March 2003 - Momentum - M45 Marketing Services

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M45 Momentum: 45 Seconds to Maximize Your Marketing

March 2003 · Spring Cleaning: Get Your Business Ready for Summer Customers

to this month's edition of M45 Momentum, a monthly e-newsletter for the business community featuring tips, trends and trivia from the experts at M45 Marketing Services.

The weather is just starting to warm up. As the sunbeams drift across your desk, you are bound to notice the dust that has landed in the dreary winter months. As you break out your all-purpose cleaner, don't forget the other parts of your world that could use a little spring cleaning. In March we're focusing on what you can do to spruce up and get ready for new customers.

Having trouble with the formatting? An HTML version of this newsletter is always available at www.m45.biz/resources/momentum/3_2003.asp.

It's kind of like rotating your tires or organizing your attic—you know you need to review your existing materials and how they are presented, but it's awfully easy to put on the back burner.

Make 2003 the year to get it done. Step back and ask yourself, "Does our brochure adequately represent our current capabilities? Does our Web site reflect our company's personality? Are our materials complementary? Is our Web address on all literature?"

In the world of marketing, we call this regular process a communications audit. Here are a couple online resources for helping you analyze those elements that could use some repair or revision:

Website Checklist
Tips and Techniques

Is your Website cluttered? Are obsolete or discontinued products still featured? Are new products missing? Has the organization of your company changed so that it is no longer described correctly? Are new accomplishments or capabilities missing? Does your site feature the latest photos of products, applications, facilities, and so on? Chances are, if you have been adding things to your Website over time, your site needs some revamping and restructuring.

As many of you who work on Websites can attest, doing it right is much more difficult than it appears. M45 has designed, evaluated, maintained and redesigned sites since the Web became a popular communication tool. We start with a general understanding of your goals and utilize the media to create the right effect for your audience. We can also help make sure the content is relevant, useful and up to date.

Whatever area of communications needs help—from Web sites to surveys to promotional or technical material—let M45 show you how we can give your business a spring cleaning that will have you geared up for growth in the rest of 2003!

Call M45 at 815-232-2121 to discuss your marketing needs.

In a landmark study of intranet (Web pages for use only within a company) usability, Sun Microsystems found that employees were wasting half an hour per week on average trying to find information. They calculated that the lost productivity from bad Website navigation and unmaintained user interface amounted to $10 million each year.

Similar studies also establish that there is a significant return on investment from streamlining online resources.

[Declining Revenues Graphic]

You still have plenty of time to sign up for SEEDS (Service Education and Economic Development for Small Businesses) seminars. Upcoming topics include Marketing and Quality Service. The seminars continue until June at the Highland Community College Student/Conference Center. For more information contact Aubrey Mitchell at 815-232-2121 ext. 241.		Spring Cleaning Musings "Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean." —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe "Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing." —Phyllis Diller "There's no real need to do housework—after four years it doesn't get any worse." —Quentin Crisp "Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward." —Kurt Vonnegut "There's something wrong with a mother who washes out a measuring cup with soap and water after she's only measured water in it." —Erma Bombeck


M45 Marketing Services 524 West Stephenson Street, Suite 100 Freeport, IL 61032 815-232-2121 - Phone 815-297-0166 - Fax www.m45.biz		Subscription Information To receive a copy of M45 Momentum each month, click here. To be removed from the M45 Momentum distribution list, click here. To send comments and story suggestions, click here To visit the M45 Web site, click here.

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