Office Depot Caters to Small Business Owners with Free in-Store Marketing Strategies Seminars

BOSTON -- Company Partners with H-P and Marketing Expert Nancy Michaels to Launch "Ten Steps to Growing Your Business Without Busting Your Budget" Tour in MA

Office Depot (NYSE:ODP) is showing small business owners that the office supply company not only carries the products businesses need in order to succeed, but it can offer them essential knowledge and tips as well. One of the world's leading resellers of office products and services, Office Depot is pairing up with author, small business columnist and marketing expert Nancy Michaels to headline a series of free, small business-focused seminars at Office Depot stores in the Boston area.

The seminars, sponsored by Hewlett-Packard and titled, "Ten Steps to Growing Your Business Without Busting Your Budget: The Proven How-To Guide for Small Business," will tour four Office Depot Massachusetts locations, including N. Attleboro, Peabody, Framingham and Woburn.

The specific date, time and location of each event is as follows:

--Tuesday, November 30, 6:00 to 7:30 PM -- 1190 South Washington Street, N. Attleboro, MA 02761, 508-695-1088

--Wednesday, December 1, 6:00 to 7:30 PM -- 210 Andover Street, Peabody, MA 01960, 978-532-0021

--Tuesday, December 7, 6:00 to 7:30 PM -- 1 Worcester Road, Framingham, MA 01701, 508-620-5570

--Wednesday, December 8, 6:00 to 7:30 PM -- 299 Mishawum Road, Woburn, MA 01801, 781-933-3946

Customers interested in attending a seminar should contact their local store to register for the event.

"Offering marketing strategies and tips to help our customers run their businesses better is an important part of our goal to ensure that they are successful," said Dick Levesque, District 44 Manager.

Michaels, President of marketing company Impression Impact and producer of Office Depot's Web Cafe series, will spend each of the 90-minute in-store presentations focusing on Office Depot's small business customer.

Some of the topics covered will include:

--Develop Your Major Selling Advantage (MSA)

--Create Memorable Marketing Materials (No more brochures, please!)

--Perfect Your Sales Pitch - Every Time

--Develop an Effective and Professional Web Site

--Utilize Creative, Off the Wall Marketing Techniques that Drive Business

H-P representatives will be present at all four events to provide hands on demonstrations for those products relevant to Michaels' discussion topics.

Michaels recommends following 10 specific steps to help grow your business without busting your budget. The list, dubbed, "A Proven How-To Guide for Your Small Business" can be found at: http://mediarelations.officedepot.cc/marketingstrategies/10Steps.pdf.

About Office Depot

With annual sales of more than $12 billion, no one sells more office supplies to more customers in more countries than Office Depot. Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Delray Beach, Fla., the company conducts business in 23 countries and employs nearly 50,000 people worldwide.

Office Depot is a leader in every distribution channel - from retail stores and contract delivery to catalogs and e-commerce. The company is the world's number three online retailer - on track to generate $3B in sales for FY'04. In North America, Office Depot has 923 retail stores in addition to a national business-to-business delivery network supported by 22 delivery centers, more than 60 local sales offices and 13 regional call centers.

Nancy Michaels is the author of five books on marketing for small businesses, including Perfecting Your Pitch (Career Press 2005), Off The Wall Marketing Ideas (Adams Media 2000), How To Be A Big Fish In Any Pond, Media Madness, and A to Z to Visibility. She has spoken in 42 states to more than 30,000 entrepreneurs on behalf of such clients as Office Depot, Xerox, JP Morgan Chase, among many others. Michaels is the first recipient to win the Tom Peters WOW! Project Personified Award (2002) that hails individuals who take on WOW! Projects. She is also the Small Business Editor for US News & World Report and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Home Office Computing, Success, among numerous small business publications.