Jim's Articles

Searching for Strategies for product design & development ? Good design is timeless, and if you design your product well, it will last the test of time. Long-lasting products are more valuable to consumers, better for the planet, and are a testament to the skills of the designer. Think of all the great vintage items you have in your home or grew up with. Antiques, vintage clothing, old cars — these things are still with us today because the people who designed them built them to last. Good design never goes out of style.

Entrepreneurs are born, not made, so it’s safe to say they often think as a businessperson all the time. It’s a way of life for many entrepreneurial men and women. But when it comes to product development, you have to think like your consumer and not yourself. Put aside the pride you have for your idea and the realization of it and think about how your buyer would perceive this every single step of the way. Any time you make a modification to the product or the idea behind it, you have to ask yourself if a consumer wants or needs this and determine whether or not as a buyer yourself, you’d buy this product as is from someone else. Read extra details at Launching a product.

Take a broad view and make topline decisions that will carry through each element of your brand identity. Now you’ve determined what you stand for and where you want your business to go, but there’s still a few steps to take prior to hiring that web designer or launching a logo contest if you want to get it right the first time. Again, resist the temptation to dive into specific “must-have” elements like a business card, website, or Facebook page until you’ve made some broad decisions upfront about some key concepts such as: Brand voice – fun and playful, socially responsible, careful, edgy, artistic, healthful… think about how you want your brand to speak and sound across all platforms. This “voice” should map back to your larger purpose and core values, and appeal to your ideal customers.

Start-Up trick of the day : But don’t forget offline opportunities: Step away from the computer, put away your smartphone, and find people in real life at conferences and networking events. The connection you can make with a person face-to-face is naturally stronger than one mediated between screens. And of course, don’t forget a professional business card to turn your encounter into a relationship. Source: https://www.petermanfirm.com/.

Visionworks coupon codes by age today. National Parks: U.S. citizens or permanent residents age 62 or over can access more than 84 million acres of land protected by the National Park Service for the rest of their lives for $80. While this isn’t quite the bargain that it used to be — prices were raised from just $10 last year — it’s still much better than the general, $80 annual pass rate, says Warren Gress, 67, of Parker, Colo., who has visited Glacier National Park, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Bryce and Zion, among others. Plus, Gress notes, the pass gets you discounted site fees if you’re staying in a federal campground. T Mobile: Customers ages 55-plus can get two lines with unlimited talk, text, and LTE data for $35/line with AutoPay. This is the best cell service discount available at the moment, says Dworsky of Consumer World. Bonus: only the primary account holder has to be 55 or older.

Many people can appreciate saving a bit of money. Many business owners recognize that senior citizens do not always have the flexible spending options that those who are younger have. They still want your business. As a result, they may offer a discount or a small savings for using their service. Senior discounts range widely. Senior discounts can apply to everything from medical alert systems to internet service. There is no legal requirement for any location to offer them. However, many don’t advertise them thoroughly. Ask about them whenever you visit an establishment. It could save you a significant amount of money quickly.

Dress Barn started in 1962 in Connecticut and now, with some 800 store locations around the country, is part of the Ascena Retail Group. It reportedly offers 10% off on Tuesdays and Wednesdays to customers who are 55 or older, though not necessarily at every location — so you might want to ask about available discounts before completing your shopping. If you buy $100 worth of clothing there every few months, you might save $40 or more per year. Read more info at Discount Codes for US Stores.

Some coupon companies sell the deals they provide, charging less for coupons than what they are worth to customers. A company may sell $20 coupons for $10, for example, having already paid $5 to the business providing the deal. For these companies, coupons act as regular inventory, allowing them to employ a traditional retail business model. Success relies on consistently driving new traffic to participating businesses to secure repeat coupons from deal providers, since that is a key to reliably replacing inventory.

Coupons industry is big. Any service on the planet can be purchased at half price if you wait for the right voucher. In e-commerce and online shopping a coupon code, or promo code, is a computer-generated code, consisting of letters or numbers that consumers can enter into a promotional box on a site’s shopping cart (or checkout page) to obtain a discount on their purchase.

Most people don’t think of promo codes and ROI together, but we disagree. If you’re not using smart codes to track the Return on Investment of your marketing strategy, you’re missing a trick! The beauty of promotional codes is that you can fit so much information inside them. It’s easy to generate QR codes and barcodes which are uniquely linked to each individual customer, for example. And you can use that unique information, together with data from the point of sale, to see exactly how customers are interacting with your promotions. Set up your campaign so that customers receive different codes, depending on how and where they download the code. Let’s say one customer spots your promotion on Facebook and downloads a QR code to their smartphone to use in-store. Another user clicks a link on your website, gets the code by email, and types it in at the online check-out. Those two customers have received two different codes. By tracing which codes they use, you can link customer profiles to the download method and shopping styles they prefer. You can even track the time between receiving the code and applying it to a purchase. Source: https://couponfavorite.com.