Famous for its university, Cambridge is full of history as well as a number of high tech modern companies, giving rise to the name “Silicon Fen”. If you ever owned an Acorn computer, this is where it was made as were its rivals Sinclair, who were also based in the city.

There have been people living in the Cambridge area since at least 1,000 BC. The university has been in the city since 1209, although the earliest college that still exists is Peterhouse, which can trace its roots back as far as 1284.

Whether your visit to Cambridge is for business or pleasure, you will find plenty to do in this thriving city. Although because its older streets are narrow and congested, it could be worth thinking about renting a bicycle to get around - the roads are fairly flat, so it won’t be too strenuous! Alternatively, there is an excellent park and ride service to whisk you into central Cambridge. If you are able to choose the time of your visit, you may wish to consider timing it to coincide with one of the many festivals and other events that are regularly held here.

For instance, there is an annual Midsummer Fair which features all the usual funfair rides as well as having a medieval market alongside.

Folk music fans will want to time their visit so that they can attend the annual Cambridge Folk Festival, although make sure to buy your ticket well in advance as they are in high demand.

The first Saturday in June sees a free event called the Strawberry Fair. This features a mixture of music, arts, crafts as well as lots of entertainment to keep you occupied. If you have children with you, they may well want to witness the colourful parade that starts off the fair.

Although not as famous as Cannes, the Cambridge Film Festival is one of the largest such festivals in Britain. It runs during early July and has been a feature of the city’s calendar since 1977.

When you visit Cambridge, you will find a wide range of places to stay. If you venture outside the city, you could even decide to stay on a farm or in a secluded rural location. The city of Cambridge itself has a good choice of accommodation - you could choose to stay in a small family run guest house in Cambridge itself or somewhere larger.

As you would expect from a large city with students aplenty, shoppers in Cambridge are spoiled for choice. Whether you are looking for something from one of the large national chains or would prefer something more unusual, you won’t be disappointed. Look out for the arts and crafts markets if you want to buy that special gift for someone you know.

Fiction fans can explore Cambridge from the point of view of their favourite author, whether that is Douglas Adams (who set some of his less famous Dirk Gently novels in the city), Tom Sharpe, E M Forster or many other authors who have spent time in the city.

Choose your hotel in Cambridge from the wide range featured at http://www.4hotels.co.uk/uk/cambridge.html

A company needs an effective tool for a successful marketing campaign. The tool should have the ability to win over and communicate with the target audience. Keyrings can be a good choice as a tool and companies consider it the safest option to promote their brand. It is because items like key rings have all the qualities of great tools. These printed keyrings are practical enough to create an impression on a customer and are capable enough to communicate any marketing message to them. These above qualities of keyrings make it a popular and the safest item to be used in marketing campaigns.

Promotional keyrings can be used by companies to spread any message in the market. The message might be thanking customers for their patronage or greetings for the upcoming festivities. You can also tell them about launch of new products through these printed keyrings. Whatever may be your corporate message, you can easily convey it across your customer base with plastic keyrings. Online, they believe that items like keyrings are just perfect for creating a buzz among the audience. The plastic keyrings help to create awareness about the new product in the market which provides an ideal platform to an organisation.

Promotional keyrings can be used in as many ways as possible. These can be used as rewards for your employees. It will also help you to build strong bond with your employees and in motivating them. The items can also be utilised to bring in more people to your showroom or hotel. Gifts also help in boosting the company reputation. The printed keyrings can also be used as free gifts or it can simply be used to send reminders to your interest group.

As said earlier that promotional keyrings have space in which you can print company logo, your business name, the name of the products and brand names. Modern printing solutions also allow you to imprint images on it. A company can use image of its mascot or brand ambassador. Some companies also imprint celebrity images to win over their fans. However, the quality of the printing should be greater enough to impress your customer. Similarly, the quality and design of keyrings is also important. There are many varieties of promotional gifts available in the market like metal key rings, plastic keyrings and other type of keyrings. For novel and exclusive gifting solutions, rely on online shops. Their product repertoire is stacked with more than hundred different varieties of promotional keyrings which can cater to the varied preferences of your customers. Log on to the internet to know in detail about their services.

Tina Rinaudo is one of the leading lights in the UK promotional keyrings industry. Tina is a key member of YesGifts, the UK’s fastest growing online promotional items resource specialising in promotional pens, mugs, mouse mats, umbrellas, conference items and much more. For more information please visit YesGifts.

Radio listeners are highly responsive. And radio ads are powerful, cheap, and simple to produce. Yet radio remains one of the most underused and poorly handled weapons in the direct marketing arsenal.

It’s difficult to sell a product directly from a radio ad. But if you have a product with wide appeal, you can use radio to generate calls for your phone reps, build a direct mail list, or send traffic to your Web site.

Here are a few pointers for creating simple but effective direct response radio ads:

• Buy 60-second spots. The radio sales rep will tell you that 30-second spots are cheaper and easier to place. That’s true. But 30 seconds usually isn’t long enough to develop and deliver a selling message. With 60-second spots, you’ll get twice as much time for just a little more money per spot.

• Use a straight announcer pitch. People are working, driving, cleaning the house, and doing all sorts of things in less than ideal listening conditions. So keep it simple. Just have an announcer talk directly to listeners. This has the added advantage of being more personal and less expensive than spots filled with actors and sound effects.

• Identify and solve a problem. If you’re selling an herbal product that gives people more energy, you should first identify the problem (lack of energy) then offer your product as the solution (more energy). “Feeling tired? Achy? Don’t have the energy for the things you used to enjoy? Try new Vita-Herb. Vita-Herb will boost your energy, erase those aches and pains, and let you enjoy life again.”

• Make a dramatic promise. This will strengthen your solution and make it more appealing. “Vita-Herb will make you feel ten years younger in just ten days!” The more dramatic and specific your promise, the better.

• Guarantee results. Just as a promise strengthens your solution, a guarantee strengthens your promise. Again, be as specific as you can. “Try Vita-Herb for yourself. If you don’t feel ten years younger in the first ten days, just send it back and we’ll buy you a bottle of your favorite herb supplement. No questions asked.”

• Offer something free. Since time is short and products can’t be seen on the radio, it’s hard to make direct sales. It’s far more effective to offer information or samples to generate inquiries then make sales through telemarketing and direct mail. If you’re selling a Posture Perfect Mattress, you could offer a free video. Then when you send the video, you could include a special $100 savings voucher. You can follow up with direct mail, phone calls, and additional information and offers.

• Drive listeners to your Web site. This is an alternative to generating inquiries by phone. The trick is to capture information when people arrive at your site. If you’re selling a self-study course on starting a business, you could offer a free report on the 25 fastest growing businesses. Then give people a Web address that takes them to a special page where they must enter a name and address to get the report. This way, you’ll build a database for more targeted marketing.

• Present a clear call to action. Don’t be subtle. If you’re offering a free brochure on a weight loss product, the announcer can simply say, “To request your free brochure on losing weight, call 1-800-LESS-FAT.” If you don’t tell people what to do directly, simply, and specifically, they won’t do it.

• Use a memorable phone number or Web address. A number such as 1-800-ABCDEFG (for a reading program) or Web address such as www.faxbook.com (for a brochure on fax machines) can be easily remembered and acted upon. To fix it in your listener’s memory, repeat it at least three times.

• Force response with a time limit. The more specific, the better. “Call in the next thirty minutes for your free one-week sample of new Hair-Gain Hair Restoration Formula.” If people know they have to respond immediately, they will. If they think they can wait till later, you probably will never hear from them.

• Focus on response. Don’t settle for awareness. And don’t rely on repetition, no matter what the radio sales rep tells you. You should be getting measurable response every time your ad runs. If you aren’t getting response, your ad isn’t working. And repeating the ad won’t help.

• Use humor carefully. From a selling standpoint, humor is hit-or-miss. And you always run the risk of upstaging the selling message. You can be lighthearted and friendly, of course, but you’ll usually get a better response with a simple, straightforward delivery.

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About the author:

Dean Rieck is a direct mail copywriter, designer, and consultant who has helped over 200 leading direct marketing companies increase sales, generate leads, and raise funds with winning direct mail, ads, e-mail, sales letters, brochures, postcards, radio spots, and more. Learn more about Dean’s direct mail copywriting and design services and sign up for his free monthly newsletter at www.directcreative.com.

Copyright © Dean Rieck. You may reprint this article online provided that you keep the links live and keep all the content “as is,” including title, author byline, article text, and “about the author” information.