This article assumes that the reader knows what a banner ad looks like, but do you know how they work, and how you can derive benefit from them? Let’s define a few terms before answering these questions.

1. “Page views” or “page impressions.” These terms are interchangeable and they refer to the number of times that a page within a website has been displayed on a website.

2. “Banner view.” Like a page view, a banner view is the number of times that a banner has been displayed on website.

3. “Click through.” A click through is the number of times a website visitor has “clicked” on a particular banner ad and was transferred to the website of the banner advertiser.

4. “CTR.” CTR is the acronym for “click through rate,” which is the ratio of the number of banner view versus the number of times visitors have “clicked through” to your website. CTR is expressed as a percentage, so a click through rate of 1% means that for every 1,000 banner views, 10 visitors have clicked through to your site.

5. “CPM.” CPM is an acronym for “cost per M,” where “M” is the ancient Roman numeral for 1,000. Translation: CPM is the price your business will pay to have its banner advertisement displayed 1,000 times on a website, e.g, the cost of 1,000 banner views. So, for example, if the CPM to advertise on a site is $80.00 your business will pay $80.00 for every 1,000 banner views.

6. “ROS.” ROS is the acronym for “run of site,” which simply means that a banner ad is displayed on every page in a website, as opposed to being displayed only in a particular category of a website or only when a particular keyword is entered into a search engine.

Everyone who is in charge of a advertising or marketing department (that’s you if you’re the sole shareholder of the company) knows that advertising is, in large part, a numbers game. The more frequently your message is seen or heard, the more likely the consumer is to purchase your service or product. Take Mattress Mac with Gallery Furniture , for example. If you live in the Houston area, or if your radio can pick up the signal of almost any Houston area radio station, you cannot go a single day without hearing or seeing an advertisement for Gallery Furniture. Peppering your senses with constant reminders that “Gallery Furniture Saves You Money!” has enabled Mr. McIngvale to build his single location furniture store into an empire. (Of course, advertising alone won’t do it; you still must have a quality product or service). I have no scientific data to support this assertion, but I’ll make it anyway: I’m willing to bet that Gallery Furniture is known to more people in the greater Houston area than any other single business. How did that come to be? Mattress Mac understands the advertising numbers game and plays it better than anybody else.

Banner ads are a numbers game. The industry standard click through rate for online advertising in general is around .5%. Not 5%, but .5%. Doesn’t sound very encouraging for your banner ad campaign, eh? Well, there are ways to significantly increase the CTR of any given banner. The best way is by targeting a particular banner ad to a narrow audience, an audience that is looking specific for a product or service just like yours. Highly-targeted can boost your CTR to as much as 2%-3% or higher and significantly increase the traffic to your website.

Another valuable purpose of the banner ad is branding. Intertwined with the messages Gallery Furniture delivers about particular sales events or types of furniture is the company’s consistent and recognizable logo, color scheme, and tag lines. Your banner advertisements can, and should, perform the same function; they should be designed using your company’s logo and colors, at a minimum. Sometimes incorporating the tag line is the way to go, but other times you may want to advertise a particular special offer, product, etc. The important thing is that you take advantage of the numbers game by continually displaying your name, logo, and colors. The more visitors that see you, the more they will come to associate your name with your type of product or service, and the more likely they will be in the future to buy from you.

Henry J. Fasthoff, IV
Principal & General Counsel
HoustonBusiness.com

It isn’t surprising that most Yellow Page ads say pretty much the same thing. They were all prepared by the same directory employees. What do they know about marketing? About copywriting? About what’s unique and desirable about your enterprise?

The people making the ads "grind them out," using the same templates and guidelines for every ad, in every category. Originality isn’t in their job description. Following the formulas for how an ad "should look" is a formula for being ignored.

These quick fixes cut away the bland sameness afflicting most ads. Disregard for now the related issues like the ad’s size and placement. Such factors just amplify (or diminish) an ad’s impact. A poor ad is still a poor ad, even if it’s very large. Coupled with fine-tuned copy (its own topic), these fixes will improve the impact of any size of ad, for any directory heading.

Try these Quick and Easy Fixes

You don’t have to be a designer or copywriter to make your ad stand out. You just have to understand your customers’ unstated wants, so you supply precisely the information that they’re looking for. And you need to know how you’re different than your competitors. Set yourself apart, so you don’t fade into the background, as most ads do.

1. Shrink the business name. That is NOT the most important part of the ad in the reader’s mind. And it crowds out the space for information that that could sell them on you. Once you can get them to want you, they’ll be able to find your name and contact information OK.

2. Ditto, shrink the graphics. They may be helpful to catch the eye initially, but add nothing to what directory users want to know. Images often distract from the ad’s message, wasting its moment of attention on trivialities.

3. Provide a headline that hooks the readers’ interest (the category or business name isn’t one, but most ads act like it is). A strong, emotionally-charged headline pulls attention into the rest of the information. It makes people stop skimming and actually read. Provide a promise that hits their hot button in a way that applies only to you (but not every other competitor in the category)

4. Make the location easy to find. Half of all directory users scan ads for the business location first, and then only consider those ads which are convenient. Location of the enterprise overrides an ad’s size or placement in the directory.

5. Display your expertise, along with a reason for buyers to seek out your specialized knowledge. Offer a booklet, class, in-depth information on your Web site, etc. This also establishes your credibility in customers’ eyes, which is crucial to building sufficient trust to complete a purchase.

6. Buyers are hunting for information that can assist in making a purchase. When they open the directory, they’re hoping to find a business that in some way communicates, "I’m the one you’re looking for." Make it easy for them to know it’s you, by giving ample information directed at their concerns. Organize it in bulleted lists.

7. Add your Web site address (domain name) and/or email address. Treat your Web site as a place to expand the size of your Yellow Page ad. Then state a reason why a person wants to check your site: www.mysite.com for 23 simple ways to keep your dog from over-eating Or www.myrestaurant.com for recipes to our award-winning desserts.

8. Arrange it all so the information flows logically, and to please the eye.

9. Eliminate images or phrases that appear in the other ads. Find a different, more interesting way to express it.

10. Don’t let the directory do your ad for free. It will end up costing you too much.

The Ideal Yellow Page Ad

The very best ad is the intersection between what a buyer is looking for, and what a business provides. When a business is attuned to its customers’ priorities and needs, it can say exactly what rings their bell. For example, a harried mother will respond with relief to the phrase, "Free Childcare Provided." That service carries no weight with a business person, who may consider "No extra charge for weekend service calls" the clincher.

What really makes an ad stand out is the specifics, not the generalities (which is what every other ad says). Visit www.yellowpagesage.com for advice from many experts about getting more mileage from your ad. Or obtain a customized critique of your ad, that eliminates the guesswork about what needs fixing.

Directory users are ready to buy. Simplify their lives by making your products and services so "just right" that choosing you is their only sensible choice.

–Dr. Lynella Grant, an expert in visual communication. How printed materials send signals that strengthen or undo the words. Author, The Business Card Book & Yellow Page Smarts http://www.yellowpagesage.com Off the Page Press (719) 395-9450

How are you currently using PPC?

Most (and this is spoken from experience) PPC advertisers bid on tens of thousands of keywords and direct all of that traffic to the same page on their website. While it is a good idea to use as many keywords and key phrases as possible in your overall PPC marketing campaigns, what a prospect finds when they visit your landing page is more important.

How should you be using PPC?

If you are you only trying to “make the sale,” you could be losing the visitors who are looking for information about your products or services. By exchanging informational sales material for a prospect’s contact information, you will dramatically increase your long-term return on investment.

Research has shown that when customers are knowledgeable about the products and services they are seeking, they are more likely in the future to buy from the organization that provided them the information in the first place. If you are paying one cent per visitor and receive just five sign-ups for a newsletter, you have already covered your costs because the average value of one qualified email address is over twenty-five cents! So to answer the question of how you should be using PPC, you should use it not just to make direct sales, but to generate leads.

Putting it into practice:

There are many ways that successful web marketers get Internet surfers to provide personal information. The most preferred are 1) surveys and contests in exchange for a “freebie” and 2) newsletters and articles, which provide information about what the surfer is searching for. To put this into practice, promote a page that equally 1) provides information about your product or service and 2) emphasizes your special offer or offering. You will see that even if they don’t directly purchase the product or service you are selling, chances increase exponentially that they will want to find out more information and sign up for your special offer thus providing you with a qualified lead.

Thank you for reading this article! If you would like more advice about PPC advertising, become an advertiser of 7Search.com – where you have access to 500 million searches per month, low bid prices and free campaign assistance. Visit 7Search.com today.

If you aren’t the kind of person who listens to talk radio, the next time you’re taking a drive, tune in to one of your local talk shows and listen for awhile. Try to find something that is not a sports talk show, although they also offer the type of free advertising I want to explain. What you’ll eventually hear is an interview. A talk show host will have a guest, who is an expert at something. Perhaps it’s a health show, and the subject is weight loss and the guest is talking about some new diet.

Now, listen carefully, because you won’t hear the guest babbling about his book, web site, or going on and on about his great product that is going to melt the pounds off of every fat person in America. What you will hear, in most cases, is someone who is explaining a method for weight loss that is a new approach. Now, at times throughout the show, this expert will certainly mention his product, and the host will ask the expert to tell the audience how to order it.

Even if you are an avid listener to these types of shows, and you’ve heard hundreds of guest experts, what you may not know is that in 99 percent of these cases, this is not paid advertising.

You see, there are thousands of talk show stations in America, and the ones that program only talk shows probably have five to 10 different shows per day. Some quick math will tell you that tens of thousands of talk shows nationwide need things to talk about and guests to keep listeners tuned in. This is where the magic comes in for you. As a new author, salesman or business owner — talk shows need you.

Best of all, virtually anyone can get on a talk show. When I published my first book, Winning the Mortgage Game, I had very little idea how to market it, but I did know I was on a very small budget. I put up a web site, started an ezine, and it was an extremely slow beginning. That is, until I learned about being on radio talk shows. I read a very well-written how-to book by a man namedJoe Sabah about approaching radio producers and getting them to invite me to be a guest on their shows.

The second show I ever did was an hour-lomg interview on a station hundreds of miles away from my home. The producer called me at my house minutes before I was on, and the host began asking me questions about real estate finance. At various points throughout the show, he said Mark, tell listeners how to get your book, and I simply said go to www.winningthemortgagegame.com, and use the credit card of your choice. Believe me, people are much more apt to go to your web site, when they’ve heard you talk about your subject.

Now there are a few keys to getting on the radio and to making your appearances turn into sales of your product. First, you need the names and numbers of the stations and the producers of the shows. Remember, producers book the guests, so they are who you want to talk to. When you get them on the phone, which is not easy, be sure you are prepared. Don’t just say you want to come on and talk about your new book or product. Start by telling them you are an expert in whatever the relevant field is and that you have a new system you want to share with their listeners.

Remember, this is going to be a lot like sales. You need to talk to a lot of producers to get a few bookings. Not everyone is going to jump at what you are offering. Make sure you speak in a good voice, so the producers think you’ll sound good on the show.

When you do get booked, be sure you have several key points that listeners will remember, and make certain they know exactly how to get your product. Incidentally, if you want to get a great list of radio stations and their contact information, look for Joe Sabah’s book. Radio talk shows are one of the best free ways to advertise you’ll ever get. Take advantage.

Mark Barnes is author of Winning the Mortgage Game and several other finance books. He is also publisher of Biz Sense Online and Let’s Talk Sports, weekly business and entertainment ezines. Learn how you can educate yourself and give to charity at the same time, when you purchase Winning the Mortgage Game at www.winningthemortgagegame.com. To get Biz Sense Online, send a blank e-mail to bizsenseonline@getresponse.com. To get Let’s Talk Sports, send a blank e-mail to letstalksports@getresponse.com

Advertising is not a substitute for good sales technique and superb customer service. Inserting an ad in a handy newspaper to call attention to a line of goods will not sell those goods unless you can back it up with intelligent, well directed sales efforts in the store. Sales technique and service must follow advertising and unless it does advertising is a failure.

The function of advertising is to bring prospective buyers into the store; nothing more. How you advertise, how much you advertise and where you advertise, can all contribute to advertising’s success or failure. Assuming you do an adequate job of promoting your products through advertising, the visitors will come. Your job, then, is to convert them to customers.

When the visitors arrive, everyone in your employ must be ready for the task. Any enthusiasm created by your marketing efforts will cool quickly if greeted by sour faces and dour attitudes within the store, or worse, expecting the customer to crawl under the counter or up a ladder to get what was advertised.

Some merchants believe a "test" of advertising is to hide the item promoted and make the customer ask. If no one inquires, advertising obviously doesn’t work. People are basically shy and will not ask, fearing they didn’t hear or read the ad correctly, since the item is not prominently displayed. Rather than risk the embarrassment of hearing "no, Stupid, we didn’t advertise anything like that", they will leave the store, perhaps never to return. The first step to back up your advertising is to display the advertised products in a conspicuous location with signage supporting the ads. "Ah hah!.. this must be what we read about. Here it is!".

But NOT in the front window. For advertising to work, your visitors must be converted by your salespeople. If the advertised product is in the window, the visitor can make a decision not to explore further based on a quick first impression. At least give your salespeople a fighting chance to "one on one" with a prospective customer.

Don’t blame the advertising if you can not convert visitors into customers. Or worse, if you run them off before anyone has a chance to convert them.

Everyone in the store should know the items being advertised and be able to explain or demonstrate them.

Question your advertising if there are no (or few) visitors. Question your sales efforts if there are visitors but no (or few) conversions into customers.

Advertising will pay handsome dividends when the service within the store is directed intelligently. Advertised goods should be displayed prominently and demonstrated easily by willing workers. Unless you can render such service, on a consistent basis, don’t advertise. Sell out.

For more about advertising, get my article "Do Your Radio Ads Work?" Mike@BIGIdeasGroup.com http://BIGIdeasGroup.com

©2005 BIG Mike McDaniel All Rights Reserved Mike@BIGIdeasGroup.com BIG Mike is a Professional Speaker and Small Business Consultant with over 30 years experience, http://BIGIdeasGroup.com

Subscribe to "BIG Mike’s BIG Ideas" Newsletter MailTo:subscribe-956603364@ezinedirector.net

It makes no difference what media you use to advertise, the rules are the same. Benefits, benefits, benefits.

Advertise benefits and your advertising will be a success. Take a poll, they don’t care about car dealers, banks or tire stores. All they care about is "What’s in it for me?".

The fact that your dealership has been number one in the mid-region for 3 straight years is not advertising - it is bragging!

Explain what you have done for others. Tell what you can do for them. Remember the rule - it is always about them - not about you! Look at the advertising around you. Egads! Most of it is about the advertiser. Especially that 20 foot mug shot of the car dealer on the billboard.

Think benefits and you have a leg up on advertising that works, rather than advertising that gets the neighbors to say "Hey, I saw you on the billboard", or "..saw your picture in the paper again." Trust me, strangers won’t mention your picture. And that giant billboard pic won’t bring a sole through the door or get them to buy your product.

The reason you see so much bad advertising is that "ego" sells and the newspapers and billboard people know it. You even hear people who can’t read stumbling through their own radio commercials. Three friends mention it and they think the advertising was a success and sign up for more.

You don’t need a picture of your building, you need a description of what is inside and what it can do for me. Don’t tell me you have the largest selection, or latest styles and colors. Tell me if you don’t have it in stock you can get it overnight. Don’t tell me you have 20 years’ experience. Tell me you’ll show up on time, smell good and fix my toilet, or I don’t pay.

For more about advertising, get my article "What The Newspaper Ad Person Won’t Tell You" Send blank email to my article-robot. Mike@BIGIdeasGroup.com

Let the other guys flush their ad money with giant pictures of the staff, or TV commercials with the grand kids shouting a slogan. You concentrate on WIIFM, What’s In It For Me, and your advertising will work harder for you.

©2005 BIG Mike McDaniel All Rights Reserved Mike@BIGIdeasGroup.com BIG Mike is a Professional Speaker and Small Business Consultant with over 30 years experience, http://BIGIdeasGroup.com

Subscribe to "BIG Mike’s BIG Ideas" Newsletter MailTo:subscribe-956603364@ezinedirector.net

Here are 5 tips to help you get persuasive testimonials
…and use them to convert prospects into buyers.

1. Continuously Collect Testimonials

Start by setting up a file to store the positive comments
you get from customers. Many good testimonials are hidden in
the casual comments customers make during normal
communications.

Don’t overlook the positive comments you get by phone or in
person. Write them down and add them to your file.

Next, look for some ways you can stimulate customers to give
you testimonials. For example, send a postcard or email
message to recent customers asking what they liked best
about your product or service. You’ll be surprised at some
of the glowing comments you get.

You don’t need a lot of testimonials before you can start
using them. Three is normally enough unless your sales
message is unusually long.

2. Try to Get Varied Testimonials

All of your prospects and customers are not exactly the
same. Different aspects of your products and services are
likely to appeal to different prospects.

Try to get testimonials that mention a variety of results
achieved by your customers. The more benefits you can reveal
with customer testimonials, the more business they will
generate for you.

3. Some Testimonials Are Better Than Others

Avoid using testimonials that are not specific. For example,
"I really liked your service a lot", is nice for you to
know. But it won’t stimulate many prospects to buy.

Instead, look for testimonials that describe specific
results. For example, "In just 2 weeks I lost 9 pounds, feel
years younger and still continue to enjoy my favorite
foods." That testimonial will motivate anybody who wants to
lose weight to get your program fast.

4. Get Permission to Use Testimonials

Always get your customer’s permission before using their
testimonial. And tell them how they will be identified with
the testimonial. For example, I usually include at least my
customer’s name, city and state (or country).

If you sell to businesses instead of to individuals you may
want to include some other things about each customer with
their testimonial. For example, your customer’s title, the
company name, the type of industry or anything else that
would appeal to other customers like them.

5. Highlight Testimonials When You Use Them

You can group all testimonials together in your sales letter
or web page …especially if the message is short. Or you
can scatter them strategically throughout your message
…especially if the message is long. But always highlight
testimonials so they stand out from the rest of your
message.

For example, display them in italic letters enclosed in
quote marks. On web pages you can further highlight them in
yellow or some other color that contrasts with the
background color of the page.

The 5 tips in this article revealed how you can get
persuasive testimonials - and use them with maximum impact.
Start applying these tips now in your business and you will
quickly start converting more prospects into buyers.

(c) 2004 Bob Leduc  http://BobLeduc.com

Bob Leduc spent 20 years helping businesses like yours find
new customers and increase sales. He just released a New
Edition of his manual, How To Build Your Small Business Fast
With Simple Postcards …and launched *BizTips from Bob*, a
newsletter to help small businesses grow and prosper. You’ll
find his low-cost marketing methods at: http://BobLeduc.com
or call: 702-658-1707 After 10 AM Pacific Time/Las Vegas, NV

 New Age Media Concepts issues its first article of many that will focus on the advertising and marketing industry.

"If a young man tells his date she’s intelligent, looks lovely, and is a great conversationalist, he’s saying the right things to the right person and that’s marketing. If the young man tells his date how handsome, smart and successful he is — that’s advertising. If someone else tells the young woman how handsome, smart and successful her date is — that’s public relations." By S.H. Simmons.

Welcome to New Age Media Concepts, Inc. where we understand your needs and how to maximize your marketing dollar.

Marketing is your strategy for allocating resources (time and money) in order to achieve your objectives.

People have their own unique perceptions of the world based on their belief system. The most innovative ideas, the greatest products, or a superior service succeed only when you market within the context of people’s perceptions.  This is true from something as simple as the pet rock craze of the 1970s to the marketing muscle of Wall Street and the Internet boom of the 1990s.

Context can be many things, singly or simultaneously. To name a few, you may market to your customers within the context of their wants, needs, problems solved, or situation improved. Current and potential advertisers need to be aware of many other contexts, such as social and economic trends or governmental regulations.

People don’t just "buy" a product or a service. They "buy" the concept of what that product will do for them, or help them do for themselves.  People just don’t “buy” a laundry detergent, they buy the perceived notion of what that laundry detergent brand says it can accomplish for them. Otherwise every brand in the supermarket will be a no-frills. This is not to say that if a product fails to meet the customers’ expectations that product will be successful in the long haul. No amount of advertising and marketing will help a failed product succeed in that scenario.

To have a successful campaign a product or service must understand that they need to start out with something a consumer needs, wants, or improves their situation and that product or service actually does help the consumer for the long haul.

The New York Times said it best in a recent article, “Companies can’t Buy Love with Bargains” Building brand loyalty is more than just hyping the consumer into buying a product, it’s gaining their trust and the trust of their family both today and for years to come. One example of great brand building is H.J. Heinz, (NYSE: HNZ) they have been around for decades and they gained the loyalty and trust of the consumer spanning generations, now that is great brand building.

Anyone could hype a brand for short term gains but that doesn’t accomplish the goals of the advertiser or the consumer. It looks good initially but what happens when the product isn’t flying off the shelves any longer and the consumers have lost trust in the product or the company?. Of course you need new and innovative ways to get your message to the consumer but this message has to be geared to building consumer loyalty and not just hype. Even the largest companies make this mistake and pay for it with decreased sales and profit margins.

So whether a consumer is buying a car from Ford (NYSE: F) , a can of beer from Anheuser Busch (NYSE:BUD) or software from Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT), the advertiser needs to cater to the needs of the consumer.

Louis Victor has been involved in the investment, advertising, marketing and public relations industries for close to two decades.

Have you ever employed door-to-door sales techniques to increase your brand awareness?

Have you ever had to walk mile-after-mile repeating the sales pitch, over and over?

Have you ever had to stand outside of an arena event and pass out flyers to exiting patrons?

If you stop to think of the cold calling technique of door-to door advertising, you would discover how sometimes humiliating it is to have a disinterested and irritated individual slam the door in your face, yell insulting things toward you, or be escorted off of their property.  To combat this instantaneous humiliation, the idea of door-hanging advertisements gives the sales person a means of getting the word out to more people faster than before but more importantly, it saves the person the anguish of the advertised becoming irate over the interruption.  Having been in situations were I have used these techniques either selling for other companies or trying to gain customers for a newly opened business, I came up with the idea of trying a door-to-driveway or door-to-doorstep advertising campaign to build brand awareness for a national car sales corporation that needed grass roots advertising for the local area around their dealerships.

Basically, I was a car salesman that was responsible for bringing in customers to buy cars, and my pay was determined by how many people actually came in and bought.  Since I have leg injuries from an auto accident, I needed to find a way to cover the same amount of territory as my competing sales people.  The company already supplied a few thousand door hangers; however, the advertisement brought awareness to all of the local 11 dealerships and I wanted to build awareness just to the dealership that I was at, and more specifically, I wanted the traffic created to come specifically to me. 

Keeping in mind the flyer campaign I was apart of at a professional basketball game in which the sales team handed out 7,000 flyers to build awareness of a local college basketball season, I designed a half-page flyer text advertisement—therefore, two ads can be printed on every page—that put emphasis on my name, my contact information, and schedule.  You can substitute any advertising design on this half-page ad. 

I chose a colored card-stock weighted paper for printing because I needed paper weight for the distribution method used and a lower cost than the cost of printing in color.  Printing black and white on colored paper is easier and cheaper than printing expensive color ads, unless you can afford it.  But for the purpose of this campaign, you do not need to spend a fortune making your company look good in print.

Once the printing is done, cut the full-page printed page in half, which produces two half-page ads.  Next, take the ads and roll them into a cigar shape and secure with small rubber bands.  Tiny rubber bands can be purchased at the local office supply company, but the best bet for the appropriate size can be located at a local beauty supply company—ask for small hair braiding bands, usually kept in 500 and 1000 count.  Keep a large box handy to place the rolled ads in until it is time to distribute. 

Now it is time to distribute.  Normally, door hangers would take about 2 ½ hours to distribute 500 hangers and would receive a few inquiries for the effort; so being limited to the amount of walking I could do, I decided to drive a car and throw the ads onto the edge of the driveway at peoples houses.  I wanted the advertisement to be in the same placement as the local newspaper so the ad had the best chance to be noticed, picked up, and acted on by the potential customer. 

As a homeowner, I myself have had numerous advertisements thrown in my driveway, and as the homeowner I am responsible for picking up the ads in my yard.  I have seen ads for grass cutters, electricians, Avon sales, donations to thrift stores, and many more, so any kind of message can be placed on these ads. 

Now with the new way to distribute, I could get 2000 ads out in approximately 1 ½ hours and had responses before I returned to the dealership.  It makes me wonder how many people really do watch the front of their house and wonder what a slow moving vehicle was throwing at their house.  After seeing the instant results of my effort, every sales person at the dealership enacted the same door-to-driveway campaign for the shear fact of the number of ads distributed for the time distributed was achieved with far less effort than before.  Results we quicker and slightly higher; but, I do not know the exact increase numbers because I did not do any kind of analysis on exact number of responses for the number distributed.  I do know that I got a lot out a lot quicker than before and I didn’t have to walk anywhere except to the car.

A few things to keep in mind:
• Make sure it is NOT going to rain on the day that you distribute.
• Try NOT to distribute after 2:00 PM because of children being released from school and them walking and playing in the streets.
• Try NOT to distribute during the weekend because that is when you want people to be acting on the ad that has been delivered, and the kids are in the streets again.
• The perfect time seems to be between 10 AM and 12 PM, a two-hour break in morning commute traffic and the beginning of lunch hour traffic.
• Keep a map and mark the streets covered as to not deliver in the same area too often.

Written by eRix © 2004-08-28   Permission to Reproduce in Entirety. 

Webmaster to:
www.aimhockey.com
www.avonbymaki.com
www.quality-gifts-galore.com

eric b smith tampa, fl
b.a. marketing usf tampa, fl
a.s. information systems hcc tampa, fl

 However, moving too quickly to prototype stage and first disclosure can turn out to be costly for the inventor who doesn’t take the time to find out if his or her invention is already patented.

 Yet, with over 3000 utility patents being issued each week in the United States, that can seem like a daunting if not downright impossible task.

 So, what can the inventor do to get the information – and assurance – he needs to proceed with his work?

 The first thing to do is conduct a preliminary search of patents at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Public Patent Search Room, which contains U.S. patents arranged according to the U.S. Patent Classification System of over 460 classes and over 136,000 subclasses. The Patent Search Room, located in Arlington, Virginia, is open to the public from 8 AM to 8 PM, Monday to Friday, except on federal holidays.

 If you don’t live near Arlington, you don’t need to make travel reservations. Instead, you can access the searchable database containing patent information for all U.S. patents granted since 1976 and all patent application publications (first published in March 2001), on the USPTO web site at http://www.uspto.gov/go/pats.

 Inventors can also perform a  preliminary search of patents at one of the Patent and Trademark Depository Libraries (PTDLs) established throughout the United States. These libraries have copies of patents in microfilm and/or optical disc format arranged in numerical order. They have classification search tools, automated search aids, and photocopy facilities available to the public. For information on your nearest PTDL, you may visit the PTDL web site at http://www.uspto.gov/go/ptdl.

 Another option is to use specialized software like Patent Hunter™, a program which is designed to simplify the search process and to allow you to conduct a more complete search. For information about Patent Hunter, go to www.patenthunter.com.

 You can also have a patent attorney or agent conduct a complete search for you. If you do not yet know a patent attorney or agent and would like to retain one, there are several ways to do so.

 If you are a member of an inventors’ organization, networking with other inventors to learn which attorneys in your area get rave reviews can be one of the easiest and most effective ways to find good counsel. And, if you don’t find using the Yellow Pages appealing, you might also want to contact your state the law association for a list of attorneys practicing IP law. Finally, if you choose to conduct an internet search, you will want to check out the USPTO listing of registered patent attorneys aand agents by going to http://www.uspto.gov/do/oed,.

 Whatever method you use to verify that your invention is unique and hasn’t been patented, acting early in the invention process can save you significant time and money. Or, if you discover someone already holds the patent, reviewing their design may inspire your creativity and lead you to add some “bells and whistles” that takes the idea to the “next level” and allows you to secure a patent on a superior product.

© 2004. All rights reserved. Impact Coaching International™ You may copy or distribute this article free of charge as long as it is kept intact and sent in its entirety including copyright notice and full information about contacting the author, Rosemary Hauschild.

Rosemary Hauschild is a business coach serving creative individuals developing intellectual property. Impact Coaching International™ offers a year-long program showing creative individuals how to protect, promote and profit from their innovative ideas in less time and with more profits. This coaching program is delivered through quarterly workshops, teleconference calls, web casts, fax and email. Individual coaching services are also available. To learn more about how to protect and promote your intellectual property, you are invited to subscribe to the free e-zine, Creations Of The Mind™, by sending an email to impactcoaching@msn.com with the following phrase in the subject line of your e-mail: subscribe creations list.