Thoughts on Marketing…

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 [...]

Marketing your business in tough economic times requires more from you than marketing when business is booming.
The message you send out must be clear and compelling, and give your prospective customers a reason for buying that they can’t resist. In addition, the methods you choose to get that message out must be carefully chosen to [...]

We all have different thresholds regarding wrong and right, moral and immoral.
I personally think it’s immoral to abandon a dog. Someone else thinks its no big deal. But this isn’t about dogs…
It’s about marketing, and things you can do to promote yourself and your business.
I just read about a business that donated 150 tuxedos to [...]

Here’s another tidbit from that Bob Bly email from a couple of days ago:

***Invent your own words***
Want to make your product stand out? Invent a new term to describe it.

Consumer example: Miller Brewing advertising its beer as “cold filtered.”

Business example: Mike Hammer called his approach to business improvement “re-engineering.”

Advantage: if people accept the term and [...]

Tonight I came across a marketing method that just plain annoyed me.
I’d been getting e-mails about the predictions for 2012. You probably know that something big is supposed to happen on December 21, 2012. Some say the end of the world; others say the beginning of something wonderful.
Anyway, I decided it would be interesting [...]

The hustle and bustle of Christmas is over and we’re about to embark on a New Year. That’s always a reason to renew commitments, hope, enthusiasm, and all the other good things that go into making a fresh start.

If you’re in business, it’s also a good reason to reflect on the past year’s marketing efforts [...]

The first part of this message is taken from the fundraising ezine I just sent… but the more I think about it, the more it applies to all marketing.  So if you’re not a fundraiser, read it anyway and then read the end…

When you write to prospective donors, what do you say?

Do you tell them [...]

This week I volunteered to make some calls for my son while he was at work.  One of them was to find out about a mortgage program that he keeps hearing advertised on the radio when he goes back and forth to work.
So, I called. What I got was a recording telling me that I [...]

Last year – when it was too late to do any marketing – I read that aside from the gift aspect, Halloween outranks Christmas as the holiday when people spend the most money.
They buy costumes and thousands of pounds of candy – but they also buy themed dishes, strings of lights, paper plates, napkins, floral [...]

It’s so easy to leave everything until the last minute, and if you’re having a busy summer it’s even easier. But Labor Day and “the kids are back in school” are both good milestones in the year for you to use in a promotion.
So think about it now. Do you have something to offer for [...]