Tell a Story
When most companies develop marketing collateral they think in terms of what their product or service will do for their customers - what the features are, what the benefits are. But when you take it a step further and translate those features and benefits into a story...
Fun and Goofy Products to Nurture your Customers
Amy Yaley is our company's expert in buying promotional items for use in nurture programs. She is going to be sharing her expertise by doing guest posts from time to time with cool giveaways she has found. From Amy... Finding the right product to promote your company...
5 Types of Nurture Programs
I talk a lot about nurture programs. That's because they are some of the most inexpensive and effective marketing any business can do. They are also incredibly versatile. Here are 5 different ways you can use a nurture program in your business... 1. Nurture prospects...
Help for Haiti – Ideas for Small Businesses
If you are a football fan like I am, you couldn't miss the American Red Cross ads that ran throughout the games this past weekend. They were encouraging everyone to text "HAITI" to 90999 to donate $10 to their Disaster Relief Fund. That's a great idea. And it's...
3 Ways to Use Interviews on Your Website
Looking for ways to add depth and dimension to your website? Consider adding some interviews. If you want to, you can work with someone to do a "real" interview. You can record it and post the link to the audio or video on your website or blog. Hint: You don't have to...
5 Ideas for Status Updates on Facebook or Twitter
Are you getting started with Twitter? Or thinking about starting a Facebook Fan page, but not sure what to post on it? Here are 5 ideas for status updates that you can use in either place... 1. Tease upcoming product features You're probably working on an upgrade to...
3 Ways to Use Crowdsourcing
You have heard of crowdsourcing, I'm sure. The idea is that instead of outsourcing a project to one person or company, you outsource the same project to a group of people and then pick the result you like best. There are a lot of advantages to crowdsourcing... You get...
Leximimicry – what’s that?
I recently started following Damon Carson, a PR wiz who advertised in one of the HARO newsletters. For anyone who doesn't know what HARO is... HARO stands for Help A Reporter Out. It's a 3x/day listserv where reporters and bloggers ask for sources to help with stories...
Learn How to Manage PR
We’ve been working on some free email courses to help clients (and prospective clients) learn more about managing specific types of marketing.
The idea is that the more you know about what to expect and how the process works, the easier it will be to manage someone doing that work for you, and the better your results will be.
The first course is almost ready…
It’s How to Manage Public Relations.
The idea is that you get 10 email lessons (one per day for 10 days). Most people will be able to read each email in less than 2 minutes.
So in 20 minutes total you will learn a whole lot about how to manage someone who is doing PR for you.
Those 10 emails cover:
1. Before you begin – what you need to understand before getting started…
Your Color Wheel and Executive Leadership Styles
Melanie Benson Strick’s latest blog post talks about something I found very useful when I took her course on virtual teams…
A color wheel called Insights™ Discovery that illustrates the different styles people have of communicating and managing and processing information.
There are all kinds of personality tests out there – Myers Briggs is one; the HOTS (Hare, Owl, Tortoise, Squirrel) survey from Robert Allen’s One Minute Millionaire is another.
But I like the color wheel – I find it very simple and easy for people to grasp and use.
When you understand that the person you are managing (or outsourcing to) is a “green”…
Start a Nurture Program
If you're not already doing some kind of nurture program, you should start now. It is inexpensive (typically less than $500/month) and highly effective. Nurture programs are designed to educate prospects about the value you provide - because almost any offering...
4 Ways to Get More Referrals
The vast majority of small businesses get most of their customers through referrals. Referrals are the leads that are most likely to close, and they are usually effectively free. So why are you not doing more to increase the number of referrals you get? The problem is...