Thoughts on Marketing…

It isn’t that newspaper advertising isn’t good – for the right businesses and in the right newspapers. It’s just that far too many small business people leave it up to the ad reps at the newspaper to put their ads together. And then they don’t insist on seeing a proof before it goes to print. [...]

Yesterday I got a Google alert on my name, so went to see what it was. It was an article about weight loss and I definitely had not written it. In fact, it was written by someone for whom English must be a second language. Upon investigation, I found that this person has 70 such [...]

Every day the news tells us about some new reason not to trust… this morning it’s all about high-level SEC agents spending their working hours viewing porn… while being paid what amounts to about $110 per hour, plus benefits. And that’s just the latest in a long line of news stories about lying, cheating, stealing, [...]

There’s a restaurant in our town that is about to close – at least that’s what the word is around town, and I don’t doubt it. This establishment is located in a high-traffic spot and it has large windows. Anyone driving by can see when there are customers seated at the tables. I glance over [...]

This morning I got a frantic e-mail from one of the officers at our local animal rescue: The website is down! Upon investigation I found that their web host, Imbris, no longer exists. It’s been gone since sometime around the end of last month. According to news reports, no one knows why. There’s a sign [...]

Yesterday I picked up a brochure for a new rental business. Along with porta-potties, they’ll supply the tables, chairs, tablecloths, glasses, etc. for your next party. In fact, if your house is too small, they’ll even rent you a tent. It was a home-made brochure and had no graphics. But that wouldn’t have been so [...]

Do you write your own advertising copy? Many do, for reasons ranging from budget constraints to not having experienced the value that professionally written ad copy can bring to their business. And that’s fine. You can learn how to do an acceptable job if you spend some time studying the psychology of advertising, read ezines [...]

Video marketing gurus would have you believing that the only way to reach prospects is through video. It’s the latest and greatest marketing method, and will replace the written word. I don’t believe it. Video has advantages – such as letting the marketer’s voice and enthusiasm come through, and being able to demonstrate a product [...]

Every writer has pet peeves that make him or her cringe. I actually have two. The first one is “I want to thank…” It must be just me, because I see it and hear it all the time, but my instant reaction is always “Well, then why don’t you do it if you want to?” [...]

You probably know that guilt is one of the reasons why people donate to causes. But apparently some non-profits believe that it’s guilt over not donating that motivates people. No, no, no! It’s guilt over something they did or didn’t do in the past. Perhaps over a time when they could have helped someone and [...]