of Quinn's ideas

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THURSDAY 5/11/06: More on XML databinding from Mary Gillen.