Leftover Turkey Day Thoughts
It’s been an insane two weeks here at PsPrint… so much so that I haven’t blogged at all!
I know you’re shocked. As was I when I realized how long it’s been.
We went and exhibited at the National Association of Realtors® Conference & Expo in Las Vegas the week of November 13th through 16th. The show went well, we got a great turnout of people stopping by our booth, and the few sessions I was able to attend were pretty informative. A great asset of the show is that audio recordings of the sessions are available online, so I’ve ordered recordings of the sessions I didn’t make it to.
For me, still a relative newbie in the trade show scene, it was exciting to be at such a huge venue but I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t give myself a bit more time to walk around the show floor. I did buy new shoes that are super comfy before the show and didn’t repeat my former mistakes of my feet killing me. Not to say that my feet didn’t hurt by the end of the day, but nowhere near like the CAR show.
While in Vegas for the show, I had to do a lot of work from my hotel room on my personal laptop. Which was difficult since my personal laptop doesn’t have some of the capabilities and programs that my work computer. So this week has been spent spending 9-10 hours in the office playing catch up on all the things I managed to get behind on.
Yesterday being Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for my friends and family. Thankful for my job, my current manager, and all the opportunities I’ve been afforded here this year. Take a few minutes to be thankful for what you have and look up some good turkey recipes!
Read MoreThe Dark Side of Company Loyalty
As many employers know, your average employee is only as loyal as their options. For most hard working Americans, if a better opportunity arises they will take it, regardless of years put into their current company or bonds made. As a country we’re all after the American Dream of wealth, success, and 4:00 a.m. gambling binges on acid in Vegas. So when you give an employee the opportunity for more money, they usually chomp at the bit.
The retail world is similar, except in an opposite way. Most people are looking for the bargain, the cheapest deal, the best rate. The most bang for their buck. And even the bonds of loyalty can be broken.
Last week, after deciding to print my own holiday cards but considering how much money I have to spend, I took a look at our main competitors website from home – I dare not speak their name, other than to say it rhymes with Trista Lint.
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
As much as I love PsPrint and know that our quality is top notch, prices are affordable, and turnaround is second to none, I was willing to put aside the tenets that I preach to potential customers in favor of the cheapest rate I could get for some customized holiday postcards to send to my very large family. While saddened, I have to admit that I, like many people, don’t have much to spend on something as, well, socially optional as holiday cards. So late at night, when no one was looking to shame me, I scoped out the competition to see if I could get a better rate with them.
I admit, I expected some ridiculously cheap price or promotion, knowing that the quality would be less than ideal but it’d suit my needs. I’m ecstatic to say that I was wrong! Even a minuscule quantity was more expensive than the 100+ cards I need to have printed. It filled me with great relief to know that what I’ve been preaching to those hundreds of thousands of potential customers over the years is true – we really DO have the best prices!
So my faith and loyalty in PsPrint have, of course, been renewed. And just in time for the National Association of REALTORS® Conference & Expo next week! We’ve got the details set and I fly out this weekend. Now I can easily tell people with 100% confidence that we have the BEST rates out there!
BOOYA Trista Lint!
Read More2007 REALTORS® Conference & Expo is NEXT WEEK!
The games are about to begin! That’s right, next week is the 2007 National Association of REALTORS® Conference & Expo at the Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas. PsPrint will be there in full force at booth 2740 in the NAR Partner Pavilion. Stop on by and participate in our great giveaways for an iPhone, some wine, or a Visa Gift Card. We’ll also be offering a 30% Off show special discount for any orders placed at the show.
I’m super excited for this show, and not because it’s in Las Vegas since I was just there a few months ago. This is my first massive trade show, and I’m stoked to be representing our company and attending some really great seminars. The two that I’m the most excited about are on Tuesday and Friday. 
Tuesday afternoon there is a seminar given by Seth Godin, author of Permission Marketing, Purple Cow, and a great blog that I subscribe to (speaking of Seth speaking[heh]). Friday at the close of the show there’s another presentation being given by Scott Bedbury, marketing genius behind Nike’s “Just Do It” campaign and Starbucks’ marketing campaigns.
There are just so many learning opportunities for me at this conference, not only in the way of marketing but also networking and trade shows. I hope to really knock the ball out of the park on this one. Unfortunately we’re also working on some changes to our affiliate program over here, and that all has to be postponed until we return from the show on the 19th. But those changes will be exciting as well in their own right!
Read MoreLive from C.A.R. Expo 2007!
Tomorrow is the last day of the California Association of REALTORS® Expo here in Anaheim, CA. I’ve only been on the floor one day, but so far I’m really digging this show. I skipped going to the two sessions I was considering attending in favor of staying in the booth. As happy as I was a year ago to be officially moved into our marketing department, I have to admit that I sort of miss this aspect of customer service. I enjoy explaining to potential customers what we can do and getting people interested and excited. I guess the argument could be made that, since this visitors to our booth aren’t customers yet, this is more marketing than customer service and I’m still in the right department. Regardless, I really enjoy this and hope that the National Association of REALTORS® Conference & Expo coming up next month in Las Vegas goes even better.
Here’s a little trivia bit for anyone who’s never been to a real estate trade show: there are booths selling items that you wouldn’t necessarily expect. At least I didn’t. I just saw a few booths on my way from ours to the concessions area and restrooms so far, but there was clothing, jewelry, massage items, and my favorite thus far – massaging liquid gel insoles. I even bought a pair because trying them on sold me immediately!
Another lesson I’ve learned today… it’s incredibly expensive to change flights! I was thinking about the fact that check out is at noon, the show is over at 4, and my flight isn’t until 7:50pm out of Santa Ana. So I’ll have a lot of time to kill and I’m not sure where to kill it considering I’ll have my bags with me. They’re small but still… hopefully the hotel doesn’t kick me to the curb if I decide to sit in the lobby for awhile.
More tomorrow… stay tuned sports fans!
Read MoreBlogWorld – Las Vegas – Worth Going?
I’ve picked up that there will be a conference in LV next month just for bloggers, but I’m wondering if it would be worth it for a starting pro blogger like me to go.
If I do go, that makes the tally 4 times in 6 months going to Las Vegas. Three of which for work and one was my vacation this year. Had I known about all the conventions and such I’d be attending there for work, I think my friend and I might have decided on another destination for our vacation.
I digress… BlogWorld Expo seems like it would be an incredibly beneficial event for me to attend. Lots of great networking opportunities and a TON of useful information for me to get things off the ground here at PsPrint with our Social Media Marketing project that we want to get started on. I’d love to go, but realistic obstacles prevent me!
- It’s not local so it requires a plane ride and hotel.
- Being at the end of the year we probably don’t have the money in the budget.
- We’re already going to Las Vegas in November a week or so afterward for the National Association of REALTORS® Conference and Expo.
- Aside from my modest attempts here and another coworkers blog on ActiveRain, we haven’t officially launched a company blog yet.
So what to do? I’d hate to pass up such an awesome learning opportunity, but unfortunately I don’t have the money to go on my own… I’d have to ask the company to foot it. The price of attendance isn’t all that bad in comparison to other shows I’ve seen attendee pricing for, but it’d be the airfare and hotel that would be the major cost.
I’d love to hear from some people who’ve gone in the past to see if they enjoyed it or not. Maybe enjoyed isn’t the correct term since, well, how could you NOT enjoy yourself in Las Vegas? So, did you find it as beneficial as it seems and is there a great case to be made for going?
Read MoreThe Body is Willing, But the Mind is Weak
No, I didn’t get the saying wrong. That’s how I feel today. I’ve got a ton of energy physically speaking… got a great night’s sleep last night. But after even a short week of overloading my brain with end of month reporting, more reporting, affiliate network shopping, and more late nights at the office, my brain has decided to stage a sit in.
Actually, before about 11:30am this morning the brain was active too. However after sitting in various conference calls from then until about 2:15pm, my brain revolted from overload. First we heard all about LinkShare and their merchant platform. Then all about Widemile’s optimization services. Then talked to a couple cats at Clickbooth since we haven’t ventured into CPA marketing here at PsPrint yet.
Is it a bad thing that during our conference call I surfed over to MarketingTerms.com and had to look up CPA? I was pretty embarrassed with Anne sitting behind me… although I guess she actually didn’t notice until I mentioned it after the meeting. Oh well.
The last week I’ve been making sure our mailing services don’t break, which is nice for a change. At the end of August the mailing went crazy… it seemed like while I was on vacation everyone and their mother decided to place a mailing order. Which is great… but left me a lot of work to catch up on. We’ve been really focused on the affiliate program and it’s future. Which is great too. We’re looking at new features, better affiliate acquisition, possibly a new network, new creative, new campaigns… heck new everything. It’s an exciting time for me, especially since Anne confirmed that we’ll be attending Affiliate Summit 2008 West in Las Vegas in February. That means between my personal vacation, the National Association of Realtors show in November, and AS West I’ll be heading to Sin City three times in 6 months. Not too shabby for this California girl.
I’m also semi-addicted to del.icio.us now. Last night I imported all my bookmarks from home into it so now I can access them anywhere… and that’s half the point, right? It’s really actually pretty interesting to see how many other people have some of my favorite places bookmarked. I’m also surprised in some cases how few people have some websites bookmarked. For example, the View Askew Productions Message Board has over 10,000 registered members. But only 2 other people on del.icio.us have it bookmarked…one of which I even recognize (and promptly added to my network).
Time for my Friday ritual of trying to see the wood grain of my desk. Wish me luck.
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