Always be learning

June 27, 2009

I have a friend who owns a small technology and manufacturing business. Lately, his business has fallen on some tough times due to the economy. He’s a hard core engineer – and a damn good one at that.
However, it’s interesting to me that he has never picked up a marketing book, or read a business [...]

Five steps to a brilliant marketing campaign

June 23, 2009

I’m becoming more and more convinced that this is the secret to great marketing. Maybe this is too simple, but it works like a charm.
Step 1: Target the right person
Step 2: Grab their attention
Step 3: Demonstrate you can solve their problem
Step 4: Ask for a sale
Step 5: Repeat

The best way to get someone to pitch your products or services (as far as I can tell)

June 22, 2009

If you are reading this, and have pitched me your link, business, or anything else, please don’t take this the wrong way. The only businesses, organizations, and people that I link to are those that I’ve worked with in some capacity and know are a useful resource for my readers. I value my readers far [...]

If it’s free, it’s (not?) for me

June 15, 2009

Giving away free stuff has long been a staple for good marketing. It lets your potential buyers get to know you, and you can get to know them as well. However, if you plan on giving away free stuff, make sure it’s useful.
You will have a hard time getting people to sign up for [...]

Who is your real competition?

June 13, 2009

You’ve heard it before, you need to determine ALL of your competition, not just your direct competitors. When Scott Cook was developing software he realized that his biggest competitor wasn’t one of the 46 accounting software companies in existence, it was the pencil and paper. At the time, most of his target market was using [...]

What would you do?

June 8, 2009

I received an email today from Microsoft promoting their new search engine, Bing. You may have heard of it, they spent $100 million dollars just on marketing the product. I wonder how many people will actually convert from Google to Bing. I’ll make a guess that they will not see that money [...]