The research about the percentage of new businesses that fail each year, or within a certain period of time after launch is widespread and generally confusing depending on the study you’re reading about. Suffice it to say that, according to most of these studies, most new businesses have a tough road ahead of them.
Why? The reasons are many. Some, that I’ve observed, researched, written about–or even committed myself–include: Continue reading “Business Failures: What’s Your Level of Risk?”
Webinars have become increasingly popular in recent years for conveying information to a range of virtual attendees in remote locations. While this form of media is great for distributing information to individuals and organizations that would not be able to attend a live presentation, it can be difficult to achieve the same level of engagement with a virtual audience. We were curious about what webinar attendees most valued in their webinar experiences, so we asked them. Continue reading “12 Tips for Conducting Effective Webinars”
Recently I’ve received a series of email notices from a cloud-based software provider that offers a service I use. (I’m not going to mention their name, because I don’t want to suddenly begin receiving even *more* difficult-to-interpret messages from them.) Suffice it to say they’re a good company, a big company and one that has become a leader in their area of service. Continue reading “When Communicating With Customers Use Common Language!”
Look up the phrase “new customers only” on Google and you’ll turn up more than 38,000,000 results. Look up “existing customer deals” and you’ll find 19,000. It comes as no surprise that companies often turn to special incentives when trying to lure new customers to their fold. Chances are, most of us have even taken advantage of those deals from time to time. But, when you’re an *existing* customer Continue reading “Different Strokes For “Special Folks”? Good Idea or Bad Promotional Move?”
I participate in a number of online forums that cover various communication issues and a question that invariably comes up is “what department should ‘own’ social media”?
It’s a legitimate question and, as a former corporate communication/marketing director, I definitely “get” turf wars. But, while I tend to believe that all organizational communication should be managed through a single channel to ensure consistency and effective brand management, “owning” social media Continue reading “Which Department “Owns” Social Media?”
In a recent post I talked about an “aha moment” I had. It’s one that has impacted how I think about my own business. When I started my business about two years ago, I was hoping to work with clients to help them develop strategic marketing communication plans to move their businesses forward. I’m a *HUGE* proponent of planning and think that effective planning can avoid unnecessary effort and expense–and increase results.
But, not everyone believes this. I found that, just as when I was in the “corporate world,” Continue reading “You Can’t Compartmentalize Results!”
I just finished a complicated, but very interesting, article for an information industry publication about security and identity issues for content owners. Once I was able to get past all of the confusing terminology and “IT-speak” (which took me several interviews and multiple reviews and re-reviews of my notes, not to mention “sleeping on it” for several nights…) some key themes began to emerge. Ultimately (I think…) I pulled together an article that effectively sums up both the challenges and opportunities facing content owners today. There are two “big questions” from the content owners’ perspective: Continue reading “What Makes Information Worth Paying For? An “Aha!” Moment!”
| During a recent conversation with a client, while talking about her new web site and ways to use the site to interact more with prospects and clients, she recalled that I had recommended an eletter at one point. But, she admitted that she really didn’t see the value of using a tool like that for her audience (and that may well be true given her communication goals and specific market). Still, the conversation made me reflect on all of the reasons that I feel that eletters (or even the old, traditional, print newsletter) can be very useful communication tools for marketers and why it’s worth the bother to create one on a regular basis. Continue reading “The Value of an ELetter or Newsletter” |
Facebook had an outage yesterday that apparently created a lot of angst for users. Not being a heavy user, I didn’t actually experience the outage, or even know about it, until I came across the apology issued by Facebook. It started out like this: Continue reading “Facebook’s Apology Over My Head – But Maybe I’m Not The Audience…”
In anticipation of Drew Peterson’s murder trial which was supposed to start today in Joliet, Ill. (which always reminds me of the Blues Brothers, but I digress…), the PR firm representing the Peterson defense team released a media alert/press release that was, I think, rather odd. Continue reading “Would You Send a News Release Like This?”
