Brought to you by Concept Marketing Group, Inc.

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In this issue:
Marketing Article: Retain Your Customers: Transactions to the Rescue!
Marketing Article: Keeping Your Brochure Out of the Trash

Hiring someone new?
Leasing your property?
Background checks keep you safe!

The Concept Marketing Group Background Screening System

This applicant supplied program has been jointly developed by Concept Marketing and MyBackgroundCheck.com to provide reliable, safe and secure screening options for employers, property managers and associations of all sizes.

Applicants apply for the background check and present a certificate which has a secure code to view the completed background.

See www.marketingsource.com/employment for additional details on background checking and our exciting new group rate program.

Discover nine great opportunities to cross-sell, up-sell and promote your products to your current customers.

What is transactional messaging?

Transactional messaging—that is, any messaging you send to customers as a direct result of a customer transaction—is widely being heralded as the next wave of e-mail marketing. Here's why:

Messages that result from customer transactions are excluded from the CAN-SPAM opt-out and explicit opt-in requirements. They are considered a permission-based e-mail follow-up.

According to recent studies, transactional e-mails are viewed very positively by customers.

Better yet, transactional messages have an astounding average open rate of over 70 percent, and click rates above 50 percent, when the message includes a redeemable discount offer. That's compared to typical opt-in promotional e-mail open rates of 36 percent, and click rates in the single digits. Wow!

Opportunities for Transactional Messaging
Order receipts
Periodic account status updates
Warranty information
Product recall notifications
Safety or security information for purchased products
Change notifications
Subscription or membership information
Employment or benefit plan information
Product update or upgrade information

*Remember: according to CAN-SPAM, the primary purpose of your e-mail must be to complete or facilitate the original customer transaction with the sender.

Reward your Customers with Transactional Offers

Here are 9 great ideas for offers and promotions to include within your transactional messages:
An order receipt containing recommended products
A print-at-home coupon as an incentive to purchase and repurchase
Special rewards for “best customers” or loyalty club members
Special information or promotional offers in return for registering
A free product offer for completing a satisfaction survey
A secured gift certificate or ticket fulfillment
Birthday offers
“Refer a Friend” offers for additional incentives
Embedded polls for audience profiling and market research

E-mail continues to be the “killer app” for online direct marketing—but ordinary bulk e-mail messages are no longer enough. Transactional messaging gives you a great opportunity to enrich your current relationship and your marketing ROI, all at once. Happy marketing.

Press release services from Concept Marketing Group, Inc announce your company to the Internet and general media!

• Internet-Only distribution options
• Reach virtually every newspaper, tv/radio station, and publication
• Writing and Editing services to make your news POP

See our website for more information on our Press Release Services

Brochures are one of the most popular marketing tools. They have the potential to be highly effective. However, let me share a startling piece of information with you. It is estimated that over half of all brochures end up in the trash without ever being read. Considering the cost involved with printing brochures, it is important that every effort is made to gain the attention of the reader immediately and to provide information that will cause them to act.

There are several key elements to consider when planning your brochure. You may choose to use the following list of "do(s)" and "don't(s)" as a checklist during your next printing.

Do.

1) Create an innovative, interesting, and applicable cover for your brochure. If your business centers around allergy-relief products, you might consider placing a photo of a mother comforting her daughter as the child sneezes, or a man slumped over his desk with watery eyes in place of your company logo.

2) Use photos on your cover if at all possible. Photographs can be costly, but they are huge attention-getters. Visit "stock" photo sites such as www.photospin.com to find professionally taken pictures costing between $9.95 - $75.00. These types of sites offer a wide selection of photos for use at very reasonable prices.

3) Use full color on your cover. Why all the attention on the cover? It is the key to having your brochure read. If the cover does not catch the eye of your prospective client, the rest of the material will go unread. For this reason, spend the additional money and have your printer use full-color processing.

4) Use your copy space wisely. Most tri-fold brochures offer limited space for copy (text), so be sure to use that space wisely. Focus on benefits to the customer, use definitive calls-to-action, and leave at least one key piece of information out of the copy (such as the price or the size) so that the reader will be more likely to contact you.

Don't.

1) Print "homemade" brochures. Brochures that do not portray a highly professional image are received with a bit of skepticism. The low quality presentation of a homemade brochure immediately gives the impression that your business is of low quality, too.

2) Skimp on proofreading. This is without a doubt one of the most common errors novice marketers make. Typos, the misuse of words, and blatant grammatical errors are very damaging to your reputation. While most programs now offer a spell-check feature, these tools can't differentiate between words like your and you're, no and know, or peek and peak. Not to mention, their ability to check for mistakes in grammar is inadequate.

3) Try to close the sale from your brochure. Most brochures are simply not designed to take the customer through the buying process and to the point-of-purchase. That's not their purpose at all. Brochures are designed to give enough information to spark the interest of the readers and to cause them to ask questions and want further details. If you attempt to include every ounce of information about your product or service in your brochure, most likely it will be too crowded and overbearing to bring about positive results.

Concentrate on creating a brochure designed to do its job and present your company attractively. By enticing your prospects, and then providing excellent contact information, you will soon find that your brochure will open the door to many more sales.

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Cathy Kessler is a Certified Professional Virtual Assistant specializing in proofreading, copyediting, and research. Do you have books, ebooks, brochures, websites, articles, newsletters, or other documents that need to be proofread or researched? Visit http://www.kesslerva.com today for additional information, or contact Cathy directly at cathy@kesslerva.com.