Thoughts on Marketing…

Today was errands day, so I stopped in at the local health food store to pick up some supplements.
I couldn’t find what I wanted so waited until the owner finished with her customer to ask for her help. Meanwhile, I wandered around, looking at other things.
What did I find but a whole shelf [...]

I just read an entertaining article about the perils of not carefully proofreading your marketing materials before you send them out into the world. (Entertaining to read – not so entertaining to the poor folks who missed a detail in proofreading.)
Specifically, it was about what can happen if you fail to check to see that [...]

If you’re in business of any kind, your e-mail signature can be an even better “silent salesman” than your business signage, because it’s not fixed in one spot.
You might think it’s only for business correspondence. Many real estate professionals have a signature with their name, the name of the company, a phone number, and the [...]

Want to do something today – right now – that will help build your business?
If you have a pen, a piece of paper, an envelope, and a stamp, you can do just that. You can write a thank you note.
In fact, you’ll do even better if you write a dozen thank you notes. And if [...]

If you’ve been wanting to set up an e-mail marketing program but don’t want to lock in to a monthly fee, you’ll like this news.
Yesterday I learned about a system called Mail Chimp that you can use for free as long as your list stays under 500 people.  And since it takes a while to [...]

Is your mailbox full of junk? Mine sure is, and some of it is getting really annoying.
I can’t count how many e-mail marketers have been telling me things like “Only 2 days left” – “Today’s the last day!” and similar shouting-type messages for at least the past 3 weeks.
If it’s the last day, fine. Wonderful [...]

You know I’m a big fan of using autoresponders to stay in touch with past, present, and future customers.
But lately I’ve been seeing people doing it all wrong, and I think they’re doing themselves more harm than good.
When customers opt in to get your messages, they expect the messages to hold some interest for them. [...]

Last night I somehow ended up on a web page advertising software that would improve your SEO.
According to the ad, running your article and your headline through this software would tell you if you were using enough key phrases and apparently would insert them for you. I’m not really sure, because it wasn’t making a [...]

Whether you’re writing a postal letter, adding copy to your web site, sending an email, or placing an ad in your local newspaper, it’s important that your customers don’t have to think when they read your message.
OK – I hear you telling me that of course they have to think. And they do. They [...]

Well, it was my fault, of course, because I didn’t buy them. But I’m going to blame the owner of our local grocery store.
It’s his fault, because he not only hired the produce manager, he keeps him on year after year. And because the guy is so rude and nasty, I detour around the produce [...]