I bought the published version some time ago and found it inspirational.

The beauty of having this eBook version is it is instantly accessible on your cellphone, tablet or eReader because it’s available in all eBook formats.  What’s more you can read it within an hour and then use it as a great reference guide to networking.  Dip in to review the main points before you go to that important seminar or business meeting.

Who Is This For?

When you attend a meeting or seminar do you…

“Everyone involved in putting together business events puts massive time and effort into making it worth you being there. The most professional event organisers endeavour to leave nothing to chance.

And then you turn up! Ultimately, what you get out of an event is largely down to you. Your attitude and expectations can have a profound impact on the ‘take home’ value you receive.

As someone who attends conferences professionally, I have met countless individuals who tell me that the key benefit of attending is the awesome networking opportunity. It’s about the people they meet in the corridors, during lunch and dinner and in the bar at three in the morning.

This is why you will find hundreds of practical tips and ideas in this handy pocket book, arranged in simple, easy and quick to read bullet points. Master these tips and you will improve your effectiveness at meeting new people and social events.

No matter how confident or proficient you may be at ‘working a room’, you will certainly gain from the insights within these pages.”

Why Is Roy Giving This Away?

Roy is not only giving this away, he doesn’t even ask you to subscribe or leave your email address. Just simply visit, click the download button, read and use.

So – bearing in mind I usually advise clients to gift something like this in exchange for email and contact details so they can follow up – you may wonder why he is being so generous.

Simple.. he has set himself a goal to have 1 million people download  Meet, Greet & Prosper over the next year.  Let’s help him reach his goal and pick up some handy insights to networking at the same time.

Collect your copy of Meet, Greet & Prosper and let me know what you think of it once you’ve devoured the contents.

~ Carol Bentley

Maybe you already know what they are… QR (quick response) codes.

But if you’ve puzzled over what they are or wondered if they would be a useful marketing tool for you, then I’ve got some interesting facts about QR codes and ideas on how you can use them in your business…

But first…

let’s find out exactly

What Is A QR Code?

QR codes are 2-D bar codes that can be scanned using a smartphone.  (By the way, if you downloaded the presentation I put in my post ‘business apps..’ then you’ll know that using a QR code potentially gives you access to millions of smartphone users).

You can use a QR code for anything from displaying a web page to giving a product or discount voucher or simply giving a text message (as the QR code below does – try it out).

A QR code that has a simple web URL has a more open pattern compared to one that has a lot of text in the message, which has a very dense pattern and may be difficult for the smartphone scanner to interpret.

For example, this QR code (left) delivers this text-rich message:

Want to know how to write persuasive sales letters? This email course reveals the professionals secrets. Visit http://www.carolbentley.com/acceleratesales/

Whereas this coloured, less densely patterned QR code (right), for Apps4SME, simply delivers a link to this YouTube video.

What Can You Put In A QR Code?

Apart from the text message or web address I’ve already mentioned, you can use your QR code to give your vcard, a link for a YouTube video, your contact details – phone number, email etc, a link to Google Maps to locate your premises, an audio link, a link to a podcast… to name just a few ideas.

You can also use your QR code to give people a download.

For example, the QR codes below are to download a free Android and iPhone mobile app for Tiger Collectibles (they sell militaria memorabilia):

This QR code contains the download link to Google Play for the Android App

This QR code contains the download link to iTunes for the iPhone App

How To Get A QR Code…

There are numerous QR code generators on the web.   A simple search for ‘QR code generator’ throws up plenty of choices, so getting a QR code is easy.

One website I like to use also gives you a free tracking system – so you can check how many times your QR code has been scanned (take a look at Free QR Code Tracker.com).

Another website, that gives more options for the QR Code content and includes a colouring feature, but has no tracking facility, is at  GoQR.

Where Can You Use Your QR Code?

How creative can you be?  Let your imagination run wild… here’s a few ideas to get you started…

• letterheads, emails, quotations, invoices, statements
• contracts, delivery notes, business cards
• newspapers, magazines, printed books, ebooks
• YouTube, banner ads, blogs, apps, games, social websites (facebook, twitter etc), company websites
• discount vouchers, tickets
• shop windows, point-of-sale displays
• workwear, id badges, PPE, T-shirts etc
• product packaging
• exhibition stands, exhibits, competition literature
• brochures, catalogues, promotional flyers, direct mail, postcards
• gifts, stickers, promotional badges

The list goes on…

Make Your QR Code Stand Out

Although the codes that are generated are usually black and white, they can be graphically enhanced to match your company branding by adding your company logo or some other graphic.

You do have to be careful about the changes you make – the code must still be scannable.  One tip I would give is to make sure you use high-contrasting colours and keep your logo or graphical image quite small. And check if the code can still be scanned as each change is made.

You can read more about what how the pattern in a QR code works and what you can change without destroying the code at You – The Designer’s Blog.

Here are a few simple examples I’ve created:

Link to my web page describing my copywriting services

Link to a web form to request a free demo mobile app account

Link to request a free ebook of my latest book, Pocket Guide To Writing Profit-Boosting Sales Letters, to celebrate my 21st Business Anniversary

QR Code for my Twitter account

And finally, a link to my public profile on LinkedIn.

Consider This…

One thing to keep in mind… the QR codes are scanned by mobile devices – mainly Smartphones – so if your QR Code contains a web address, it is a good idea to make that destination webpage mobile friendly so your visitor does not get frustrated trying to view it, or use any links it contains, on a small screen.

Other Examples…

Take a look at some of the creative ideas other people have come up with…

A Mug of Sweets..

A Collection of QR Codes..

Well, if you haven’t already used – or considered using – QR codes before, I hope this has given you some inspiration.

What would you use a QR code for?

~ Carol Bentley

We have a very good colour laser printer… a Kyocera FS-C5250DN.

As with all laser printers it has to be fed toner to keep working. And, because it is a colour printer, there are four toner cartridges; black, magenta, cyan and yellow. Replacing those toner cartridges is expensive – actually you could buy a new B&W laser printer for less than the cost of a set of 4 of these cartridges!

Saving £s

Now – like any employee that has a company’s interests at heart – Kelly, my PA, is always searching for ways of saving money.

She found a website online that supplies toner refills: TonerTopUp and, after reading their extensive information and FAQ pages, decided to give it a go. Especially when she realised she would be saving over £229 compared to buying a set of  new cartridges.

The refill toner and a ‘start-up’ kit were ordered at 16:05 after a few phone calls and promptly answered emails to a very friendly Paul Young. She wanted to clarify a few queries she had before ordering.

The package was received the next day by first post.

So that was a good start to a new business relationship, but there was more to come…

Little Things Mean A Lot…

Detailed instructions were supplied, including advice about how to handle the toner and avoid spills that could damage surfaces or clothing. But as well as giving the advice, they included the kit you needed to follow that advice, on the basis that you might not have these items to hand!

So, what was the kit they sent?

Plastic gloves – to keep your hands clean (never had those supplied with a toner top up kit before!)

And - don’t laugh... – a large sheet of newspaper to cover the work surface – in case you hadn’t got any lying around.

Plus, in the starter kit they supplied extra tools – just in case you needed them – which we didn’t. Not cheap, tacky tools – they supplied a set of good quality screwdrivers and pliers!

And – just to sweeten the whole package – they popped in a chocolate bar to enjoy too (Kelly appreciated that ).

All simple and inexpensive actions that created a good first impression.

Let me ask, what do you do to impress your new customers?

Me? When someone contacts us about my copywriting services, we offer a no-obligation half-hour telephone consultation. During that call I frequently give valuable marketing advice as well as discussing the copywriting service they asked for.

And I always offer to record the conversation and supply it as an MP3 file so the prospective client can listen and remind themselves of the marketing gems I’ve shared.

The consultation is worth at least £900 (based on my normal fees) but even if I do not take the project I still supply the recording and consultation free of charge.  It generates good will, even with people I don’t take on as clients and they act as ambassadors for me when they tell others about their experience.

Share Your Experiences

What stunningly good customer service have you experienced? Share your impressions and let me and my other readers know about your good supplier(s).

~ Carol Bentley

Now, why would I, a copywriter, be talking about mobile apps?

Simply because the mobile market has gone through the roof and anyone who does not have a mobile friendly website or app is potentially losing business.

You see, the number of apps that have been downloaded is phenomenal and is still growing. (I discovered, just today, that in the US there are more mobile phone owners than there are TV owners!) And people are spending more time using apps than browsing the web on their mobiles.

Added to that, a business that uses a mobile app to engage with their customers is creating brand loyalty and, potentially, is creating the opportunity for their app to go viral and thus get more customers.

Now you and I know that what goes in that app is important; words as well as images and functionality that engage with the user, so they want to share the app with their friends and colleagues, is crucial.

Plus… I co-founded a new business last year, Apps4SME, that offers an affordable way for businesses to have their own, dynamic mobile app.

Take a look at:

If you’ve thought about having a mobile app for your business then you might like to read these two articles from Real Business.

Appetite For Apps

£1m in 1 month

Celebrating 21 Years!

As well as giving the presentation I also made an offer celebrating my 21 years in business.

Yes, it really is 21 years since I first started my own business!

Want to know more about going mobile?

Do you even need to bother?  This is what one industry leader says:

“Should you be considering apps? It’s the modern-age equivalent of asking whether you should have a website.

If you want to connect with more people, drive more interaction and create more sales then, for sure, you should look at apps. It’s not a ‘should you’ or ‘shouldn’t you’ question. The answer is that you certainly should – but with the right ideas in mind.”

Alistair Crane, CEO, Grapple Mobile, cross-platform app developer

Take a look at my presentation about going mobile with apps – I think you may be surprised at some of the stats I found whilst researching. And you also get the opportunity to take up my celebration offer.

Business Mobile Apps – Fad or Cutting Edge?  (PDF – 3Mbyte Download)

Mobile Apps are the new way to connect with your target market, both customers and prospects.

Enjoy the presentation.

~ Carol

Because I am sharing the buzz about using mobile apps for business marketing at the BusinessXchange event on April 18th at Hamworthy Social Club in Dorset.

Sixteen experts, including me , are giving insights to marketing, social marketing and other Internet and business related topics in friendly ’round-the-table presentations’.

You may be surprised that I’m not talking about copywriting.. but knowing how to use mobile apps to give you the cutting edge in 21st Century marketing is pretty important – well I think so!

Want to know more? Take a look at BusinessXchange’s ‘The Complete Networker’ for all the topics and to book your place.

I’d love to see you there… oh and the only cost is £10 for a great breakfast! Bargain!!

~ Carol

Basically, I’m getting my server and blog updated. It means the site may be down for short periods over the next week, well it has to be fitted around Christmas activities too!

So if you try to visit and the site has ‘disappeared’ be assured it will be back shortly.

Thank you for reading my musings over the past year, enjoy the festive season and my best wishes for a brilliantly successful 2012.

~ Carol Bentley

You also have the option to subscribe to a series of weekly copywriting articles that are delivered in PDF format as an email attachment.

~ Carol Bentley

An email from Tony, one of my blog readers, kindly warned me about this card scam. Having your card stolen is bad enough but this one also attempts to fool you into giving your pin number up as well.

It is a very simple process – but potentially devastating for anyone caught by it. The 17-page PDF (link below) shows, in picture format, exactly how it is done and how to avoid it happening to you.

I suggest you tell anyone you know and care for about this, but as the PDF file is about 500k in size, it may be easier for you to suggest that your friends visit this post to get a copy for themselves.

atm-thefts.pdf

Or visit the hoax website where they show the pictures on-line along with tips for taking precautions:
Snopes.com ATM theft warning

Thank you Tony for the warning.

Stay safe and guard your hard-earned cash.

~ Carol Bentley

Payment reminders are often curt and sometimes unfriendly… ‘if payment is not received within 10 days we may have to take debt-recovery proceedings‘ – the one that arrived on my friend’s doorstep was the exact opposite. And, when she showed it to me, it made me chuckle.

This is what it said…

Dear Customer,

Here we go with a little rhyme. To remind you that your payment has not been made in time.
To enable us to keep our customers happy. Could you raise our payment and make it snappy.

The sender may not be a Poet Laureate – but it is certainly a different, friendlier way of asking for their payment.

How do you encourage your customers to pay your invoices?

~ Carol Bentley

Why?

Because she described the best approach to creating a press release… or as she prefers to call it a News Release… that increases the chances of it being accepted and published.

I’m sure you know, as well as I do, that the publicity you get from a news release is truly valuable. It is a story about you or your company or your product or service that brings your business to the attention of prospective customers.

Faith* gave us a few pointers I’d like to share with you. You may already know about these, as I did, but it never does any harm to be reminded – does it?

Top 10 News Release Tactics For Getting Your Story Published

1. Remember, your news release is not an advert or a sales letter. It should be written in the ‘third-party’. Unlike a sales letter, where I always advise you to write to the individual that is reading your letter, a news release is reporting a story.
2. Consider your headline carefully. It should attract without being too sensational or sales orientated.
3. Be careful about the content. If it looks like a blatant advert it will be immediately tossed out.
4. Consider which publications are most appropriate for your business and story, the ones your target audience is most likely to read. Is the story relevant for your local newspaper readers or would it be better in a trade magazine or other publication?

5. If possible get your news release accepted for the ‘safe pages’ – these are the first pages laid down in a publication; the ones that are not likely to be changed if important news breaks just before publishing. You have a better chance of getting into these if you send your news release in early enough to be selected.
6. Following on from the previous point; check submission dates with the journalist. You need to know the earliest date for submission as well as final deadlines. Submitting too early can be as bad as submitting late.

7. Be considerate to the journalist you are sending your news release to. Think about their submission deadlines; they will be different for different media – e.g. daily or weekly newspapers will have a different schedule to monthly or quarterly magazines.
8. Check with the journalist how they would like to receive your news release. If sending by email (as most people do these days) some prefer the content to be in the email others prefer to have an attachment.

9. Always offer to supply a good quality picture to accompany your news release.
10. If your picture is taken at an event you are running make sure you get model releases for any people in the photo before submitting. You don’t want to upset anyone and some people do not like their picture splashed in the media. Plus, you reduce the chance of getting future news releases published if complaints are made to the publication.

Another point to remember is try to find different angles for your releases. Doing so makes it potentially more appealing to your journalist.

Faith gave us a list of angles (or edges) for news releases – her A-W list. She gave me permission to share these with you…

Get your copy of Faith’s A-W News Release Angles

* Background: For Faith, working in the media and providing media training have gone hand in hand for more than twenty years. She spent 12 years in radio, has connections within television and her writing for magazines and newspapers is ongoing. She has helped businesses of all sizes; public sector organisations and PR professionals to set up long term, confident and effective media relations, reaping the rewards of free, high impact media publicity with measurable returns.

Are You Interested… Here’s What We Are Planning

Knowing how to promote your business through publicity (preferably good publicity) as well as how to write direct response marketing letters is a valuable skill in business today – especially for the smaller business owner who does not always have access to expert professional help.

So Faith and I are exploring the possibility of holding a 1-day workshop; how to write an effective sales letter in the morning (presented by me) and how to write an effective news release that gets accepted (presented by Faith) in the afternoon session.

The event will be a hands-on workshop during which we will answer individual questions and offer personal advice to each person during the writing exercises. Giving this level of personal attention means we will only be able to take a limited number of people.

If you’d like to know more about the workshop – no commitment – then please register your interest below:

As I said, registering does not place you under any further obligation.

~ Carol Bentley