Atomic Penny

The holidays are a time when we all find ourselves getting together with friends, family, and colleagues. Since I’ve recently been doing some international traveling, it came to my attention that keeping in touch doesn’t always have to be in person. It can also be pretty darn expensive!  So, here are some free programs that you can use anywhere in the world to stay connected both personally and professionally.

FreeConferenceCall.com

This site provides exactly what its title says and more. Simply set the date and time for your conference call. Notify up to 96 of your closest pals by providing them with the conference dial-in number and participant access code. Then, at the scheduled time, everyone dials in. Done!

There are no advertisements to listen to, no quality issues, no hidden fees, no sales pitches, no contracts, no purchases required, no privacy problems, no limitations or restrictions, and no surprises. Furthermore, you can record your calls for playback purposes. These recordings are also downloadable so that they are yours forever.

Yugma.com

Similar to FreeConferenceCall.com, an account with Yugma.com allows you to invite a group to a conference call for free (up to 20 people). A distinctive feature with Yugma.com is that you will be able to share your computer’s desktop with attendees and use the built-in instant message feature. One screen is better than two, right?!

Skype.com

For my atomic penny, face-to-face beats voice-to-voice any day. With Skype.com, all you need is a webcam (cheap ones go for about $20) and you can get free video calls anywhere in the world. The quality depends on your internet connection, but for the most part it is pretty great. Video calls are only one-to-one for now, but the site predicts that this should be remedied in the near future. Skype.com also provides conference call and instant message services for free.

Bonus! For those whose communications are trumped by foreign language:

http://education-portal.com/articles/Free_Foreign_Language_Courses_Online.html

POWER ON

Mark

Retail sales constitute 70 percent of all economic activity in the United States. With the holiday season upon us and the economy toggling between improvement and downturn, I wanted to take a look at a recent survey from the National Retail Federation. It states that U.S. consumers plan to spend 3.2 percent less than last year on their holiday shopping (an average of $682.74 per person from $705.01). So what can retailers do to capture their share of seasonal spending?

In 2008, the general public saw astronomical sales during the holidays. That was mostly due to retailers whose overstocked inventory met a lack of demand. This season, retailers will most definitely cut back on product and I predict we won’t see as many “80% Off!” signs in store fronts. So consider marketing like it is still 2008. But of course, do it smartly and by the numbers:

“39 percent of Americans will begin their holiday shopping before Halloween. People will also be shopping for sales more often (55.0%), using more coupons (41.7%) and putting up last year’s decorations (34.0%). Many Americans will also make changes in gift-giving, planning to buy more practical gifts (36.0%), buying a joint gift for kids or parents (17.3%), and making more gifts (16.7%). Additionally, more than one-fourth of Americans (28.6%) say the economy is forcing them to travel less or not at all for the holidays. [Lastly], 55.2 percent of adults would like to receive a gift card this holiday season, with clothing (48.8%), books and DVDs (48.6%) and electronics (33.2%) among other popular choices.”

When you consider these figures as customer challenges with which you have the opportunity to leverage, then you are on the right track. Solve your customers’ problems, and you’ll be sure to have a very merry Christmas.

POWER ON

Mark

***I’m conducting my own holiday marketing survey at LinkedIn (http://polls.linkedin.com/p/66460/vhdyn). Please feel free to participate as well as connect with me at mark@atomicpenny.com.

Visually stimulating target buyers has always been one of the most effective methods to promote a product or producer. Billions of dollars are spent annually on branding companies with pictures, but that doesn’t mean you have to break the piggy bank to successfully capture your message for buyers. Here are some budget-minded ideas for branding that won’t cost you crazy cash!

-Take the pictures yourself. Photographers can be extremely expensive, and for good reason. They are professionals that have talent and experience. But if you have an artistic eye and a quality camera, why not cut out the middleman? At the very least, I recommend first taking some snapshots on your own as a means to save time by directing a photographer who charges by the hour.

-Flip out! The newest gadget on the market is the Flip Cam (www.theflip.com). For a little more than $100 you can have your very own HD video camera. It is extremely user friendly and produces outstanding video.

-Stock up with stock photos. The web is full of sites that offer royalty-free,professional-grade images. A few to check out include: www.freedigitalphotos.net, www.freefoto.com, www.sxc.hu, and www.freephotos.com.

Please feel free to share any of your imaginative ideas for images below!

POWER ON

Mark

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If you answered "no" or "what is that" to the majority of the above questions, take some time to do what yoou need to do to learn and participate.

Let me know how I can help.

POWER ON–Mark