If you are like me, one of your goals is to continually grow your business. You probably also struggle with finding growth that is real, authentic and sustainable. Business growth comes in three flavors Increase market share in the market you are already in. A restaurant owner could expand his … [Read more...]
The Customer Testimonial
The unsolicited customer testimonial is both social capital and brand equity. Two of the most valuable forms of capital, that while not economic, can be leveraged to achieve significant economic gains. Getting unsolicited customer testimonials It's really easier than you think. When you are doing … [Read more...]
Delivering the Goods, at a Fair Price
My friend Cindy shared the following on Twitter recently. What does best really mean? Obviously I already tipped my hand in the title of this post. Clearly what Cindy does is deliver the goods at a fair price. That price may not be the lowest and based upon Cindy's track record I'm guessing it's … [Read more...]
Flagrant Acts of Customer Service
Recently I observed two flagrant acts of customer service and was surprised how little each person did, in my opinion, to be amazing. In both cases the service providers did what they did on the fly with no prompting or script. It came from the heart. Free advertising. While listening to an … [Read more...]
Scribe SEO New (beta) Feature Review
Scribe continues to be an important tool in the quest to improve my writing and I have been using the service since February of this year (before they even had an affiliate program which I am now a participant in). I suspect many users, like me, utilize Scribe through the WordPress plugin. So, … [Read more...]
Databases for Business and MarketingThe Care and Feeding Of
When you are working with a database for business and find garbage data, just stop. Instead of trying to work around the problem data, take the time to fix the information before proceeding. Next time you need to work with the database you'll be glad you did. Move towards a single database. One way … [Read more...]
Marketing 101: Make the Move Online
The idea to make the move online is such a basic strategy it begs to be a 101 topic. The quandary lies in the fact that moving a traditional offline business on-line turns out to be 201 and 301 subject matter. There will be hard work and pain involved, I promise. Moving online should work with and … [Read more...]
Marketing 101: Trade Show and Conference Strategy
Trade shows and conferences are alive and well. Sure they shift and change just as our lives and our businesses do. Attending the correct trade shows and conferences is an excellent strategy to find new prospects and communicate with existing customers. Arrive with a plan. Sounds simple enough, but … [Read more...]
Marketing 101: Micro Campaigns Execution
Yesterday I discussed the strategy behind micro marketing campaigns. Today I'll dig into the nuts and bolts of how I execute these events. Your tools and milage may vary but the concepts should be basically the same. So much for yesterday's Why, here's the How. Mining for contacts. For your first … [Read more...]
Marketing 101: Micro Campaigns Strategy
For small businesses, staying in meaningful contact with your customers regularly can be a challenge. Equally challenging is finding recurring revenue streams to smooth out business downturns when they occur. Micro campaigns address both these issues. First, a definition. A micro campaign is a … [Read more...]