Blog
Stickers For University Teams
Building a strong brand image is essential for university teams. It helps build community support and it attracts the best quality student-athletes. Stickers for university teams are very effective in this regard. You can use them to decorate athletic facilities, and other school property as well. For example, we can design stickers and decals with your team logo, to commemorate former star players or, to celebrate winning years. Positive branding builds team loyalty, team spirit, and attracts team sponsors. Custom Stickers For University Teams You need to do something different if you want to stand out from the crowd. Stickerbeat can make your custom stickers and decals in a matte or glossy finish with any color or design you choose. Simply choose the style and dimensions for the sticker or decal you want and upload your graphics. If you need help however, contact us and one of our graphic designers will work with you at no charge. How’s that for service! Unique Ways To Use Stickers Some university teams use helmet stickers to boost the level of competition within the team. No player wants to be the one without stickers on his helmet, even early on in the season. Helmet stickers also have a psychological effect on the other team; imagine facing a guy wearing a helmet plastered with outstanding performance stickers. Swag For University Teams Not many things have a wider following than sports and sports fans are committed to their favorite teams. You can reward them by offering a variety of free or low-cost mementos. Not only will your fans love you for it, they will proudly display their team swag wherever they can. In addition, stickers and decals of various sizes are perfect to turn your fan’s favorite tools and toys into team billboards. They can be attached to cell phones, tablets, laptops and backpacks. What raving fan could resist pasting their favorite team’s bumper sticker on their car? Boost Your Home Team Advantage The home location confers an advantage to the local team in most sports. While referee bias is considered to be the biggest part of this, there can be no doubt that crowd support and familiar surroundings help boost confidence. Branded graphics play a big part in building the home team environment. Whether you're playing on a team, competing in an event or just cheering from the sidelines, we can make custom sticky products that show your support. We can personalize stickers with your team logo, favorite player number or any image of your choice. Simply use our online forms to upload your image or logo and choose the size and quantity. Wrap – Stickers For University Teams It is essential for university teams to build a strong brand image. Heavily branded university sports facilities and raving fans decked out with team swag make a strong impression. Stand out from the competition by ordering the best branding graphics direct from Stickerbeat. Track Clicks & Actions Turn off
Learn moreBest Hashtags For Entrepreneurs
Hashtags were first used on Twitter in 2007. Once you post it, the hashtag becomes a clickable link. Anyone who clicks on it is brought to a page that features all the latest tweets and posts with that hashtag. Therefore, if you create a tweet with a link to your blog, you should place the hashtag early and away from the link so you don’t accidentally direct traffic away from your blog. People also use hashtags as search terms to drill down for relevant information posted by savvy internet users. Using hashtags is a great way to build a following or to find prospects and suppliers. Why use hashtags More engagement: Social media posts with hashtags typically get twice as much engagement. When tweeting, only use one or two hashtags in a tweet or it will come across as spam. Reach a larger audience: You will reach a larger audience by using a popular hashtag that relates to your business or one that is trending at the moment. How To Use Hashtags You create a hashtag by placing the hash symbol before the word or phrase you want to use. The three simple rules to remember are: There are no spaces allowed in a hashtag No punctuation marks Use only letters and numbers There is no difference between #HashtagRules and #hashtagrules as far as functionality, but caps do make longer hashtags easier to read. You can make hashtags look more natural by using existing text; if you're tweeting about banners, just place a hashtag before the word banner rather than add a separate hashtag. Best Hashtags For Entrepreneurs Examples of best hashtags for entrepreneurs are #Biztip, #Entrepreneur, #Entrepreneurship, #Leadership, #Marketing, #BizOpp, #smallbusiness. There are many others, and some are probably more suited to your business than others. Which ones should you use? You can take the guesswork out of the equation by going to Ritetag to see how well any hashtag is likely to do. Hashtags on Ritetag are color-coded based on performance: Green: good for short term visibility Blue: good for long term visibility Red: overused right now, avoid it Grey: don’t use, no one follows it Ritetag is a free and excellent resource for hashtags and statistics. Here's a typical screenshot: Can You Own A Hashtag You can trademark a hashtag if the hashtag is being used to identify the source of a good or a service. However, the fact that a company has been using a hashtag on social media or in advertising materials does not automatically mean it warrants trademark protection. In other words, the hashtag must signify a specific source of goods or services. Remember, even if you trademark a hashtag, people will still be able to use it on social media. The trademark will only stop other companies in the same industry from using the hashtag to compete with you. Wrap – Best Hashtags For Entrepreneurs You should use hashtags to boost engagement on social media and to get your tweets and posts in front of more people. Keep your hashtags away from any link to your blog so you don’t accidentally drive traffic away from your website. You should also do research on any popular or trending hashtag before you use it to be sure it represents what you think it does. Finally, use a resource like Ritetag to get the best results from your marketing efforts.
Learn moreSummer Marketing Ideas For Small Business
The warm weather is on its way and it’s time to plan your summer marketing campaign. While some techniques work better for some businesses than others, these summer marketing ideas for small business could be used by any enterprise. Summer Marketing Ideas For Small Business 2017 Press Release: A press release is a great way to kick off your summer marketing campaign. You could announce a sales event, a new product or a new business addition. Summer-themed Promotional Items: Summer-themed promotional items like beer coolers or branded coasters are an inexpensive way to reward your customers and increase brand awareness. They can also be used as an incentive to boost sales when given once shoppers spend a certain amount. Loyalty Program: One of the easiest ways to boost sales is to offer a customer loyalty program. Participating customers typically buy twice as often because of the reward or savings. You can see how Starbucks made this work in a big way here. Summer Events Magnets: The fact that magnets are so useful is what makes them such a powerful branding tool. Everyone posts pictures and notes on refrigerators and computer cases etc. For example, you could print branded magnets that feature a local sports team schedule. Customers will be reminded of your brand every time they reference the calendar. National Holiday Specials: Make sure you tie your marketing campaigns to summer holidays like Canada Day or Independence Day. There are many other holidays and special interest days you could build your summer campaign around here. More Summer Marketing Ideas For Small Business Sidewalk And Floor Decals Advertising: I wrote about the effectiveness of floor decals previously. If you have a retail location, the sidewalk and floorspace are prime areas for advertising. Floor decals are big attention-getters and customers love them. Stickerbeat has great prices and offers free help with your graphics if you need it. Stickers And Posters: People love being outdoors in the summer and that spells opportunity. Your imagination is the only limit when it comes to marketing with stickers and posters. Car door magnets: You can turn your vehicle into a moving billboard with a car door magnet. This is another cost-effective way to advertise your brand everywhere you go this summer. Use bright colors and make sure your phone number and website URL are easy to read from a distance. Post A Selfie Promotion: Nothing sells more than customer referrals. You can harness the power of social media by offering a discount to any customer who posts a selfie while buying or using your product. Make sure they tag your location with @YourBusinessName and use a hashtag with your business name to qualify for the discount. Wrap-Up - Summer Marketing Ideas For Small Business Summer is a great time for marketing. Remember to spread out your marketing effort throughout the entire campaign - pre, middle and post-campaign marketing activities are equally important. If you had a campaign last year, build on it. Don’t be afraid to repeat events. Successful marketing is often built on repetition.
Learn moreWriting 101 For Small Business Owners
Online B2C and B2B sales have increased significantly in the past ten years. To tap into this trend, you need a good website with a blog. In writing 101 for small business owners, we’ll go over some general guidelines to help you get results. The Difference Between Marketing And Sales Marketing is meant to increase brand awareness and advertise a product or service. Efforts should be designed to gain exposure in the marketplace, gain favorable attention and generate leads. Sales is about converting leads into prospects or clients. Marketing is the main reason most businesses have a website. How Shoppers Finds Things Online I wrote about how the shopper’s journey starts at the search bar here. It’s important to understand this because Google is the Global Digital Yellow Pages. The main difference from physical directories is that Google goes through the pages for you and lists results in order of relevance based on various criteria. That’s why it’s important to have a good blog. How Relevance Is Determined Many factors affect your position in search results, but the most important factor is quality content that is related to search queries. The Holy Grail is to come up on page one for queries related to your business. Quality content means posting articles on your blog that are related to your products and services or, of interest to your client base. Writing 101 For Small Business Owners Before you start writing a blog post, ask yourself why you’re choosing that topic. What result do you wish to achieve. Any post should do at least one of these things: - have value in SEO terms (be found online for the product or service you offer) - sell a product of service (link to sales pages) - be informative to your audience (build trust, establish expertise etc.) Keep in mind that posting too many articles with sales links will appear as spam. It’s best to have a mix. Writing 101 For Small Business - Choosing A Topic What are the top competitors in your business blogging about? That’s a starting point to get ideas. Think of your audience. What customers do you want to attract? You’re a small business owner, what interests you? Whatever you choose to write about, your content has to be original. That doesn’t mean you can’t write about the same things others do, but it has to be your content. Over time, you will see which of your posts are most popular, which ones get the most page hits etc. You can then expand on the better ones and make them cornerstone content. You should blog on a regular basis. Establish a routine and stick to it. How often should you blog? That depends on who you are, what you do and what your competitors do. There’s no one answer that is right for everyone. There’s also your budget to consider. Promote Your Blog With Social Media You should promote the articles on your blog with your social media accounts. There’s a difference between Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google Plus and you shouldn’t post the exact same content on each platform. Users expect different content and automatic posting can appear to be spam. Analytic tools can tell you which time of the day gets you the most engagement. WrapUp - Writing 101 For Small Business Your digital marketing effort should include a business blog. Write for people, not search engines. If done properly, links to your website and blog will come up when people do a search for your product or service on Google. That’s the marketing end. Facilitating sales of products and services on your website is where the sales process begins.
Learn moreSeven Habits That Ruin Your Chances Of Success
Success doesn’t come overnight. A lot of time and effort goes into laying the groundwork of any successful venture. Therefore, you need to make sure you don’t have any bad habits that ruin your chances of success, or you won’t get there at all. There Are No Overnight Successes There’s no shortage of snake oil salesmen selling books and courses to gullible people who believe there’s a secret or shortcut to success. If there is a secret, it’s to stay on track and focused on your plan, even when confronted with problems and setbacks. Changing course and adopting a new plan every other week is a recipe for failure. Seven Habits That Ruin Your Chances Of Success 1. Skimping On Research There’s no substitute for quality research and it should go into every important decision you make. The time and effort spent on research should be proportional to the scale of the decision. A ‘flying by the seat of your pants approach’ could end up costing you in a big way. 2. You Don’t Question Your Beliefs A successful business leader needs to be an innovator. To be an innovator, you need to question the beliefs you’ve inherited along the way and eliminate the ones that are incorrect. Not that long ago, many people thought that things like clothes and shoes would never sell online. Some people have made a lot of money by questioning that belief. 3. Lack Of Confidence It can be nerve-wracking when success seems to be just out of reach. This can lead to second-guessing yourself. Questioning your decisions fosters a lack of confidence and weakens your commitment to your plan. 4. Fear Of Failure Fear of failure can paralyze you. You need to remember that even when you don’t get the desired result, something positive happened. The road to success isn’t always a straight line and failure can be a great teacher. 5. Procrastination Do you tend to over-prepare? Too much preparation leads to unnecessary actions that don’t move you closer to your goal. Here are a few signs you might be procrastinating rather than preparing: Postponing tasks rather than completing them The need to have all your ducks in a row before you start anything You keep doing research when you have enough information to make a decision Letting emails and phone calls bog you down Spending too much time on social media when you should be working on your project 6. Spreading Yourself Too Thin Do you embrace the 80/20 rule? Known as the Pareto Principle, the 80/20 rule is the notion that eighty percent of our results come from twenty percent of our actions. The easiest way to boost results is to understand which tasks fall into the twenty percent category. Focus on those and delegate the rest if possible. 7. Taking Too Long To Make A Decision It isn’t wise to make decisions too quickly. It can be catastrophic to put off a decision that needs to be made now. In some cases, a decision that isn’t ideal is better than no decision at all. Wrap-Up: Habits That Ruin Your Chances Of Success While all of these points are important, spreading yourself too thin exacerbates all the others. You should start by making it a daily practice to ensure you apply the 80/20 rule when planning your daily schedule, then work on the other points.
Learn morePoint of Purchase Marketing Strategy
Why do you need a Point of Purchase Marketing Strategy? To take advantage of the fact that seventy percent of final buying decisions are made while shopping in the store. That’s why Point of Purchase displays are so effective. Therefore, you need to develop a good point of purchase marketing strategy. More than half of all supermarket purchases are impulse purchases. That number may not translate to every business, but it’s a behavior you need to capitalize on. Point of Purchase Displays Nearly all retail outlets use POP displays. You’ve seen them at cosmetics counters and you’ve seen them in various departments at big box stores. There are a few basic things you should consider when planning your point of purchase marketing strategy: POP Categories POP displays fall under three main categories: temporary (1 to 3 months) semi-permanent (3 to 6 months) permanent (6 months+) Temporary displays are mainly used for special offers, to promote new products and for seasonal products. They are economical and ideal for large quantity rollouts. Semi-permanent displays are often used to display mid-priced retail goods. Permanent displays are designed to be used more than once. This allows retailers to display different items throughout the year without incurring the cost of purchasing new displays. It’s important to design this type of display with versatility in mind. Locating And Designing Your POP Displays In the past, you would only find POP displays at the cash register area. Today, retailers place POP displays throughout the store with great success. Keep in mind that sales from displays with signs are twenty percent higher, even with regular priced merchandise. It’s a good idea to restrict the height of displays to preserve the vistas on the floor. Set your displays up to attract consumer attention and make sure they allow several customers to inspect the items at the same time. How To Maximize POP Sales Tied Selling: Use your POP advertising to induce customers to purchase product accessories i.e., batteries for flashlights, alarms or toys. Sell Complimentary Products: Bundle two complementary products and offer a discount for purchasing the combo; shampoo and conditioner, drill and bit set. Buy One, Get One Free Promotion: This can work with many products. Keep improving your POP marketing effort: You must constantly consider new ways to market your products. Mix up your merchandise or try a different approach; it’s hard for customers to be excited about a promotion for more than a few weeks. Use promotional items to boost sales: Include samples, coupons or refund offers on product packages to make them stand out at the point of purchase and boost sales. Consult with distributors to see what they can offer: Point-of-sale materials are often available from manufacturers. Vendors also know what is working elsewhere and can offer tips and advice or promotional items you can give away with a purchase. Consider personal experience: What appealed to you and what didn’t? Is it the display, the offer, or the product that ultimately leads you to buy the item? Use that experience in your marketing strategy. Conclusion: Point of Purchase Marketing Strategy POP marketing is gaining in popularity for three reasons. First, it’s one of the most cost-effective forms of marketing. Second, it allows retailers to reduce sales support staff to keep costs down and remain competitive. Finally, the increase in last-minute impulse buying among consumers makes point of purchase marketing more important than ever before.
Learn moreFamily Activities For March Break
March Break provides a great opportunity to reconnect with family. You don't need a big budget; children will enjoy and cherish quality family time whether it takes place at home or in an exotic location. As you plan your March Break, think about the memories you want to create; which memories from your childhood mean the most to you? If quality family time means playing games together or long evenings at the dinner table, plan your vacation to create those memories. Remember, family time begins with research and planning. Plan together. Time To Unwind What makes a good vacation? It’s getting a break from what you normally do. That’s why many people choose to travel. But you don’t have to travel great distances or spend a lot of money to unplug and smell the roses. Here’s a list of family activities for March Break to help you unwind and reconnect with family: Family Activities for March Break Take something off your bucket list. Pick something from your bucket list and make it a family March Break event. Whether it’s skydiving, hot air ballooning, downhill skiing, bungee jumping, white water rafting or mountain climbing, pick one and do it. Take lots of pictures and video to make this one a lasting memory. Pretend you’re a tourist for a few days. People often avoid local tourist attractions their city if famous for, even though it’s one of the most obvious things to do during a vacation. Why not visit local attractions like museums, historical sites or buildings, or visit a park you haven’t been to. Take lots of pictures, you’ll be glad you did. Have a bbq for the kids and their friends. Get the children involved in planning and setting up the event and invite their friends. It’s a great opportunity to introduce new foods and teach them about costs and event planning. Have a camping trip in your backyard. The worse thing about camping is packing the car before and after the camping trip. Why not pitch the tent in your backyard and enjoy some outdoor time without the hassle. If you like road trips, go for it. Google family-friendly campgrounds near me first so you don’t make a poor choice. Go for a long hike or bike ride. It’s good to get outdoors and enjoy physical activity with the family. Go for a hike or bike ride through a new or favorite trail. Have a movie night and sleepover for the kids. Extend the bedtime curfew and let the kids invite friends over for a movie night or game night and a sleepover. The friends’ parents will enjoy the break and will no doubt return the favor. Make popcorn and snacks and let the kids get the sleeping bags out for the sleep-over. Have a volunteer day. Pick a day and volunteer as a family for a local cause like a food bank or a nursing home. Or spend an afternoon cleaning up a local park or pick up debris around your neighborhood. Try it, I guarantee you’ll feel better afterward. Wrap Up – Make March Break 2017 Special Order custom stickers for the event and make it really special! Use promo code MARCHBREAK and get 20% off all orders at Stickerbeat during the month of March.
Learn moreBoost Productivity With Outlook - 5 Tips
Microsoft Outlook is one of the most popular email and calendar programs in use today. This article features 5 tips that will streamline your email workload and boost productivity with Outlook 2010 or newer versions. Outlook has several built-in features that save time and boost productivity. If you’re struggling with a heavy email load, you need to develop good working habits and learn to use some of these features. 5 tips to boost productivity with outlook 1. Use The Touch Once Technique Form the 4 D’s habit and process messages using the touch once technique. When reading through your messages, deal with each one immediately: - Do it (respond or file for reference) - Delete it (if it isn’t relevant or you don’t need to keep or respond to it) - Delegate it (forward to someone else who will deal with it) - Schedule it for a later time if it needs your personal attention at a later date (use categories and flags) 2. Automate Repeated Typing We all use the same common phrases over and over in our daily communications. Here's an easy way to automate your typing with the built-in Quick Parts feature. Anytime you write a sentence or phrase often, save it as a Quick Parts for insertion in later emails. Here’s how: when writing in the composer window, highlight the text and click on the Insert tab, then click the Quick Parts drop-down and select Save selection to the Quick Parts gallery. Anytime you start typing that phrase in the future, you will see a popup suggestion box. Select the phrase you want and press enter – that’s it. You can save as many as you need. 3. Use Quick Steps To Automate Filing And Recurring Tasks You can quickly manage your inbox using Quick Steps. With one click, you can move messages to a specific folder or forward messages to your peers or manager. You can also customize Quick Steps by creating your own Quick Steps gallery of mail actions – this can be a big time-saver for any steps you take often. Default Quick Steps Actions Outlook comes with several default actions which can easily be customized or used as is. Outlook prompts you to do this when you use some Quick Steps for the first time, i.e., you need to select the folder you want to forward to before you can use that Quick Step for the first time. The default Quick Steps in Outlook are: Move to, To Manager, Team e-mail, Done, Reply & Delete and Create New. 4. Send Messages Later Rather than schedule the activity for a later date, you can write the email and set it to be delivered at some future time. Type your email, then click the Options tab and select Delay Delivery. In the dialogue box, select Do not deliver before option and enter a time and date, then click Close. Hit the Send button and your message will be held until the specified time for sending. IMAP or POP servers must be kept open until delivery time for this to work (Exchange servers can be closed). 5. Send SMS Text Directly From Outlook You can send SMS text messages directly to contacts if you have registered with a third-party messaging service. To connect Outlook, click the dropdown from New Items in the Home tab and select Text Message. Select the text messaging service for your mobile operator in the dialogue box. Wrap Up - Boost Productivity With Outlook You can boost productivity with Outlook by using Quick Steps and Quick Parts. Use the touch once technique, and learn to customize the Quick Parts and Quick Steps features and you will drastically cut down the time you spend dealing with that heavy email load.
Learn moreCustom Bumper Stickers
People buy bumper stickers for many reasons. Besides political campaigns, advertisers use custom bumper stickers to promote things such as business events, parks, motels, hotels and popular tourist attractions. Car owners often buy bumper stickers as a memento of a memorable trip they took for a holiday. Others use bumper stickers to make a political statement or often to have fun with a funny or provocative statement. Philosophy Of Bumper Stickers Some people see bumper stickers as an invitation to interact with the outside world. In his book If You Can Read This: The Philosophy of Bumper Stickers author Jack Bowen said that bumper stickers all contain an unspoken if-then clause: If you can read this, then Imagine...” Bowen thinks this unspoken clause is what invites the reader to react to the statement or the idea promoted by the sticker. Custom Bumper Stickers Modern day bumper stickers are much easier to apply and remove than they once were. What’s more, current production methods make it possible to order custom bumper stickers in small quantities – you don’t need to order 1,000 or more to keep the price down. You can save a lot of money by ordering directly online from a manufacturer like Stickerbeat than you would by ordering through a reseller or middleman. Most Popular Bumper Stickers Here are some of the more popular bumper stickers we’ve seen over the years: I’ll believe corporations are people when Texas executes one I’m having an out-of-money experience Make America Great Again Not My President Watch out for the idiot behind me Don’t laugh it’s paid for and in front of you Famous last words of a redneck: Hold my beer and watch this Horn broke, watch for finger My opinions may have changed, but not the fact that I am right I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you To err is human. To blame it on somebody else shows management potential Wanted: Meaningful overnight relationship Don't make me mad. I'm running out of places to hide the bodies It's lonely at the top, but you eat better I don’t suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it The good thing about science is that it’s true whether you believe in it or not Conclusion: Custom Bumper Stickers Custom bumper stickers are affordable and easy to order. Simply upload your artwork and we'll create a custom bumper sticker with an adhesive that makes it easy to remove and doesn’t leave an unsightly residue. You can order custom bumper stickers for your business, to show your support for a candidate or political issue, or to share your sense of humor. Our online approval process ensures you get the exact look and color you want.
Learn more