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Who’s Your Ideal Prospect?
Banish fuzzy thinking Andy (Parkinson, our CEO) and I sat down yesterday over lunch at Paco’s Tacos to talk about the best market for one of our new services (more on that in a future post). At Andy’s suggestion, we first made a list of qualities a good target market for this service must have. [...]
Continue reading...5 Ingredients for Awesome Marketing
Skip the plan – here’s all you need. Instead of worrying about a detailed marketing plan, get your essentials in order and then get going. What do you need for really great marketing? That’s easy. A market A message Some goals A website Action Who is going to buy your product or service? Key word: [...]
Continue reading...Stop wasting money and start winning customers
It’s been nearly three decades (whoa!) since I finished college and started my marketing career; and in that time I’ve seen enough money wasted on marketing to fund a small kingdom. I’ve even wasted a bit of money myself. There was a time when you had no choice but to cross your fingers and hope [...]
Continue reading...6 Dangerous Do-It-Yourself Marketing Applications
Have you noticed the explosion in applications to help you do your own marketing? Most are great tools. In concept they lower costs and make it easier for smaller companies to run big-company marketing programs. Unfortunately, as things become cheaper and easier to do, they also become more poorly done. At Clicks ‘n Conversions we [...]
Continue reading...When Marketing is a Waste – Part 1: Your Sales People Can’t Sell
Recently we did our job so well, we got fired. Yep. We increased leads and lowered the cost per qualified lead. We built a marketing machine that monthly delivered more than twice the number of qualified leads our client had ever received without them spending one dollar more. But something went terribly wrong. While we [...]
Continue reading...When to start marketing
Over the years I’ve noticed a common thread in the appearance of marketing on a business owner’s priority list. It coincides with the sales team maxing out their ability to produce enough leads through personal contacts and networking. This is true even if the “sales team” is the business owner alone. From this perspective, it’s [...]
Continue reading...How to Really Piss Off Your Customers
Nobody I know starts off their day by asking how they can piss off customers. Yet it happens so often the cynical among us can’t be faulted for thinking it’s often planned. One of the most common and aggravating methods involves simple failure to communicate. Specifically, promise things you’re unable to deliver and follow up [...]
Continue reading...4 Sleazy Marketing Practices Direct from the Mid-Term Elections
Ah, there’s nothing like an election to get me thinking about all the things I hate about marketing. While a tiny part of me admires the clever people running political campaigns, mostly I am sickened by what I consider to be a serious lack of judgment and respect for the intended audience. Now that the [...]
Continue reading...You and Your Little Buzzwords
Okay. I admit it. I stole that headline from Erika Napoletano at Redhead Writing, and I encourage you to read her article because she reminds us all what our prospective customers and clients would say if they had Erika’s way with words. When I see – as I often do – buzzword-laden content it tells [...]
Continue reading...3 Tried and True Free Press Release Distribution Services
Sometimes it’s true — you get what you pay for. After trying many free press release services, I’ve come to the conclusion that most are not worth the time and aggravation. However, there are a few freebie PR sites that I consider a cheapskate marketer’s dream. Here are three of my favorites. To make my [...]
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3. March 2011
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Written by: Susan Tatum