AMiable Solution #31: Speaking Out

Sometimes the best way to generate new business is in person. And one of the most economical ways to do that is through public speaking.

Why public speaking? Few other in-person situations give you the opportunity to address a large number of attentive individuals--individuals with the same goals and objectives--at one time. Public speaking provides you with the opportunity to share your knowledge, expertise, and passion, all while providing a welcomed spotlight on your company or organization.

Where can you speak? Depending on what information you want to communicate, your opportunities could be anywhere: at association conferences and annual meetings. At community meetings or events. In college and university classrooms and career-related events. Even at your own facilities or those of your customers.

What should you speak about? What you say should be current and relevant to your audience. You don't just want to speak for the sake of speaking: you want to provide your audience with valuable information. You want to impress them with your knowledge so that when they have a related issue, your name--and your organization's name--comes to mind. Whether you address an new process or service, an overlooked or improperly executed process, current issues, or forthcoming legal or regulatory changes--including how to embrace them and integrate them into the daily grind--you should do so with authority and expertise.

How should you speak? Every speaker has his or her own personality and speaking style. The important thing is to be confident and relaxed. Even if you're not a natural public speaker or have much experience speaking in front of groups, you can find books, seminars, and professional organizations geared toward helping you through the process. Want ten tips now? See http://www.toastmasters.org/tips.asp for suggestions for providing a better presentation.

AMiable Solution #30: Engaging Your Community

Looking to connect more with your customers and your community? Try involving them in your marketing or involving yourself in their activities:


1. Hold a contest. Most people are competitive to some degree and enjoy a little distraction from the usual grind, especially when it's a good challenge. Developing a new product or service? Tell your customers about it and let them help name it. Looking for new marketing material? Ask customers to submit photos and/or written anecdotes of your product/service in use. No matter what your contest, be sure to offer a reward to the winner. Free products, consultations, or discounts are always welcomed.

2. Host an event. Depending on your business and your imagination, this could be a relatively inexpensive occurrence or an all-out party. Whichever way you choose, hosting an event--whether it's a grand opening, product launch, or charity fundraiser in your store, office, or parking lot--is a great way to make your company feel more personal and accessible.

3. Participate in a community event. Most communities have them: parades, fundraisers, special events with participants and sponsors and publicity. Check out your community's calendar of events to see which opportunities are available for you and your organization.

Do you have a better suggestion to offer or a challenge you'd like help with? Say it here. Your comments are always welcome.

AMiable Solution #29: Creating Interest with Press Releases

Press releases are wonderful, relatively inexpensive ways to increase your business's visibility. You can announce a new product or new product feature, introduce a new employee or significant employee change, launch a partnership, invite the public to participate in an event or cause, etc.


But what makes a press release stand out? What makes one more readable or compelling than another? For the answer, we looked to two companies who make distributing press releases their business.

Business Wire, who distributes press releases for thousands of member companies and organizations, suggests making sure your press release "contains actual news" (http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/how-to-write-press-release/). The company also suggests limiting your headline to less than 23 words and avoiding clever phrases or plays on words: straightforward headlines are more likely to be indexed correctly. Finally, include numerous links right from the beginning. Things to link? Business Wire recommends linking the first reference to a brand or product name and the names of employees identified in your press release.

PRWeb, an online news distribution and online publicity company, suggests keeping both sentences and paragraphs short: no more than three or four lines per paragraph. The company also recommends writing in the third person to avoid sounding like a direct sales pitch and limiting links to no more than one per 100 words.

Above all, both companies emphasize making any professional press release clear and concise.

Do you have a better suggestion to offer or a challenge you'd like help with? Say it here. Your comments are always welcome.

AMiable Solution #28: Encouraging Referrals

You can toot your own horn as often and as loudly as you'd like, and some people will listen. Ask a satisfied customer or client to toot your horn for you, however, and you'll likely gain more new customers with less effort and expense.


So what are the keys and tricks to convincing clients to refer you to their colleagues, customers, and friends? Bribery helps (see list below), but providing consistent and efficient customer service will generate more sincere endorsements and better responses. People gripe about bad customer service experiences, but they remember--and share with others--good ones.

Encourage strong relationships with your clients and their contacts with these referral-generating tips:

• follow-up with existing customers and stay in touch

• include a letter in your next shipment or mailing, thanking the customer for his/her past business, and asking for referrals. Make your customers' job easier by including a flyer, brochure, or postcard invitation for them to pass along.

• offer a referral reward program that benefits both your customers and their friends

• ask your professional clients to mention you to their clients and offer a special discount or service to those new customers who respond

• credit a customer's account when he/she sends you new business

• focus on your most loyal or active customers and the ones who likely have the biggest networks

• make a plan and monitor your progress and results

Do you have a better suggestion to offer or a challenge you'd like help with? Say it here. Your comments are always welcome.

AMiable Solution #27: Envelope Mailings

In the quest to have their envelope mailings stand out from other mail--bills, letters, and other business marketing--marketers take creative measures, using clever text, colored stock, and unusual add-ons or inserts to pique a recipient's interest and get him/her to open the envelope.


Unfortunately, sometimes when creativity flows, practical considerations get tossed to the wind, causing surprise, frustration, and additional expense when the post office refuses to process the marketer's mailpiece.

Although we wouldn't want to stand in the way of anyone's creative process or innovative ideas (we love seeing all the different ways our customers find to stand out from the crowd), we would like to help you maximize your investment and minimize your postage expenses and headaches. Therefore, we present to you three key mailpiece design restrictions, courtesy of the USPS Domestic Mail Manual:

• Automated letters must be flexible. Heavy stock certainly does look better and lasts longer, but save your really heavy stock flyers and brochures for conventions and order inserts. According to the USPS (DMM 3.12.1), "a mailpiece and its contents must bend easily when subjected to a transport belt tension of 40 pounds around an 11-inch diameter drum." In other words, keep your stock under ???? pounds. If you're not sure if your piece meets the flexibility requirement, ask your printer for at least five sample pieces of your chosen stock--cut and folded to your final specs--and submit the samples and a written request to your local postmaster for a flexibility test at least six weeks before your mailing date.

• Keep inserts small or flexible. Have you ever found a penny in your mail? According to the USPS Domestic Mail Manual, "odd-shaped" items like coins and tokens are permissible in automated letters as long as they are "firmly affixed to and wrapped within the contents of the mailpiece and envelope to streamline the shape of the mailpiece for automated processing" (DMM 3.10). Credit cards get the green light, too, for their flexibility. But don't expect the post office to process envelope mailings with pencils or keys in them: such rigid items are strictly prohibited.

• Leave the envelope alone. Yes, sending your promotion in an inter-office-inspired envelope would catch your customers' attention, and yes, marketing your high-end perfume in an envelope with a fancy closure would be something, but you'd have to hide them both in a traditional envelope or box because such gimmicks just don't work in automation mailing. According to DMM 3.8, "an automation-compatible mailpiece may not be polywrapped, polybagged, or shrinkwrapped; have clasps, strings, buttons, or similar closure devices; or have protrusions that might impede or damage the mail or mail processing equipment."

Not sure where that leaves you? With the same tools that have inspired donations, purchases, and memberships for years and years: a little paper, a little postage, and a load of benefits-heavy copy.