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There are many components of a brand identity: logo, color palette, font choice, and
the Visual Vocabulary. There’s a lot of information available about the use of logos,
colors, and Visual Vocabulary, but not much on the effective use of fonts. So, here’s
some information on the creative, practical, and technical aspects of fonts.

Font basics

A font is a set of all the letters in the alphabet, designed with similar characteristics.
This is also known as a typeface.

Fonts are usually designed to include several style variations. This can include styles
like light, regular, bold, semibold, ultra bold, and italic. Some fonts also include
“Expert” versions, which are fonts that include fractions and mathematical symbols.

Font families are typically packages of fonts that include all of the different versions
of a font. Using fonts with large families will give you a wide range of fonts to use in
your materials, for variety and emphasis.

There are many basic classifications of fonts. Four of the most common classes of
fonts are:

• Serif fonts, which have little “feet,” called serifs, at the ends of the lines that make
up the letters. Some examples of serif fonts include Times, Palatino, and Garamond.
These fonts are more traditional, elegant, and old-fashioned.

• Sans-serif fonts don’t have those feet. “Sans serif” means “without serifs.” Arial,
Verdana, Tahoma, and Helvetica are some of the most common sans-serif fonts.
These fonts are more clean and modern.

• Script fonts are calligraphic or cursive fonts. Brush Script and Nuptial Script are
two common script fonts.

• Display fonts are decorative and often used for logos or headlines.

There are other types of fonts as well, including handwriting fonts and all-caps
fonts. However, the four listed above are the most common and useful in business
communications.

Creative font usage guidelines

Each type of font has certain characteristics that translate into that font’s
personality. A font might be serious or light-hearted, traditional or modern, legible
or decorative, or any number of other personality traits. The traits of the font that
you use in your marketing materials and business communications should reflect
and enhance your company’s brand.

Your company should have designated fonts to use in the following situations:

• A logo font, which is typically not one of the fonts that come installed on Windows
machines: it should be more unique and interesting. Some logos will have two or
three different fonts in them. If this is the case, then consider using one of those
fonts as the secondary font as well.

• A secondary font, used for headlines, sub-headlines, taglines, special text such as
graphics and captions, and decorative text such as pull quotes, which are the large
quotes that are used decoratively in articles and documents. This can be the same
font as is used in your logo. This is typically an interesting and unique font as well.
This may also be used as the font for your contact information in your stationery,
depending on its legibility.

• A tertiary font is optional and may be used when the secondary font is not always
legible, for mid-length texts such as pull quotes and contact information.

• A serif text font, for lengthy printed documents. Printed materials are more easily
read if they are in serif font rather than sans-serif font.

• A sans-serif font, for shorter printed documents and on-screen use. Text on a
computer monitor is easier to read in a sans-serif font than in a serif font.

• A website font, which may be the same font as is used as the main sans-serif text
font, depending on how that font translates for online viewing.

All of these fonts should have similar or contrasting characteristics. Choosing fonts
with similar characteristics will make your fonts match and create consistency
throughout your documents. Choosing fonts with contrasting characteristics will
build visual texture and interest into your materials. For example, you could pick all
thin, sans-serif fonts such as Arial and Frutiger to create a harmonious, matching
suite of fonts. Or you could pick fonts with contrasting characteristics to create
greater interest, such as using a serif font like Palatino for the headlines and then
using a sans-serif font like Verdana for the text.

Each piece of marketing material or document created should have a maximum of
three or four families of fonts on them. (A font family includes all of the bold and
italic variations of a particular font, so using bold or italic effects does not count as
additional fonts.) Using more than three or four fonts is confusing, and it looks
unprofessional.

Practical font usage guidelines

Fonts can require special consideration when you send materials to a professional
printer for reproduction, use them on your website, or send Word documents to
others. Here are some basics on using fonts and preserving their appearance in
these cases.

• In printed materials, it’s easier to read long blocks of copy that is set in a serif
font. Sans-serif fonts are usually used in print for short blocks of information, like
headlines, pull quotes, or bulleted lists.

When sending your materials to be professionally printed, make sure to address
your desires regarding the use of fonts. You can either include the fonts with the
files you send to the printer (which might be considered a copyright license
infringement), rasterize your artwork (convert it to pixels, so the font data is no
longer needed), or outline your fonts (creating shapes out of the fonts, an option
that’s available in most vector art programs such as Adobe Illustrator and
Macromedia Freehand), so that they can be printed accurately. Outlining the fonts is
the best way to guarantee that your fonts will remain accurate and sharp.

• Online, in websites, emails, and HTML newsletters, sans-serif fonts look the best:
they’re clean, clear, and easy to read. There is one other trick to online font use: you
have to make sure that you use fonts that will be installed on the computers of
people reading your site. Otherwise, your text will appear in the default font
selected by their browser, which is often Courier, a very plain font. That limitation
does leave you with several fonts to choose from, though, including Verdana, Arial,
Tahoma, and Trebuchet MS.

Serif fonts could also be used on websites; however, it’s best to use them in limited
quantities, such as for headlines and subheads. Some fonts that are available to use
on the web include Times, Times New Roman, and Georgia.

Another issue that commonly arises with online fonts is the difficulty in controlling
the size and appearance of those fonts. Standard font tags in HTML don’t offer
precise sizing control and need to be used several times throughout each HTML
document, so making changes can be time-consuming. You can use Cascading Style
Sheets, or CSS, to precisely control the exact size of your fonts and to make site-
wide font, size, or color changes with one simple alteration.

• In Word Documents, you also want to make sure that the fonts that you use for
the text will be available on the recipient’s computer. Good fonts to use are the
standard fonts that come installed on PCs, which include Arial, Verdana, Tahoma,
Times New Roman, Georgia, Palatino, Courier, and Trebuchet MS.

In order to insert a small amount of customized textsuch as your logo, tagline, or
address informationcreate an image of that information and to place it in the
header and footer of the page.

Another way to preserve the appearance of text is to export your document as a PDF
file and send it to the recipient; PDF files embed the fonts into each document so
that they can be viewed on any computer and still look right.

Some technical info about font file types

When you purchase fonts to use on your computer, you’ll often be given a choice of
buying a Post Script, True Type, or Open Type font. Here is a brief explanation of
the characteristics and problems with each of these formats:

• Post Script fonts are considered industry standard and are therefore preferred by
professional printers. There is a format of Post Script fonts available for Macintosh
computers and another format available for Windows computers; those fonts cannot
be shared between Macs and PCs.

• True Type fonts are often found on Windows machines. These fonts do not print
as well as Postscript fonts.

• Open Type fonts are the newest type of font. They are cross-platform compatible,
but many fonts aren’t yet available in this format.

With this information about the creative, practical, and technical aspects of font
usage, we hope that you can make font choices that will enhance your brand.

First impressions countand that’s especially true for your business graphics. Your
designs should get you noticed, reflect your values, and leave an impression that
makes your company unforgettable and ultimately, increases your bottom line.
elf design is a Brand Identity Design and Management Company that specializes in
helping small business and entrepreneurs create a powerful and unique brand
identity that differentiates them from their competition and helps them to connect
with their target market. Our work is bold, clean and effective, and our processes
are proven to get your materials completed quickly.
A winner of several industry awards, elf design offers the full-service of a large
graphic agency and the highly-personalized attention of a boutique firm. Whether
you need a logo, brand or corporate identity, website or print design project, we’ll
create a Custom Marketing Package that contributes to your company’s visibility,
credibility and memorability. Visit http://www.elf-design.com to learn more.

Cyprus is and island that is well know for many centuries of great traditions, but what it is best known for is its spectacular climate, which has made it a very popular destination for Europeans, with over 2.4 million visiting its many resorts. Cyprus basks is more than 330 clorious days of sun each year, which has given it the name The Island of the Sun. With plenty of travel agents offering Cyprus holidays and low cost airlines including Monarch offering routes to Paphos and Larnaca, getting there is cheaper than ever.

While attracting visitors from around the world, most of them tend to be Europeans. In recent years Russians and Poles have become poolside regulars alongside the French, Germans and, of course, us Brits.. The British Armed Forces have long has a presence in Cyprus. The UK retains a military base in order to have a gateway for forces to the Middle East. As such the Brits are now almost as local and the locals, and this has in turned resulted in areas that are less traditional and more contemporary in culture. English is widely spoke and understood among nearly all age groups to driving on the left side of the road. No doubt the similarity to the UK makes us Brits feel more at home, but in a more favourable climate.

For many reading this, the prospect of taking a holiday away from England only to be greeted at the airport by a hire car representative hailing from Croydon and being served an authentic Mediterranean dish of steak and chips will not appeal. However, this side of Cyprus, that continues to attract millions of tourists year after year, is only one aspect of the island and is concentrated around the tourist hotspots of Paphos, Larnaca and Ayia Napa. Fortunately as you venture off the beaten track, your are soon reminded of the character that has made this island a popular destination for millennia.

Its worth tearing yourself away from the beach and visiting the Troodod Mountains if you can. In the heart of the mountains you will find the Kykkos monastery, a UNESCO world heritage site since 1998. Housing art and exhibits on ancient Greece, the monastery has the twin function of being a museum for visitors and a practising monastery lived in by worshiping monks. If you are a wine lover, there are treats in store for you. A daytrip to the Troodos Mountains can be a welcome change from the beach and with overnight accommodation available in many of the authentic villages dotted about; you might want to spend a few days here sampling another side of Cyprus.

KEEPING INTEREST HIGH: Supervision is key to the success of the program. Interns like direction, but don’t like to feel they are being constantly checked on. Even this small amount of direction, however, can take a great deal of time. It is important to be willing to set aside this time to give the intern direction. One method that seems to work calls for a briefing at the beginning of each day and a “where-do-we-stand?” briefing at its end. Throughout the day, the manager is on hand to answer any questions that might come up — remember this is a learning experience! There should also be additional time set aside throughout the duration of the internship during which the manager receives feedback from the intern on his or her satisfaction with the assignment and suggestions for future directions. Equally important, interns should receive feedback on their progress. They need to know if they are performing to the manager’s expectations. Additionally, many interns have chosen to keep diaries and time logs documenting their involvement. These can be reviewed at the conclusion of that person’s internship.

MOTIVATION: It is important to understand what normally motivates interns. Interns want to feel as though they are a member of the team partners with the staff. Staff members must understand this and accept the intern. Limiting intern assignments to routine, mechanical, or uninteresting tasks will also limit the program. Interns thrive on challenge and managers must have respect for their talents and capabilities. An intern wants to feel welcome but not prejudged. This can best be done on the part of the manager through the provision of a desk and telephoneand anything else that will make the intern feel comfortable. Likewise it is important for interns to know operational procedures, what the boundaries are, and the framework within which they must work.

INVOLEMENT: Interns need to have a sense of involvement in planning objectives. They need to feel that their ideas have had a fair hearing. The goals and objectives arrived at should be within reach and make sense to interns. Progress should also be observable to them, since one of the most motivating and exciting factors in an internship is having the feeling that one is making a difference. For this to be the case, they need to be trained to do the job they have undertaken. In addition, remember that everyone responds well to constructive criticism. Also, interns tend to think globally. They want to know not only the specific job they will perform and the scope of this job but also its relationship to other jobs.

Copyright AE Schwartz & Associates All rights reserved. For a free site to look for interns seeking internships: Internships4You and for a Free listing as a Trainer, Consultant, Speaker, Vendor/Organization: TrainingConsortium

CEO, A.E. Schwartz & Associates, Boston, MA., a comprehensive organization which offers over 40 skills based management training programs. Mr. Schwartz conducts over 150 programs annually for clients in industry, research, technology, government, Fortune 100/500 companies, and nonprofit organizations worldwide. He is often found at conferences as a key note presenter and/or facilitator. His style is fast-paced, participatory, practical, and humorous. He has authored over 65 books and products, and taught/lectured at over a dozen colleges and universities throughout the United States.

The Nokia 6124 classic has proven pretty popular with customers making it a winner for Nokia The 6124 classic is quite well featured for the price. With the 6124 classic Nokia have produced a good general purpose that will be appealing for a very wide range of customers.

The best way by far to purchase a mobile phone at the present time is on the web. Purchasing online can deliver some significant cost savings, believe it or not, it is possible to get a Nokia 6124 classic with 12 months free by redemption , which, if you read the terms and conditions will not cost you a penny.

The Nokia 6124 classic has support for 2G GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 and 3G HSDPA 850 / 2100 . The 6124 classic has an integrated 2 MP, 1600×1200 pixels, video, flash; secondary videocall camera. A WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML compatible browser is also included allowing mobile Internet access. This mobile handset is bluetooth enabled for compatibility with a great deal of devices. The available ring-tones enabled on the 6124 classic are Polyphonic (64 channels), MP3, AAC along with a vibrating tone . With regards its size the Nokia 6124 classic is is a small pocket sized phone. This handset is only available in BlackWhite. The battery cell shipped with the 6124 classic is a Standard battery, Li-Ion. Getting on to the display the mobile handset is supplied with a 2 inch screen, which is a disappointingly sized display taking into consideration other phones you could get for the price. The screen is a TFT, 16M colors. There are also a number of additional features included with the Nokia 6124 classic such as:

Voice memo

Office applications (Excel, PDF, Powerpoint, Word, Zip)

Push to talk

Java MIDP 2.0

Video calling

FM stereo radio

Built-in handsfree

MP3/AAC/MPEG4 player

Calculator

The 6124 classic is one of the latest models currently on the market, in spite of this it remains possible to get a real bargain on this mobile handset.

Orange is engaged in a mobile broadband promotion, designed to increase customer numbers. Overall, there is an increasing number in users of mobile broadband dongles to access the internet, both at home and on the go. Orange’s current promotion offers a bundle, which comprises of mobile broadband internet with a laptop. For just £25 a month, the user gets an SSUS EEE PC 900 running Windows XP. The laptop weighs less the 0.99kg, has 16GB or storage. The mobile broadband comes with 100 free texts, and 3GB of data allowance. Its connection is through a USB dongle.

Orange values it at £299. With some analysis, you’d find out that Orange has another mobile deal for £15 per month (without a laptop). Compare this to the promotion bundle, and the user is essentially paying £240 for the laptop. With some shopping and price comparisons you will find other similar EEE laptops for prices ranging from £160 to £300. The question, then is, “are you really getting a good deal”?

The downside is that there is a 24 months contract, which is considerably long. Once you are locked in, you miss out on any new technology of substantial drop in broadband prices. Also, their charges for going above your limit are very steep, compared to ADSL services. If you are out of the UK but within Europe, you are charged £3 per MB used. However, if you are elsewhere away you are charged £6.46 per MB used. At this rate, just checking your email a few times a day, while on vacation, can easily add-on £10 - £20 to your monthly bill. T-Mobile seems to be the only provider at this time that does not charge extra for going over your allowed limit. In fact, once you reach your limit, they restrict your usage. If mobile broadband should flourish and succeed way into the future, other providers must learn from T-Mobile. The ridiculous charges for going over the data allowance must be handled better than it is today. For instance, they must make clearly disclose the costs of accessing the network, when out of the UK. +for international

If Valentines Day were a contact sport, the flower companies would be in big trouble. That’s because men would start planning for Valentines Day some time in early January, and they’d almost certainly venture beyond the usual flowers and candy when choosing Valentines Day gifts.

The secret is you don’t have to spend a ton of money on Valentines Day gifts to please her. You just have to show you put some time and thought into choosing something special.

Here’s what married women wish the men in their lives knew about choosing Valentines Day gifts:

• You can never go wrong with jewelry. And while some women will be satisfied with mall store jewelry, just about all women will be impressed by a gift from Tiffany. It could be an inexpensive silver keychain or a pair of diamond earrings. It doesn’t matter. If it comes in that signature blue box, she’s almost guaranteed to love it.

  Or better yet, give her the whole store. Buy her shares of Tiffany stock, and she can legitimately say she owns the place.

• What you think is sappy, she might think is really sweet. Think custom poems, custom fortune cookies or custom M&Ms with your own special message on them. It may seem silly to you, but she’ll think it’s thoughtful and creative.

  Personal Creations (personalcreations.com) and 1-800-Flowers.com both offer giant custom fortune cookies.

• If you’re giving candy, make it chocolate, and make it the good stuff. New York-based Jacques Torres not only makes good-quality chocolate; it’s popular among the uber-trendy set, too.

• If you want to show her how much you value your memories together, give her a memory book (similar to a baby book) of the year you first met. Nostalgia Publishing does custom-printed books that detail all the current events — news, sports, movies, popular songs and more –that happened during the year you met.

  You can even customize the book with your names, the date you met, a special message and a poem. ($45 at whenwefirstmet.com).

Stephanie Gallagher, a.k.a, ‘The Shopping Mom,’ has written 4 books. For more Valentines Day gift ideas, including where to buy framed shares of Tiffany stock for less than $150, see her web site, Super Creative Valentines Day Gifts for New (and Not so New) Moms

This is where the real meat of e-marketing begins. You have a list of hungry subscribers at your fingertips and now you need to convert them into customers. You want to send them the best offer possible, presented in the best possible light.

In order to accomplish this, you need to create effective sales copy.

Good copy includes many elements: voice and style, proper grammar, spelling and punctuation, emphasis on benefits and much more. Let’s talk a bit about each of these.

Voice/Style

Your messages should sound professional without sounding “stuffy’.

You need to find your unique voice to connect with your subscribers. Pretend that you are sitting across the table from a friend and write as if you were speaking to them (leaving out, of course, things like swear words or references to your personal life).

You should also keep close watch over pronoun usage. Talk directly to the subscriber and avoid using the word “I” as much as possible. Be personable, but not too personal.

English 101

We all make mistakes in our writing at times. Your subscribers will probably forgive you for a few gaffes. However, you don’t want to send out horribly written messages. Always run your copy through a spell-checker. Brush up on your grammar and punctuation skills if you’ve gotten rusty.

Focus on Benefits

Never place your focus on selling the product or its features alone. People want to know what the product can do for them. For example: will it save them time? Will it save them money? Will it bring more love into their life?

Remember that most consumers, even if they swear otherwise, purchase products that they desire, and not products they need. Self-gratification and self-improvement always lay behind the buying impulse.

Offer Useful Content First

Are you giving your subscribers useful information? You need to win them over first with lots of high quality, free content before you begin making offers. Your sales pitches should be periodic in nature.

It’s a really bad idea to flood your list with offers every single day of the week. If you want, you can bury an affiliate link or two in each newsletter as long as it points to a useful resource in the context of your content. Just go easy on the special offers, though.

The best way to prime your subscribers is through scarcity. Your offers should be something subscribers look forward to receiving, rather than something easily predictable.

Calls to Action

When you do finally send an offer to your list, don’t be shy about letting your subscribers know what action you want them to take. If you want them to buy a product, sign up for a membership, visit a site, etc..then offer them the link and tell them to go for it.

Sprinkle your link several times throughout the copy for maximum effectiveness.

Dave Maschke

—– Are you ready to find out how the BIG online companies make money giving away free downloads? You can apply the same technique to your website today… Visit http://www.resellall.com now to find out how. —–

Window shutters add a nice touch to a home’s exterior. In other parts of the world, especially Europe and the Caribbean, shutters serve a functional purpose. They cover windows by night or in bad weather to keep out bad weather or cold air. By day they are pushed open from the inside and secured in place to let daylight and the sun’s warmth into a home. This is especially important in communities where the majority of residents lack central heating or air conditioning.

But in many industrialized nations, housing includes shutters more as accent pieces or adornments than as functional window covers. Shutters may cover the home’s largest windows, the windows on the front side of the house, the windows on the sides as well as the front, or every window in the home.

Shutters typically coordinate with a home’s design to bring out a certain style in its appearance. For example, you can get shutters that are rectangular-shaped, or those that come in other forms. Here are some things to consider when selecting shutters for your home.

1. Does the home’s exterior paint or paneling come with matching shutters? If so, consider using these to match the existing design, even if you had the siding done first and now want to add shutters. If not, check with the home supply provider for suggestions about the type of shutters that will go well with your current outdoor siding. You may be able to look at a print or online catalog, or view samples at the store. Some stores provide references of previous customers who have purchased these shutters, and you may be able to talk with them about their level of satisfaction or drive by their homes to have a look.

2. Choose a coordinating design and color. If your home’s siding or finish does not come with matching shutters, check out several possible options before selecting one for your home. Popular styles are made of aluminum and vinyl, along with other materials that are weather-resistant, so find out what’s available, along with the merits of each.

3. Compare styles to find one that suits your home’s design and structure. Some shutters come with two matching panels, while others have four. You can get louvers, but keep in mind these can collect dust and may be difficult to clean. Even when operational shutters are not needed, some people choose to install them for special effect on their homes.

4. Find out all you can about the product’s quality. Ask the sales associate about each product’s durability and lifetime expectancy. Also ask about how to clean various shutter types, and what type of special cleaning substances will be needed, if any. You might also want to know about any particular conditions that afflict certain products. Wood shutters, for instance, may tend to get dry rot, termites, or other wood-associated conditions. Any type of shutter might attract insect nests, and aluminum shutters may be prone to rusting.

Take your time in asking questions like these to find out what you need to know before buying shutters for your home.

For more information visit Window shutters, vinyl shutters, wood shutters and more.

Copyright 2006 Derek Naylor

There are only 3 ways to grow any business - including your self-storage business.

1. Acquire New Customers (Increase Occupancy) 2. Increase The Value Of Each Customer 3. Lower Operating Expenses/Increase Margins

If you think about it for a few minutes, you’ll quickly realize that everything you’ve done to increase profits has fallen under one of those 3 categories.

If you find yourself engaged in a discussion about ideas that don’t fall into these areas, you’re in a danger zone and need to back up and make sure you start with this foundation prior to continuing.

I’ve seen millions of dollars wasted on ideas that fall outside of these 3 areas and I would be doing you a disservice by not cautioning you on the danger of even exploring the ideas if they don’t fit snuggly into these categories.

So, let’s get started with point number one: Acquiring New Customers

Although there are other ways to increase the profitability of your storage facility, increasing occupancy is the most obvious and talked about method.

However, since there are so many ways to acquire a new customer, there is a lot of confusion and therefore a lot of money wasted in this business on bad marketing and sales tactics.

Before we get into the tactics of actually acquiring new customers, we need to take a holistic view of what is actually happening in your marketplace when a prospective customer needs storage and begins the hunt for a facility to store their belongings.

In order to create powerful marketing strategies we need to first see the world through your prospects eyes, in an effort to understand their motive in deciding to use storage in the first place. Then to understand their motive in choosing whatever facility they do. You’ve likely heard the maxim: “If you want to know why John Smith buys what John Smith buys you’ve got to see the world through John Smith’s eyes”.

As a marketer, that is one of the most valuable, underused maxims of all time.

See, marketing has many definitions. But ultimately it all boils down to MOTIVATING somebody to use your product/service to satisfy their need or want. But, in order to motivate, we must understand motive.

We uncover motive by - now this is real rocket science here so brace yourself - asking your customers and prospects what their motive is!

Imagine that!

Now, this must be done correctly since we know that a person’s first, surface level answer is usually not the complete and real answer but it really boils down to asking them why…

Why, after all of these years of a cluttered closet or garage, did you finally decide to use self storage?

Why, Businessman, did you finally decide to use self-storage to expand your distribution reach?

Why, of all the choices in town, did you choose us?

Why, why why?

After asking the right questions, the right way, enough times, you’re able to start drawing some good conclusions. But we’re not finished…

After we know what their motive is, we still need more invaluable information from these ever important people. After all, my opinion, your opinion and your marketing department’s opinion doesn’t matter one bit!

Know why? Because we’re not the one paying the money for the space. We’re not the one that pays the bills…your customer is! Getting in their head is absolutely critical and one of the most valuable things you could spend your time doing.

But uncovering their motive only tells us what motivated them to use self-storage and maybe why they chose you over the competition; we’re out to win a lion’s share of the market -aren’t we? So, we need to learn their frustrations, ultimate desires and non-motivators so we can learn what INNOVATIONS to implement to motivate them to choose us, over our competition.

In short, we need to find out what their buying motive is and how to get them to give us their money instead of giving it to your competition. That knowledge is most important!

The process we just described is a part of Storage Marketing Solutions “Discovery Process”. To date, we’ve done thousands of surveys across the country and already have great insight into your customers and prospective customer’s minds. But, since each competitive environment is slightly different, we always conduct new surveys for new clients to ensure the data is similar to maximize the return on their marketing investment.

In addition to uncovering buying motives, we do competitive analysis by shopping your competitors and conducting in depth staff surveys to gather further perspective.

After this is complete - we now can create the right strategy and begin developing the message and tactics that we will deploy this powerful message with.

Before pro sports teams prepare for their next game, what do they spend time doing? That’s right, reviewing game film of their toughest opponent actually playing. They do this so they can watch the play patterns, defense style and coaching moves of their competition. This helps them prepare and practice for their specific opponent. The same holds true for a court case. Before a case ever goes before the judge or jury, both attorneys do as much as they can during a discovery phase to create their case/game strategy.

Why should marketing strategy be any different? It shouldn’t! Most “marketers” don’t think twice about strategy. Rather, they’re artists. They create stuff that looks good and might get a laugh out of somebody without ever considering a solid strategy…

They do this without ever considering what to say, how to say it and who to say it to in order to motivate the prospect to pick up the phone, call you and choose you to store their belongings.

After innovations have been made to make you the obvious choice to store their belongings with, it’s time to talk about delivering this powerful message we’ve just created.

This is done through advertising mediums. This includes Television, Radio, Direct Mail, Yellow Pages, Billboards, etc.

Rather than go into each medium, I’ll get straight to the point on this…

For most facilities, spending advertising dollars on anything but Yellow Pages, Internet and Direct Mail is a giant waste of your money. Convenience and location are by far the biggest decision factors in the self-storage business. People want their belongings close and within easy access! This is why most of your customers live so close to the site they store at.

So, advertising to somebody 20 miles away by using mediums like radio, TV and sometimes even Yellow Pages is absolutely pointless. Why would you make somebody an offer who won’t accept it even if they wanted to?

Rather you should focus on the closest 30,000-60,000 households to each of your facilities. They are close, you are convenient and you can inexpensively deliver them a message that motivates them to use you. To fully occupy each facility, you probably only need 1%-5% of that universe to become a customer.

All of your marketing tactics should focus on those who live and/or work by your facility. Period!

Now, before you say something along the line of: “Direct mail doesn’t work” or, “I trash every piece of direct mail that comes my way”, consider this: according to the Direct Marketing Association, “Direct Mail is still the most efficient and effective way to advertise.”

If you’ve tried direct mail in the past, and it didn’t work, don’t challenge direct mail. What you need to do is challenge the way you did the direct mail. Almost every client we have has moved very cautiously towards making a small test investment in direct mail only to be proved wrong. Remember, most people WILL trash your piece…that’s fine. All we typically need is a measly 1%-5% to respond and we’re in the money…

I hope you’ve found this article helpful, insightful or at the bare minimum, a reinforcement of your existing beliefs.

When you’re learning about something new, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of relevant information available. This informative article should help you focus on the central points.

You investigate your next car purchase. You weigh the pros and cons of various computers through research. So why not put forth the same effort with a nanny background check? Know your nanny before she (or he) spends one moment with your children. You see some ads for nannies and one of the first things mentioned is that the family wants a non-smoker and non-drinker. However, no one really thinks to say - no criminals please! By performing a nanny background check, you can allay your fears and know that your children are in safe hands when you are not home.

To get the ball rolling on your nanny background check, ask for references from previous employers. You need at least three to follow-up with. That is the keyword - follow-up! Ask questions like how long was she employed with the previous family? How did she carry out her duties? What was the reason she left? Would you hire back if given the opportunity? These are but just a few questions that will give you valuable insight into your prospective nanny.

A more in-depth nanny background check is important to catch any discrepancies and items of interest that you should know about. The nanny candidate should fill out a form with all the pertinent information you would need to conduct the nanny background check. Be sure to disclose upfront that the information garnered from the form will be used in a nanny background check and that they need to sign the form to authorize the search. If they refuse to sign, it is a sure bet that they are hiding something in the past they do not want known.

See how much you can learn about nanny background check when you take a little time to read a well-researched article? Don’t miss out on the rest of this great information.

To conduct this in-depth nanny background check, you will need the nanny candidate’s full name as well as the maiden name or any of the aliases they might have been known by. You will also need to know the candidate’s address, birth date, driver’s license number and social security number. Contact information for relatives and previous bosses are also important as is where they went to school and/or college.

You will want to search by the candidate’s social security number and verify addresses and the name. You can also find out through court records about any criminal or civil cases in which the nanny candidate was involved. Criminal convictions, especially those having to do with children are important to check out as is running the candidate’s name and information through several sex offenders database lists. To be thorough in your nanny background check, be sure to use a reputable service online that will do searches for you or hire a local private detective.

Finally, those criminal checks should be run in all the places the candidates had listed as previous residences. City, county and state governments don’t always have every single record you require, but between all three resources, you can usually obtain most anything you need to know. The easiest way to run the nanny background check and comprehensive searches is to let a professional handle it. They are more equipped to deal with it and have access to databases that you may not have like the NCIC which stand for National Crime Information Center.

Know your nanny by investing in a nanny background check. This day and age, you can never be too careful about the safety of your children. The nanny background check may take a few days to complete, so do not allow the candidate into your home to look after the children. You can never be too safe!

Now you can be a confident expert on nanny background check. OK, maybe not an expert. But you should have something to bring to the table next time you join a discussion on nanny background check.