Q&As

The Hallmark Channel is giving mystery buffs and amateur detectives a chance to guess ‘who-dunit’ and win $10,000 via a new watch-and-win sweepstakes. The Hallmark Channel Mystery Movie Sweepstakes, which kicks off Jan. 7, lets viewers piece together …

7-ELEVEN: has signed on as the latest retailer to offer America West Gift Cards at participating stores. The chain joins Valero/Diamond-Shamrock, Rite-Aid, Staples and Winn-Dixie as current sellers of the first airline gift card. America West is the …

When it comes to the best way to promote a small business, rule number one seems to boil down to this: There are no rules. Take Planet Dog, a manufacturer and seller of pet toys and supplies based in Portland, ME. The company bills itself as a

Christmas is the busy season for Jim Bullock, the owner of Toy Rocket, a Web-only retailer of action figures and collectibles. But when DIRECT Tips reached him in late December, he and his small staff were moving from the sell-and-ship phase of the holiday to the where’s-my-Boba-Fett-with-the-kung-fu-grip? phase. As a result, Bullock was glad to take some time to explain Toy Rocket’s decision to open up a second front on his target market and launch a store on eBay.

If you

Nowhere in all of marketing is there a more misunderstood word than “optimization” (as in search engine optimization). The term originated from the practice of modifying HTML on Web pages to increase “crawlability.” But it largely was replaced by “search egnine marketing” as search became more of a marketing and advertising function than a responsibility of tech departments.

Amstel Light, has signed once again to sponsor the U.S. Freeskiing Tour next year. As part of the deal, Amstel Light will have its name as part of the 2005 tour and will be an event title sponsor of the Green Mountain Skiercross Classic at Stowe, VT, …

PajamaGrams for the Holidays Looking for the perfect gift for the holidays? PajamaGram’s Christmas 2004 catalog suggests you “Send Comfort & Joy!” The Vermont Teddy Bear Company spin-off features 48 pages of pajamas for men and women, as well as robes, …

The days of relentless growth in trade show attendance are behind us, declared Douglas L. Ducate, president/CEO of the Center for Exhibition Industry Research, at the annual meeting of the International Association for Exhibition Management, December 1 to 3, in San Antonio. “These are the good old days,” he said.

Clearly Canadian Beverage Corp. has launched an instant-win under-the-cap-sweepstakes, which is being promoted on some 3.4 million packages of Clearly Canadian bottles distributed in the U.S. The promotion, “A Vacation Under Every Cap,” offers …