As business owners we’re always looking for the silver bullet to add to our marketing campaign. There are tools in a variety of price ranges and complexities to market your business but one tool that often generates a tremendous response and can bypass many of the “filters” that reduce the effectiveness of other marketing methods is postcards . Postcards have the ability to get your message across quickly and easily since they don’t have to be opened like other forms of direct mail and they’re a very inexpensive way to reach a large number of people quickly - often for about half of the postage required for a standard letter.

NBC’s The Apprentice is one of the few television shows that can actually teach us something about business. The most recent episode was an outstanding example of a very common mistake many people make when attempting to handle their own advertising - making their ad something that appeals to them rather than their consumers. Several fairly simple errors were made that could have been easily avoided had an objective third party been involved.

1. The “i” in the word “Italian” was set in lowercase - The team members did this because they felt that it looked better. What they failed to consider was that it appears unprofessional and unfinished and also could easily offend someone of Italian decent.
2. The headline “Green with envy” was unclear - Although they team members knew exactly what they meant, there was a lot of room for confusion in regards to this headline. Are other people green with envy? Are you green with envy? Is…the car green with envy?
3. The overall concept was weak - The entire team had decided that they loved their concept but at no point did they attempt to learn more about the target market and find what would appeal most to them.

In their defense, these types of mistakes are made by many business owners and managers. They can be avoided by coming into the situation with on open mind and no preconceived notions.

Those of you that have been following our marketing blog recently have probably heard about the website redesign contest that we’ve been running.

After careful consideration, we have chosen a winner…and the winner is…

Dinner Builders, LLC - a business started in 2005 by Amy and Jason Pfaff that is based out of Charlotte , North Carolina .

Below is a screen shot of their current website:

We’re looking forward to designing their new website to reflect the quality service that they offer and helping their business grow like wildfire! Be sure to stop back soon to see it!