A delightfully absurd take on everything from superheroes to office humor, twisted relationships, huggable animals, and more.
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A compendium of strange-but-true recent events as reported in the legitimate press.
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The world of business and finance gets skewered, as Bottom Liners tackles subjects such as foreign takeovers, office policies, getting a raise, and the fast-paced world of Wall Street.
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Embrace your brain; get creative.
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A Positive Light
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Sell Your Site Offline
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A Message From Walter Weinman |
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One Smart Old Dog
If you’ve ever been surrounded by a bunch of young pups who make you feel old, here’s a humorous little story to put some pep in your step and remember that with age comes wisdom.
One day an old German Shepherd becomes lost in the woods while chasing rabbits. He notices a hungry panther approaching him, so he immediately lies down next to a nearby pile of bones. As the panther is about to attack, he says loudly, “Wow, that panther was delicious. I wonder where I can find another one.” The panther looked terrified and slinked back into the trees, relieved thinking he escaped the killer dog.
Meanwhile a squirrel who had been watching from a tree catches up with the panther and spills the beans about the farce. Furious about looking like a fool, the panther says, “Hop on my back and we’ll teach that old dog!” The German Shepherd sees them coming and just when they get close enough to hear, he says “Where is that squirrel? I sent him off an hour ago to bring me another panther!”
Here’s the way I see it: If you can’t beat ‘em, use your experience to outsmart ‘em! Stop by next time you need help creating print materials that will keep you one step ahead of the competition.
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Idea of the Week |
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THINK
Thomas Watson, who founded IBM in 1924, placed on the wall behind his desk a single framed word: THINK. It became the corporate motto of one of the most influential companies of the century.
Think. The handiest source of new product ideas is your mind, if for no other reason than that you are always carrying it around with you. You have a mind. The next step is to open it and keep it open. What you want is to be open to change.
Management guru Peter Drucker has made the observation that most successful innovations exploit change. In his 1985 Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Drucker defined seven specific kinds of change that are sources of innovative opportunity:- The unexpected, including unexpected success, unexpected failure, and unexpected events.
- Incongruity between reality as it actually is and reality as it is assumed to be.
- Innovation based on process need.
- Changes in industry structure and market structure — especially those that catch everyone unaware.
- Demographic shifts.
- Changes in perception, mood, and meaning.
- New knowledge, including the scientific and the nonscientific.
We are keenly aware of the effect of change in the graphics and arts industry. Few industries have undergone as much change during the last few years as printing. While two of our heroes are Johannes Gutenberg and Benjamin Franklin, we also deeply admire Steven Jobs, Michael Dell, and Bill Gates. We anxiously embrace new technologies and see the changes as opportunities — not something to fear or dread. We just thought you needed to know.
See more great ideas like this!
Click here to visit the Copy Post Printing Ideas Collection.
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Marketing Tip |
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Dealing with Negative Feedback
Social media, product reviews, and online message boards are a great way to communicate openly with customers, and allows customers to communicate with each other as well. However, when you open up the lines of communication, you must be prepared to deal with negative feedback that may occur. Here are a few tips on how to stay on the positive side of negative comments:- Respond in a positive manner. Adding more negativity to the conversation by letting yourself be drawn into a fight with a customer will only reflect poorly on your business.
- Avoid corporate lingo and use a more conversational tone.
- Turn negative comments into teaching moments, but also be ready to take a conversation offline for resolution.
- Quickly resolve any complaints and reestablish credibility with your customer by offering refunds, discounts, gift cards, or coupons for future purchases.
- Negative feedback shows that your customers are listening, and helps you create better products and fine tune your marketing messages.
- Maintain a constant online presence to neutralize negative conversations and quickly delete any inappropriate comments.
- Always take the effort to thank those who took the time to provide you with a suggestion or comment.
- Your willingness to consider different perspectives makes your social presence and content much more believable. Negative feedback provides credibility and tells customers the retailer is confident enough to show a range of customer feedback.
Look to us next time you need help creating marketing materials that will put your company in a positive light.
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Uncommon Product |
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Promote Your Site with a Web Card
Believe it or not, many people still do not have access to the internet or are computer-challenged. Because this audience will not likely seek out your website online, a “web card” is a great way to highlight your site benefits and entice readers to visit.
Web cards are a versatile print marketing tool to help promote your website. Because the internet experience level of your audience may vary, web cards are a great unique way to announce a new (or re-designed) web site to your web savvy audience, and can also help pique interest among those who are new to or still learning how to use the internet.
A web card can be mailed as an oversized or folded postcard, as an enclosure in a standard #10 business envelope along with a cover letter, displayed in public areas, handed out at trade shows, enclosed in packages, distributed by partners, and handed to customers and prospects that are browsing or making a purchase.
When creating a web card, keep the message simple and define the primary benefit of your website and direct readers to it by using colorful visual images. When created to mimic the design of your site, web cards can highlight functionality and new features of your website. For example, a car dealership’s web card could show your home page and say, “Check out photos of new vehicles, view pricing, and get detailed information instantly.” If you want to highlight multiple site features, consider creating subsequent web cards that can be mailed to your mailing list over several weeks or months, which will also increase your top of mind awareness.
If you’re looking for other innovative ways to market your web site, give our creative team a call today!
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