Category: Marketing and Branding

The Early Bird Gets Better Sales Results

Sometimes it can be the smallest of things that leads to a lost opportunity from a marketing or sales perspective. Small things that can, I think, be easily corrected.

I had a personal example of this recently while working on a proposal for a branding project. I needed to gather some price information for some elements of the project. In two cases, I contacted two different individuals, asking for some estimates. In each of these cases, one of the people got back to me right away—the other, not at all. Continue reading “The Early Bird Gets Better Sales Results”

Don’t Be a Fast Follower. Don’t Be a Follower at All!

“Fast follower” is a term used in marketing circles to refer to a company that moves quickly to do what its competitors are doing, or to do what one specific, extremely innovative competitor is doing. But I’ve never really liked the idea of

Continue reading “Don’t Be a Fast Follower. Don’t Be a Follower at All!”

Stop the Insanity! Are You Continuing to Make These Same Mistakes Over and Over and Over and…?

You’ve no doubt heard the definition of insanity: “Doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.”

It’s a common malady in the business world, and particularly evident these days during tough times. Companies know that the results they’re getting aren’t what they’d like to see and are not likely sustainable, yet they don’t quite know what to do about it. So they keep doing what they’ve always done in tough times – they Continue reading “Stop the Insanity! Are You Continuing to Make These Same Mistakes Over and Over and Over and…?”

First Step in Beating the Competition? Figuring Who They Are!

Customer reviews, client reviews, best PR firm, public relations, content marketingIdentifying the key benefits that answer the question of WIIFM (“What’s in it for me?”) for your customers and prospects, the first step in writing compelling copy. The second is positioning what you have to offer relative to what your competition has to offer.

In considering your competition you need to Continue reading “First Step in Beating the Competition? Figuring Who They Are!”

Are You Overlooking Your Most Important Audience?

I’m often surprised that the most overlooked audience when it comes to communicating with key constituents is the internal or employee audience. Companies are generally pretty good about recognizing that they need to communicate with customers and prospects, but employees tend to be an afterthought. This may be because of the assumption that Continue reading “Are You Overlooking Your Most Important Audience?”

When You Make It All About You, You Lose

Whenever I’m called upon to offer a critique on or advice about a company or consultant’s copy – whether it’s on a web site, in a brochure, an ad, a blog, or whatever – the first thing I do is read through the copy to see whether the focus is on “we/me” or “you/your.” Most of the copy I look at is the former. A quick, easy and relatively painless way to improve it Continue reading “When You Make It All About You, You Lose”

You’re Using LinkedIn the Wrong Way—Here’s What We Recommend Instead

social media marketing, how to use linkedin, twitter, facebook and other channels to achieve marketing results

I’ve had a LinkedIn profile since 2009. It has become the top source of referrals for my content marketing and marketing consulting services. Not because of the “brilliant” posts I share. Not because I get tons of likes and shares. Not because I write clever copy.

So how have I successfully leveraged LinkedIn to generate leads—and new clients—consistently? Continue reading “You’re Using LinkedIn the Wrong Way—Here’s What We Recommend Instead”

Unless Your Customers Are Like You, You Shouldn’t Treat Them Like They Are

Over the years I’ve noticed a dangerous tendency—among myself and others—to assume that we “know” our customers, or target customers. Because we think or believe something, we assume that—of course!—others think or believe as we do. They don’t.

This was driven home to me a while ago as my husband was watching the MLB All-Star Game.

“Great!” I said—”this must mean the baseball season is over!” No, he assured me — only halfway over; still about 80 games to go. “Good grief! Who in the world wants to watch that much baseball?!! How can the networks possibly afford to keep broadcasting these things?!?!?!”

And then it hit me. Continue reading “Unless Your Customers Are Like You, You Shouldn’t Treat Them Like They Are”

What Is Verisimilitude?

Years ago I was fortunate to be able to work with one of the true gurus in the field of direct marketing copywriting—Herschell Gordon Lewis. A marketing genius, a horror-film writer! (he’s actually known for creating the “splatter film” sub-genre of horror, according to Wikipedia)— Continue reading “What Is Verisimilitude?”

Should You Be Upfront About Your Pricing?

A recent LinkedIn question resonated with me—”Why don’t people like to talk about pricing UPFRONT?” Why indeed?

Have you ever been frustrated when trying to make a purchase decision because you can’t get pricing information from coy salespeople or cryptic web sites? In my opinion, Continue reading “Should You Be Upfront About Your Pricing?”