It's a fact: The best marketing ideas in the world will not work, unless you use them. Over the years, I have discovered that small business owners can be divided into 2 groups, when it comes to marketing. Group 1: Those who find marketing interesting, but just dabble and ...
I spoke with someone earlier, who told me that she was "no good at marketing." She went on to say that she would never be any good when it came to marketing. This lady is bright and she has lots to say, that's worth listening to. However, she has failed to learn one of the ...
Following on from yesterday's post, about the need to be a student and not a sheep, today I would like to focus briefly on the importance of improving our comprehension in the era of information overload. It's one thing for us to read something of value, but if we fail to comprehend what ...
When I was starting out in marketing, almost 24 years ago, I remember my boss giving me some advice, which seemed odd at the time. I asked her what she liked best about being wealthy. I figured she would know, having built a multi-million pound business from scratch. Her reply was simply this: "Jim, the ...
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 ...
Have you ever heard the saying; "give until it hurts" and wondered what it means? I believe that many misunderstand the statement. They think that it means we should just give, give, give and only stop when we are out of resources; (time, money, energy etc.) The wise man or woman knows that the time to stop ...
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 ...
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 ...
One of the things seldom mentioned about developing a successful online profile or brand, is that as your visibility increases, you're likely to start attracting some unwelcome attention. This usually ranges from mild abuse on social networks, to full blown blog posts slamming you. In my experience, there ...
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 ...
This post is designed to help you advance further, faster - by helping you spot some warning signs, before they become a major issue. You know what's great about this? When you spot a warning sign and act on it correctly, it is transformed from a warning sign, to a highly positive leap forward in ...
If you are starting a new business or launching a new product or service, it's really important to get the name right. Sadly, it's very easy to get it wrong and end up wasting a lot of time and money trying to unpick the mess! So, here are 3 tips ...
How would you like to create a massive, positive impact in your marketplace? Simple: Do some small things every day! Over the years, I have found that success is seldom the result of a single, enormous action. Instead, it comes from doing small things every day. Each day, I make sure that as well as my regular ...
Have you ever wondered why there's so much poor quality, ineffective marketing out there? The answer is simple: Many DIY marketers do things purely because they can, rather than because they should! Just because they can subscribe you to their newsletter list without your permission, they do. Just because they can leave a spammy comment on your blog, ...
Thankfully, we don't have to guess or wonder what it takes to be successful in business. The answers are in the stories behind every successful businessperson, who has been kind enough to share them. Here are 4 things I have seen over and over again, in every successful businessperson I have ever studied: 1. Expert advice Successful businesspeople ...
I wrote recently about how people often look for the right answers to the wrong questions, so the best they can hope for, is to discover how to do the wrong things, correctly. Here's a quick tip, if you want to avoid the cost and frustration of this happening to you!
How well do you prepare for unexpected, potential business problems? Some people are great. They cover all the bases and sleep well at night. Others are not so good; like the trainer I heard of, who had 30 people in a conference venue waiting for his seminar, only to find ...
One of the problems with people who use a DIY approach to marketing, is that they often waste time and money, looking for answers to the wrong questions. As a result, the very best they can then hope for, is that they learn how to do the wrong thing, correctly.
One of the questions I get asked a lot by new bloggers, is how can they attract more comments from their readers. So, that's what this post is all about. I have posts here with as few as 6 or 7 comments, many with over 80/100 comments and one post with almost 700 comments. Here are ...
