How learning procurement skills will make your print buying more relevant in today’s world
By Guest Blogger Matthew Parker Do you remember Bambi, the lovable Disney deer? Do you remember the smoke in the forest? The trumpeting of the hunters’ horns? Do you remember the terror she experienced as she was chased through the woods, her life in danger? Are you worried that YOU are being made a target? […]
How the USPS Postage Increase Impacts You!
Effective April 17th, 2011, the USPS is increasing postage rates. This post will explain what this means to you as both a consumer and as a bulk mailer. How was the USPS able to get the rate increase through? Last year, the USPS requested a 5.6% average postal rate increase. This would have raised first-class […]
5 Ways to Increase Prices and not Lose Customers
Judith Aquino (Business Insider) At some point, every company wrestles with the question of how to increase prices without losing many of their customers. For small businesses, this issue can raise many problems, especially if their original strategy was to offer products or services free of charge or at incredibly low rates. Unfortunately, it is […]
Planned postal rate hike hits marketers
The postal rate increase coming this spring is not expected to have a significant effect on direct mail marketing plans this year, thanks to its size and timing. However, the fact that the increase is even smaller than the US Postal Service had initially proposed is not much comfort to marketers, say industry observers. As […]
Virtual dressing rooms promise big sales
PALM DESERT, Calif.–It seems like a no-brainer, but why don’t the thousands and thousands of online clothing retailers offer customers a way to stand in front of a Webcam and virtually try things on? That’s a question a couple of companies that presented at the Demo Spring 2011 conference here today were trying to answer. […]
Will Design for Dollars: Considerations for Setting Fees
When you go into business for yourself, setting the right fees could help determine your success. It can be difficult to figure out what to charge; after all, it’s much more than knowing how much you want per hour. Start brainstorming by thinking about the following considerations: Overhead. What are the actual costs of your […]
New service launched to sell surplus cloud computing capacity
A company has launched what it claims to be the world’s first cloud computing marketplace. Toronto-based Enomaly, an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) provider, said that the new beta version of its SpotCloud Marketplace Platform provides an easy way for businesses to sell unused cloud capacity. Cloud providers can use SpotCloud to clear out unused capacity and sell […]
How Sales Has Changed in the Information Age
The Internet and search providers such as Google have revolutionized the way we access and interact with information. Nowhere is this more evident than in our purchasing decisions, whether as consumers considering major appliances for our homes, or as businesspeople considering goods and services for our firms. Our desire for information, the time required to […]
Comparing Competitive Costs – The Way to Win
This question always seems to vex the non-financial folks: how can I sell it cheap? Top management wants to know: are they the low cost producer—or are we—or who is? Manufacturing and purchasing folks want to know: what target do we need to hit on costs, purchase prices, etc.? And in the very beginning, designers […]
Internet Sales Tax Could Change Your Business
With federal and state budgets still struggling, lawmakers are looking for ways to increase the money coming into their tills. Sales taxes are about a third of total state tax collections, second only to personal income taxes as the largest source of state revenue. But the Internet Tax Nondiscrimination Act (P.L. 108-435) means states don’t […]
2010 ad revenue up at magazines, 1st time in 3 yrs
Reuters – The magazine industry is back on the upswing as advertising revenue grew for the first time in three years in 2010, thanks to automakers. Advertising revenue at consumer magazines rose 3 percent in 2010 to about $20 billion, according to data from rate cards compiled by the Publishers Information Bureau.People magazine, published by […]
U.S. ad spending to pass $150 billion mark this year
Madison Avenue is closing out a year that saw corporate America begin to once again spend on advertising, following deep and painful cuts to budgets during the recession. A faster-than-expected recovery was fueled in large part by the return of auto ads and a robust political ad market. While the ad business hasn’t fully bounced […]