Posts Tagged ‘professional’

Enriching Your Las Vegas Marketing Mix is a Must

Saturday, January 9th, 2010

Las Vegas businesses, here’s the lowdown… advertisement is simply not marketing, it is only a PART of marketing. It’s like saying you want to have a rich market, but you don’t want to market to you client base. Forget about online marketing, web marketing, a sound corporate identity. You don’t need ‘em?

So wrong. Same is true for revenue generation… if done in your own bubble, none of these valuable strategies and tactics will get the results you’re looking for. For your Las Vegas professional services, where your relationship with your target Las Vegas audience evolves and solidifies based on their trust for you - it is all about layering your “marketing touch” in a way that builds trust solidly over time. You will scare potential clients with too much too soon!

You, as a Las Vegas business owner, have to know which strategies to use and when, based on clearly defined objectives. Each and every marketing strategy has a different and unique purpose. Here’s an overview to making sound choices.

Advertising your Las Vegas business means getting the word out to potential clients about your company through paid advertising which includes ads or commercials in the Las Vegas media, including potentially print, radio, television and internet. You should consider advertising to:

  • establish awareness for your company’s products and services
  • heighten interest in the marketplace
  • educate potential customers
  • influence perceptions customers may have about your business

With that said, advertising can be fairly costly, but if you do it correctly and with a marketing perspective in mind and a fair budget it can indeed be effective and produce results.

Public Relations or PR is getting the word about your business products and service through the press, including articles, interview and newsworthy stories. As a business, you should use Public Relations to:

  • build credibility and trust for your Las Vegas business
  • move up a level in the eyes of your target audience and clients
  • create a buzz
  • get free attention

Getting good publicity requires a What’s In It For Me (WIIFM) messaging, so you have to pass the “who cares about my Las Vegas business” test each and every time. If you release a PR new item, for example, with “My Las Vegas business is proud to announce the…,” you’re going to end up dead in the water! Good relationships building with the local press is essential.

To promote your business equals getting the word out through articles, blog articles and email newsletters that you write and that potential customers will VALUE. These types of communications give you publicity and allow you to get enough visibility to become a speaker, a sponsor, will allow you to join committees and help you promote to:

  • entice your target audience to consider your company’s products/service
  • invite your audience to an a real time or online event or seminar
  • introduce a new offer your business is promoting
  • meet a short-term objective like a monthly sales goal 
  • test new ideas about what your clients are looking for
  •  invite interaction with you and your company

Promotions are one of the most effective ways for professional businesses to build trust with customers in the vast marketplace. The options in your promotional tool kit is both vast and can be cost-effective. Get a basic plan of both online/offline promotional strategies and tactics in place you will be in pretty good shape.

As a professional business owner, you will have to make critical choices for each and every strategy you undertake…. online, offline, etc. Here are some rules of thumb to help guide you:

  • utilize the WIIFM factor always
  • unless you have the backing of a fat marketing budget, promotion and PR tend to be your wisest and smartest investments for ROI
  • online marketing and promotion is in general more cost-effective than print media
  • permission-based marketing is a always a must

If you want your business to build awareness, interest, and credibility, you really will need all three strategies: advertising, PR and promotions as par of your marketing mix.

Top Effective Marketing Strategies for Las Vegas Business

Saturday, December 19th, 2009

Marketing your Las Vegas company is the current economy is now more important than ever. Without effective marketing strategies in place, you will not be able to reach new potential customers, and as we always say, if you aren’t marketing, your competitors surely are.

With this in mind, I’ve compiled a list of links that discuss and outline top effective marketing strategies for businesses:

If you need assistance with constructing a Las Vegas Marketing Strategy, please contact Perkolate at 702.341.0085.

Perkolate Launches VegasBestExtensions.com Website

Saturday, December 5th, 2009

Perkolate is proud to announce the launch of its latest website for VegasBestExtensions.com. Perkolate designed the logo, website and extensive flash gallery.

About VegasBestExtensions.com

Safe, Natural looking, Reusable, Remy, Non-chemical, Non-glue, Gorgeous Human Hair Extensions! Vegas Best Extensions services are available in Las Vegas and Los Angeles hair salons. Whether you are looking for fun and excitement, or a full head of long beautiful hair; your dream is a reality with Vegas Best Extensions.

Vegas Best Extensions, Inc. was founded by Paul Juma, a professional stylist, master colorist, and well respected hair extensions artist. Paul is certified by American Board of Certified Hair colorists (ABCH).

For more information about Perkolate contact us at 702.341.0085 or visit our website at www.perkolate.com.

Must Have’s to Market Your Las Vegas Website

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

When a Las Vegas business is looking into whether to invest in web marketing or to stick to local business it is good to know the pros and cons of working on the internet along with how to make a successful and widely exposed website. This way a business can properly decipher whether expanding onto the world wide web is right for them.

How to market websites?

There are many ways to market a website, some important and vital in the success of a web based business, and some more on the optional level. Some examples of vital needs in marketing a website are:

Web Development Related Marketing

When marketing online the way your website is put together and designed is vital in getting your business into the top of the search engines above all potential competitors. Some examples of making a good website are keeping all concepts within the website all related to one topic which is your business. Use an easy to remember domain name with a popular URL such as dot com or dot net. And also make sure your URL will not be confusable with a competitors so you do not risk losing business to someone else.

Search Engine Optimization

There are many very complicated concepts in search engine optimization such as installing meta tags, creating codes which make bot crawling easy to achieve on your website so search engines can easily index every page of your website, and more. When utilizing search engine optimization it is good to think about investing in a professional web design company in Las Vegas. A professional web design company can easily create very complex coding within your website to help you get your business an increase in visitors in a short amount of time. 

Tips for Creating an Effective PowerPoint Presentation for Las Vegas

Friday, November 20th, 2009

Choose the Right Template and Look and Feel to your Presentation

When it comes to designing an effective PowerPoint presentation for your Las Vegas business or sales force, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, you should make sure that the presentation is eye-catching, but not distracting. This can be accomplished by choosing a slide design, that suits the type of presentation that you are working on. If your business has it’s own branding in place, you will want to make sure that the look and feel matches your current branding and existing marketing materials. There are many schemes that work perfectly for different types of presentations. Many of them pair very well with specific topics, and you can easily make your presentation unique by exploring these options.

Choose Animation Effects Carefully

Next, we come to animations and transitions. These can be very fun additions to your presentation, but you should be careful not to overindulge. Again, since the presentation should not overpower the information itself, the best bet is to select one or two effects, and use them consistently throughout the entire presentation. For most topics, a simple fade or dissolve effect is a great choice. This goes for slide transitions, the effect that takes place when one slide changes to the next, as well as the text or graphics in the slides themselves.

Content is Key - Keep It Simple

As for the information within the presentation itself, the best advice is: keep it simple. Most of the text boxes in the slides are pre-designed as bulleted lists because the information should be presented with concise statements. For the most part, the presentation will be accompanied by a speaker who is further explaining the information. The audience will not want to switch back and forth between listening to the speaker and reading lengthy paragraphs of information on each slide. Also, adding appropriate graphics to break up the monotony of a text-only presentation is perfectly acceptable, but again, in moderation. Remember not to overload your slides with text and graphics should you decide to use clip art, photos, or charts. Charts, tables, or graphs typically warrant their own slides, as they should be large enough for the audience to be able to read them.

Audio & Video

The timing of the slide show itself can be rehearsed (practice makes perfect!) to make sure that the information is displayed at the right pace and that you know exactly what you are speaking about. If a speaker is presenting the information, the slides can be changed manually. Soundtracks, audio and video can also be added to standalone presentations, are actually quite effective at drawing in the appropriate audience.

PowerPoint gives you the ability to make your presentation your own, and as long as you keep your audience in mind, you can effectively communicate your message.

For Information on Professional PowerPoint design services in Las Vegas, visit perkolate.com.

Definition of Web 3.0

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

Web 3.0 is the future of the WWW as we know it. It will be the stuff of dreams and super future movies. It will enhance browsing so that you don’t have to make separate inquiries when figuring out several things. For example, you want to go miniature golfing, see the best movie out right now and eat at taco bell afterwards. Normally, you would have to open up a search engine, find mini golf range, search for movie theaters, go to another site to read about the movies, and then do yet another search to find the taco bell. So, what if you could just type something like “city name, mini golf, best movie, closest taco bell” , then just sit back and wait while the internet does it all for you? That is the dream and vision of Web 3.0

In a constantly evolving world of web design, graphic design, C++ and all those other design languages that most just have heard whispers of, what does this mean? It means even more evolution, more opportunity. More leeway for creative genius. In the current world of Web 2.0, a designer can make a stamp. He or she can make graphics, blogs, and make his or her presence known upon the internet. That is where 2.0 stops. 2.0 is designed for people to talk to one another. Everything panders to this desire to “stay connected” . Our cellphones, PDA’s, laptops, home PC’s. Web 3.0 takes it up a notch. Bordering on AI technology, the machines can speak to one another. Through keywords, through designs, the web page will evolve into something that allows the computer to see a web page as we do. As such, a designer, and those that want a design, must be able to speak this lingo.

The average computer user today tends use their computer to play a few games, check their email and watch a TV show. A portion of our population has not begun to tap into the full potential of the internet. As such, when they want a web page made for their businesses, they seek out a professional. In the age of 2.0, nearly anyone can publish a web site. Point and click technology makes it all simplistic, a dream. But in 3.0 if you cannot make the web page speak to the other pages, well it is lost in the sea of information that is the world of online. It is always best to hire those that understand this all, lest you be lost in the anonymity of the Web.

What Do I Need to Design a Website for My Las Vegas Business?

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

Launching a website for your Las Vegas business is one of the smartest steps you can take - these days, having a site is absolutely necessary. Here, we’ll cover the basics on how to get started in designing an attractive, functional website for your business in Las Vegas.

Your first step is to register a domain name for your business. Your domain name should be the same as your business name and easy for customers to spell and remember. You’ll also need to make sure that you have hosting for your website. You can often find domain and hosting packages, which is something you may want to look into for convenience’s sake.

Once you have your domain and hosting all set up, it’s time to get building. A website design company will be able to help you come up with a layout for your website that will attract and appeal to your customers. Finding a good website design company to fit your needs is crucial. You can also look into copywriting services to ensure that the content on your website is written in a compelling, clear way. Be sure to make use of SEO optimization when deciding on your website’s content. This helps customers find your company’s website via search engines.

The images on your site should be of excellent quality. Blurry or grainy images do not look professional and will turn your website’s visitors off. You can use images of your company’s headquarters, of your employees and of your products to add a personal touch to your website. You can also use stock images available online if you’d prefer.

Once you’ve launched your website, include links to it in your email signature, on advertisements and countless other places to get the word out to customers. The more people that view your website, the better!

Las Vegas Catalog Design - 8 Tips and Tricks

Saturday, October 17th, 2009

If you’re preparing to design a catalog for your company here in Las Vegas, sometimes approaching the task can seem overwhelming at times, however, we here at Perkolate have taken time to put a list of catalog design tips and tricks that will help you plan and think about your new catalog design.

  1. Plan out what information you’re trying to convey with the catalog and write everything out into a Word document so you can go back and edit.
  2. Try to imagine how many pages your catalog will be (more pages will be more expensive for both the design and printing) and specify in the content you’re writing what will roughly go on each page.
  3. Write for your target audience, at their level and tell them how your products and services will help make their jobs easier and help them to be more successful business people and companies.
  4. Assemble any master graphics and photos including logos, product shots, examples of your work, staff photos, building shots, etc.
  5. Set a timeline to do your due diligence before contacting a professional design company (like Perkolate) and think about what a realistic schedule is that you want the printed catalog completed.
  6. Don’t have too much text on the pages, make sure you leave enough room for exciting and dynamic graphical images.
  7. Cross sell any other marketing materials you have as well including your website.
  8. Make sure the new design matches your current marketing materials (website, brochures, business cards, etc.) to help reenforce your company’s branding and identity efforts.

Professional Las Vegas Blog Design and Content Essentials

Wednesday, October 7th, 2009

Successful marketing techniques are crucial to any Las Vegas business. This is especially true when it comes to internet marketing. Hiring a Las Vegas company like Perkolate to handle marketing concerns can prove to be very beneficial, this is why it is so important to make sure that you have hired the right company. Marketing can not only be hard work but can be quite strategic, not all internet marketing companies may be proficient.

When marketing on the internet, blogs and articles can be very effective in getting the word out. However, utilizing the proper tags and maintaining the appropriate content can be quite perplexing to the most business savvy individual. Some companies may simply make use of “filler” content, which provides no real substance. This makes marketing strategies ineffective and wasteful. Not only should the company provide relevant content, but it should not read as a paid ad.

In addition, content should always be professional. Grammatical and spelling errors should not be present. A reliable company will ensure that the grammar and spelling is always accurate. Information should be factual and geared toward the appropriate audience. These mistakes may seem minor but may prove detrimental when it comes to marketing techniques that involve blogging, aritcle writing, or otherwise posting information on the internet.

Making use of the proper tags is also another frequent error. If the information isn’t searchable, your business is not getting out there. Search tags should be frequently assesed for popularity, age group, and several other criteria. Many other companies may simply attach a few tags and assume their work is done. Maintaining and updating tags assists in extending the life of the material and can make a significant difference.

Blogging and article writing is an excellent marketing strategy, it’s a proven way to get maximum returns on your investment. However, it does require a lot of time and know how. If and when deciding to hire someone to do this for you, make sure the services offer professional quality content. Blog design and content is an expertise and should not be left to just anyone. The future of your business may depend on it.

Tips for Your Las Vegas Brochure Design

Friday, August 28th, 2009

A brochure can be an excellent sales and marketing tool for your Las Vegas business or company. Many people get puzzled when thinking about where to start when writing a brochure. We’ve compiled the following information to help you formulate an effective and powerful brochure design for your Las Vegas business.

Planning the Content

As a basic guideline, you always want to include the who, what, when, where, why and how about your business. In addition you want to decide what your message will be, what’s your point and why would a potential customer want to read on.  You need a clear call-to-action, a reason why someone would want to contact you for more information or a quote.  Make your call to action simple and risk-free. A free consultation, a first time discount, etc.  Give attention to the main headlines and subheadlines as well as they should entice readers to want to read on.

Don’t Think Too Much When Writing

We see this with a lot of clients, they struggle with everything about a brochure when deciding how to put it together. You need simple, well-written content, a clear call to action and the brochure should be professionally designed. Don’t try to put too much information, just the basics.

Pretend you are explaining your business to a friend when writing the content, a friend who doesn’t know anything about your business’ product offerings and benefits. Avoid long sentences and use bullet points.

Be concise, clear and write copy that will be meaningful and persuasive as to why somebody would want to inquire further or hire you.

Don’t Forget Design

While content is the most important part of creating a brochure, don’t forget about design. The design should be professional looking, modern and with a stunning layout. You should always include your full business contact information on both the inside and outside.

For more information on professional Las Vegas brochure design and graphic design solutions, visit our website at www.perkolate.com.