via MediaPost Publications Making Donation Amounts Variable 05/07/2012.

via USPS adopts new products and services to stay solvent – Direct Marketing News.

via Monitor Which Social Networks Your Visitors are Logged Into With Google Analytics | SEOmoz.

via BRANCHOUT RAISES $25 MILLION, SURPASSES 25 MILLION USERS | The Blog.

via MediaPost Publications LinkedIn Debuts Tools To Target Followers 04/11/2012.

via MediaPost Publications Three Ways To Class Up Your Email-to-Landing-Page Experience 04/10/2012.

Blue jeans and websites…what a few years can do.

Thankfully, I missed the bell bottom jean generation when a kid and just now, barely as an adult.  I have managed to stick to the traditional straight cut jeans despite the best efforts of some nearest and dearest to me.

What is the relationship to a website?  Hopefully you ask.  Well, some sites out there are stuck in generation one – just like my loyalty to “normal” jeans, some by choice or neglect.  The victim of outdated design, fashion and functionality.

The website we own or share sends a message to visitors, an outdated might serve the bill for preschool connect the dot templates – but for a printing firm – it points back to the darkroom days.

So where does your site stand?  If you would like an unbiased opinion on design, fashion and functionality drop us a line and we will share feedback.

BTW, the peg leg style should be back in about 10 years…lookout!

How to Gain Interest for Your Business Through Facebook.

Facebook offers a new and exciting way to communicate between marketers and consumers.  If you have a business you can create a Facebook Page that is an interactive portal to your desired consumers.  It is important to come up with a strategy to gain fans, influence people, and build a presence on Facebook.

Here are some recent Facebook Facts: Revenue of $2 billion and a valuation of approximately $50 billion.  It has over 750 million active users who have returned to the site in the last 30 days.  People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook.

There are many different ways to engage your consumer through your Facebook Page.  Here are just a few:

1. Posting Updates:  When a page administrator posts an update, it gets pushed to the fan’s Home News Feed.  The best practice is to place an update whenever there is any new content on your website, like a blog post or a new offering.
2. Posting Events: A great way to get consumer interaction is to hold an event at your place of business.  When you already have a selected audience who likes your business, it is easier to get involvement.  Once a consumer accepts an invitation, they can also share that activity.
3. Keeping Your Page Updated:  It is important to at least make two changes a week on your page.  Even if no one is viewing it, if you continue the good practice of posting relevant information, it will gain traction and take off.
4. Personalizing Your Page: If you add an album of your workplace or even your team, this creates a sense of personalization that consumers can relate to.  They will more likely react and engage if they feel a sense of being able to connect.

Have you created a Facebook Page for your business?  If not, let us get you up and running.  A key element is keeping your brand in mind, while creating an atmosphere that will be loved by your potential consumers.  At Servant Marketing Group we make branding our first priority, across all measures of marketing, including Facebook.

For years, my wife and I both had a vision to create a website for our community to initiate UNITY among Christians and local churches.  This personal passion was coupled with my professional experience to create HISNetWORKS.net, a vehicle to promote UNITY in our community in the name of Jesus Christ. Molly and I both felt that UNITY starts between the individual and God. When men and women look to God first and not at each other to solve the other’s issues, marriages would be stronger and families will be built up in a Biblical way.  Through these growing relationships, we hope to see marriages, families, churches, businesses and entire communities strengthened.  We also want to meet the practical needs of our neighbors, so this network will be expanded in the areas that God reveals as fruitful.

HISNetWORKS.net is a Christ centered social platform that helps you stay connected to interests, activities, ministries, events, and people that you care about most. In this era of unprecedented social connectivity, it is almost overwhelming the number of ways for us to communicate with one another.  We created HISNetWORKS.net to be used as a tool that would allow for rich, meaningful relationships to be formed in the context of a Christian community.  We see the church as the first social network, and created HISNetWORKS.net as an online extension of the church, that overcomes geographical, denominational, and cultural barriers.

Sadly, Molly Mizerak went home to be with the Lord on June 1, 2011 before our vision came to pass.  I felt a strong call of God to make this dream a reality in Molly’s memory and to serve God and the community.  Molly shared her vision to a group of pastors in Leesburg in 2010 and this video has become the catalyst for HISNetWORKS.net. See Video Below.

“Unity begins with us and our repentance. We have to start with ourselves, asking God to search our own hearts & see where we have offended our brother or sister. We must submit ourselves one to another that Christ may be glorified and honored. If we keep our hearts right – God can move.” – Molly Mizerak  

 Please try it out and be blessed!

In our first installment we considered the historical foundation of measurable direct marketing, and touched on the need to creatively test and track response. With the new found measured accountability direct marketers drove to find the most efficient means to target their appeal. In this issue, we will focus on discovering a target audience for a product.

Take for example, the direct sales efforts of the door to door vacuum manufacturer’s representative (one of the earliest forms of direct marketing). Let’s chart the exercise starting with a broad shotgun strategy and fine tune or target for a rifled approach to probable segments.

1. Broad stroke question – household or place of business?
2. Refined answer – Place of business
3. Broad stroke question – Self maintained or hired cleaning service?
4. Refined answer – Self maintained
5. Broad stroke question – In town or in city
6. Refined answer – In town

With this simple exercise the salesman has identified a target audience – something like a small retail business operating on main street in suburban town. As opposed to a larger firm located in a hi-rise building in the big city. Both may be worthy of a pitch but we have now identified two targets – that require two different styles of direct marketing.

If the salesman wants to sell units to individual retail businesses – he may be best served going door to door and pitching directly to the shop owner – who very well be the same person vacuuming the store. If, on the other hand the salesman wants to target the city dwelling building audience he will target the cleaning companies servicing that district of the big city. Herein lies the beauty of direct marketing, we have the ability to target or message to both audience segments simultaneously and track responsiveness. Refine and test and uncover other more refined targets.

The example given is simplistic yet the principles can be creatively applied to any product, service or appeal. Sometimes a fresh outside perspective is all that is needed to uncover hidden gems. Look to industry leaders in your marketplace to glean ideas on target audience practices – and start asking the questions!