The Bizz by AnyPromo.com

Bring Your Own Lunch Recipe: Single-Serving, Instant Brownie #BYOL

anypromo — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:50:07 -0700

Every week, we suggest a fascinating, unique and delicious dish that is easy to make or reheat at your office lunchroom. This week’s #BYOL recipe: Single-Serving, Instant Brownie.

I know what you’re thinking, “Technically, this is not a lunch recipe.” And you’re right. This post is for an instant desert, and for #BYOL posts, we usually do a main course, sometimes coupled with a side or two. But we’re not prudes around here. I’m sure you enjoy a sugar boost at work as much as the next guy/gal, so I present to your our first #BYOL desert recipe.

As usual, the idea is to present a recipe that is easy to make or reheat at your office lunchroom. Unlike past #BYOL recipes on this blog, you actually make - instead of reheat - the brownie at work, so the beauty in No. 2 Penc il’s brownie recipe is its freshness. As a result, you should prepare the mix at home, and when you’re ready to eat, simply throw it in the microwave.

Step 0 - Gather Your Brownie Ingredients

+ One decent microwave

+ One ramekin or a small microwaveable cup

+ Two tablespoons butter

+ Two tablespoons sugar

+ One overloaded tablespoon of light-brown sugar

+ 1/4 Teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

+ One pinch of kosher salt

+ One egg yolk

+ Four tablespoons of flour

+ One tablespoon Hershey’s unsweetened coca powder

+ Two overloaded tablespoons of semi-sweet chocolate chunks

Step 1 - Melt it Down

+ Melt the butter in your ramekin or cup, but don’t let it boil.

Step 2 - Stir it Up

+ Add the sugars, salt and vanilla to the butter. Stir.

+ Add the egg yolk, but do not add the egg white. Stir.

+ Add the flour and cocoa powder. Stir.

Step 3 - Apply Some Heat

+ Top off your mixture with some chocolate chunks.

+ Microwave the mixture for about 45 to 55 seconds. Do not overcook it! Microwaves can easily overcook food. Plus, a slightly undercooked brownie is preferable, in my opinion.

Step 4 - Enjoy

+ I recommend being selfish, and eating it all to yourself. Like a territorial lion, you should lunge at any coworkers that approach you during this feeding session. But don’t be too selfish; share the recipe!

Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ or Linkedin, and stay ahead of the game with an occasional laugh and non-stop marketing & business advice, news and analysis. Brought to you by AnyPromo.com.

3 Copywriting Tips Supported by Scientific Research

anypromo — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:13:00 -0700

By Fausto Mendez

Copywriting is very much an art, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t hard science behind some of the principles used by more successful writers. These scientifically-backed #copywriting tips should graduate your game to the next level, no matter your skill level.

Teaching copywriting is difficult. You can only lay some ground rules that point people in the right direction, and most tips and advice are merely opinions based in anecdotal evidence, relentless practice and educated guesses. So it can be hard to know what works and what doesn’t. Thankfully, Gregory Ciotti put together a list of seven copywriting tips that are supported by some level of scientific research. We summarize three of his more useful tips below.

1. Leverage an Emotion That’s Already There.

+ Tip: Find an emotion that your target often feels, and make them feel that again. Don’t tell them what to feel. Like a novelist, the goal is to craft copy that leads them to that place on their own. Then, mix your message into that good emotion.

+ Science: Mirror neurons can make you feel what you see. It’s why men cringe when they see another man get hit in the balls. Make your target relive the emotion by showing them a scene that takes them back to it. The emotion makes your message more attractive and more memorable.

2. Don’t Sell Money. Sell Time.

+ Tip: Even low-quality brands hardly advertise their low prices. It’s something stores do for brands, but you almost never see a brand thumping its chest about its absurdly low prices. That’s because it doesn’t really work. Time is a more precious resource, so sell good times, not good prices. Miller’s slogan (“It’s Miller Time”) is the perfect example.

+ Science: Customers are willing to pay more for good service, which means they are generally more concerned about quality than price. That doesn’t mean lower prices can’t help you outsell your competitors, but it does mean that you’ll have to convince your target audience that your lower prices don’t mean a reduction in quality as well. Focus on the quality of the product. The low prices market themselves.

3. Don’t Avoid the Counter Argument

+ Tip: Your product, service or brand is not the answer to your target audience’s every problem. More importantly, there is usually a clear argument against it. Don’t ignore the opposing argument because it will be recalled by the target when you present yours. As a result, it’s best to tackle those opposing viewpoints head on. Think about it: Pepsi doesn’t ignore the existence of Coca Cola, not even in its own ads. Apple doesn’t ignore the existence of Windows, and I’m sure you’ve seen car commercials that feature the competitors’ products.

+ Science: Psychologist Charlan Nemeth tested two styles of debating, one that acknowledged the opposing viewpoint and one that didn’t. Of course, the arguments that did better are those that didn’t pretend there is no opposing viewpoint. That’s because when you’re “real” with your target audience, they are more likely to trust you, and when you answer their questions, they don’t have the opportunity or the desire to find answers elsewhere.

Finished Work: Vinyl Slap Bracelets for iKon Lounge

anypromo — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:04:24 -0700

By Fausto Mendez

Our partner AnyPromo.com is a promotional products retailer/supplier, and the company’s graphic artists love to show off their #finished work. This is just another design of the many, many designs they finalize on a daily basis.

New Jersey’s iKon Lounge just put in an order for red vinyl slap bracelets, customized with the night club’s famous logo. Though they didn’t share with us how they’re going to use the bracelets, we can imagine several possibilities, such as tickets to an event, an indicator of membership, a coupon, or a VIP marker.

These promotional bracelets measure about 9.5” x 1”, and they are available in a variety of colors. They cost about $0.66, depending on the quantity ordered, and the print itself features one color. When you slap these bracelets onto your wrist, they automatically and securely close. They are often used as children’s toys for that reason, but as iKon Lounge illustrates, you are only limited by your creativity.

Promotional items like these take advertising to a whole new level because they convert customers to walking billboards for your brand, cause or organization, so take the opportunity to one up your competitors with an out-of-the-box promotional campaign. Need help finding the best promotional giveaway for your specific situation? Don’t worry, our experienced customer care reps are only a call away.

Download this Free Font: Hand-Drawn Letters (15 Fonts)

anypromo — Thu, 16 May 2013 16:14:00 -0700

By Fausto Mendez

Finding the best #free fonts isn’t easy (except when we post them here), but it’s always good for business to have some extra out-of-the-box fonts on hand. That’s why we spend an hour or so per week searching the Web for its best-kept-secret fonts.

This downloadable set of free fonts feature a hand-drawn style as if they were sketched in colored pencil prior to being digitized. It’s a pretty neat style, and the fonts could really add some out-of-the-box flavor to your marketing copy, whether it’s destined for an advertisement, product packaging, promotional giveaway or other marketing tool.

As usual, the best font for any situation depends on a variety of factors, but if you find yourself itching for artistic, hand-drawn letters, you know where to find it. Download the fonts at Sincerely Peachy, or get ‘em straight from the source via the below links.

Bring Your Own Lunch Recipe: Honey & Lime Chicken Skewers #BYOL

anypromo — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:01:32 -0700

By Fausto Mendez

Every week, we suggest a fascinating, unique and delicious dish that is easy to reheat at your office lunchroom. This week’s #BYOL recipe: Honey & Lime Chicken Skewers.

Like many full-time workers, I don’t have much time for complex recipes that require a lot of effort, but I do enjoy a delicious as much as anyone else. That’s why I love this recipe for chicken skewers, posted at Kitchen Meets Girl. It’s easy, delicious and doesn’t cost much to make. I paired it with a side of white rice, though the recipe itself doesn’t recommend any sides. Now, let’s get started.

Step 0 - Gather Your Ingredients

+ three tablespoons of soy sauce

+ two tablespoons of honey

+ one tablespoon of veggie oil

+ (juice of) one lime

+ two garlic cloves (minced)

+ one to two teaspoons of Siracha

+ red pepper flakes

+ two tablespoons of cilantro

+ one pound of skinless, boneless chicken breasts.

Step 1 - Prepare the Marinade

+ Make the marinade by combining all of the ingredients except for the chicken.

Step 2 - Marinade the Chicken

+ Pour the marinade over the chicken breasts. Turn the breasts to coat the back. Let them sit in the marinade for an hour or so.

Step 3 - Grill & Consume

+ Grill over a medium-high flame for six to eight minutes per side.

+ Eat. You’ll probably eat it all, so you may need to make a second batch for tomorrow’s lunch. Keep the recipe on hand!

How SoBe® Used Promotional Giveaways to Go Mainstream

anypromo — Mon, 13 May 2013 12:02:00 -0700

By Fausto Mendez

John Bello used promotional giveaways to grow his beverage brand, SoBe®, from a niche set of bottled drinks to a mainstream phenomenon that PepsiCo eventually bought out. Today, he’s building up new brands with strikingly similar marketing strategies.

Promotional giveaway campaigns work. Need proof? Just ask John Bello, founder of SoBe, which he sold for $370 million, and the architect of SoBe’s wildly successful promotional campaigns. How’d he do it?

Promotional Products

Bello leveraged the power of promotional products and a fascinating and unforgettable logo. Combine the two, and you have a series of high-quality promotional products branded with SoBe’s iconic lizard. Here’s how it went down.

His team would deliver a box of promotional giveaways, such as keychains, to as many SoBe dealers as possible, and the SoBe dealers would hand out the branded products to SoBe customers. The SoBe customers are already fans of the product, and the iconic lizard logo is beautiful and striking enough that it can be appreciated on its own. So the giveaway has two main effects.

Customers as Brand Ambassadors

First, it makes the customer feel appreciated, and in the customer’s mind, it creates an association between those positive feelings and SoBe (and sometimes the store itself). That effect makes SoBe more memorable, so the customer is more likely purchase SoBe products in the future. The store owners tend to appreciate the free marketing as well.

Second, the customer would wear or use the promotional product in his or her day-to-day life, and the eye-catching lizard logo would attract others’ attention. As a result, the product becomes a conversation starter for the customer’s friends, family and acquaintances, and this introduces the brand to new fans.

Rinse & Repeat

As Bello continued SoBe’s relentless promotional campaign, his effort slowly paid off as the brand grew to mainstream proportions, but he’s not one to take too many days off. After selling the company to PepsiCo, Bello launched a new beverage brand, and he’s using the same proven marketing strategies all over again.

In similar fashion, the new company’s logo is often sought for the mere fact that’s beautiful. “Part of the trick is having cool giveaways and a cooler logo,” says Marketing Officer Bruce Burke. The second half of the trick is getting those products into the hands of the target audience.

Recipes to Boost Focus & Mood in Meetings: Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread #RBFMM

anypromo — Fri, 10 May 2013 15:29:51 -0700

By Fausto Mendez

Pitching to a hungry audience is shooting yourself in the foot, so bring along some tasty treats - preferably sugary stuff - to boost everyone’s focus and mood. It WILL make a significant difference in the success or productivity of your meeting or pitch. This week’s #RBFMM sugar spell: Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread!

Our favorite #RBFMM recipes tend to deliciously mash up two separate concepts, such as cinnamon rolls and cheesecake. That’s because, in a business setting, you definitely want to impress your meeting’s attendees. It makes your meeting that much more memorable. They will always remember that meeting as “the one where I tried a cinnamon-roll cheesecake for the first time.” If you’re making an important pitch, the incoming sugar high could be the difference between a success or a failure.

Anyway, let’s bake something. You can thank Recipes Quick’n Easy for original recipe.

Step 0 - Gather your Ingredients

+ Filling: eight ounce pack of cream cheese, 1/2 to 3/4 cup of sugar, one tablespoon of flour,one egg, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract.

+ Bread: 1 2/3 cups flour, one teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/4 teaspoon ginger, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, one cup pumpkin puree, 1/2 cup canola oil, two large eggs, 1 1/2 cups sugar, one cup chopped pecans or walnuts.

+ Glaze: one cup powdered sugar, two tablespoons half & half, one teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts.

Step 1 - Mix & Preheat

+ Preheat Oven to 325 degrees.

+ Grease and flour two 8” x 4” x 3” loaf pans.

+ Start the filling. In a bowl, mix: cream cheese, sugar, flour, egg and vanilla. Mix until it feels pretty smooth, and aim for a “cream” texture.

+ Start the bread. In a larger bowl, mix 1 2/3 cups flour, baking soda, salt cinnamon cloves, ginger and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, mix: pumpkin puree, canola oil, eggs and sugar. Now, mix the contents of these two bowls together. Drop in your nuts for good measure.

+ Step 2 - Prepare for the Bake

+ Empty half the pumpkin batter into the two loaf pans. Layer on the cream cheese, followed by the rest of the pumpkin batter.

+ Create a marble effect with the cream cheese by swirling a knife in the batter. The goal is not to mix the cream cheese into the batter; instead, the cheese should remain separate from the batter.

+ Step 3 - Let’s Get Baked!

+ Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until you can stick a toothpick into your bread and pull it out clean.

+ While we wait for that to finish, let’s make the cinnamon glaze. Take all the ingredients for the cinnamon glaze and mix them together. Add more cinnamon to darken the glaze.

+ Pull out your bread. Let it cool for ten minutes or so. Now, drop some glaze on that B, and drop in your nuts for good measure.

Step 4 - Assimilate

+ First, I should warn you that fireworks may shoot out of your mouth during consumption, so keep a fire extinguisher on hand.

+ Once you have your extinguisher, grab some bread, and put it in your mouth. I guess you can save some for a friend or whatever, but I wouldn’t blame you for being selfish. Oh yeah, don’t forget to save some for your next meeting, or… never mind, you’ll probably have to cook another batch.

Finished Work: Custom Notebook w/ Strap Closure and PVC Cover

anypromo — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:50:00 -0700

Our partner AnyPromo.com is a promotional products retailer/supplier, and the company’s graphic artists love to show off their finished work. This is just another design of the many, many designs they finalize on a daily basis.

L3 Technologies of of McAllen, TX is purchasing a fat stack of custom, high-quality, 5” x 7” notebooks featuring a strap closure. With the cloth bookmark, this 80-page notebook is the perfect note-taking companion for any professional, and the PVC cover will help the notebook last well beyond the lifespan of the notes inside the book.

Though these books may be used internally, they are also the perfect promotional giveaway for past clients, potential customers, loyal partners and generous vendors that take note-taking seriously. The recipient would appreciate the high-quality, long-lasting nature of the notebook, but more importantly, your company’s logo and message should be often viewed by the owner of the notebook and everyone around him or her.

Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ or Linkedin, and stay ahead of the game with an occasional laugh and non-stop marketing & business advice, news and analysis.

#DIY Promotional Giveaway: "Thanks for your Commit-Mint" Gift Bag / Gift Basket

anypromo — Wed, 08 May 2013 13:52:00 -0700

By Fausto Mendez

If you’re a fan of #DIY crafts for personalized gifts and promotional giveaways, you should consider adding a personal touch to your next giveaway with a “thank you” gift bag / gift basket that plays on the word “mint”.

This project is an inexpensive bag or basket of mint candies and perhaps other goodies and gifts. The goal is to find some relevant words that end with “ment” or “mint”, such as: commitment, encouragement, involvement, investment, enjoyment, environment, development, meant, etc. The words should be related to the effort that the gift receiver did for you or with you.

After you assemble your bag or basket of mint candies, you attach a note that plays on the word “mint”.

For example, if you’d like to thank a client for being such a dedicated and pleasant customer, your note might say, “Thank you for your relentless commit-mint. I hope your involve-mint and invest-mint in our firm continues tomorrow and long into the future.” The more often you throw “mint” into the mix, the better the note.

Beneath my Heart developed the concept with an excellent example of a thank you note that plays on the word “mint”; we suggest you check it out if you have an extra few minutes to spare.

If you’re offering this gift within a business context, you can also use the opportunity as a promotion for your brand, product or organization. Depending on your situation, you should include product samples and/or a handful of promotional giveaways, customized with your logo and message. AnyPromo is the Web’s low-price leader for promotional products, and with a catalog of over 40,000 products, you WILL find the right product for your promotional campaign. From custom iPad cases to custom travel mugs, there’s a custom giveaway to fit fit any price point.

Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ or Linkedin, and stay ahead of the game with an occasional laugh and non-stop marketing & business advice, news and analysis.

Check Out This Interactive Image of Obama's 20lb bag of Promotional Gifts and Giveaways

anypromo — Wed, 08 May 2013 10:54:00 -0700

By Fausto Mendez

The White House held a Correspondent’s Party with People & Time Magazine at the end of April, and as usual, businesses from all walks of life were eager to get their swag in front of the House’s top brass.

The above image of Obama’s 20lb swag bag from the Time/People WH Correspondent’s Party is making its way around the Web this week, courtesy of the Washington Post. There’s a ton of stuff to check out, and it might even give you ideas for your own promotional giveaway campaign. Hover your mouse over the image to reveal red markers (dots), and when your mouse hovers over the red markers, it reveals some basic details of the promotional giveaway.

Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ orLinkedin, and stay ahead of the game with an occasional laugh and non-stop marketing & business advice, news and analysis. Brought to you byAnyPromo.com.

Bring Your Own Lunch Recipe: Hummus-Crusted Chicken #BYOL

anypromo — Tue, 07 May 2013 13:57:00 -0700

By Fausto Mendez

Every week, we suggest a fascinating, unique and delicious dish that is easy to reheat at your office lunchroom. This week’s #BYOL recipe: Hummus-Crusted Chicken.

Have you ever considered using hummus as a sauce in a baking recipe. Neither had Gimme Some Oven’s Ali, but that didn’t stop her from trying out the fascinating dish. It turns out the dish is rather awesome, and I’m beyond ecstatic to come across the recipe. More importantly for those of us with little free time, it’s pretty easy to cook up, and it doesn’t take a long time to make. Now, let’s bake some chicken.

Step 0 - Gather your Ingredients

+ Four boneless chicken breasts

+ Salt & pepper

+ Chopped: one zucchini, one yellow squash, medium onion

+ One cup of your favorite hummus

+ One Tbsp. olive oil

+ Two Lemons

+ One tsp. smoked paprika or sumac

Step 1 - Prepare It

+ Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

+ Season the breasts with salt and pepper.

+ Place the zucchini, squash and onion in bowl. Drop in some olive oil. Toss until evenly coated.

Step 2 - Lay It

+ Arrange the vegetables at the bottom of a baking dish. They should form an even flat(ish) layer.

+ Coat cover chicken in hummus; then, lay the chicken breasts over the vegetables.

+ Squeeze an entire lemon over both the vegetables and the chicken. Thinly slice the same lemon, and place the slices in between the chicken and veggies.

Step 3 - Bake It

+ Let it cook for about 25 to 30 minutes, though you should double check that the chicken is completely cooked before taking it out. The veggies should feel rather tender.

#MarketingMonday - Purposely Misspelling Your Brand Name in Ads Can Be a Smart Marketing Strategy

anypromo — Mon, 06 May 2013 11:43:00 -0700

By Fausto Mendez

Sometimes, the best marketing strategies take advantage of the most unlikely tools, glitches or places. For example, Lego famously leverages construction sites to send an inspiring and unforgettable message. In the same spirit, Snickers took over one of Google Search’s most beloved features - spell check.

Snickers and Google partnered up for the snack brand’s latest marketing campaign, and if you’ve seen some of the more recent Snickers TV ads, such as the one with Joe Pesci at a party, you may already know the slogan, “you’re not you when you’re hungry.” Taking that same concept and plastering it all over Google Search, Snickers bought ads for about 25,000 misspelled search terms.

When you search for these commonly misspelled terms, such as “snikkers candy”, you’ll notice an ad or two at the top of your search results. The ad varies depending on your specific situation, but our test pulled up an ad for the brand’s YouTube channel and also product ads to buy the candy at online stores. Some users are directed to a page dedicated to the campaign.

More importantly, it doesn’t matter if you click on the ads themselves. If you know the slogan from the TV commercials, you should be amused by the same message after you misspell a word.

The tactic is brilliant SEO marketing. Most professionals and businesses tend to execute safe and easy SEO strategies, which is wise - don’t get me wrong. But if you really want your brand to reach the top of the search lists, more often than not, you’ll need to think way outside the box.

Finished Work: Jumbo Tote Bag for the YMCA

anypromo — Thu, 02 May 2013 12:09:00 -0700

By Fausto Mendez

The YMCA of Somerset Hills reached out to us this week for a low-cost, high-quality and lightweight promotional tote bag. It’s a rather simple project, and the Y’s imprint is a mere one color. Still, we’re excited and honored to serve such a well-known and established organization, such as the YMCA.

Promotional tote bags are some of our hottest sellers, and this one is made of eco-friendly and non-woven polypropylene. The bag opens to reveal a ten-inch gusset, and its face measures 13” x 15”. A removable insert for the bottom keeps it sturdy and flat when lifted off the ground. The reinforced handles measure 20 inches from one end to the other, so this promotional tote is rather easy to carry.

Our clients love to hand out promotional tote bags at industry events, trade shows and corporate meetups because most attendees don’t bring bags to these events, but it’s pretty common for businesses to offer attendees informative media, free gifts and promotional giveaways. Of course, two hands can only hold so much. As a result, people really appreciate a nice tote bag, and if you flood the event with your bags (so that your logo is visible no matter where people look), you WILL make a lasting impression on the attending audience.

#DIY Promotional Giveaway: Super-Easy Themed Envelopes / Note Holders

anypromo — Wed, 01 May 2013 12:57:00 -0700

By Fausto Mendez

If you’re a fan of #DIY crafts for personalized gifts and promotional giveaways, you should consider adding a personal touch to your next promotional gift with a super easy-to-make themed envelope or note holder.

This DIY project is so easy, it’s hard to write at any length on the concept. In fact, Sweet Tidings managed to explain the whole project with a simple photo (seen above) and the following caption: “cookie-cutter cut-out note holder.” Basically, you use cookie cutters to cut folded, colored paper. The key is to cut right at the folded edge so that it folds open like a greeting card. The fold also enables it to stand upright, which is a pretty cool feature if you’re trying to make someone feel special or appreciated.

You can use the same process (with bigger cookie cutters) to make a larger version, though I’d hesitate to call it a note holder at that size. It’s more like a greeting card.

If you’re planning a promotional giveaway or promotional gift basket, I highly recommend mixing in a DIY gift, such as this one, to further impress your target. Promotional gifts are very common in the realm of business, but few individuals think about adding a personal touch to a promo. In this case, you can use the note holder as a way to deliver a fun, appreciative note, or you might just use it to identify the recipient. I’m sure there are more interesting ways to mix these into your promos; you’re only limited by your creativity.

Bring Your Own Lunch Recipe: Sweet "Chick-Fil-A-Style" Nuggets #BYOL

anypromo — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:54:00 -0700

Every week, we suggest a fascinating, unique and delicious dish that is easy to reheat at your office lunchroom. This week’s #BYOL recipe: Sweet “Chick-fil-A-Style” Nuggets.

There’s no interesting backstory to this recipe. Apparently, Amy at My Name is Snicker Doodle has a deep love for nuggets that come from a certain fast food chain that does not sell cow meat, and she also loves to reverse engineer recipes for fun. Now, let’s get started on this week’s #BYOL recipe.

Step 0 - Gather Your Ingredients

+ Skinless and boneless chicken breasts

+ 1 cup milk

+ 1 egg

+ 1 1/4 cups of flour

+ 2 tbsp powdered sugar

+ 2 tsp salt

+ 1 tsp pepper

+ Peanut oil

Step 1 - Cut & Marinate those Nuggets

+ Whisk the egg and milk in a bowl.

+ Slice the chicken into bit-size cubes.

+ Place chicken in milk mixture. Let the chicken marinate for 2-4 hours inside your refrigerator.

Step 2 - Flavor Infuse those Nuggets

+ Mix the flour, powdered sugar, pepper and salt in a large (gallon-size) zip-lock bag. Throw the chicken into the bag, and shake it up.

Step 3 - Fry those Nuggets

+ Heat up two inches of oil in a medium pot over a medium-high flame. The oil will be ready at 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

+ Cook up to eight nuggets (or whatever fits comfortably) at a time. Turn them when they’re half done. You’ll know when they’re half done when the edge of the chicken whitens. You only need about a minute for each side, but double check each batch by cutting a nugget to find any pink (under-cooked) meat.

Step 4 - Eat & Enjoy

Three Critical Tips to Write Better Marketing Copy (Slogans, Email Subjects, Ad Copy, Etc.)

anypromo — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:47:00 -0700

By Fausto Mendez

Whether it’s a brand slogan, a promotional giveaway, a marketing email or a highway billboard, the best marketing copy is rather short and simple, but it can be far from easy to write. Effective marketing copy can take a long time (maybe even several days) to produce and revise, and it sometimes requires a draining amount of frustrating effort. But improving your copywriting skills can add a significant boost to your business’s success, so it’s important to continuously refine and hone your work.

I’ve recognized three key principles throughout my career that have helped me improve my copy over time. Keep these principles in mind the next time you write to help you boost the quality of your work (see the #copywriting tips page for more).

Don’t Start with Words

+ Don’t start with words; start with a feeling. You shouldn’t write if you don’t know what feelings you want to evoke, but if you identify and target a specific feeling, such as relief or confidence, you’ll have a much better idea of what you are really trying to say. After all, that’s the point of marketing copy (to evoke or sell a specific feeling, not really the product itself). People don’t care much for products or services, but they love the good feelings certain products or services bring them.

+ The example above doesn’t feature any marketing copy, but it does a good job of evoking the the childish joy and wonder of one’s imagination. Actually, the intentional lack of marketing copy amplifies the feeling, so it’s also a good example of the “less is more” principal described later in this article.

Short Verbs Are Safe Bets

+ Get in the habit of starting your copy with an action word; it’s beneficial to your writing process to start your copy with a short verb, such as “win” or “boost”. That’s because good marketing copy gets to the point fast, but the practice can also direct your writing process in a positive direction. You may find that this rule is too formulaic in certain situations, but most of the time, it’s a safe bet - especially if you’re pressed for time and not feeling super creative.

+ The example above is a perfect illustration of this concept, and it gets right to the point. The feelings being evoked are joy and laughter, and that emotion leaves a positive impression with you as it associates joy and laughter with the name “Chick-Fil-A”. Furthermore, when a customer creates an emotional association to a brand, it makes the brand more memorable.

Less is More

+ I can’t stress this principal enough: use less words whenever you can. The shorter your message, the more people will consume it and understand it. It’s not a difficult concept to understand, but it seems to be a difficult concept for newer writers to apply.

+ In the above Nike ad, the writer could have written: “It doesn’t matter what you do. It doesn’t matter how or why you do it. It doesn’t matter how good you are when you do it - as long as you do it and you do it for yourself.” But the standard Nike slogan, “just do it”, works much better. It communicates the same message in a fraction of a second, so the team that designed the ad effectively maximized the audience that will consume and understand the ad.

Here’s an extra bonus tip that can apply to any creative professional, not just writers: develop amazing, outstanding taste. Simply by improving your taste (for example, learning to enjoy more sophisticated books or higher-quality blogs), you will improve your creative work. That’s because you can more easily and quickly identify bad ideas, so you can trash those ideas before you finish them. The best creatives kill almost all of their ideas, and they only keep a few shining gems to refine. Similarly, you should find a thick pile of unused ideas in your trash bin at the end of any writing session.

For more copywriting advice, check out “10 Ways to Improve your Marketing Copy.”

How Social-Media Marketing Boosts Sales by 30% in the Video Game Industry

anypromo — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 17:17:00 -0700

By Fausto Mendez

The effectiveness of SMM (social-media marketing) is a widely debated topic, but the video game industry is done with that debate. And its verdict is in. It turns out SMM may be its most powerful marketing channel yet.

Twitter broadcasts over 400 million tweets everyday. That’s a lot of talk - most of it gibberish, but the video game industry is learning that guiding those conversations towards upcoming video-game releases has a very significant impact on sales, according Twitter and Deloitte LLP. Twitter UK commissioned Deloitte LLP to measure the impact of those 400 million daily Tweets on the sales of 100 best-selling PS3 and Xbox 360 games, and you can see the results for yourself in the full infographic below (click to enlarge it).

The Lesson: Creatively Integrate Multiple Channels in Your Marketing Campaigns

The point is not to rely solely on Twitter - or even social-media marketing - but to shape your campaign using a variety of tools that guide your audience towards positive online conversations about your products or brand.

Now, let’s use this lesson to design an effective marketing campaign for a company like Rockstar, maker of the famed Grand Theft Auto series. As a marketer for a major gaming company, you have to think bigger than an unforgettable TV ad, a beautiful billboard, a hilarious Twitter author, or a well-designed Facebook page. You want to design marketing tactics that start conversations that move to and from various marketing channels.

The Example: How to Move Customers From Channel to Channel

For example, you might design a set of TV commercials that confuses and surprises viewers. Throughout the commercial, you’d display a unique hash tag at one of the corners of the screen. The confusing ad would encourage users to search for the video or the hash tag online. The confusing ad also airs between 4PM and 8PM because that’s when the target audience watches TV. By 9PM, the audience is most likely playing video games and/or browsing the Web.

At this point, those gamers that aren’t gaming are probably searching for the video or hash tag in order to discuss it and share it with their friends. After discussing with their friends, they probably want more information, so they would search for related websites later that night. This campaign would have three important effects.

+ By adding social and online components (that are easily searchable and sharable) to the TV ads, the ads are viewed by many, many more people than if they were developed without those social and online components.

+ Conversations with friends about upcoming games has a more powerful effect than ads that intrude on the audience’s time and attention. Friends are often entertaining, welcomed participants in such conversations. Ads that try to dictate how you think, on the other hand, run the risk of being an annoyance if they appear in the wrong situations. In other words, your friends’ excitement for the next Madden NFL game is more effective than a tv ad for the same game, but the conversation that exposed you to that excitement may have never occurred if it wasn’t for the TV ad in the first place.

+ The search-engine performance of your website is increasingly becoming dependent on the performance of your social-media profiles and content. As your profiles and content are shared across social-media sites, your website’s SEO grows too, so by catalyzing conversations that involve your social-media profiles, critical keywords and links to your website, you should increase the traffic that your website receives from search engines beyond the traffic that arises from curiosity just after a new ad airs.

Why does it work?

In the previous example, the process starts in the living room. That means you have to know when your audience will be there. If you do your homework, your customer will see your ad on TV at the perfect moment. They would then search for your hash tag or video online (which would cause the initial search-engine traffic boost). As the audience start conversations about the video and any related content, they would share this content on social networks, and then you get a second search-engine traffic boost as Google notices that your brand name and content are being shared on social-media sites. As excitement, rumors and information spreads, sales grow. Just rinse, and repeat.

Whether you’re ordering promotional products for a trade show or finalizing the details for your next TV commercial, a strong and wise marketing campaign can go a long way. Take notes, people!

Bring Your Own Lunch Recipe: Bourbon "Crack" Chicken #BYOL

anypromo — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 13:43:00 -0700

By Fausto Mendez

Every week, we suggest a fascinating, unique and delicious dish that is easy to reheat at your office lunchroom. This week’s recipe: Bourbon “Crack” Chicken (Crock-Pot Style).

This recipe is called Bourbon “Crack” Chicken because once you start eating it, you can’t stop. It’s relatively easy to throw together. Let’s make some; shall we?

Step 0 - Gather Your Ingredients

+ 2 lbs boneless chicken breasts cut into bite-size pieces
+ 2 tablespoon cornstarch
+ 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (evoo)
+ 1 garlic clove crushed
+ 1/4 teaspoon ginger
+ 3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
+ 1/4 cup light apple juice
+ 1/3 cup light brown sugar
+ 2 tablespoons organic ketchup or chili sauce (depending on how hot you like stuff)
+ 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
+ 1/2 cup water
+ 1/3 cup reduced sodium soy sauce

Step 1 - Mix & Cook

+ Mix the above ingredients into your favorite crock pot, and set it on low for about eight hours. If you’re pressed for time, you may cook it on high for four hours, but we recommend the slow cook for best results.

+ While you wait, cook up a nice side of rice. I prefer white rice with this style of chicken, but to each his own. The original recipe also recommends adding a side of ginger glazed carrots.

+ That’s about it. Just serve the chicken over rice. I prefer to keep the carrots off to the side.

#MarketingMonday - How Refinery29 Launched a Multi-Million-Dollar E-Commerce Store Built Around Content Marketing

anypromo — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 11:22:00 -0700

By Fausto Mendez

Content marketing is a powerful but often underestimated tool in the world of business, and despite being misunderstood, it is the vehicle that is turning average Joes from all walks of life into millionaires.

Justin Stefano and Phillippe von Borries are the owners and founders of Refinery29, a fashion content and e-commerce company out of New York. It’s raking in multimillion-dollar sums every year, but it didn’t start out that way. About eight years ago, the website could barely pay a $28,000 salary to each member of the founding duo, but thanks to a smart and evolved approach to content marketing, it pulled in $14.2 million dollars last year. Stefano and Borries expect that number to increase by another ten million for 2013, according to Business Insider.

Prior to launching Refinery29, both Stefano and Borries held down relatively cushy jobs in law and politics, but they quit their careers to launch the website in 2005. It started out as a somewhat traditional blog on fashion, music and design in New York City, but their dedication and taste finally paid off after three years. Riding on a $28k salary purely from ads, the blog took off around 2008 as smaller, niche brands found a growing and receptive audience at Refinery29.

Oddly enough, Stefano and Borries know nothing - and continue to know mostly nothing - about the fashion industry. But Refinery29 eventually became the place on the Web to talk about emerging fashions and up-and-coming brands. What they didn’t realize at the time was that they were perfecting the practice of content marketing, which would set the stage for an e-commerce store that would launch Refinery29 to new heights.

The addition of an e-commerce component to Refinery29 enables the store to generate another $3-4 million per year, and it doesn’t cost the duo much time or effort to get the store off the ground. After all the, Stefano and Borries don’t even buy inventory. They just take a cut from the products sold by the smaller, niche brands that their audience loves to read about.

What Stefano and Borries did with Refinery29 is what content marketers all around the world aim to do everyday, but content marketing doesn’t always produce such favorable results. Their success stems from a few basic principles:

+ They are genuinely passionate about their jobs (as owners of Refinery29) and the content they produce. People are attracted to passion, and passion makes it easier to work harder and more effectively.

+ They write for the reader, not for search engines. Writing for search engines can help you boost traffic in the short term, but writing for real readers produces passionate, dedicated fans that love to come back to the site on a regular basis.

+ Like in TV, high-quality (entertaining and/or useful) content comes first because that what attracts people. Without the content, there is no audience.

+ Many e-commerce stores underpay content marketers, copywriters and bloggers in the belief that their contribution is not as important as, let’s say, a web developer. But to underpay your writers and bloggers is like ABC underpaying its sitcom-writing staff. The writers of a major sitcom at ABC are some of the highest-paid employees of the company. Think about that the next time you expect a minimum-wage employee to generate major traffic. Appreciate your content creators.

+ A content marketer should have (or at least strive to have) the same skills and professionalism as a staff writer for Time Magazine or Mashable.com.

+ Don’t forget to broadcast a healthy sense of humor. The Web is full of humor and people that appreciate a good joke. This is a fact of modern Web culture, and if you’re not in tune with modern Web culture, you won’t succeed as a content marketer.

#GoodMorning If Dogs Were Also Fonts, What Font Would Each...

anypromo — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 09:53:57 -0700

#GoodMorning

If Dogs Were Also Fonts, What Font Would Each Breed Be?