Gaining Muscle for the New Year!

As the new year is fast approaching many of us are already thinking of our new years resolution; but have you thought of your new years resolution for your business?

A big new years resolution for majority of the population is to lose weight and get into shape. How can you lose weight in your business and gain muscle? Have you ever thought that maybe the muscle you need to work on and tone is the way you are marketing yourself? Marketing is an important key to any business. It introduces yourself to new customers and reminds current and past customers that you are here for them.

Now, the first thing to getting into shape isn't to go wild and spend money on every marketing vehicle there is out there; but to find the ones that work for your business and track and measure how much of a success it was. You don't want to be running a marathon and let all of your energy out in the first mile. Remember the saying, "slow and steady wins the race."

It is good to be out in the public eye, volunteering, sending direct mail pieces etc. but you don't want to do it all in the same week. You need to leave your customers wanting more.

A great thing to do before the new year starts is to sit down and come up with a marketing plan. This plan maps out your marketing for the next six months or year. Not only will it help you with your budget but you can plan when you are advertising specials and events. Maybe you will have a campaign that starts January 1st with a catchy headline that grabs the attention of your customer and gets them wanting to know more and see more. Then you send out a piece on February 1st adding on to the piece that they received in January. Keeping your marketing fresh and interesting will have your customers coming back for more.

At MAJIRS! we enjoy coming up with clever ways to keep your customers guessing. Let us help you with your marketing for the upcoming year and your business forms and materials.

We hope that you have a prosperous new year!

Happy Holidays!

Perry Como sang it best in 1958 with "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas." It really is starting to look that way at MAJIRS! The Christmas trees are up in the office with the lights twinkling and shining on the gold and red balls. While we are staying warm inside; the outside temperature is getting cold and I even saw it trying to snow today.

It's fun to think about Christmas and all that goes along with it. The smell of gingerbread cookies baking in the oven, finding that perfect tree and placing your ornaments on it and giving it that extra touch of tinsel. The radio stations are playing non stop Christmas music and as much as we grumble about snow, it just wouldn't be Christmas with out it . It also is a time that you get to spend with your family and friends and carry out the traditions that you might have had growing up as a child or ones that you have just put into place in the last few years.

For me, the Christmas season would start when my mom, 2 sisters (Christine and Pamela) would start to decorate the house the day after Thanksgiving. We would help put mom's village up and hang the stockings downstairs by the wood stove. Then we would all meet upstairs to set up the tree. While us girls were pulling out our ornaments, mom would come out of her room with a new ornament for each one of us with our name and the year on it. This is still a tradition I carry on now that I am married and on my own. On Christmas eve we would spend the whole day together and have a great big meal with ham and potatoes and gravy and an excellent homemade apple pie. It was like Thanksgiving all over where you eat and eat until you just can't eat anymore. After my 2 sisters and I would help mom clean off the table and do dishes we would all get into the family vehicle and go look at Christmas lights around town. Somehow, Santa always new when we were gone because when we came home there were gifts under the tree. We must have been very good!

As I have gotten older, I have learned that Christmas is for the little kids (the gifts) and that for us adults, it is really about spending time with your friends and family and making memories. It is hard to believe that in a few weeks Christmas will be here. I hope that you all take the time to enjoy the holiday season and make some great memories!

From everyone here at MAJIRS! we hope you have a very Merry Christmas and great New Year! Happy 2010

Are you focused on the feature or the benefit?

Everyone is looking for a way to save time, money and are asking, what's in it for me? When you go to the store you normally look at the item you need or want and then look at the different brands along with price. What makes your decision? Is it that your item has a fun color, cool mechanism that will speed up your cleaning process or cooking time or simply cheaper than the other one?

I was at this at home party a couple weeks back and to be honest, the only reason I was there was because my sister was the one having the party. I didn't think I needed any of these products and thought that it was an absolute waste of my time. Then, the sales lady started to do her demonstration and telling the group about the product and what it does and its features: it's soft, it doesn't spread germs etc. As I am still thinking yeah right, she started to tell me how my life would benefit from these products: saving money, spending less time doing my chores and so on. Ah ha, sold. From hearing that along with the features of the product she instantly got me hooked and I proceeded to have my own at home party.

After the party, I was thinking about how she hardly had to work for the sale. Have you ever thought about what you sell? Maybe you are a caterer and you have a customer coming in for their wedding. They are asking you about prices and what you all have to offer. As you go on and answer their questions, do you tell them why they should hire you? What benefit do they get if they hire you and not the guy across the street? Maybe it is something as simple as including the linens and table settings, saving them the time and money from having to rent them, pick them up, drop them off at the reception site and so on.

The next time you are meeting with a client/customer, remember that there are two parts to your product, its features and its benefits. To have your customer/client get excited about your product, they need to see both.

What is your next "BIG THING?"

Have you ever caught yourself thinking about how something has become the "in thing?" As technology evolves it seems like everything else needs to evolve as well. It seems like you can't go anywhere that there isn't someone texting, surfing the web and updating their schedule all on their cell phone. I find myself thinking back to the years when I didn't have a cell phone and wonder how I survived. Like everyone else, I had to jump on the cell phone train and get one.

It doesn't matter what line of work you are in or where you live, there are trends everywhere you look. In advertising we had trends of solely advertising in the newspaper and the phonebooks. As time went on and technology progressed we now advertise on the internet with Google ads and websites, blogs and social sites.

Now think about what you as a business are doing for advertising and promoting your company. Are you keeping up with the trends of today's world? Everything is at a click of a button, are you? The saying of "gone in a New York second" is becoming more of a literal thing everyday. People are running to meetings, school functions for their kids, and now before you know it we will be getting ready for holiday parties. Multi-tasking has become the thing to do Email, searching the web, texting and making phone calls in the car is much more of the norm.

My real question for you is, what is your next "BIG THING" that is going to grab the attention of your customers that will stop them in their busy day to day lives and have them come to your business?

Fall is here!

There is evidence that fall is officially here. I was driving on river street the other day and noticed all of the leaves changing from green to the vibrant yellows, oranges and reds. Even though the temperature still feels like it is summer, seeing the changing of the seasons reminds me that just like the leaves you need to keep changing with the seasons yourself. As business owners, have you "changed" with the seasons?

It is amazing how using color really draws attention your way. By adding color into your window displays, fall flowers in front of your store or changing out your merchandise into the seasons must haves, consumers constantly find themselves being excited to come into your store to see what is new that day from the last time they were in.

This is true in your advertising as well. It isn't all about the catchy headline and fancy words that are used but it is the color and the texture that really is the "eye candy" that leads the customer into reading more and really looking at what you have sent them.

At MAJIRS! we have just finished up the FiberNet Monticello direct mail pieces. It's lime green and isn't a typical size that you would see any other day. It made me smile a little bit the when I went into the Post Office to get our mail and there was a gentleman going through his stuff, throwing the "junk mail" away, as he was about to toss the FiberNet piece, he stopped, opened it, then put it back into his "keep" pile. I had to stop and ask what made him rethink throwing that away and he said that it had caught his eye and then realized that it was something for FiberNet and wanted to know more about what FiberNet had to offer that was different from the other fiber optic company.

So when it comes to you as an individual or you as a business, ask yourself one question, have I changed with the seasons or has my "color" lost its wow factor?

What has MAJIRS! been working on lately?

Here at MAJIRS! we are gearing up for the 9th Annual My Minnesota Wedding Bridal Expo, which will be held on November 14th at the Monticello Community Center. It is a lot of fun and we have so many great wedding professionals participating in it again this year! We are looking forward to seeing all the new wedding trends and dress styles for the upcoming year.

MAJIRS! has also been working on many things for FiberNet Monticello, Rachel Contracting, Summit Management, Energy Resources and so much more. If you need any help with your marketing needs we would love to sit down with you for a free 1/2 hour consultation to see where we could help you grow your business name.

How advertising can help your business! (www.businesslink.gov.uk)

How advertising can help your business

Advertising can be anything from your shop sign or a website, to an advertisement in a trade magazine or a 30-second radio slot.

Advertising can:

• provide basic facts such as your website address and contact details
• increase ongoing sales by telling potential customers about your product or service
• tell customers about changes to your service, new product launches and improvements
• increase your short-term sales with a specific one-off message - informing people of a special offer or a particular benefit of your product
• prompt specific action - getting customers to visit your premises or website, or use a discount voucher by a specified time
• remind existing customers about your business
• change people's attitudes and perceptions of your business
• help to create or develop a distinctive brand for your business to help you stand out from your competitors
• put your business at the front of people's minds, ahead of your competitors
• generate awareness of your business
• develop a particular market niche or position

You can also find MAJIRS! Advertising & Design on Twitter, Facebook and Linked In.