Have you ever wondered about the value of posting content to a business focused blog, like this one, during the weekend? If you have, you might find my experience interesting. Blogging on a Saturday Reader numbers here drop like a stone on Saturdays. I get around 50% of my weekday average, sometimes even fewer. Yes, there are ...
It seems that some things in business just never change. Like those people we affectionately call time wasters. I was prompted to write this, after being emailed today by a reader, who had wasted a lot of time dealing with a time waster. This guy claimed to be interested in using her ...
How would you describe the way you market your business? When I used to speak with marketing students, I would explain the three basic small business marketing approaches like this. Marketing approach 1: Chopping down a tree with a hammer Yes, you can chop a tree down with a hammer but it ...
Yesterday, after one too many unanswered tech support emails, I invested in a new web hosting provider. The new provider is around 400% more expensive than the previous one, but their customer service is extremely good. I had already researched them months ago and was really impressed. My old provider offered an ...
Do you find it odd, when business owners complain about the growing pains caused by the success of their business? After all, it wasn't growing that caused them the pain. It was their decision not to plan ahead! As business owners, we need to always have an eye on the future. ...
Here are 5 tell-tale signs that your competitors are not marketing their services professionally: Their marketing contradicts itself. For example, they will have a website that was clearly "built on the cheap" - Yet their cheap looking website will tell you that they focus on quality. Clearly they do not! This ...
Today's post is a very personal one. I have written it exclusively for those of you, who are going through a tough time with your business and want to put it right. As a marketing professional with over 20 years experience, I can assure you that right now, there are people in your industry doing very ...
Have you ever noticed that it's easier to attract new clients or customers when business is already going well, and that it's harder to attract them when your business is struggling. One of the primary reasons this happens, is that business owners tend to act, communicate and make decisions very differently, when times are good ...
There are thousands of marketing ideas and answers here on the blog, spread over hundreds of pages and that number is growing daily. Of course, as new material is being added, it can get harder and harder to find what you are looking for. So, to make it easier for you to find the ...
Steve Jobs and Apple in general, never cease to amaze me. This week, Apple announced their latest product, the iPhone 4 and received, as always, millions of dollars worth of free publicity. I watched a live video of the iPhone launch event at the World Wide Developer's Conference, and saw journalists ...
Why would one person earn 10 times more than someone of the same age in the same profession? I've spoken with service providers in the same town, serving the same marketplace and yet one person is out performing the other by over 1,000% in financial terms. They work the same number of hours, so why would ...
Some people have asked me, why I place so much emphasis on building a community rather than a following. Yesterday, within a 30 minute period, I received 2 emails from people enquiring about my services. I believe the way these emails begin, (see excerpt below), demonstrates the marketing value of community. Email 1: "Dear Jim, You don't know ...
If we want commercial success, there is always a price to pay! That price is the courage to do all the things we need to do, in order to succeed; rather than cherry-picking the things we find easy, and ignoring the rest. Think of it like this: If you were to try and bake a cake, but ...
Don't you find it amazing that in 2010, people are still using the 1980's sales and marketing model of pestering and pursuing people? Here's the problem with that approach: People hate being pestered and pursued. For example, I received an email last week, whilst I was on holiday with my wife and 4 year old son. The ...
As we approach the halfway mark of 2010, are you on track to reach your sales targets for the year? Don't worry if you just answered "no" to that question, because I am going to give you some ideas and a stack of free resources, to help. I'm also going to give you a simple 5 ...
How up to date is the marketing information you use? I ask you this, because it's extremely easy to be working hard implementing ideas or using tools, which are so outdated that they have very little potential to help you achieve the bankable sales results you need. Marketing ...
This post is all about the role that reliability plays in marketing. Close to where I live, there's a sign on the road outside a cafe that says open. Now, even though this place is only open during certain hours each day, the open sign is always there. In effect, the ...
Did you ever hear that old saying; "You can't keep everybody happy"? Well, when it comes to marketing messages, you shouldn't even try! When you embrace this idea, it can provide a massive boost your sales figures. It's all about using a more targeted marketing approach. Targeted marketing messages A targeted marketing message consists of 2 ...
Why do so many marketers focus on what THEY want in their marketing messages, rather than the needs of their marketplace? I was looking through my inbox earlier, and found several emails from people, who have been hounding me for business. Not only have they been emailing me too frequently, but the tone ...
Whilst I had not planed to write any new blog posts during my holiday, (I've been sending out scheduled posts since last Thursday), I really wanted to share this with you. It's all about the power of small, simple human connections – the kind that are easy to forget, yet can be so powerful for ...
