If I were to ask 100 people to define “Marketing” I’d probably get 100 different answers. The problem is “Marketing” has become a nice little euphemism for dirty words like “advertising”, “sales”, and “direct mail”. I want you to be aware. We all know we need Marketing, but be smart; learn what that really means and don’t just trust any salesperson who calls themselves a marketer and walks into your shop selling the marketing idea of the week. Marketing is a process – it’s not a one-time deal.
{ 5 comments }
Article by Carolyn Higgins You’ve been in business a while. You’ve been buying advertising, tweaking your website, spending a fortune on yellow pages and attending all kinds of networking groups. Yet your pipeline is empty; you don’t know from where your next job, project or sale is going to come– or even if it will [...]
{ 4 comments }
Here’s a conversation I have all the time: Business Owner: “Almost all of my business comes from referrals. So I don’t need to do any other marketing.” Me: “Great, then you have all the business you need!” Business Owner: “Well, no. I’m pretty slow right now. ” 100% of Zero is still Zero! Does anyone else see [...]
{ 2 comments }
Article by Carolyn Higgins I constantly hear things like “most of my business comes from referrals”, “word of mouth is the only marketing I need”. But when I ask these business owners, “So, how’s business?” I hear, “slow”, “things are tough right now” or “I don’t have enough customers”. By far, word of mouth– or [...]
{ 3 comments }
Article by Carolyn Higgins Pick up a newspaper, magazine or advertising circular and look at the ads. What do you see? A whole bunch of the same thing: a list of services; a company name; a tagline; a pretty graphic; and maybe an offer. Most businesses think of advertising in one of two ways: 1) [...]
{ 6 comments }
When I ask small business owners what their number one challenge in marketing is, I get a range of different answers. Lately I’ve been hearing “the economy,” “the housing market,” “high taxes,” or some other force that is beyond our control. So where does that leave us? If our biggest marketing challenges are these insurmountable [...]
{ 1 comment }
I was standing in line at the grocery store the other day and overheard a conversation between a man and a woman that went something like this: Big buff man (puffing out his chest just a little), “Yeah, I lift about 1,000 pounds a week…” The woman’s eyes got wide, “Oh wow, that’s a lot [...]
{ 1 comment }
I’ve talked to a lot of small business owners over the years and I’ve heard a lot of excuses as to why they don’t advertise, promote, or otherwise market their businesses. I want to share the top three excuses I hear and try to defuse them. 1. “I don’t have the budget” I know times are [...]
{ 6 comments }
Subscribe via RSS
