10-9-14 More push to do something about Amazon.com

Last week, I shared articles from Jim Hightower's Lowdown and the Seattle Times.

I am hoping people share this information.

I just opened up Huffington Post, and they have highlighted an article in The New Republic:

Amazon Must Be Stopped It's too big. It's cannibalizing the economy. It's time for a radical plan.

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/119769/amazons-monopoly-must-be-broken-radical-plan-tech-giant

Please spread the word.

10-2-14 support your local businesses and stay away from Amazon.com

I’ve done several blogs about the importance of supporting local businesses on Whidbey.  It’s important to support local businesses wherever you live.

You’ll realize it’s even more important when you read about what kind of business practices are done by Amazon.com, the giant on-line  retailer.

Amazon.com has been pursuing a business policy of undercutting retailers everywhere, putting many businesses – especially local small businesses – out of business.  They also have a policy of treating their employees like workers in a third world country.

Recently, I read two articles in Jim Hightower’s Lowdown, and when I went on-line, I found similar information in a Seattle Times article from a couple of years ago.

Next time you need to purchase a book, how about visiting Josh at Moonraker Books in Langley.  If you need groceries, visit one of our excellent local grocers.  Wherever you can make the choice, spend a couple more dollars and patronize your neighbors.

 And, spread the word about Amazon.com:

It’s time to pay attention to what Jeff Bezos and his online retail colossus are doing

Like Walmart, only with supercomputers and drones: At Amazon.com "cheap" comes at a very hefty price

http://www.hightowerlowdown.org/node/3724

The Amazon.com story, part 2: The tax-dodging predator

Amazon's ruthless practices are crushing Main Street--and threatening the vitality of our communities

http://www.hightowerlowdown.org/node/3764

And, an article from the Seattle Times:

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2017932700_boardman08.html

9-25-14 An email may not communicate what you intended

Have you received an email with several misspellings or grammatical errors?

Have you received a group email that got sent around several times to several people, including you?

Do you find yourself sometimes struggling to get through a long email, only to reach the end and realize you’re still not sure what it was all about?

Have you sent an email assuming the other person would understand your words and your tone, only to get a response back that didn’t really relate to your intentions?

I’m sure you can come up with several other items to put on this list. In our high speed communication age, we rapidly email and text and tweet several times a day. But, are we really communicating?  There are some disagreements about how much human communication is non-verbal, but I think that we all can agree that lacking voice intonation, facial expression, body language and simply feeling another person’s energy, words alone will not necessarily convey thoughts accurately.

I have a bit of a silly streak in me (those who know me might say it is more than a bit). I learned a long time ago never to use my silliness in an email unless I was absolutely sure that the person knew me well enough to understand the communication (and I’m still not sure it’s wise to send anyone a silly email). Of course, I can add a :>), but……

So, here are a few suggestions to avoid misunderstandings when emailing:

• Keep it short and simple
• If at all possible, save your sincere, serious communications for in-person or by phone
• Read every email over before you press “Send”
• If you are sending out a longer email or something with important information, make sure you have someone else read it before you send it
• If you are feeling angry or frustrated with someone, DO NOT send them an email and let them know this; cool down first, and then make a phone call
• If you are sending an email to a group of people, use the bcc, even if everyone knows each other. It will seem more personal and it will be impossible for someone else to press the “Reply all” and send out swirling emails that can drive us crazy.

9-18-14 A simple marketing research tool for a retail business

Some basic information that guides how you use your advertising dollars is determining where your customers live and how they learned about your business.

A simple method is to ask each customer for their zip code and how they learned about your business and create a simple system to record the information.  This can be done on a computer using an Excel spreadsheet or some other tabular system, or by doing listings and hatch marks on a piece of paper near your register (OK, I know this doesn’t sound very high-tech, but it works).

You can keep track of these zip code tabulations by the month or season, or after you have done a new advertisement or promotion.

Once you see the patterns, it can provide you with valuable information about where to focus your advertising dollars.

9-11-14 Making a good visual first impression

Have you noticed how you are attracted to some business cards, but that many don’t seem to create any impression?  When you go to a website, are you immediately drawn in to see what’s there, and do you get an instant impression of the business and/or the person?

Logos, business cards and websites are generally the first entry point where someone connects with you as a business.  When I decided I wanted to create a fresh impression for my business and look for different places to sell my services,

I began by hiring Tinuviel Creative.  Kim Tinuviel and I were already friends, so she knew my personality and my values.

Hence, the sunflower that announces my sunny disposition (so I am told), yet a sophisticated, simple, design that I believe creates a first impression that represents my personality and my serious intention as marketing professional.

Whether you are starting a business, or revamping an existing one, ask some of your friends and business associates to give their honest impressions about your business cards and website.  If you do not get a clear, consistent response that reflects what you want to communicate, I strongly suggest you look toward creating that first impression you want.

By the way, Kim not only does excellent business materials, she also is a fine photographer and artist who works with a variety of mediums http://www.tinuvielcreative.com/).