“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

- Generally attributed to either Albert Einstein or Ben Franklin
Remember back in the good old days when small business marketing was simple? Get a sign printed for the door, place a yellow page [...]

“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”
Sun-tzu, The Art of War, 722-481 BCE or 403-221 BCE
Anyone that has spent much time in the corporate world has heard this quote more than a few times, but in the real world of small business, can it still be applied to knowing your competition?
Absolutely. It takes [...]

Surprisingly, many companies approach marketing with a goal to sell some stuff to somebody. Not so surprisingly, their resources are quickly spent with little or no gain.
Targeted Marketing
Target marketing is a term used to define a company’s approach towards focusing marketing and sales efforts toward specific market segments.  Examples range from broad:  business to business [...]

My husband recently received an invitation from a local doctor to attend an evening that included free botox for  guests and suggested that he “bring his girlfriends and make it a girl’s night out!”
Well, I guess someone had a bit of a marketing database glitch.

Know Your Customers
Nearly every business continually tries to find more [...]

It’s Friday and time for the Friday FREE for All – a quick sprint through some great FREE finds around the web.     This week, our featured free finds are:  Free Trade Magazine Subscriptions ~ Free Forms from FormNet ~ Free Online Photo Tools ~ Free Fonts
Free Trade Magazine Subscriptions
Whether you are seeking [...]

” What we got here is a failure to communicate.”
- Cool Hand Luke, 1967
How many times have you set out to buy something but encountered a sales process that was so out of kilter with your buying process that you moved on – regardless of the quality of the product or service?    People, whether [...]

The ability to clearly communicate the unique benefits of a product or service is critical for achieving marketing success and should be consistent in all marketing communications.
Considering the significant cost associated with marketing and advertising efforts, when was the last time your company spent some quality time ensuring the correct features and benefits were being [...]

Here, we borrow from the legal process – attorneys generally hate it when marketers borrow from their profession (think “actionable”).  The discovery process is a time for gathering information and documents to prepare for the next phase of the process.  Discovery can be frustrating & time-consuming but, if done correctly, it is well worth the [...]

Even in today’s world of marketing with so many online and offline choices, good marketing begins with the basics – an assessment of where you are now and development of a strategy for getting to where you want to be.
Over the next series of posts, we will cover the various aspects of developing a marketing [...]

Looking for some new ideas for promoting your business?
Perhaps a relook at a very reliable method – a well-written white paper – combined with some new online, social media marketing distribution opportunities, is a perfect way to kick off the new year with an increase in business promotion.
White papers are a powerful tool in establishing [...]