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Pick up after your pet’s mess. No one wants to step into a puddle of pee or a smelly pile of poo in the workplace.

Keep your area organized and tidy. Toys should be kept in your area to prevent co-workers from tripping over them.

Be courteous. If your dog isn’t dog or people-friendly, then either keep him/her in confined to your area or don’t bring them to work. It’s better for your peace of mind and the dog’s safety.

Take your dog for a walk or a play session beforehand. This will tire you dog out a bit while at work so you or your co-workers are not distracted. Be sure to provide your pooch with a bed or blankets for warmth and/or a tough chewing toy to keep them busy.

Keep your pet confined. Make sure that your pet is closed off in your office, or tethered so that he cannot wander.

Be willing to share pet toys. Dogs can become aggressive if a toy they deem valuable is taken away from them. This can lead to fighting.

No noise-making toys, including squeak toys, of any kind are appropriate at work. These are distracting and annoying to your co-workers around you. Please leave them at home or stuff them in your desk drawer for the day.

Be as quiet as possible. A quiet, pleasant pet will ensure that your boss will allow you to keep bringing your pet.

Post a sign to make customers aware. If you own a pet retail store, grooming salon, or veterinary clinic, make customers aware that animals are loose on the premises.

Give your dog a bath before bringing him/her to work. No one wants to smell “Snoopy” while working. Be sure to comb your long-haired pooches so as not to leave clumps of hair all over the workplace.

About the Author

Dara is a brand identity and marketing design strategist at 7 Lucky Dogs, a leading consultancy in marketing to “pet parents”. Through customized marketing and brand identity packages, 7 Lucky Dogs helps you discover what makes your company, product or service different from your competitors. We then translate this differentiation visually into a logo, product packaging, an E-commerce site and promotional materials to reflect those unique attributes. We make our clients look credible and memorable to their prospects while they increase their bottom line. As the owner of 7 Lucky Dogs, Dara is passionate about helping independent pet businesses stand out in front of their competitors and attract more clients. She blends business smarts with creativity with formal education in both graphic design and marketing.

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eMail marketing is one of the most cost-effective methods of engaging prospects and customers. You know this so you sign up for an email account, collect addresses from you Web site, but folks are leaving your list faster than the Kentucky Derby. What can you do to stop the stampede? Here are some tips to help improve your eMail marketing messages:

Spell check to look for typos or misspelled words. – How can someone trust your company if you don’t put your best foot forward?

Use upper and lowercase letters in the subject line as well as the body copy. – It’s very difficult to read any amount of copy in all caps. Use upper and lowercase letterforms for your subject line, especially, and keep it 10 words or less.

Avoid punctuation marks and numbers in the subject line. – Use a colon or dash if necessary, but avoid numbers at all costs. Please don’t put your phone number in a subject line.

Don’t repeat the same words in your body copy as in your subject line. – Be creative with your copy. Excessive repetition of words can become annoying to the reader. For example, your subject line is “Free Report: Pet Parents and the Shopping Experience”.  The body copy reads: “Get your report now, it’s free! Free report! Send us your email address and you get our, you guess it, free report!” You don’t want to repeat the word “free” (or any word) excessively in the body copy – you’ll start to sound like an infomercial.

Write your copy in the active voice. – For example, instead of  “We are a natural product manufacturer for dogs” you want to say, “We manufacture natural products for dogs.” Short sentences are best, especially when combined with bullet points. You need to be succinct with your copy to grab the prospects attention so you can tell them your product/service’s benefits.

Include expiration dates or deadlines. – You want to create a sense of immediacy with your eMail offer, but you don’t need to create a panic. Customers and prospects sign up for your email offers as a way to stay informed of sales and specials. Inform them of your offer and nudge them, but there’s no need to create a state of panic. Email itself is urgent enough.

Utilize strong calls to action. – eMail readers are sophisticated buyers, but still need a strong prompt to elicit your desired result. For example, instead of saying “Click here” try “See Our New Spring Line” or “Download Your Free Catalog”.

Be modest and succinct. – Your readers will already know that your content is relevant to them so why hype up your email with exaggerated copy? Stating that your product or service is “great” and “revolutionary” is moot. Your readers will already know this or they wouldn’t subscribe to your content.

Don’t use the word “spam” in your subject line. – “This is not spam” in your subject line will throw your eMail in the junk folder faster than anything else. Besides, why state the obvious? The purpose of the subject line is to engage your reader, not state what the eMail is not.

Write alternative tags for all images. – You want to be certain that you engage your reader even if they don’t view the images. Writing alternative copy for your images will help you with this objective. For example, you have a product called “Joe’s Scrappy Dog Shampoo” and you want to create an offer around this product. You include an image of the shampoo as well as “Joe’s Scrappy Dog Shampoo – great for dog’s with sensitive skin and allergic to FHA” in the alternative text tag. A reader can still understand the offer if they can’t view images in their eMail.

About the Author Dara is a brand identity and marketing design strategist at 7 Lucky Dogs, a leading consultancy in marketing to “pet parents”. Through customized marketing and brand identity packages, 7 Lucky Dogs helps you discover what makes your company, product or service different from your competitors. We then translate this differentiation visually into a logo, product packaging, an E-commerce site and promotional materials to reflect those unique attributes. We make our clients look credible and memorable to their prospects while they increase their bottom line. As the owner of 7 Lucky Dogs, Dara is passionate about helping independent pet businesses stand out in front of their competitors and attract more clients. She blends business smarts with creativity with formal education in both graphic design and marketing.

Lost in a Maze

Don't know where to turn?

It’s the New Year, and every small business wants to be organized and productive. I understand, I want these things for myself and my business. So, where does one begin to start 2010 on the right foot so to speak? Start with a Workflow Plan.

Make the time to grab a cup of joe, tea or beverage of choice. Then find a nice quiet spot out of the office where you can work. Be sure to bring a pad and pen or your laptop to make your lists. The first step is to collect everything from your mind in order to decision what steps to take next.

Step One

Do a brain dump. Write all of your goals and dreams for the business year. Don’t analyze or organize your thinking, let the thoughts stream out of you. Envision where you want your business to be by the end of the year. Write it all down! Give yourself permission to figure out what everything means later.

Step Two

Read through your list to determine what each scribble means, and what you’re going to do about them. Some projects may not be feasible at this time, while others you may want to commit to for this year. And some may not fit within your business’s mission statement at all.

Step Three

Assign a completion date to each goal that you wish to commit to this year. You may want to break the year down in quarters as to not feel too overwhelmed when planning your year. Now you know when you want to accomplish that task, begin a task list to make it a reality. Assign dates to each task and check back daily to make certain you’re still on track.

How do you think you’d feel if you didn’t need to worry about things you haven’t done?

About the Author Dara is a brand identity and marketing design strategist at 7 Lucky Dogs, a leading consultancy in marketing to “pet parents”. Through customized marketing and brand identity packages, 7 Lucky Dogs helps you discover what makes your company, product or service different from your competitors. We then translate this differentiation visually into a logo, product packaging, an E-commerce site and promotional materials to reflect those unique attributes. We make our clients look credible and memorable to their prospects while they increase their bottom line. As the owner of 7 Lucky Dogs, Dara is passionate about helping independent pet businesses stand out in front of their competitors and attract more clients. She blends business smarts with creativity with formal education in both graphic design and marketing.

Social media has been a hot topic around the water cooler here. Why? Because social media is a low cost method of promoting your business and brand online to your customers, whether they be other pet businesses or pet parents. Twitter is one of these social media tools that has gained in popularity over the past year or so. You can use Twitter for your business to:

  • Engage your customers and prospects
  • Create “buzz” around your business’s brand
  • Redirect traffic to your Web site or blog

What is Twitter?
Think of Twitter as a way of writing a Post-it® note to a micro blog. You send and receive short messages within your defined Twitter community by following other “Twitters”. These folks can also “follow” you back, creating a way of communication with them. Tweets or messages contain only 140 characters long, so they are easy to read quickly.

What is a Twitter Timeline
Your Twitter timeline is the list of tweets that you can see because of the people you follow. (It’s the stream of icons with tweets on the side.) Your timeline shows up on your Twitter home page (http://twitter.com/home).

There is also a public timeline that contains tweets from everyone on Twitter. You can review the public timeline using the Everyone option under your profile.

The Three Tweet Types
There are three types of tweets you can send out:

  • General tweets – Go out to all of your followers. (They also appear in the Twitter public timeline.)
  • @Replies – Go to a specific person and start with @username like @7LuckyDogs. They also appear to other users and appear in the Twitter public timeline.
  • Direct messages – Are private messages sent to only one person.

@Replies
You send an @reply to a specific person, but a reply is not a private message. @Replies show up in the your timeline and the public timeline. They also show up in the timeline of every person who follows both you and the person identified in your @reply (the @username person).

Note: This is the default setting. You can also view all @replies made by the people you follow by changing your @replies setting under Notices in your settings.

Most likely, you see a tweet in your timeline and you want to reply. Move your mouse over the tweet and a back arrow appears on the right. Click this, and Twitter starts creating your @reply to that person. However, you can send an @reply to any Twitter user by typing @username at the start of a tweet. You can view all @replies sent to you under the @Replies tab on the right of your home page.

Direct Messages
You can send a direct message to any user who follows you. You don’t use the Twitter message box on your home page to send a direct message. Instead, you send it from the Direct Messages page.

Use the drop-down list to select the person to receive your direct message, and type the message below. When you click Send, the message appears in the Direct Messages page for that Twitter user. Or, someone sends you a direct message, you can reply to a direct message with a direct message. Display your Direct Messages page, located the direct message, and click on the envelope with the left arrow. Twitter starts creating the direct message at the top of the page.

Note: The only way you know that you have a direct message is to check your Direct Message page. Keep track of the number of direct messages and you can tell when you receive a new one because the count changes.

About the Author Dara is a brand identity and marketing design strategist at 7 Lucky Dogs, a leading consultancy in marketing to “pet parents”. Through customized marketing and brand identity packages, 7 Lucky Dogs helps you discover what makes your company, product or service different from your competitors. We then translate this differentiation visually into a logo, product packaging, an E-commerce site and promotional materials to reflect those unique attributes. We make our clients look credible and memorable to their prospects while they increase their bottom line. As the owner of 7 Lucky Dogs, Dara is passionate about helping independent pet businesses stand out in front of their competitors and attract more clients. She blends business smarts with creativity with formal education in both graphic design and marketing.

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