Thursday, August 23, 2007

PRESS RELEASE

THE MERRY BIRD’S Premier Wedding Invitation Line Flying in! September 27, 2007-

Trumbell, CT- Late September 2007

Kristine Sheehan, Owner of The Merry Bird…pen, ink and design company is flying in to announce The Merry Bird’s premier bridal invitation line. Bells are ringing for The Merry Bird's new line of wedding, bachelorette and tea invitations, which are displayed on her business website located at http://www.themerrybird.com. With a distinct pen-and-ink stippled style, her formal and romantic wedding invitations offer a unique way of saying I love you, you’re invited! Any quantity of the bridal invitation line can be custom printed for the bride to be! And if the bride prefers a unique pen and ink design, Kristine will deliver a beautiful and meticulously hand drawn design especially for her.

Vendors and buyers are welcome to contact The Merry Bird…pen, ink and design company at: info@themerrybird.com for samples. Contact Information: The Merry Bird…pen, ink and design Kristine Sheehan www.themerrybird.com

Company Bio:

The Merry Bird....pen, ink and design company of Trumbell, Connecticut has officially been in business since March 2006. Kristine Sheehan, the owner, began working in the design/art industry because her passion is drawing with pen and ink, painting and photography. Her company offers a line of pen and ink motifs on note cards, holiday cards and invitations. The Merry Bird…pen, ink and design is ever changing and adding more beautiful ideas to choose from, come take a peek, Fly in! http://www.themerrybird.com *********************

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

"Offline Advertising for Your Online Presence"

by Apryl Duncan

Online Sales Through Print Generate traffic. Produce sales. Increase profits. Those words are gold to every business with a Web site. But an overwhelming majority of entrepreneurs don't ever reach their goals of gold. This is mainly because there seems to be an unwritten code of Web advertising. It states you can only be successful on the Internet if you are using online advertising methods like search engines, banner ads and buying online ad space. True, this should be a factor in any company's marketing efforts but there's an old rule of advertising you should consider... offline. Flip through any publication. From Yellow Pages to college newspapers, these days an advertisement almost looks bare and incomplete without a Web address. These ads are designed to peak your interest. By going to the Web site, a potential customer should find complete details on the product and order information. There are three offline advertising mediums worth investing in to drive people to your site. Print, television and radio ads are fairly inexpensive and have the power to promote your dot com presence effectively.

Print
This category includes everything imaginable: weekly shoppers, classified ads, flyers, Yellow Pages, magazine ads, newsletters, local TV guides, coupons, billboards, hanging ads on doorknobs, company letterhead, even business cards. If there's paper involved, there's plenty of opportunity to advertise your Web site. No matter which method you choose, there are certain guidelines you can follow to turn your potential customers into online consumers. Offer special incentives for visiting your site. More information, discount coupons, blowout prices and online ordering are a good start. Just make your customers feel like they will actually gain something from checking out your Web site. People are more likely to logon to the Internet than they are to call you or request info by mail. So make your Web site URL stand out in a large font style. Most advertisers bury their URL in tiny print, making it practically impossible to read. While your telephone number, address and company name are all important, your URL should get equal consideration if not a bigger type size.

Radio
A 30- or 60-second radio spot is quite a bargain. Rates vary depending on your area's population. Even still, you can negotiate a cheaper price and receive a better rate if you buy a bulk amount of commercials. One of the many advantages of radio is that you can target your audience. Specific age groups and lifestyles are all defined by the station's format. Ratings also help determine this information and can help you choose the best station and time slot for your company's commercial. The key components of your radio commercial include your name, address, telephone number and selling message. But be sure to ask listeners to visit your site. Repeat your URL at least twice and, again, tell them what they'll gain by visiting.

Television
Get ready to shatter the myths about television commercials. You don't have to be a major corporation or have tons of disposable ad dollars to hit the airwaves. Buying airtime on your local television station is actually very affordable. But for an even lower rate, check the cable TV companies in your area. Airtime is significantly lower than broadcast television ad rates. You also have the added benefit of reaching a specific target audience. If you sell sporting goods, your ad can run on SportsSouth and ESPN for the best possible prospects. Your cable operator can even gear the commercials to a zip code or local community. Infomercials aren't too far behind commercials as a low-cost, traffic-building tool. Even a 15-minute infomercial can explain your products/services and promote your Web site at the same time. Just like with print, make sure your URL is prominently displayed in your commercial and/or infomercial. Keep in mind, not everybody has a big screen TV at home and this can make a huge difference to a potential customer with a 19" screen. New technology forces us to adapt to new advertising means. But sometimes old school techniques are overlooked when, in fact, they can actually help propel business into the money-making wave of the future................................................


Read her bio here

http://advertising.about.com/mbiopage.htm

Ref Link: http://advertising.about.com/od/creating/a/offlineonlinead.htm

Friday, August 03, 2007

The Green Movement



An article in a recent trade magazine brought my attention to the green movement. Everyone and anyone must know recycled products and material are absolutely necessary for the well being of the planet. The stationery industry is no stranger to this concept. Dating back to the 70’s to the early 90’s, the popular trend of printing on recycled paper was well known and is a practice that is widely used for stationery production today.

But, the millennium holds “An Inconvenient Truth”. Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth," shows us that global warming is indeed happening to our earth. With this knowledge, the green movement is even more necessary as a worldwide endeavor. Starting with all retailers and manufacturers of products, the well being of the earth must be considered well before production.

Retailers and manufactures must be an active part of the Green Movement. If everyone incorporated these suggestions in their manufacturing processes we may save the world.

Utilize recycled paper
Larger manufacturers keep tabs on packaging sizes (i.e.: General Mills took the initiative in package reduction which resulted in 500 fewer trucks on the road and 2.2 million fewer miles driven. Sited from an article by The National Retail Federation)
All companies big and small should do their part by highlighting eco-friendly products on the shelves or on websites and in catalogs.

As for The Merry Bird, I will do my best to mix the pleasures of web world efficiency and preserving the quality of personalized invitations and postal mailed cards. Recycled paper being an inevitable part of business!




Kristine Sheehan
The Merry Bird…pen, ink and design
http://www.themerrybird.com/