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Are you looking for a gift that will be cherished, shared and handed down? Then consider one of the oldest inventions of the ages. I am talking about books. Books that inspire; books that educate; books that give us pleasure and books that take us to the outer reaches of your imagination.

Books are personal and help us connect with the past, present and the future. A crafted book is not just something that will sit on a shelf, but can be a centerpiece in any room. That is why coffee table books are so popular. After all Kramer on Seinfeld did develop a coffee table book with legs. Seriously consider this a unique gift for clients, employees and family. We take it one step further with custom covers, inserts promo pages and cover imprints. Books may contain your logo, inspiration or thank you letter or theme related copy to remember any event or anniversary.

We have books in almost any category, price range and size. We can search out a title or you may choose from the hundreds of stock titles from the best selling authors, educators, motivators and photographers.

A gift of knowledge and communication is timeless and your recipient will remember who and when they received this wonderful gift.

All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they really happened and after you are finished reading one you feel that it all happened to you and after which it all belongs to you.
– Ernest Hemingway

Call me at 330-963-3664 x 2 for any additional questions or to help create your custom gifts for those special clients.

Bruce Felber, Mas

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Want to catch your clients when they least expect it. Send them a beautiful personalized Thanksgiving greeting card. Our full line of Business to Business Greeting cards are the prefect way to share any special occasion, holiday or thank you.

By sending a card for Thanksgiving you can express your thanks for all the business you have received during the year. Get the holiday started right and view all of our greeting cards here.

Cards carry your message with an artistic front cover will be cherished and create good will now and all year long.

Call me at 330-963-3664 x 2 for any additional questions or to help create your card.

Bruce Felber, Mas

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Welcome to installment number two of Promotional Gifts of the Season. It has been said “A way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” and it is also a way to your customers heart. This issue contains a recipe for your success.

FOOD GIFTS. So why are food gifts so popular? Why at the holidays are they so appreciated?

In advertising and marketing the best way to be remembered and create a “wow factor” is to employ all the senses in your promotion or gift. Nothing works better than a food item. The reason? A food gift touches the sense of taste, smell, touch, and sight. People always remember from whom they received that special gift and nothing is more shareable than food gifts. Food gifts make you smile and spread to more than just the recipient. Because many food gifts are shareable it is the prefect way to say thank you and show appreciation to your customers and employees. Talk about ROI – you touch more people and garner more positive and longer lasting goodwill with the correct food gifts.

But that is not all. Food gifts can be used as a unique way to transmit your message and reinforce your brand. A clever design or unusual package will create more attention and spread to multiple people allowing the best use of the gift. That perfect tin, wooden box, cutting board, Lucite or glass bowl will also serve as a keepsake reminder long after the impact and splash from the first opening, scent, taste and smile.

For the latest in chocolates, nuts cookies and more just call me at 330-963-3664 x 2 and I will select the prefect gift designed to fit your budget and taste.

Look for our next installment of Promotional Gifts of the Season.
Bruce Felber, MAS

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This is the first of many articles on the merits of promotions, gifts and advertising this time of the year. Many companies look to reward customers and employees and say thank you and what better way than a personalized gift that will evoke memories for a longer time. My series will focus on products and services that offer choice, variety of price points and different delivery avenues sure to be fit every need.

Calendars. Why are they so popular even in this electronic age? First a brief history lesson*

Calendar advertising has a rich history dating back to the 1850’s when The Ketterlinus Lithographic Manufacturing Co. of Philadelphia began printing calendars that contained advertising. Promotional wall calendars became even more popular as printing technology improved. In 1878, Andrew and Jacob Geiger opened a printing shop in Newark, NJ and began printing advertising calendars, fans, posters and other paper ephemera.

Calendar advertising became increasingly popular in the late 1880’s, thanks to the efforts of two enterprising Ohio newspapermen, Jasper Freemont Meek and his competitor, Henry Beach. They were fierce competitors, and between them, they figured out how to put ads on a myriad of items from aprons, hats and a wide variety of household items. They even invented the classic metal trays advertising colas, which are now prized by antique collectors.

Two more newspapermen, Thomas Murphy and Edward Burke Osborne, both of Red Oak, IA, are credited with inventing art calendars that became immensely popular in the late 1880’s. Like Jasper Meek and Henry Beach, they needed new business to keep their presses busy and bring in additional sales. Osborne printed a watercolor of the new Red Oak courthouse on cardboard, printed advertising around the painting and added a calendar pad. It was a huge success.

Until then, nobody had thought to place attractive art on calendars. The two men purchased fine photographs and paintings from a variety of artists and improved their printing capabilities to include 3-color printing. By 1894, Murphy and Osborne employed a total of 94 people, including 14 traveling salesmen and printed an estimated three million calendars.

At the end of 1894, Murphy sold his interest in the business to Osborne, who moved the company to Newark, NJ to be closer to art and business centers in the New York metropolitan areas. Osborne then seized upon a new printing technology – letterpress printing – to produce calendars of the highest quality. The resulting success of those calendars allowed him to set up printing plants in Toronto, London and Sydney, Australia.

*Special thanks to John J. Robinson – marketing consultant with specialties in print advertising and promotional products.

The benefits of calendars even in our electronic communication society are the same as when they were first introduced — Advertise to a larger audience 365 days a year. When you consider the fact that a good wall calendar is viewed at least once a day the cost per contact is just a few cents. That figure can be even less when you look at the “sphere of influence” factor. How many people come into your office, store, warehouse and home that are also subjected to the ads? Artwork on paper is still a higher perception than a monitor and many people save these photographs.
For the latest in 2011 calendar selection visit our site. Looking for a custom calendar? Just ask as we can design and produce something unique. Call me at 330-963-3664 x 2 for more information.

Look for our next installment of Promotional Gifts of the Season.
Bruce Felber, MAS

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I had the pleasure recently of presenting a new session, with my colleague Sandy Yocum, to over 40 local chamber members on the subject of Marketing in the New Millennium. The focus of this presentation was to inform the participants on how companies and organizations are going to market in this fast-paced electronically changing world. See article.

Today more of us search the internet more often than reading traditional ads, searching the phone directories and even media broadcast for the products and services we desire. A company must have a web presence to be taken seriously in today’s world. When people search the internet they search by product, service, location and ranking. Ranking can be based on recommendations such as on Digg.com or how often the search is visible and how high on the list. Consider these facts:

Growth in the number of Internet Devices
1984 = 1000
1992 = 1,000,000
2008 = 1,000,000,000

How long technology took to reach 50 million users
Radio = 38 years
TV = 13 years
Internet = 4 years
iPod = 3 years (downloads hit 1 billion in 9 months)
Facebook = 100 million users in less that 9 months

The same rules still apply to web or TEXT marketing. Content is King. What we are changing is the delivery methods. Features, benefits, positioning and value proposition must all be considered just as in the traditional mediums.

In our presentation we spoke about the differences between SEO and SEM. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the natural or un-paid (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results. SEO has traditionally been used by the “big” guys that need to go past Meta –Tag or key word searches.

Search Engine Management (SEM) are target paid listings. In general, the earlier (or higher on the page), and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine. As stated before Content is King. SEM can be used by almost any business along with traditional marketing to be able to play on the main stage.

SEO:

Focus on front page of Google
Believes websites should be optimized for Google
Goal should be high organic listing

SEM:

Creates a landing page
Also believes websites should be optimized for Google
Pushes all networks and search engines
Uses Pay Per Click
Uses organic listings
Ties to the fastest growing sites
A more targeted campaign,

Don’t overlook Social Media as a place to advertise. Facebook now received more daily hits then Google proving where people send their time. Consider this growth history – MySpace started the revolution in 2003. Facebook started in 2004 and as of July 2010 has over 500 million active users, 120 million active users in the US. On the average users spend 55 minutes per day on Facebook. Next be aware of the fast growing Mobile Marketing (TEXT) Field. Mobile marketing is one of the fastest growing forms of advertising because it is a perfect way to tell your raving fans about the latest specials, offers and information. Truly an engaging medium. Text messages are virtually always read and are completely opt-in, meaning you are not spamming your customers or prospects. People always look at their text messages much quicker than email messages. Your customers never leave home without keys, wallet and PHONE. Here are some facts:

152 billion text messages sent each month in the U.S.
3 to 1 cell phones VS computers
90% of text messages are read in 1 minute
57% of cell phone users text regularly, and growing each day
Mobile ad spend will be $115 Billion by 2013
In 2008 there were 270 million mobile subscribers in the U.S.
95% of all phones sold today have web browsers & 70 million use them regularly.

In our session we focused on new technology and we touched on 2D Bar Codes. I will talk about this in a future post. Keep in mind no method is the true king. A marketing strategy must be employed. Multiple touches must be used and tradition mediums are not dead. When combined they give you a winning combination. Print, broadcast, direct marketing, promotional marketing when used in combination will keep your ROI on track. Example: Print an opt-in text message on a promotional product and you not only engage the user in mobile marketing, but your permanent message is always working for you. Print ads and publicity combined will reinforce your message and touch the prospect much stronger. Just like doing an outline after reading a chapter in school the repetitive action will help keep the messages alive longer and stronger.

If your company or organization would be interested in this presentation contact me to discuss dates and time. brucefelber@felberandfelber.com.