A few weeks ago I got an envelope in the mail that really caught my attention. It was in a translucent envelope through which I could see the following card:

I pushed the other mailed aside and opened it at once.  I had to see who it was from.  It was from Enthusem, a company that makes sending personalized printed greeting cards as easy as sending an email.

I know of other options that let you send a single printed greeting card but what I think makes Enthusem really ingenious is that you can attach electronic files like videos, PDFs or web pages just like email.  The recipient gets a unique “Pickup Code” which they type online to see.

They even provide reporting that tell you when the recipient sees your online attachment. Which means your direct mail campaigns are measurable.

The cost is based on credits.  The more credits you buy at a time, the less the cost of sending a mailer. Although the cost is reasonable, I wouldn’t use it for mass random mailings. But if you strategically select customers, prospects, or colleagues, the return on investment could well be worth it.

This combination of the card AND the online attachment really make the difference.

Standing out is no longer enough, you also have to be memorable. I experienced it first hand and Enthusem is definitely both.

To give Enthusem a free try, click on the button below:

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Welcome! Thanks for stopping by. If you're new here, subscribe to the RSS feedso you don't miss an update. I also post lots of great links and info on Twitter. Thanks for visiting!

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"Just put yourself out there" is the lame advice you hear from most so called social media experts. So you get a Twitter account, set up a Facebook fan page, get a Friendfeed, get on Seesmic, Ustream, etc., etc.

But it’s not the answer. Just having a social media presence doesn’t replace a good product, no, scratch that, it doesn’t replace an OUTSTANDING product. So before launching your social media campaign, the first question to ask yourself is, "Do you or your product have what it takes?" In other words, can your product or service deliver the benefits it promises?

Gary Vaynerchuk in his talk at Austin’s SXSW conference says it best, albeit graphically,

"You could have the greatest marketing campaign of all time but if your bottled water tastes like ass, you aren’t going to win. But if your bottled water lights up the world and gives you money and nobody knows about it and you don’t know how to tell that story, you’re not gonna win either."

So it’s not just the social media presence, but the presence backed up with outstanding content and value.

Please comment, let me know what you think.

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Wake up!! Most people live asleep.

And there’s nobody like Gary Vaynerchuck to wake them up and shake some sense into you.

In his keynote speech at the Web 2.0 Expo in New York City, Gary talks about the two P’s and building your personal brand within the social media landscape.

Caution – he uses some colorful language.

Some highlights:

“Stop doing sh*t you hate.”

“Hustling is the most important word.”

“If you pump out good sh*t people will follow.”

“Brand equity is yourself.”

“If for one second you, half a second, you don’t believe in what you’re doing…you need to get out now!”

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Last month I was sitting at Eben Pagan’s GuruMastermind Event and during one of the opportunities to ask questions a lady walks up to the mic and says she’s a realtor and has an investor client who wanted to sell these luxury end condos but didn’t want to use proven classified ads because they didn’t align with their highty tighty image.

(I just made up “highty tighty”, but you get the point, right?)

So instead of placing a newspaper ad that would pull interested prospects ready to buy (good ‘ole direct response marketing), they wanted to use an ad with a pretty picture of the condos and a nice logo.

Sure image and name recognition branding certainly have a place – if you have millions of dollars to burn through and don’t care to measure any direct return on your advertising dollars.

But for solopreneurs or small business owners, where is the line between “looking” pretty and having a certain image and making money?

Do you need both?

Well, it depends on the outcome you’re seeking. And I assume if you have an online business then that outcome is to make a profit. Otherwise, you’re out of business. And it goes without saying that the profit should come as a result of giving outstanding value and over-delivering in your products and/or services. That should be a given.

(By the way, even if you’re a non-profit, you’re still selling something. And that something is what you want people to do, which is probably donate.)

But do you need to look pretty to make that profit?

Must you give up beauty for braun? Do you need to sacrifice image to elicit an action and get a response?

Not necessarily. You can have both. And if you only had to pick one, it would have to be braun. Which in this case is getting people to take an action because you’re giving them what they are looking for. Wether it’s clicking a link, or downloading a report, subscribing to your newsletter, buying something, or making an appointment to see those great luxury condos.

But one thing is for sure. You can’t just have beauty.

Otherwise you’re like a great looking guy or gal who you’re dying to meet only to find out when you do, that they can’t hold an intelligent conversation.

So how do you do both? How do you create a story with your image that also gets people to respond favorably.

Well, when you’re building a house you first have to lay the foundation and have the house built, before you can paint and decorate.

So this is what you need to understand before you work on looks:

You need to know what the purpose of your site is. Start with the end in mind. What is it that you want the visitor to do?

In his ebook Flipping the Funnel, Seth Godin says that a website must do these two things.

• Turn a stranger into a friend, and a friend into a customer.
• Talk in a tone of voice that persuades people to believe the story you’re telling.

Seth goes on to say that a website can only cause four things to happen to your visitor:

• She clicks and goes somewhere else you want her to go.
• She clicks and gives you permission to follow up by email or phone.
• She clicks and buys something.
• She tells a friend. These days in addition to word of mouth this is so easy to do with social media sites like StumbleUpon, Digg, or Del.ic.cious

So as long as any of these four outcomes happen, the way that you do it doesn’t matter. It could be a classic direct response sales letter, or a site that combines pleasing colors and great copywriting with video and animated characters. It doesn’t matter which way you do it, because as technology changes, the means to persuade will change too.

My highest converting website thus far is a simple landing page with no images or video. Who would have thought? Of course, that might change and that’s why constant measuring and tracking is important.

But as long as the foundation is well laid and you keep the above principles in mind (which won’t change), you won’t make the mistake the real estate investor made and think it’s just all about looking pretty.

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Your personal brand. What is it saying about you?

The other day I was sitting at dinner with my family and the phone rang.
I normally don’t answer calls when the Caller ID is hidden, but this time I did.

On the other line was a guy who says,
“I’m not selling anything, I just want to ask you a few questions for a survey
on your telecommunications preferences.”

I said, “Only if it takes less than five minutes.”

He said it would.

Of course he lied, it took twenty.

At about minute five and 3 seconds and start to get annoyed
and was toying with the idea of just hanging up.

But suddenly I realized, “Hmmm, these communications companies
spend millions of dollars on market research.  There must be something
to these questions.”

And there was.  The gold was the last few questions. Of course. Read the rest of this entry

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