It never ceases to amaze me when an organization has the audacity to send me a text message without my permission to do so. Seriously, do these people not understand the idea of “inbound” marketing? It all started with an innocent signup for a “free” program that was geared toward people like me who enjoy […]
Key To A Successful Marketing Plan: Action
I like Wikipedia’s definition of a plan: A plan is typically any diagram or list of steps with timing and resources, used to achieve an objective.[1] As far as definitions go, this is pretty spot-on. What so many business owners and marketers forget or fail at, though, is the actually the most important step: action. […]
Irrelevant Landing Pages Stink
Advertising is commonplace. People remember TV commercials, they are motivated by radio ads, and they take a genuine interest in advertising that catches there eye. People talk about that last beer commercial or body wash commercial. Online advertising, though it may not be as openly discussed at a party, has proven itself effective time and […]
In Defense of Luxury Car Christmas Ads
I’ve heard a lot of people around me complaining about the “ridiculous” luxury car commercials that are currently being flooded into the market. Most of the complaints I’ve heard have been in reference to the fact that they are simply unbelievable. Like this one: It seems a bit far-fetched that such a young couple, in […]
Email Marketing Software Vendors
Email marketing is without a doubt an important aspect of ANY business. Regardless of whether you are consumer-based, or business-to-business focused, email marketing is one of the most useful marketing tools available to you. For easy reference, here is a list of email marketing vendors that I’ve come across in my research. I’ve listed them […]
The Art of Follow-Up
All salespeople, especially successful ones, know that follow-up with a prospective client is one of the most important steps in the sales cycle. By the way, if you’re one of those people who runs a business and you’re still not convinced you’re main function is salesperson, you need a reality check, but I don’t want […]
Spending Blindly = No Clear Vision
I was reading a story about RedEnvelope (I’m not affiliated with them) today. It started out as a typical marketing case study – with the usual woes of what was going on before massive change and an insertion of marketing talent, followed by the high success of the marketing efforts of those same people. It […]
Website, You Lost Me At “No RSS”
Congratulations, through some source or search I’ve conducted, I’ve landed on your website. I like what you have to say about the particular topic I’m currently reading. I want to hear more from you in the future, but I’m lazy, I like to have content force-fed to me, so, since you don’t seem to believe […]
Do You Really Know Your Customers?
Your customers are each individual people. No one customer is exactly the same as the next one. When performing your market research, you will undoubtedly come across and/or use such terms as: target market, demographics, household income, etc. It is crucial, though, to realize that though this data is valuable, it is nothing more than […]
7 Online Conversion Keys
Having the right conversion strategy will help you attain your online marketing goals. In the list below, I have outlined the key areas to focus on with websites that have non-ecommerce related conversion goals in mind, for example, getting a customer to call your business from your website, or fill in a form. I look […]
Are Teaser Tweets a Good or Bad Idea?
A good friend of mine who also happens to be an up-and-coming MMA insider, has recently started actively using Twitter – partly, I claim, because of my constant prodding. He brought up an interesting point today: should you use “teaser” tweets to get people interested in something you are working on? Or are teaser tweets […]
A Sad Time For Newspapers
When Al Gore invented the Internet the Internet was new, few people expected it to become as commonplace as it is today. Now that it is, many traditional media outlets are suffering the wrath of innovation. I don’t know who first said, “Change or die!” but the message can be applied to all facets of […]
7 Free Marketing Turbo-Chargers
In a recession-driven economy, when other competitors are cutting back on their marketing plans because they are costing them too much money, you can take advantage of their slow-down by increasing your efforts – and with these free ideas, you can do it without spending any more money. 1) Start a Blog If you do, […]
Should You Believe That Poll?
Mashable.com posted a poll on the 15th of this month asking the dubious question: Who would win in a fight: Nexus One or iPhone 3GS? And from the start, hype ensued. First and foremost, I think polls have their place. Even though they have a ridiculous margin of error, I believe they have the ability […]
Phone Books: A Slow Agonizing Death
Ask 9,856 people on polldaddy.com the question, “Do you still use a phone book?” and you will find out that a whopping 7,498 (or 76%) people will tell you that they never do. 20% will tell you that they rarely use one, and a meager 4% of them will tell you that they still use […]