Happy New Year!

Many wishes of happiness and prosperity for you and yours. Hopefully 2009 will be better than 2008 for everyone, but it sounds like we have to weather the storm just a little while longer.

How can we hold strong with our companies until the rough times are past? Oddly enough, by continuing your marketing!

We've all heard "When times are good, you should advertise, but when times are bad... you MUST advertise!"  But is it easier said than done?

Getting More from Less: Making Your Advertising Dollars Work SMARTER.

As you know, a recession can really take a toll on a marketing budget. So what to do? The answer lies again in getting MORE from LESS - by making your advertising dollar work smarter.

Some inspiration to keep in mind...

A downturn creates the opportunity to accelerate growth faster than your competitors.

Over the years, study after study has proven that to remain in the game, you need to maintain your advertising during an economic downturn. A popular McGraw-Hill Research study showed businesses that maintained or increased their advertising during the 1981-1982 recession averaged much higher sales growth than those that eliminated or decreased advertising. By 1985, the consistent advertisers' sales had risen 256% over those that didn't keep up their advertising!

You have less competition in the public eye when times are tough.

As weaker companies cut their advertising in a slow economy, yours will stand out that much more, creating a bigger impression in your market's eye. And in ultra-competitive markets like Real Estate, it's imperative that you make that connection.

Remember to offer reassurance, emphasize long term value, and reinforce the benefits of your services.

Research has dictated that during economic hardships, your advertising focus should never be viewed as lofty, aspirational, overly optimistic or too light-hearted. You need to appeal to the buyer who has a tendency to go with safe solutions. You'll build trust by including customer references, reviews, awards and other validation as part of your marketing.

Now is the time for long copy ads, advertorials offering expert advice, and directing your target market to your website - provided that it empowers potential clients with rich and valuable information. Email newsletters are particularly good choices as they allow you to demonstrate your expertise and keep you in front of your clients, building a strong and consistent brand for now and for the future.

Remember, a strong strategy now will not only help you through the tough times, but strengthen your market position for when the recession finally blows past.

Contact us today to see what we can offer to your current advertising methods.

The Infamous Special Deal

In each of our e-mailings, we like to include a special discount for new design projects that complement the message in the article. This issue we're talking about keeping up your marketing efforts, even though it's a difficult time financially for many of us.

We feel there's no better item to feature than our Email Marketing & Newsletter Services. As we mentioned in the article above, they "allow you to demonstrate your expertise and keep you repeatedly in front of your clients".

The other great thing about them? They're incredibly affordable!  Real estate professionals: send out fully branded, professional HTML emails with unlimited featured property listings whenever you want for pennies. Non-profits: distribute industry news and announcements. Retail locations, announce sales or new products.

So here's the deal:

We'll build a custom layout for your e-mailings to match your current branding or website. You can then log into the campaign manager from any web browser and easily create custom email newsletters (that look as great as this one!), test, preview and email them to all of your clients for just pennies each! There's no way you could send even a tiny black-and-white postcard out for prices like these, the postage alone would cost much more! 

Want to know more?

> Find out more about our email campaign services

> View our screenshot tour showing you how easy it is to build and send emails

> Check out our portfolio of Email Newsletters

And the REAL deal:

We're offering a 50% discount on this great package! Includes everything you need to get started as an email marketer. Includes custom template design and complete integration into your site with sign-up form and newsletter archive - all for only $150. Your first mailing of up to 1,000 recipients is even included! Future mailings cost just $5 plus three cents per recipient. 

We can only extend this offer to the first 7 clients who contact us. So what are you waiting for? Reserve this rate for your business today by sending us an email or simply filling in a quote request and entering promo code ENL150.

Thanks for taking the time to read our note.

As always, feel free to ask us any questions or let us know how we can be of help. Your success is our success!

Best regards,

Susan, Scott & the Bold Print Team