About Your CopyrightWritten by Susan Dunn, MA, Marketing Coach
With easy access of Internet, more people are writing and creating and displaying their art publicly than ever before. As a marketing coach, I receive many questions about copyrights – how to get your own, and how to know about someone else’s work. WHAT EXACTLY IS A COPYRIGHT? According to U. S. Copyright Office, a copyright is “a form of protection provided by laws of United States (title 17, U. S. Code) to authors of ‘original works of authorship,’ including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works.” You can see it’s a broad definition. One of most important things to note is that it’s a misconception that you must use a copyright notice on your work, or see one on someone else’s for it to be copyrighted. This was required at one time, but is no longer. So, just because you’re looking at someone’s Internet course, or reading an article they wrote, and it doesn’t have a copyright notice on it – either on Internet or hard copy – doesn’t mean it isn’t copyrighted. In fact it is copyrighted minute it takes tangible form. This has two ramifications. First of all, it’s still good to use copyright notice on your work, i.e., ©. You can make this by going to “Insert” then “symbol” then “special characters” then click on © symbol and then “Insert” and then “close.” Of in a word document, simply type this – ( c ) (without spaces between) and it will automatically convert to © symbol.
| | Writing direct mail that really, really worksWritten by Julia Hyde
So, you have something you want to sell. It may be a product, a service, or a cause. It could be a membership, a subscription, or a motor car. It might be paper, health products or idea that humane society or Alzheimer’s association is worth giving money to. It could be computer equipment, hand-sewn dolls clothes or garden gnomes. Whatever it is you are selling, you need to let right people know you’re selling it. And one of most effective ways of doing that is through direct mail. Direct mail works best if you know type of person who buys your product or service. For instance, if you sell to building contractors or pet owners you can get a targeted, personal message to them quickly. What’s more, computers make it possible for small businesses to produce professional looking mailings at a very attractive price. They make it possible to select names from mailing lists by demographic classification, frequency of purchase or by amount of purchase. Computers allow every letter in a mailing to include name of addressee, not just salutation but several times throughout body of letter. Here’s some tips that will help you make your campaign more effective… Always include a letter in your mailing This may sound obvious but many mailings only contain a brochure. This is a mistake. There’s a saying “Brochures are sent by companies, letters are sent by people.” You need a letter because a letter is personal. And because letters persuade people to buy. Get your letterhead right What paper, layout and design you use are very important. I recommend you steer clear of official company letterhead and design something more appropriate to your message. If you want people to telephone, make your phone number stand out. If you want them to visit your web site, do same. Your address is less important because even if you want people to reply by mail they’ll expect a reply paid envelope. Don’t put fax and telephone together – it’s confusing for people. Avoid using telephone numbers using letters such as, 1-800-OUR SHOP. If you absolutely must use this type of number make sure you place numeric number close by. Write long letters Most people don’t want to write long letters, they worry they’ll sound rambling, or they think long letters don’t sell. But a long letter serves a purpose. If your prospect is going to buy your product, or contribute to your cause, he needs a lot of information. A short letter can’t hope to give him enough information to consider making a purchase.
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