New Year’s Resolutions
Professional Marketing International understands the importance of always improving. Continuing to strengthen yourself and your business will help you now and in the future. A business that stands still is a business that is being passed up by the competition. You should always strive to be better.
The New Year is the perfect opportunity to look for improvements you can make in your business. Whether you are investing in real estate or running an online business, you can make strides to refine and revamp various aspects of your business dealings.
Goal Setting for Beginners:
Start small. That is the most important thing to remember. If you attempt to tackle a huge project and fail, you will have a hard time trying again. Set goals that will take hard work and effort on your part but are doable.
Only focus on one or two things at once. If you try to change 10 things about your business in one week, you, your employees and your customers will all be frustrated and confused.
Make a plan that will help you along the way. Write down all the steps that need to happen in order for the goal to be accomplished.
Make sure everyone is on the same page. Have a meeting with your employees and let them know your plan. Keeping goals a secret is a sure fire way to fail. Letting others know what you want to happen makes sure that you are being held accountable, which is only scary if you’re not doing what you should.
Post your goal in place that you will see it daily. It needs to be in your mind and be important to you.
Goal Setting for Veterans:
For those of you who know how to set goals […]
Merry Christmas!
PMI wants to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
We hope that you all take the time to remember what’s important in life, your friends and family. Keep up the hard work and stay on track.
We are looking forward to sharing more information with you in the new year and are excited to help your business move forward.
Happy Holidays!
Helping Your Business “Go Green”
Going Green isn’t just a trend that is going to go away. It’s here to stay. Many business owners who have implemented these policies have seen a decrease in cost over time and an increase in employee morale. They have discovered that the benefits far out way the starting costs.
It is important for you to remember that it is okay to start small. The following are five ideas you could implement into your business to get the process started.
1. Encourage the Use of Emails:
Have all of your employees communicate by email. Make sure to read them before printing them. Very rarely will you have something that needs to be printed. You can save any important documents to an external hard drive and always have them available.
It’s also beneficial because a hard copy is a lot easier to lose than something saved in your email inbox.
2. Provide Recycling Garbage Cans:
One of the main reasons people don’t recycle is because it’s not convenient. No one wants to take a bag full of recyclables home with them. Provide a few recycling cans throughout the office. It will surprise you how many bottles, whether soda or water, you and your employees will go through. You could even encourage employees to use a dishwasher safe water safe water bottle at work. That way you wouldn’t even have bottles to recycle.
Have a bin for paper to be recycled. Make sure every employee knows where it is and what it’s for.
3. Use Direct Deposit:
Handing out a paycheck every two weeks to every employee can get costly; especially if you mail them out. Save on the postage and envelopes, start doing direct deposit. It is more convenient for the employee and cheaper […]
How to Stand Out in a Competitive Workplace
However large or small your workplace is, you will usually find yourself getting caught up in competition. Competition can be good for a person. It fosters a desire to improve and to not be content with mediocrity. Healthy competition can give a person the extra push they need to achieve their goals.
In situations where you work with many other competitive people, it can become increasingly harder and harder to stand out and be noticed.
There are many things you can do to ensure that you stand out among the rest.
Increase productivity: If you want to be noticed you have to do more than what was considered acceptable in the past. You have to push yourself farther.
Fully complete all tasks and assignments: Don’t leave anything undone. If you take on too many projects or tasks at once you run the risk of either doing a poor job or even not completing everything you need to.
Pay attention to details: Mistakes can happen when you are focusing only on the big picture. Keep in mind that there are small things that need to be taken care of first. Check and double check things before turning them over to your superiors. It might take time, but one mistake you catch is one that they don’t see.
Be innovative: Share your ideas for improvement with your superiors. You will be appreciated for any ideas you have that can help with things like improving the company’s productivity or customer relationships.
Be present and on time: Whether it’s a meeting or just the start of the day, always be punctual. Show up ready to go. Being present doesn’t just mean being a body in a chair; it means that you are prepared mentally […]
Benefits of a College Education
There has been much debate on whether or not it is worth taking four years out of your life to get a college degree. Many people believe that working during that time is more beneficial to their careers because they are gaining needed experience in their field.
While gaining experience can be a good thing, the benefits and rewards you gain from a college degree are irreplaceable. These are some of the many advantages that come with a college degree.
Respectable Positions: Most people with a college degree are able to be employed in a “white collar” position with opportunities for advancement, whereas most people with only a high school diploma get “blue collar” positions and have a harder time finding advancement. A college degree is more likely to help get you into a position that society considers more respectable.
Higher Income: Many people will argue that working for four years instead of paying for school is more financially beneficial. While it’s true that four years of school costs thousands of dollars, most careers make up for that cost over the years. With more opportunities for promotions and raises, the amount of money you make over a lifetime is usually more than someone with only a high school diploma.
Learn to Work with Groups: Professors encourage their students to participate in group projects. This experience is valuable when you are assigned to work in teams in a professional capacity. Learning to lead and follow in groups will help you learn the skills you need to succeed in any profession.
More Secure Future: Unforeseen things can always happen. If you lose your job, having a degree can help you to […]
The Importance of Place: What kind of marketing strategies are likely to develop based on location tracking info?
In the final week of October, 2010, Google overhauled the way that they “organize the world’s organization,” giving place a new centrality as a factor determining how their search engine ranks websites and presents Search Results for consumers. Having merged place results with organic search results, red ‘place balloons’ started appearing below listings, rather than being cordoned off in their own section, which meant that organic Search Results and Place information associated with sites were being measured as two parts of a unified whole. This allowed local businesses to become relevant on searches entered by local users in a new way.
Last month, there were a string of revelations about location-tracking on smart-phones, the most dramatic of which involved Google’s phone—the Droid. The Wall Street Journal summarized the kernel at the center of the snafu succinctly, reporting that, “Android phones collect the name, location and signal of any nearby Wi-Fi networks as well as a unique phone identifier”
For the purposes of this post we won’t allow the question of whether these evolving prongs of Google’s strategies are connected . Instead, let’s talk in term of logistics: what does this new centrality of place mean for the average person?
We’ll assume that, at this point, the ‘average person’ owns a smartphone and searches Google for their quotidian informational needs on a regular basis.
What exactly does it mean when we read that…
Android phones collect their location every few seconds, transmitting the data to Google several times an […]
Contextual Links Still Matter
In the topsy-turvy world of trying to keep up with Google’s algorithmic changes, it can be hard to know exactly what will help your website gain traction in the SERPs. When you throw the other major search engines into the mix, things only get murkier. True, the secondary search engines generally follow Google’s lead, but there is a rising desire among them to break from the ranks and do things their own way. In their eyes, this autonomy is the only way they’ll ever distinguish themselves from the competition and survive in the competitive world of search engines.
One strategy that still carries a lot of weight with Google and the other search engines is creating contextual links. These links get their name from the fact that they are in context with their surroundings. So if an entrepreneur owns a website that sells duck decoys, links to their site would be in context on a hunting blog.
When you can get contextual links on a popular site, the search engines take note. When those links are clicked by readers of that site, all the better. Your association with such a strong entity benefits your site immensely. In this way, link building becomes a game of quality, rather than quantity. While there are services that will claim they can get thousands of links for your site, they are usually dealing with rubbish. You are better off seeking strong links with respected sites.
Study: Most Tax Cheats Have a Lot in Common
In 1789, Benjamin Franklin wrote in a letter that “Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”
But in today’s age of entitlement and government distrust, people are questioning just how certain taxes really have to be. That question has led to a lot of cheating, and one group is overwhelmingly more apt to cheating than others.
According to CNN Money, a survey by DDB Worldwide Communications group revealed that most American tax cheats are male, single and under 45. Not many people admitted to cheating—only about 15 percent of people surveyed—but 64 percent of self-proclaimed cheaters were male. Forty-seven percent were single, widowed or divorced and more than half were under 45.
The study further revealed that people who cheat on their taxes feel justified in cheating in other areas of life. In the survey, many said they worked a job they didn’t report on their taxes, would keep extra change from a cashier, would wear clothing only once before returning it and would even steal from a child’s piggy bank.
The interesting thing about this study is that many of these cheaters reported that they feel they are special and deserving of such treatment. In comments on the CNN article, many people mentioned dishonesty at the federal level or from big businesses, implying that corporations’ unethical behavior somehow justifies their own dishonest practices.
In short, two things are basically true when it comes to taxes. First, people cheat. And second, they only get in trouble if they get caught. The IRS handles so many cases every year that they can’t possibly audit everyone, but […]
How Brands Get Molded into Our Brains
Like the mind, a brand is a terrible thing to waste. That’s because a well-developed brand can leave an indelible mark on the brain, influencing reactions and emotions without the consumer ever realizing it.
While we necessarily fully understand all the physiological reasons that a brand can have such an impact on our minds and motives, we are sure that it happens. For instance, there was a study done where children were offered two identical hamburgers – both from McDonald’s – except one hamburger was wrapped in plain wrappers while the other was presented in its normal branded wrapper (with the McDonald’s logo and golden arches). The children preferred the branded hamburger, some even saying it tasted better. The study also showed that 76 percent of the children preferred “McDonald’s” fries and “McDonald’s” chicken nuggets.
There’s an instant emotional response to seeing a logo or brand, and that response is based on everything that’s preceded it. This is why some individuals may actually have a negative reaction to a specific brand – like if they’ve had bad personal experiences with the company or if the company is involved in less-than-reputable dealings or if the company’s CEO kills elephants.
And it’s almost impossible to reverse that impact – either positively or negatively. For instance, there are plenty of people who have seen the film Super Size Me – many of whom may have been disgusted by what they saw – who continue to eat at McDonald’s (or other fast food restaurants). Whether it’s because the McDonald’s brand has been established so strongly or because of their indifference toward what they saw in the movie, the points brought up in the film weren’t enough to […]
PMI Charitable Contributions Update
Here at Professional Marketing International, giving back is part of who we are. We believe in supporting good causes and use our resources to make our community and the world a better place. We are only three months into 2011, but our philanthropic efforts are already in full swing. Here’s an update on what we’ve been up to.
Diabetes Research Institute Foundation
This January, PMI made a donation to the Diabetes Research Institute. It is one of the world’s leading diabetes research institutes and is known for translating new findings into practical solutions for diabetes patients everywhere. The Diabetes Research Institute is committed to finding a cure for diabetes, which affects about 25 million Americans.
The Road Home
Especially with the recent downturn in the housing market, many people are finding themselves without somewhere to sleep. The Road Home is a private organization that helps Utah’s homeless by providing them with resources that help them become self-sufficient. PMI made a contribution to the organization in January, helping them continue the great work they are doing.
House of Hope (via Girl Scouts of America)
As the Girl Scouts of America began their annual cookie sales this February, PMI teamed up with them for a service project benefiting the House of Hope. PMI bought several boxes of cookies that the girls delivered to House of Hope, an organization in Utah that provides treatment for people who struggle with addiction to drugs or alcohol. PMI was happy to help the Girl Scouts in their endeavor to bless other people’s lives.
Northland Early Education Center
Every year, PMI contributes to The Northland Early Education Center in Kansas. The organization provides therapy and quality early education for children with special needs as well as those who […]
