Energy Saving Tips for Telecommuters

Approximately 45 million Americans telecommute at least one day a week. If you’re one of them, you may find that your electric bill has increased since you began using your home office. Fortunately, there are some excellent energy saving tips for telecommuters that can slash utility costs while having a beneficial impact on the environment.

Look for ENERGY STAR home electronics. Electronics with the ENERGY STAR certification offer a dramatic reduction in power consumption over traditional electronics. For example, computers labeled with this designation reduce energy use by 30%-65%.

Select Multi-Functional Devices. Rather than having a separate fax machine, copier, and printer, consider an all-in-one device to lower your electric bill. If you are printing in house flyers or direct mail postcards having a multi function all in one can save you a ton of money. s

Use Power Management Settings. Your laptop or desktop has power settings that can be changed to reduce your energy consumption. Rather than using your screen saver—which doesn’t affect energy usage—opt to set your computer to automatically use sleep mode when it’s been inactive for a certain period of time.

Invest in Power Strips. If all of your electronics are plugged into a power strip, they can all be easily turned off with the flick of a switch. Or, for even more energy savings, consider a smart power strip. These eliminate the use of standby power which accounts for 5% of electricity usage in the United States.

Purchase Energy-Saving Light Bulbs. It’s estimated that an Energy Star compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) saves $30 over its lifetime and pays for itself in 6 months. It also uses 75% less energy and lasts approximately 10 times longer than an incandescent light bulb.

Choose a Laptop. If possible, use a laptop rather than a desktop computer. Laptops use about one-third less power than desktops. Also, it’s estimated that a laptop will reduce your electric bill by $19 annually, compared to a desktop.

Use Fans and Space Heaters. Rather than keeping the entire house heated or cooled throughout the day with expensive air conditioning or home heating, keep a fan and a space heater in your home office. The savings on your heating and cooling bill will be substantial.

Caulk Windows. With air often leaking through older windows, caulking will reduce drafts, making your home office less expensive to heat.
By applying these simple energy saving tips, you might find that your utility bills are even less expensive than before you began telecommuting.

Titan List is a full service Advertising and Design agency specializing in Direct Mail, Mortgage Marketing, Search Engine Optimization and Website / Graphic Design. Titan List has been around since 1998, and has a team of highly qualified individuals with experience in the marketing trends that fit your business. Unlike other agencies that source their work out, Titan List & Mailing handles the entire campaign in-house. Looking for a special list of data for your business? We can customize any data list for your company.

Delivering the Best Direct Mail Piece to Your Prospects

Each week, your prospects are busy receiving mail everyday. Here are seven suggestions that will help your direct mail piece stand out amongst the junk and prove effective.

⦁    Personalization. ‘Dear Stacey’ hits home better than ‘Dear Neighbor.’ Use the word ‘You’ often, and don’t be afraid to incorporate personalized details into your messaging. Something along the lines of… More Corner Pointer homeowners have refinanced through me than…” The more you can relate to them personally, the more attention your message will receive.

⦁    Testimonials. When doing business with anyone, in any industry, trust is key. When someone is looking for mortgage lending services, they want to know they can trust you with their home life decisions. Include testimonials whenever possible. Be sure they’re real people providing real feedback. And always make sure you have a signed release from testimonials first before you make these statements public.

⦁    Use a P.S. In a direct mail piece, the P.S. is one of the first elements read by your recipient. And if it’s not the first thing read, virtually all people will read the P.S. versus the meaty content in the middle of your pitch. Use your P.S. to restate your offer or repeat your call-to-action.

⦁    Give direction. Don’t be afraid to tell your recipients what to do. If you don’t have a call-to-action, your mail piece will never succeed. Instruct your reader to visit your website or return a form, for example.

⦁    Include an opening line. Like the P.S., you can be assured that everyone will at least read your opening line. This simple introduction will determine if your recipient keeps reading or throws your mail piece in the trash. Keep your opening line focused on the reader and make sure it previews your offer. A good opener may sound like this: ‘My notes show that your mortgage payments are due to increase soon. Before your rates adjust, you can get a stable, fixed rate on a refinance now. Read on to find out how.

⦁    Prepare for skimmers. Skimmers are people who don’t actually read your mail piece from top to bottom. Rather, they peruse through your content, sometimes in a random order. Bulleted lists, subheads and call-outs are effective for catching a skimmer’s attention. However, be sure these bullets and subheads make sense and fit the content. If they don’t, they may distract your top to bottom readers.

⦁    Remember your envelope. Some of your recipients won’t read your mail piece, but they will still see your envelope whether they open it or not. Studies have shown that envelopes with hand written addresses with a first class stamp are most likely to get opened.

Titan List is a full service Advertising and Design agency specializing in Mortgage Marketing, Direct mail Postcards, Search Engine Optimization and Website / Graphic Design. Established in  1998, Titan List has a team of highly qualified individuals with experience in the marketing trends that fit your business. Unlike other agencies that source their work out, Titan List & Mailing handles the entire campaign in-house. Looking for a special list of data for your business? We can customize any data list for your company.