Exploiting the Internet for Entrepreneurs

All Blog Posts (386)

The Week Ahead October 26-30, 2009

Monday: September Construction Spending, Pending Home Sales, Tuesday: Factory Orders, Auto & Truck Sales Wednesday: Federal Reserve Meeting Thursday: Weekly initial jobless claims, 3rd Quarter Productivity Friday: Consumer Credit, Wholesale Inventories Larson Notes: The government stimulus in cars grew the economy lst month together with home sales by 3.5%. That is mainly due to cash for clunkers and the $8000 home… Continue

Added by Howard Larson on November 3, 2009 at 3:49am — No Comments

The Week Ahead October 26-30, 2009

Monday: Tuesday: Durable Goods Orders (B), Case-Shiller Home Price Index, Consumer Confidence (B) Wednesday: Durable Goods Orders (B), New Home Sales (C+), Crude Inventories Thursday: Weekly initial jobless claims (C+), Gross Domestic Product (B) Friday: Personal Income and Consumption (C+), Chicago Regional Manufacturing Surveys (B) *Rating Scale by Importance (A-F) Larson note: Last week we saw Home sales go up but new housing st… Continue

Added by Howard Larson on October 26, 2009 at 2:30pm — No Comments

The Week Ahead October 19-23, 2009

Monday: Tuesday: Sept. Producer Price Index (B-), Sept. Housing Starts and Building Permits (B-) Wednesday: Thursday: Weekly initial jobless claims (C+), Sept Leading Indicators (D-) Friday: Sept Existing Home Sales (C+) Larson note: Looking to keep the upward outlook this week. I am looking for producer pricing so say flat and housing starts to continue to go up and home sales to contintue strong as though the end of November with the government tax credit of $8000… Continue

Added by Howard Larson on October 19, 2009 at 2:30pm — No Comments

The Week Ahead October 12-16, 2009

Monday: Tuesday: Wednesday: Retail Sales, Business Inventories Thursday: Weekly initial jobless claims, Consumer Price Index, Crude Inventories Friday: Industrial Production, Capacity Utilization Larson note: I was a little surprised by the retail sales report for September as were a lot of people. I guess school supplies were really selling like hot cakes. That and consumer bowering going down will only help in the long run. But it is still employment. Do you add pe… Continue

Added by Howard Larson on October 13, 2009 at 1:50am — No Comments

The Week Ahead Sept 21-25, 2009

Monday: Tuesday: Wednesday: Consumer Credit, Treasury Budget Thursday: Weekly initial jobless claims, Wholesale Inventories Friday: Trade Balance Larson note: I was ready this week. Auto sales drop, employment rate higher. Still I like what I and my people are hearing off the street. This week, don’t expect anything good report wise. We need inventories to keep low and I am not sure if they are low enough. My only suggestion is to pick your battles and push forward.… Continue

Added by Howard Larson on October 5, 2009 at 2:30am — No Comments

The Week Ahead Sept 28 – Oct 2, 2009

Monday: Tuesday: Case-Shiller Housing Price Index, Consumer Confidence Wednesday: Gross Domestic Product, Regional Manufacturing Surveys Thursday: Weekly initial jobless claims, Personal Income and Consumption, Construction Spending, Auto and Truck Sales, Friday: Factory Orders, Payroll / Nonfarm Payrolls Larson note: Wow was I off last week. I expected upward trends and saw bad news home sales and factory order reports. Good news was the Fed will hold intere… Continue

Added by Howard Larson on September 28, 2009 at 2:30pm — No Comments

The Week Ahead Sept 21-25, 2009

Monday: Leading Indicators Tuesday: FHFA US Housing Price Index Wednesday: Thursday: Weekly initial jobless claims. Existing Home Sales, Durable Goods Orders Friday: August New Home Sales Larson note: We saw some bad and I mean bad employment numbers last week, as August numbers really took a beating, yet on the up side the manufacturing figures looked good, very good. So where do we go from here. Yes employment is going to stay tight, very tight as employers… Continue

Added by Howard Larson on September 21, 2009 at 2:30pm — No Comments

What’s Next for E-mail Marketing

The e-mail inbox lies at the convergence point of two trends in advertising: Marketers forming direct relationships with consumers and marketers working to deliver more relevant, specifically targeted messages to consumers. The inbox uniquely allows marketers to address interested consumers in context. As a result, it verges on becoming a major online advertising medium. However, it remains to be seen how quickly the potential of the inbox will be realized. Much will hinge on eliminating the cl… Continue

Added by Howard Larson on September 18, 2009 at 5:22pm — No Comments

Regular Sized Postcards For Marketing Penetration

While oversized postcard mailings can be very effective, see yesterday’s blog, they are perhaps not that much more effective than any other Kind of mailing piece. There are other choices in your mailing arsenal. Due to their size, oversized mailers tend to stand out, but if the message is well-defined and creative graphic are used, that is what really ensures the success of any mailer, large size postcards or small. Sometimes we get preoccupied with the size of a mailing, forgetting what can he… Continue

Added by Howard Larson on September 17, 2009 at 4:37pm — No Comments

Say YES to Oversized Postcards

Oversized postcards can be effective in business-to-consumer, business-to-business and nonprofit marketing. They never replace envelope mailings in many markets, but oversized postcards do have several advantages over smaller postcards and envelope packages in many instances. Oversized postcards will stand out more on the desk or kitchen table. And we all will agree that you can't get a response if the piece doesn't get read and it won't get read unless it gets noticed. Size does matter.… Continue

Added by Howard Larson on September 16, 2009 at 3:30pm — No Comments

Start your holiday e-mail plans

With Labor Day over summer is officially over. The kids are back to school and those of us with jobs are back at work. For e-mail marketers, now is the time to buckle down and get a holiday e-mail plan into effect, if you haven't already done so. The holiday season is crucial to retailers. This year, with the recession, a good holiday season is even more important. It is important to plan early and have your online marketing plan in place. So start your planning now. Since more marketers are g… Continue

Added by Howard Larson on September 15, 2009 at 2:43pm — No Comments

The Week Ahead Sept 14-18, 2009

Monday: Tuesday: August Producer Price Index, August Retail Sales, July Business Inventories, Wednesday: August Consumer Price Index, August Industrial Production, Crude Inventories, Thursday: Weekly initial jobless claims. August Housing Starts and Building Permits, Friday: Larson note: Well we have another feel good week again, but remember we are STILL in a recession. Even though things are getting better, the downspin has not stopped. If we can stop losin… Continue

Added by Howard Larson on September 14, 2009 at 3:49pm — No Comments

20 ideas to use Twitter for your Business

In recent months, we have had conversations with people on and off of twitter who own their own business. Many of those people reported they do not understand the value of twitter and especially how it can help their business. We explained that we see the core values of Twitter Success to be… engaging, building relationships and providing value. While it may seem simple, if done effectively, it can propel your business to much higher levels of success. Whether you are new to the world of busine… Continue

Added by Howard Larson on September 11, 2009 at 4:00pm — No Comments

Country Computer Rankings

Country rankings, Ratio of number of computers to population (top 10) 1. Israel 2. Canada 3. Switzerland 4. Netherlands 5. Sweden 6. United States 7. United Kingdom 8. Australia 9. Denmark 10. Singapore * Source: Pocket World in Figures 2009 Edition, The Economist Larson note: Taking in population as a whole if we look at the top 10 the United Sates probably wins hands down on the sheer number of computers based on population. But if you had to focus your money on density you would loo… Continue

Added by Howard Larson on September 10, 2009 at 7:00pm — No Comments

Personal Spending Cuts

Spending Cuts By Age Age No cuts Some cuts Deep cuts 18-34 24% 45% 31% 35-44 19% 45% 36% 45-54 14% 40% 46% 55-plus 21% 51% 26% Spending Cuts By Income Income No cuts Some cuts Deep cuts <35K 17% 45% 38% $35-$49.9K 11% 55% 34% $50-$74.9K 22% 43% 35% >$75K 21% 53% 26% *Source: Harris Interactive August 2009 Sample of 2.066 adults surveyed online between July 15-17, 2009 Larson note: What is your target market? Does this tell you why you are or are not making sales gains? You could… Continue

Added by Howard Larson on September 10, 2009 at 5:05pm — No Comments

Digital Spending: Bought, Owned, Earned?

This kind of conversation must run though hundreds or offices weekly. A CFO talking to a CMO about spending on Social Media Marketing. CFO: "Before I spend any money in this environment, I need to know the impact of this investment to the company’s bottom line. I need to see an ROI." CMO response: "It's not about the ROI; it's about creating awareness. Having people understand our brand will create engagement, which will lead to revenue." Two people in the same boat wanting the same thing, re… Continue

Added by Howard Larson on September 9, 2009 at 2:53pm — No Comments

Contact/People Changes

Did you know? • Up to 20% of all postal addresses change every year. • Up to 18% of all telephone numbers change every year. • Up to 21% of all CEO's change every year. • 25-33% of email addresses on a "house" file will become outdated every year. • Up to 66% of people change companies or job functions every year! Larson note: Pretty amazing. People move, people change positions, employment, how do you keep up with it? You need to be constantly updating your CRM. Sales and marketing need… Continue

Added by Howard Larson on September 8, 2009 at 4:45pm — No Comments

Search: Paid Has A Place

This morning I put a big hit on paid search results. You know, banner ads pay for click, sponsored searches, etc. but there is a reason to use this tactic in your marketing attack. If you implement a paid search you can have same day impact on your web sales, views and hits. Is that worth something? Perhaps. Unlike an organic SEO you can implement it fast, it is very easy to put into place, it is measurable and it is keyword accountable. Because you can basically own as many key words as you c… Continue

Added by Howard Larson on September 4, 2009 at 7:00pm — No Comments

Search: Paid or Organic?

So how do you get seen? Pay for it or do an organic search? If you need a push does a little paying work or should you sit back and let natures little web spiders take their course go with organic all the way. Search engine optimization is more effective in the long term o over all ROI due to three big areas, trust, volume and relevance. 1st, people tend to sue the same search engine for all of their searches and come to trust that there favorite search engine will return a high… Continue

Added by Howard Larson on September 4, 2009 at 4:20pm — No Comments

Robocalls For Telemarketing Ending

The end of (most) recorded telemarketing calls is in sight. Tuesday September 8, 2009 to be specific. Now there are exceptions, of course, but telemarketers are supposed to get written permission from consumers to solicit them through automated messages. NO matter if you’re on or not on the do not call registry, no matter if you have done business with them before, they cannot be a recorded message, unless you have given them written permission. They can still use a real live person (I guess a d… Continue

Added by Howard Larson on September 3, 2009 at 7:00pm — No Comments