Articles
Why Your Company Needs a Social Media Marketing System
One-way, top-down communication does not work as well as in former days. Today, companies must create conversations with customers and deliver useful content at the moment their prospects, clients or constituents need it. Many firms will need to reinvent their marketing year-to-year.
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Can a Good Marketing Plan Sell a Mediocre Product
I recently worked with a small business owner who told me that she knew her target market. She was indeed able to describe her ideal clients in great detail, but she was not as talkative when it came to listing the needs and problems of her prospects.
The above mentioned entrepreneur participates in networking events, has posted several videos on YouTube and is familiar with most social media marketing tools. She is also a decent speaker, active on Facebook and I can attest to her success in attaining thousands of followers on Twitter. She seems to be doing everything right, yet she is not successful at converting prospects to customers. Read more…
10 Affordable Small Business Marketing Ideas
Many small business owners feel the squeeze due to increasing fuel and food prices. It is time to get creative with marketing. We all try to find new ways to keep our existing customers happy and attract new prospects. Read more…
Seven Steps to Successful Project Planning
Lately, I have been part of several project teams. Some of these experiences have caused me to sit back and analyze the project planning process to understand how project management planning and implementation could be improved. Why do projects managed by talented people end up being delayed or not completed? Why do project teams sometimes feel that they are shooting at a moving target? I find that the lack of proper planning or failure to create a systematic approach can be fatal to projects. Read more…
Birds of a Feather Flock Together: Small Business Lessons Learned in 2008
Don’t forget to create marketing messages that grab attention, motivate and move your ideal prospects towards making a purchase. This phase can be longer than expected and some “fish” that take your bait need to be thrown back into the water. Read more
Free Google Marketing Tools for Small Business
Let’s face it. Google has become part of our daily routine. We can decide how much of it we will let into our lives, but why not take advantage of free tools that have been created by this innovative company? Small businesses can definitely utilize some of the web-based marketing tools that Google offers. Read more…
Move Your Office Online
If you are like many other busy small business owners, you wear many hats and may easily find yourself in a situation where you need to leave your primary place of business during a busy season to attend a weeklong training in another state or help out a sick family member who lives 500 miles away. Small business owners often don’t have corporate Intranets set up, but they need access to certain files from remote locations in order to finish a project or collaborate with other team members while travelling. It can be complicated to call the home office and stay on top of all projects. It is often a hassle to keep sending large files back and forth. What alternatives do busy professionals have? Read more…
From Purple Cows to Tribes and Free Prizes — Seth Godin Has Mastered Edgecraft
In his book, Free Prize Inside, Seth Godin points out that innovation is cheaper than advertising. He defines the “free prize” as that extra, edgy product feature. His examples include swatch watches, frequent flyer miles, Tupperware parties, and portable shredding trucks. Design and style matter, he says. Read more…
Content is King, President and Pope
Some stuffy PR guys would probably like to challenge the contents of this book as it does not promote the old truths of PR and marketing. David Meerman Scott has focused on explaining the world of opportunities that have opened up for aspiring journalists, marketers and small business owners via web-based tools and services. Free or low cost applications such as blogs, podcasts and social networking tools such as MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn are changing the old rules. Read more…