Thoughts on Marketing…

A copywriter charges as much to write a simple postcard as he or she charges to write a two-page letter. It doesn’t seem right, does it? But there’s a reason for that. The reason is that it can sometimes take longer to write a postcard than it does to write a letter – even a [...]

This is a marketing ploy you don’t know about unless you visit a web page and say “no” to the offer. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen this, but every time I do it makes me take a mental note to delete everything from that marketer in the future. What’s the practice? It’s [...]

Do you list older homes in your community? If so, some of them have a history that could help you sell them. I realize that some people are only interested in “new” and don’t give a hoot about who lived in a home in the past. But those aren’t the people who will buy your [...]

Does your website include an “About Us” page? You may think it isn’t important – that the goods and services you offer to the public are what count. But it is important. It all revolves around the issue of trust. The Internet is filled with websites owned by people posing as something they’re not. Just [...]

Pick up a newspaper, read an e-mail, or browse web pages, and you’ll see dozens of marketers breaking the #1 rule, and wondering why success continues to elude them. What is that #1 rule? “It’s not about you.” Many marketers think that their message should be about themselves and all the wonderful products they sell [...]

Your marketing copy represents you to hundreds or even thousands of people who will form their opinion of you and the value of your service – without ever meeting you in person. That copy is the first impression, and it could be the only one. Its quality will dictate whether those people begin to build [...]

I know – you need a whole lot more than one customer. And you can’t write a separate letter to every single one of them when you don’t know who is going to read your ads or visit your website. So what am I talking about? I’m talking about the fact that just one person [...]

When a fisherman drops his (or her) line into the water, he hopes that a fish swimming by will see the bait and grab it. Then he hopes that he can reel in the line with just enough pressure to keep the fish on the hook until he gets it to the shore or into [...]

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, [...]

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 [...]