February 13, 2010
SRCList focuses their efforts on giving pertinent sales contact lists to financial services sales reps. They provide leads of varying sizes to insurance, investment, financial or mortgage field salespeople so they can streamline their approach to contacting future new clientele. SRCList is a service that professionals can utilize to make the pressures of cold calling a little less trying.
SRCList.com offers lead lists of relevant leads that can help Insurance, Investment, and Mortgage Field Salespeople convert prospects to clientele. The reason is that these lead lists already have an inclination towards financial services products. They have an awareness of their need for superb financial services. In fact, they have indicated this through questionnaires, which is why their names make their way to this type of contact list.
In principle, SRCList.com does the pre-work for the salesperson. They work to guarantee the leads they provide are accurate. SRCList is also a member of the Direct Marketing Association. They will exchange at, no charge, any wrong phone number or address that may make their way onto a contact list they supply. When a customer of theirs gets a prospects list, they have exclusive use of the list for six months from the date of delivery.
SRCList.com renders current contact information and guarantees their sales contact lists. They will interchange faulty contact information at no charge. In existence for eleven years, they have a loyalty to the success of their clientele and improving the productivity of the leads they offer individuals who use their service. An example is someone who wants to purchase a Life Prospect List. The list they supply will help a sales rep contact possible new clientele that are ages 35 to 64. Roughly 20,000 agents have set appointments with an average ten percent of the people in the Company’s files.
Salespeople always look to avert spending time chasing down leads that are unlikely to develop results. Their want is to contact people who have an affinity for what they have to offer. SRCList supplies qualified contact lists that can help financial services sales professionals convert a higher percentage of contacts into clients. They continue to work to offer contact lists of different sizes to meet the special needs of individual sales representatives.
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February 5, 2010
Excellent voice over production can be established at any price point. Anyone who is serious about using voiceover talent for a project should definitely consider outsourcing to a professionalvoice over facility. The experience and knowledge gained by outsourcing to a voice over production studio is not only within your reach, but it can be affordable as well. The exposure of a quality television ad or radio spot can equal more potential business and sales. The upturn in revenue means that you get a return on your production investment.
It is imperativeto remain on time and on budget. If you choose a voice over production studio with a track record and expertise in the industry, you can rest assured that you will meet these goals as well as deliver an excellent product. You could plug a microphone into a laptop and record your voice, but why would you? A national commercial not only costs a lot of money, but the national exposure is worth scores more in potential business. This is why you need the assistance of a proper voice over production studio. The professional quality and expertise of a production facility can make the difference between an attractive, pleasant commercial that will be prosperous and a commercial that will be ignored or turned off.
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October 2, 2009
Manchester city council wants to transform the city into an important part of the UK Business Circle. It has already started working in that direction by improving the infrastructure and support facilities in the city. In furtherance of the goal, it has allowed the construction of the new head office of Co-op on Miller’s Street.
The new proposed 15-storey tower is scheduled to become operational within the next three years Situated across the road from the Co-operative insurance tower, this new office building will be spread on a large area of 20 acres. Peter Marks, chief executive of the council has expressed his confidence in the fact that the building holds huge potentials, which will bear fruit once it is complete.
The building is likely to attract a lot of attention towards its remarkable atrium at the centre that has a spectacular design, which is eco-friendly and has met the BREEAM standards completely. It is also expected to create an interesting work environment and will have room for all the staff the Co-op will need and more within its 330,000 square feet shared office space.
According to Sir Richard Leese, Leader of the Council, the step taken by the council is a symbol of the Council’s dedication to the cause of citizen’s welfare and the building is destined to be beneficial for the common people.
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June 15, 2009
The lack of interest in development projects in the current economic scenario has caused many of them to be held up until the developers can be sure that they will be well-received by potential tenants once they are completed. In such an instance, Australian developers, Stockland, have put their work on the Scottish Provident building, located in St. Andrew Square in the commercial city centre, on hold because of low interest from future tenants.
The MD of the company in the UK, Ken Lindsay, said that the company had anticipated the scarcity of tenants willing to pre-let given the current economy, but this had significant implications for the company’s profitability, leading to its decision to halt work on the Scottish Provident building, which is slated to have space for shared offices, apartments, and retail outlets.
He went on to say that though the company is eager to commence work right away, and they are aware that they cannot expect pre-lets to be secured for the entire complex, financial prudence prevents them from breaking ground before there is at least some level of interest demonstrated in the project.
The usual process followed by developers - seeking interest before commencing work and negotiations with contractors - has been slowed down considerably by the economic downturn, he stated. However, Stockland has shown that it is ready to take up the project the moment it is satisfied about tenant interest. It has had the interiors of the building stripped, to enable contractors to demolish the buildings without any delay once the project gets underway so that the construction of new buildings for the complex can commence.
It is evident that Stockland, though eager and willing, is waiting for the market to signal that the project will give them returns before they decide to invest any more money in it.
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June 15, 2008
In competing for a piece of business not too long ago, my PR firm was asked to supply three samples each of recent clips, bylined articles we’d authored for clients, and press releases.
For two of the three requirements, the issue was our embarrassment of riches. But
for press releases, we were hard-pressed. These days, we write fewer and fewer
press releases - most being the obligatory personnel announcements sprinkled with
the periodic feature release. We just don’t see them as being as important a tool for
PR practitioners as they once were.
Yes, there are exceptions. For disclosure purposes, news releases on occurrences
or developments that could materially impact a publicly held company are
mandatory. And some businesses have real “news” to report, even if they’re not
publicly held, that may lend itself to distribution via news release.
But despite the popular image of PR firms as press release factories and their
account personnel as pitching machines, and the regrettable fact that many still
churn them out and indiscriminately blanket the media with releases that have little
or no relevance, the reality is that they’re pretty much dead as a piece of the
strategic communications arsenal.
Think about it. As a society, we’ve gone from the era of mass production, mass
merchandising, and mass marketing to one where customization is king.
In this environment, press releases are to PR professionals what the 30-second
television commercial is becoming to the advertising industry. As far as most
reporters and editors are concerned, they are overproduced; they lack
differentiation; they generally aren’t relevant; and the vast majority just aren’t
coverage-worthy.
As a profession, we must be falling down on the job of providing education and
counsel. Why else would prospects, clients and their bosses still insist on “expertise”
in developing press releases, when the pertinent question should be: “For our
business and our purposes, what are the most effective ways to get media
coverage?”
Understanding the client and the thinking/strategy behind its offerings is a first step
leading to the best possible storyline hooks. It takes getting to know the company
and its positioning - intimately. What differentiates it from the competition. The
thinking by senior level people in the organization that makes it great.
This takes an investment of time and requires the PR professional to think and act
like a reporter in order to gather the intelligence that leads to more than just
message points, but solid story ideas that will position the company in the best
possible light. Researching trends, issues and concerns in the industry generally
and the company specifically will provide the fodder for probing questions to form
the basis of useful interviews with appropriate executives.
The exercise adds to your knowledge base and gives you an idea of problematic
areas that may have to be countered publicly at some point. While giving the
executives a taste of the interview process for future reference, it also allows you
position yourself as someone who is thinking more strategically and has advanced
beyond the PR 101 rote.
The second step is to target your media markets and customize your message
accordingly. Even products with mass consumer appeal will get more buzz with
journalists if you narrow your focus and customize your positioning to reflect the
individual journalist’s beat, orientation, likes, dislikes, and recent coverage topics,
as well as the publication’s positioning with readers. Much of this intelligence can
be gathered through services like MediaMap, or the old fashioned way - by doing a
byline search and skimming through the journalist’s past articles (or segments in
the case of the electronic media).
A short, personalized e-mail - three paragraphs at most - to the targeted journalists
with a to-the-point lead-in should not only outline the storyline, but also
emphasize its relevance to the outlet’s audiences. This personal approach is going
to have a far greater chance of grabbing the reporter’s attention than a news release
that’s written for the masses.
The third step is to ensure the people who are actually doing the phone call or email
follow-up in pitching the story are brought up to speed on the context of the angle
and overall client positioning. In short, they have to be prepared to answer at least
some of the reporter’s basic questions. A pet peeve of mine when I was a journalist,
was receiving a mass-produced press release that was followed up by a telephone
pitch by “sweet young things” whose responses to the simplest questions was
inevitably, “Ummmm, I don’t know. Is it important?” Their unpreparedness reflects
poorly on them and the organization they’re representing.
For years, the PR profession has indulged in considerable hand wringing over the
perceived lack of respect accorded the discipline, particularly vis a vis other
communications disciplines like marketing and advertising. It would help were
more practitioners to go beyond the numbers game to ensure broader trends were
reflected in performance of even the most basic functions.
Sally Saville Hodge is president of Hodge Communications, Inc.
(http://www.hodgecommunications.com), a strategic Chicago-based public relations and
marketing communications firm. She can be reached at
shodge@hodgecommunications.com.
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June 14, 2008
Can you believe everything you read? If you have been on the Internet for any length of time, chances are you have fallen for at least one fantastic claim that “this will bring you great weatlh and success.” There are, of course, some completely bogus sites with promises that, if you really think about it, could not possibly turn out to be true.
At the other end of the spectrum, there are many sites that really do have a great value and really can follow through with their promises.
But what has happened to us during this short process of the Internet getting going? Because a lot of us have been scammed at one time or other, we have become jaded to any statements that promise opportunity for wealth and success.
Don’t misunderstand me - you must keep your wits about you and not jump at everything you see. But you must also not pass off everything as a scam. A lot of businesses out there promise you wealth, BUT they also tell you that YOU have to contribute in some way or other to get that wealth.
For example, I sell targeted traffic. I can get the visitors to your website, but I also tell you that your site has to sell them. If the visitors aren’t buying from you, perhaps you need to look to your site for the answer. Or, if you don’t have your own site and are advertising a “cloned” site, perhaps you should consider getting your own site and rewriting your offer so that it appeals to more people.
A lot of people get into an offer, get excited about it, advertise it heavily for a week or two, get no signups, give it up as a scam and go on. What? Can you really expect to build a business in 2 weeks? Not in this life! It takes a tremendous amount of traffic to get sales and it takes many months to build a business into a lucrative one. But there is one thing for sure - the more traffic you get in a period of time, the faster your business will build. It’s the law of averages - and it’s a fact.
So, the key here is to look at an offer, see if it makes sense, read everything about it on the site - EVERYTHING. Then if you are satisfied that the offer appears legitimate, go for it. But go for it realistically. Have a plan. Don’t just throw out ads and expect the money to come rolling in. Advertise at every free and paid place you can think of. Seek out new places to advertise. Do FFA’s, targeted traffic, leads, ezine advertising, link trades, everything you can think of.
If you honestly work at it and your offer is a good one, you WILL be successful with it. But you must not expect it to happen overnight. You must give it time and you must not back off on your advertising. Look at the big companies in the “concrete” world. Some have been in business for years and years. Do you see them “resting on their laurels” and not advertising? Of course not. You stop advertising, you will fade out of the minds of your customers. You need to remind them that you exist. You are not the only company out there. Your customer’s memory span is short. They will forget you if you don’t remind them.
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June 8, 2008
Binoculars are essentially used in astronomy, birding, hunting, marine spotting, sports, and a host of other outdoor activity. These are one of the handiest and most widespread of all optical instruments these are essentially two eyeglasses put together to give you a combined view as a pair of glasses does. Only the distance of focus and clarity is a lot more. There are as many users and manufacturers, as there are uses for these.
Bushnell has manufactured a variety of waterproof binoculars for use in sports, nature spotting, in water sports and many more activities and these are all in the price range $37-$999. Zeiss is renowned for its configuration and technical specifications that meet the highest demands and leave absolutely nothing to be desired it is designed for higher-powered low-light usage, such as long distance hunting both on land and at sea. Their range is completely waterproofed for submersion, and dry-nitrogen cleansed to prevent fogging on the inside$. Price s range around $319 - $1,420. Zhumells’s most well known product is the pair of binoculars with a compass for marines’ use which costs $249.Meade has a binocular with a digital camera that costs $299. There are several other established products for you to choose from.
The prices depend on the specifications like the purpose of the binos, size distance to be viewed and the features it offers. All these manufactures have a pair to suit any of your requirements, as do many others. The advantage of buying these online is that you not only get to compare the product and its specifications but also the price, thus ensuring you get the best bargain and value for the money you pay for the product. It’s wise to do your basic groundwork before you buy this product since it’s going to literally see you a long way.
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May 25, 2008
Ask some businesses about radio advertising and they’ll tell you it’s the greatest investment they ever made while others will tell you it was a complete waste of time and money. So why does radio work for some and not for others? What’s the secret to successful radio advertising?
Know this: Radio can be a major player in your advertising mix if you know how to
do it and I’m about to give you the secrets to successful radio advertising so read
on.
First, write down a detailed description of who your core customers are. You can do
this by looking at prior sales or just by knowing your products and services. Are
they women in their 30’s and 40’s who have a good disposable income? Are they
men in their early 20’s who are into sports and cars? Figure out who your target
customer base is and then you’ll be one step closer to figuring out how to reach
them.
Second, give a listen to the radio stations in your market besides the ones you
usually listen to. Remember, just because you listen to a certain station every
morning doesn’t mean your potential customers do. Most stations have a pretty
definitive type of music or format they follow which gives them their listening base.
You don’t have to be a media buyer to know that certain stations will be right for
your targeted consumer while others will be way off the chart. For example, if your
customer base is women in their 30’s and 40’s, then you can rule out formats such
as rap and sports, right? If you live in a major market like Atlanta or Chicago there
may be as many as 30 to 40 stations on the radio dial so you’ll have plenty to
choose from. If you live in a smaller market you’ll have less stations to choose from
but you’ll still have a good selection.
Third, figure out your budget. How can you do this if you know nothing about radio
costs? One way is to contact an advertising agency who places radio on a regular
basis. Most likely they’ll have the pulse on the market you’re in and if not, can
gather enough information to help you decide how much you’ll need to spend to
make radio effective. If you’re hesitant to call an ad agency right away, the next best
thing to do is call two or three of the stations you’ve chosen yourself. Ask to speak
to the sales manager and let them know you’re trying to gather information for a
radio buy. Most likely they will assign you an account executive to work up a plan.
Keep in mind that a good advertising agency may be able to negotiate for better
rates and added incentives due to their relationship with the stations and their
experience but at the very least, this will give you a good starting point . Don’t be
overly concerned if you discover that you cannot afford the top stations in the
market. There are usually several stations in each market that share listeners and
formats and their costs will vary greatly. The rates you receive will be based on
many factors including the time of day you want to advertise, how soon you want to
be on the air, and the “avails” or inventory the stations have at the time you want to
advertise. “Drive time” is the term used by radio to mean just that: the times
listeners spend driving in their cars listening. Typically this is 6am to 10am and
4pm to 7pm. These are the coveted listener day parts for most stations and they can
be very expensive. But do you need to buy these times? Again, by defining your
target customer, you can determine the best times to reach them. There are also
spots known as “broad rotators” that can be equally as effective and less expensive
because you allow the station to place them over a longer period of the day for
example, 6am to midnight.
Fourth, and I feel this is equally if not the most important aspect of radio
advertising: the message. While some stations brag about playing thirty minutes to
an hour of uninterrupted music, this can be bad for you as an advertiser because it
also means that your radio commercial or spot will be slammed with six or more
other spots at one time in order to get all their advertisers on the air. I don’t know
about you, but if I endure three or four spots in a row and the fifth one doesn’t
catch my ear, I’m punching the button. Therefore your spot has to be clever. It has
to make the listener want to hear your message. Remember that the spot they hear
may be the first time they learn about your business so it needs to catch them right
away. I have found that humor, when done well, can be very effective. It’s always
amazed me how some companies will devote so much time and money into making
sure their radio buy is right but devote so little time to the message itself. Sure,
they’re on the airwaves alot, but are the listeners paying attention? Without an
effective ear-grabbing ad, it’s money down the drain. That’s why it would be wise to
let a professional write and produce your spot. The radio stations may even
volunteer to do this for you for free but remember, you get what you pay for.
The final piece of advice I will give you is this: repetition, repetition, repetition. It
doesn’t matter how clever your ad is or how well you placed the buy if you do not
have the budget to stay on the air consistently so make sure when putting together
your budget you think long term.
Consumers are bombarded with so many messages every day including television,
the internet, billboards, mailers, matchbook covers, even some grocery store floors
and elevators now carry advertising, unless you stay in their ears on a regular basis,
they will forget about you.
Utilize these basic rules and soon when someone asks you if your radio is effective
you can reply, “Yes it’s been wonderful!” because you’ve learned the secret to
making radio advertising work.
Hal Eisenberg is an award winning copywriter, voice over talent and producer, as
well as owner of The Eisenberg Agency, a full service advertising agency specializing
in creative ads that get results. Visit his web site at http://www.eisenbergagency.com. Contact Hal at halacious@eisenbergagency.com.
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May 24, 2008
When you receive a letter from a friend you want the letter to mirror the exact thoughts and feeling of your friend at the moment he wrote it. You prefer sincerity to an artificial effort to disguise or color his sentiments. Just so with a newspaper article, a magazine tale, a novel or an advertisement. Honesty and spontaneity must be there before the attention of a reader will be thoroughly captured.
This is the fundamental virtue of an advertisement. When it is not spontaneous it is labored and artificial, therefore ineffective and when it is not natural it is mechanical and unattractive. An honest outright effort that rides rough over the rules of spelling and grammar is more effective by far than the elegant production, faultless in grammar and expression, but pretentious and artificial in effect.
Suppose you are advertisingsay spring over-coats. Hold up the coat. Look it over. Feel its texture, its linings run your hands in its pockets and note its cut and finish. And its price is very low. All these points are flashed on your mind and you make mental notes. You cross-question the salesmen about the styles of spring overcoats-which are likely to be popular. You go back to your desk full of overcoat information, and bursting with this intelligence, you proceed to fix up an ad on spring overcoats.
This information will help a lot in organizing the content that you will include in your poster, brochure or flyer. You could consider talking about the spring coat in your marketing material as you would in a conversation with a customer. Provide them with the details quickly and easily and if he likes to laugh, a short joke or story may help you in your sale. Short, snappy, and catchy sentences are the sentences that strike readers. Thus, clean, artistic outline cuts, full of action to harmonize with the text, should be used. Pictures would also help enhance the material. A picture of a well dressed man wearing the coat can help to wonderfully emphasize the points you desire to bring out.
Thus, a neat cut, complete selling scheme has advantage over over-designed ones. From start to finish it is carefully thought and carried out. How much better is it than the usual whitewash of advertising which simply brings people in only to be disgusted with the unpreparedness of things? So, to be a successful business man, make sure you use ads that are neat, fresh and not overlarge with crisp, convincing text.
For comments and suggestions kindly visit Commercial Printing Services
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April 29, 2008
If you didn’t already know it worked, the concept behind saunas might seem a bit strange: sitting in a wood hut, sweating, with an icy shower to top it off - it doesn’t sound like the most relaxing pursuit. But those Scandinavians know their health treatments. If you’ve never had a sauna, you don’t know what you’re missing.
The Origin of Saunas
The sauna as such is of Nordic origin. But there are similar concepts in many other cultures, including the Turkish hammam and the Native American sweat lodge. That’s probably because the detoxifying properties of sweating are intuitively clear. But there’s also the social and cultural element of it - saunas and their cousins have been around for thousands of years as a method for people to bond and restore themselves in many more ways than the physical. Sweat lodges, for example, became a symbol of Native American resistance against the early settlers and their use was suppressed in proportion to how defiant the tribe was (the Sioux especially got it in the neck).
The practice is taken so seriously in Finland that a Finnish town, Heinola, hosts annual World Championships where the world’s most hardy sweat bathers battle to see who can stay in the fearsome heat of 110 degrees Celsius the longest (the usual temperature is about 80 degrees). Considering how deeply ingrained this pursuit is in Finnish culture it’s probably not surprising that the country has taken most of the titles since the competition started in 1998 (although Belarus has had a look in for the women’s events in recent years).
Built or bought, it could be fun to inaugurate your new room with a party - a popular pursuit in all sauna-loving parts of the world. But be careful, and if you’re having a party limit the booze while sweat bathing. Heat exhaustion can be very dangerous, even lethal, and will be exacerbated by excessive alcohol. That raises the wider issue of safety. There are some golden rules with saunas. Among them are: don’t stay in for too long, particularly if you are not used to them; if it’s a steam bath, don’t put too much water on the coals because excessive steam can scald; don’t wear jewelry while you’re in there; and don’t do it if you’re very tired, or, as we discussed above, have drunk a lot of alcohol.
For more information please visit Guide4Home on the benefits of saunas and steam rooms.
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