A few clients have recently asked the meaning about text acronyms. Then I got to thinking, maybe this could help and just maybe I can learn a few new ones myself… please enjoy!

The 50 Most Popular/Used Text Acronyms & Abbreviated Terms:
2moro = Tomorrow
2nite = Tonight
BRB = Be Right Back
BTW = By The Way
B4N = Bye For Now
BCNU = Be Seeing You
BFF = Best Friends Forever
CYA = See Ya
DBEYR = Don’t Believe Everything You Read
DILLIGAS = Do I Look Like I Give A ****
FUD = Fear, Uncertainty, and Disinformation
FWIW = For What It’s Worth
GR8 = Great
ILY = I Love You
IMHO = In My Humble Opinion
IRL = In Real Life
ISO = In Search Of
J/K = Just Kidding
L8R = Later
LMAO = Laughing My *** Off
LOL = Laughing Out Loud or Lots of Love (For obvious reasons, be careful with this one!)
LYLAS = Love You Like A Sister
MHOTY = My Hat’s Off To You
NIMBY = Not In My Back Yard
NP = No Problem or Nosy Parents
NUB = New person to a site or game
OIC = Oh, I See
OMG = Oh My God
OT = Off Topic
POV = Point of View
RBTL = Read Between The Lines
ROTFLMAO = Rolling On The Floor Laughing My *** Off
RT = Real Time
THX or TX or THKS = Thanks
SH = **** Happens
SITD = Still In The Dark
SOL = **** Out of Luck
STBY = Sucks To Be You
SWAK = Sealed (or Sent) With A Kiss
TFH = Thread From Hell
RTM = Read The Manual
TLC = Tender Loving Care
TMI = Too Much Information
TTYL = Talk To You Later or Type To You Later
TYVM = Thank You Very Much
VBG = Very Big Grin
WEG = Wicked Evil Grin
WTF = What The ****
WYWH = Wish You Were Here
XOXO = Hugs and Kisses

And, my latest favs:
NALOPKT = Not A Lot Of People Know That
NFBSK = Not For British School Kids

A few months back a good friend of mine asked if we could help develop marketing materials for her successful consulting company – is there any better compliment?

We started with a brand audit and together were able to uncover the best kind of information on the brand. It was informative, insightful and actionable for everyone involved.

One of the keys and biggest challenges with building premium brands is maintaining a healthy balance between growing the business and maintaining consistency in your brand communications program. That’s because premium brands, by their very nature, have a way of taking on a life of their own.

Since the audit, we’ve designed a new logo and built a new web site. Take a peek and if you need a great business consultant, give them a call.

http://servicepointconsulting.com/

What’s the difference between sales and marketing?

To put it simply: marketing creates desire and sales delivers the product. Sound too easy? Well, it is.

Marketing is everything you do to reach and persuade prospects. The sales process is everything that you do to close the sale and get a signed agreement or contract. Both are necessities to ensure success to a business. You cannot do without either process.

Your marketing will consist of the tactics you use to reach and persuade your prospects that you are the company for them. It’s the message that prepares the prospect for the sales. It typically consists of advertising, public relations, branding, viral marketing, and direct marketing.

The sales process consists of interpersonal interaction. It’s often done by a one-on-one meeting, cold calls, and networking. It’s anything that engages you with the prospect or customer on a personal level rather than at a distance.

Your marketing efforts begin the process of 10 contacts that studies show it takes to move a prospect to the close of the sale. With effective marketing, you can begin to move a prospect from a cold to a warm lead. When the prospect hits the ‘warm’ level, it’s much easier for the sales professional to close the sale.

The key to success is keeping your marketing and sales efforts in balance.

The case for email marketing is very simple really: ROI. According to the Direct Marketing Association, every dollar spent in 2010 generated a whopping $42.08.

Numbers like that just don’t happen. To reach and surpass your company’s goals, you must create campaigns that nurture relationships and present the right customer the right offer at the right time.

Why do businesses engage in email marketing? It works. And, it works well when done well.

By the numbers…

• 72% of respondents to an Econsultancy survey in early 2011 described email’s ROI as excellent or good. Only organic SEO scored higher.
• According to research conducted by the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing was expected to generate an ROI of $42.08 for every dollar spent on it in 2010. As such, it outperforms all the other direct marketing channels examined.
• The ForeSee Results 2010 report on the effectiveness of social media foudn that promotional emails were the second biggest influence on retail website visits. The biggest influence was familiarity with the brand.
• A MerchantCircle survey of over 8,000 local business owners in the US found email marketing cited by 35.8% as a Top 3 Most Effective Marketing or Advertising Method.
• In Datatran Media’s 2010 Annual Marketing & Media Survey, 39.4% of industry executives said that the advertising channel that performed strongest for them was email. This was the top result.
• The Ad Effectiveness Survey commissioned by Forbes Media in Feb/Mar 2009 revealed that email and e-newsletter marketing are considered the second-most effective tool for generating conversations, just behind SEO.

And the money is following the results.

• A January 2011 survey by BtoB Magazine found 63% of respondents likely to increase spending on email in 2011 (second only to websites) with 29% keeping spend constant.
• The 2011 Digital Marketing Outlook Survey from the Society of Digital Agencies revealed that 70% of brand marketers planned to invest in email marketing in 2011.
• A DMA survey of US and Canadian marketers in late 2010 found email was the most widely used web-based direct marketing technique.
• A late 2010 customer survey by Campaigner found 61% intending to do more email marketing in 2011, and 33% planning to continue at the same level.
• A 2010 survey of 2,500 marketers by AWeber found 82% intending to increase their email marketing efforts over the next 12 month.
• The 9th Annual Merchant Survey (2010) conducted by the e-tailing group asked merchants to say which initiatives they would be using to improve website performance. The top answer, cited by 79%, was “send more targeted email.”

Email marketing works for a variety of reasons:

1. It allows targeting
2. It is data driven
3. It drives direct sales
4. It builds relationships, loyalty and trust
5. It supports sales through other channels

Modern email marketing services and solutions support database integration, segmentation and various other tricks and techniques for improving the targeting of outgoing messages. Advanced methods generate on-the-fly emails customized down to an individual recipient basis.

And every email campaign you send out generates a heap of actionable data you can use to refine your approach and messages.

Email promotions and offers generate immediate action: sales, downloads, inquiries, registrations, etc. Informative email newsletters and other emails send people to offline stores and events, prepare the way for catalogs, build awareness, contribute to branding, strengthen relationships, encourage trust and cement loyalty.

All in all, a pretty good way of going about your marketing business.

We know it can work, but you have to get the basics down. Building a list of people who want to hear from you, crafting a message, and ensuring that your emails get through to those on that list.

And once you have the basics right, there’s a host of more sophisticated tactics that you can implement to further drive success. There’s plenty of room for improvement and plenty of rewards for those that do improve.

Need more marketing guidance? Give us a call. We’re always here to help.