Blog
Blog
Business Words that have Lost their Impact and an Invitation to Help Create Alternatives!
When my kids were little and learning to read and write at a more advanced stage (think upper elementary), their teachers would tell them not to use "lazy words." For them, these were words they used a lot. The teachers were training them to be intentional about their...
Three Ways to be Productive When the Sales Funnel Dries Up
When you run a business, you know there are peaks of growth when you have more business than you want; there are also valleys when the sales funnel all but dries up. Often one affects the other – when the roster is complete, there is no time to do the work to get new...
I’m a Marketing Person. Here’s What I Learned from Sending LinkedIn SPAM.
I’m a marketing person, and I did one of those LinkedIn SPAM lead-generation campaigns. It cost $7500 for a three-month campaign, and it took a lot of time and effort on my part. I did it for two reasons. First, I wanted more leads at the top of my pipeline. Second, I...
The Key to Gaining Influence
SHOCKER – gaining influence isn't about being the smartest person in the room. You don’t even have to be the best looking or have the most money or the biggest title. Influence ISN’T about any of these things. Your influence is your ability to affect the outcome of a...
The 12-Month Marketing Plan is Obsolete
This last year has hit small businesses with ALL. THE. THINGS. As small business owners, we are swimming in change and chaos, and it hurts our brains. Thinking about putting together a 12-month marketing plan is just too much. In the midst of trying to keep the train...
Marketing Plan Tactics
Most often, when people think of marketing, they think of the tactics we use to execute marketing. They think of the website and advertising and print promotions created to communicate. You have seen the illustrations of an iceberg. Only a small portion is above the...
The Team that Makes the Marketing Plan Work
You’ve got the right people in the room for your planning, and they might also be your team for execution, but let’s take a minute and make sure. The marketing team for this part of the process is the group of people that are responsible for making sure the tactics...
Marketing Planning Goals
Your team needs to know what you are working toward. Creating marketing tasks just to see what happens is only good if you are a researcher and statistician fascinated by the human response to marketing messages or if you are a gazillionaire and like to waste money....
Preparing to Build Your Marketing Plan
There is no argument...marketing planning is a big task. Sure, you can break it into chunks and do a little at a time, but as Brian Tracy says in Eat That Frog! 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time, “If you have to eat two frogs, eat...
The Marketing Plan
Who Needs Marketing Planning? Do your business goals require that you are communicating with others? If you answered yes, you need a marketing plan. When a business first starts, it has a limited number of products and services. It’s easier to manage the...
Marketing is Fundamental to your Success
Most small businesses fail. According to the Small Business Administration, 50% of new businesses fail in the first 5 years. Forbes says there are five primary reasons this happens. First, they are out of touch with their customers. Second, their product isn’t unique....
