The human mind

With all our efforts toward marketing and getting the prospects mindshare it's interesting to see a "test" like this that shows how quickly our mind adapts when reading.




Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod
are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit
pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm.
Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the
wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!
if you can raed tihs forwrad it ...


Perhaps a post card with all the text re-arranged?

What if the USPS was not in business?

The USPS is in the news again with a huge financial loss. http://tinyurl.com/3793mek This got me thinking.

If this were a more traditional business what would they do to become financially stable? This discussion might give us some insight into what we can expect in mail cost which heavily affects print. They are talking about going to 5 day weeks however I can’t see that accounting for the 3.5 Billion they lost. If they severely cut services and raise prices will that drive end user customers to digital (non print) marketing?

We have seen banks running dual platforms of paper check and electronic money transfer. Dual platforms cost money so the paper version is doomed to a short life span (probably shorter than most think). The USPS does not have a dual platform so we could think of them as a printer who only produces checks. What happens if their “check” market disappears?

The last I knew ½ of the USPS revenue was in statement, invoices and checks with the other ½ in direct mail and promotional marketing. If ½ of their volume leaves do to electronic billing/payment AND they had to reduce services while increasing postage could they even survive?

What would our business world look like if the USPS was non-existent in 5 years?

AR is coming!

Augmented Reality or "AR" is one of the newer technologies making it's entrance in the direct marketing world. Though it's been around for several years it was primarily only available in the world of Hollywood. Now it's beginning to make it's move into high end commercial marketing environments. Though some say it's still 5-10 years away from being commercially cost effective others say within 2-3 years we could see these costs within reason.
AR combines digital files with live video. Currently most AR is created by using your webcam to scan a 2D glyph however AR can be used with GPS and will soon be able to work from image recognition. Where QR (Quick response) codes are heavily used today to generate web traffic AR will take the messaging process to a new level.

Here's a nice example of AR using GPS technology. http://tinyurl.com/24huqwb
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New FB disussions!

Check the new topics on our FB discussion board!

Customer service on steroids

If you've ever wondered how some companies reach beyond the norm in customer service you might want to check out the Customer Astonishment program offered by Cornerstone Professional Developement. www.AstonishU.com.

We all have had experiences where we witnessed first hand a poor level of customer service. It's also a common occurance to have one of your lowest paid employees upset one of you best customers. Are all employees in customer service? Absolutely! If they do not directly serve the customer they serve someone who does. Everyone is Customer Service and needs to know and understand how vital their part is in servicing beyond expectation.

Today's economy has a very easy solution for poor customer service. The buyer simply goes away.

some great social media presentations

http://tinyurl.com/244h6t2

Quick barcode update

It's not your daddy's barcode anymore.
http://tinyurl.com/2zjoqt