I went to a Chamber talk...

I went to a Chamber talk at the Palatine Public Library. Bonita Richter, who runs the Small Business Development Center at Harper College was the speaker. Her talk was on planning to grow your business in 2010.

The talk was good and we left with some good, usable info. Something else struck me. It is good for me to get out of the office and meet with other business folks. Do you do that in any given month? Do you network or mingle at Chamber functions? How about Lions, or Jaycees? Or, do you stay hunkered down in your office or shop?

Get out there. Meet some other people. Hear some good ideas. The world is changing. You have to know what your next step should be.

Happy Anniversary To Us

Today, April 1st, is our business anniversary. Twenty-one years ago today we opened our doors. On one hand it seems like yesterday, on the other it seems like a century.

In that time, we have learned a lot, grown a lot, changed a lot, and met a lot of really nice people.

When we started we had two small, single color printing presses. Along with that was a stapler, paper cutter, folding machine, and a paper drill. That was about it.

Now we have dozens of pieces of equipment allowing us to offer a large variety of services and products. There is know we could have known then what we would be doing today. Likewise, we probably could not accurately predict what we will be doing five years from now.

We have witnessed great changes in our industry. From the acceptance of computers for management and graphic design, digital copiers replacing the traditional ones, radical changes in printing technology, and fax machines, websites, email and other innovations that changed the way we communicated with our customers.

We have seen our share of disappointment and near tragedy, success and excitement, and more of the same. But, looking back, we would do it all over again. Why? We are a big part of our business community and we get to work with some great people.

Our March eNewsletter Results

You might be on our distribution list for the “Allegra Swatch.” In its newest incarnation, we switched email providers. We are now using Mail Chimp. So far, so good. There are lots of reasons to use them over the number 1 brand. But, that is for another post.

We are not totally sold out on email newsletters, though. There is a lot of evidence that printed newsletters are much more effective at getting the word out. That too is for another email.

Here is the down and dirty. For a marketing business, Mail Chimp says the average open rate is 18%. For the most recent issue of the Swatch, we are at 17.3%. Ok. Not too bad. But it is way off of our 21.9% open rate from the February issue.

Three big reasons for this pop out right away. First, folks could have found the subject line less compelling than I did. Second, we sent it out late in the day—4:00 pm. When my my east coast people or my local contacts who left early arrived at work the next day, my newsletter was buried deep in their in box. Last, it is a holiday week. Easter and Passover. On top of that, it is spring break for some folks. Just as their are fewer cars on the road this week, there are fewer people in their offices.

Here is the free marketing lesson: timing is important.