Thoughts on Marketing…

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Bob Bly’s letter this morning offered up some interesting tidbits that he’d found, and since he gives permission to re-use his letters, here are a couple of them:
***The ideal length for a web page***
According to web expert Gerry McGovern, the ideal length for a page of web copy on a regular web site (not a [...]

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 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 [...]

A guest speaker today, Courtesy of Sarah Howell at Brian Tracy’s company
The Importance of Content in Attracting Customers
From: Cyberindian.com
“The content is very important”.
It’s true that this line has become monotonous, but you would still hear it more often from all the marketing icons. The reason is quite plain and simple; when you [...]

You know all the copywriting rules say that before you can market to someone, you have to know what motivates them. You have to know what they really want – what they really think.
When I was first studying copywriting (which I still do, because there’s always more to learn) there was one phrase I read [...]

One task copywriters spend a lot of time working on is flow… getting a smooth transition between paragraphs, and especially between ideas.
Don’t misunderstand, each of your letters and marketing pieces should focus on one main idea rather than a dozen, but that main idea will likely have sub-parts. Your job is to lead your reader [...]