Business Cartoons Mean Business

Let's face it, unless you're Donald Trump, business can be pretty dull most of the time. Maybe that's why so many people decorate their cubicles and offices with cartoons. A good laugh can really perk up your day! So why don't more businesses use business cartoons?

It's interesting that so few companies make the connection between cartoons and business. Are they afraid of not being taken seriously? Are cartoons just funny little drawings that no one really pays attention to? Publications like the Wall Street Journal, Barron's, Forbes and Harvard Business Review all publish business cartoons regularly. What's going on here?!

Maybe we're so buried in spreadsheets, reports and memos that it's hard to see where business cartoons might be able to help out. Here are some examples of how business cartoons used correctly can be a boon to both your morale and your bottom line:

Company Newsletters

Newsletters are a great place to use business cartoons! Corporate newsletters are usually filled with all sorts of company information, important information to be sure, but pretty dry reading nonetheless.

If you want your employees to really read your newsletters, give them something fun! Good business cartoons get discussed at the coffee machine, hung up in cubicles and faxed to business contacts. They're a great way to not only get your people to actually open the company newsletter, but explore and discuss it!

Business Presentations

You're sitting there in the conference room wishing you had a cappuccino IV to keep your eyes open while some guy drones on and on and on. Graphs, pie charts, more graphs, some bullet points, etc... Let's face it, it's hard to keep a dark room of sleep deprived people engaged.

Why not pep up your presentations with some good business cartoons! Not only are they a good way to get a presentation going (similar to starting a speech with a joke), but they're a great way to make your point throughout in a memorable way.

Websites & Intranets

Business cartoons are a wonderful way to get business prospects and customers visiting you online day after day. Years in sales taught me that people buy from people they like, and what better way to foster a good business relationship than by offering not only your products and/or services, but also a good laugh!

Of course you want your staff visiting your website and intranet often as well. Adding business cartoons will give your employees a great reason to check in on all your company information too!

Advertising & Email Campaigns

Looking for more customers? Nothing succeeds like business cartoons!

Many Fortune 1000 companies use business cartoons in their email campaigns. Some report astronomical email open rates, and click-thru rates in double digits! According to MarketingSherpa.com, companies are usually opposed to using business cartoons initially because they don't see the value in a 'cute' little cartoon. The website also notes, however, that when the business cartoons become the most clicked on portion of the email, companies quickly change their minds.

Business cartoons are a great way to advertise as well! They're quick, fun, and they grab your attention - wonderful attributes for potential customers to associate with your business!

Training Manuals & Fax Cover Sheets

Want to keep your trainees engaged in their training? Business cartoons are a fun way to break up the often lengthy training sessions and help your new employees relax.

And fax cover sheets just about beg for good business cartoons! Make sure your fax is well received not only by the person you intend to read it, but by the couple of other people who'll get a good laugh as they pass it along.

Business Cartoons are Good Business

As you can see, business cartoons simply make good business sense. Whether you use them in newsletters, powerpoints, websites, advertising, or manuals, business cartoons enliven your projects and promote interaction with both customers and employees.

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About Mark Anderson

Mark Anderson is a professional cartoonist in the Chicago area. His business cartoons appear in publications including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Barron's and Harvard Business Review. Browse his business cartoons at www.andertoons.com.
mark@andertoons.com


And here is another random article you might be interested in...

Selling Online, Selling Offline -- What's the Difference?

Ever since I created Unlock The Gameâ„¢, one of the first questions people always ask me is, 'Does Unlock The Gameâ„¢ apply to online selling?'

I've been holding off on answering that question because I wanted to get enough experience under my belt with my own online business so I could answer this from an authoritative position.

My answer is, 'For the most part, yes -- but with some differences.'

Those of you who fully understand the philosophy behind Unlock The Gameâ„¢ are well aware that the core of everything I teach is based on the elimination of all sales pressure from the selling process.

You also know that the single most powerful way of eliminating sales pressure is through authentic language -- in other words, replacing traditional sales language with the most natural dialogue possible, which creates almost instant trust between two strangers.

This is exactly where online selling differs from person-to-person 'offline' selling. In selling online, you don't have the opportunity for that natural two-way dialogue. People come to your site and are exposed to a one-way reading of your message, which can feel impersonal.

Check it out for yourself. If you look at 9 out of 10 website home pages, what do you see?

Online variations of the standard sales or cold-calling script: 'We are ... and we do ...'

Why is this a problem? Because these sites are offering their solutions long before visitors can have any sense that they are being understood, and long before they feel any sense of trust in what they're seeing.

Visitors come to sites because they have a problem in mind and are looking for answers.

It's easier than you might think to solve the problems of one-way communication, impersonality, and lack of trust.

All you have to do is put yourself in the position of your site visitor, articulate their specific issues or problems, and gently offer solutions that they can choose without feeling as if they are being 'sold.'

Here are some simple ways you can warm up your site so you get as close as you can to a natural two-way dialogue:

* Remember the 'Written Word' module from the Self-Study Program?

Beware of over-using 'I' or 'We' on your home page or at the beginning of your written message.

For example, rather than immediately pushing your product as the first thing visitors see on your home page, use language that addresses problems you know you can solve.

State those problems, and you'll find that your visitors are drawn more deeply into your site.

* Create a clear path through your site that lets visitors make their own decisions about what's best for them.

* Give your visitors a taste of your solutions so they can feel that you can actually solve their problems or issues. Downloads, 'test drives' and other 'free samples' give visitors the live experience of your solution and make them feel more comfortable with it.

* Last, and maybe most importantly: I'm always surprised by how few website owners seem to actually want to communicate with the potential customers who visit their website. But...have you ever gone to a site to order a product or service and ended up calling the toll-free number instead? Have you ever thought about why you did that? Maybe it was because you could ask questions of the live person who took your order, and this increased your sense of trust.

So...make yourself available to site visitors by having a Live Chat button on your website.

Talk directly with visitors to your site as they enter the virtual world that you've created for them.

There's nothing better than a two-way dialogue to humanize the online experience.

I enjoy it so much when visitors click on my UnlockTheGame.com Live Chat button, and we establish that all-important personal connection.

Try it on your site. You'll love talking to your website visitors because you'll be able to help them solve their problems.

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About Ari Galper

Ari Galper is the founder of Unlock The Gameâ„¢, the only selling program completely focused on eliminating pressure from the sales process. His best-selling Unlock The Gameâ„¢ Self-Study Program continues to make in-roads in the U.S., UK, Australia and Canada. Visit http://www.UnlockTheGame.com to take a Free Test Drive!