gather in good company

Email marketing allows companies to save money and get the results they need to drive sales. In fact, marketers can expect a 15% response rate on permission-based emails, compared to only 1% for direct mail.

Email marketing is a great tool for awareness building. From there, you can build upon your relationship with the respondents, nudging them closer to becoming your customers.

But what are the tricks to pulling these types of numbers?

Believe it or not, there are formulas for writing the perfect ad copy.

Within any group, there are the people who like the feeling of “getting away” when they attend a meeting or conference. They want the quiet, the outdoors, and the retreat-like environment. Still, others like the feel of being able to experience and see all an urban area has to offer. The restaurants, the nightlife, and the site seeing speak to them. To please both crowds, consider planning in Ontario and Quebec.

QR codes, or quick-response codes, are popping up in unexpected places, from print ads in magazines to restaurant menus, personalized t-shirts to business cards.

But what are they anyway and how can we use them to promote our events or venues?

Beaver Hollow, located in Java, NY, is proud to launch their Fitness Camp, which offers a tailored health and fitness program for groups and individuals.

The Fitness Program, which was launched last week, has already received raving reviews from its participants. “It’s spreading and we’re thrilled; We even have insurance companies calling us, wanting to know how they can get the companies they insure to be a part of the program,” says Sandy Schoellkopf of Beaver Hollow.

Choices for promotional products vary widely, from the trendy iPad giveaway to the budget-friendly calendar or pen, but what do these products really offer venues in terms of advertising? And which ones are worth the investment?

When you compare a promotional product to other forms of advertising, the amount of impressions the promotional product delivers is actually rather impressive.

The New Year is upon us, and with that comes a list of predictions for the meetings and event industry in 2011.

You may have your own idea of what’s up and coming and what’s passé, but a recent BizBash article picked some industry brains to see what their predictions look like. See if they match up with yours.

Here are some that jumped out at us:

Social media really exploded in 2010, with Facebook becoming the most-visited website in the world, surpassing Google.