3 Sources of Grammar Inspiration - Click To Read Article
About once a week I amuse the grammar troops by torturing some aspect of the language in my writing. Hey, I don’t do it on purpose and I love that I’m able to provide an otherwise cuddly group of individuals with a steady flow of chuckles.

5 Tips for Getting More Leads from Speaking - Click To Read Article
A lot of folks dream of being a sought after, highly paid speaker (some people wet themselves at the thought of it as well.) But, in this education based marketing environment we find ourselves in today, speaking for leads may be the best approach ever.

Why would someone come to work for you? - Click To Read Article
Most small business marketers think in terms of marketing as a way to get a keep customers. While that is indeed correct, effective marketing is also a great way to attract and keep great talent to your business. No matter how hot your products and services are your growth will be tied very directly to the your ability to get people who are passionate about your company and its story working side by side with you.

Who Should Review Your Business Plan? - Click To Read Article
I'm a big beleiver in business plans - not the text book thing, the simple working, changing, living, breathing thing. Every business should use one (note I said use not have.)

Why Do People Refer? - Click To Read Article
I get asked the question above plenty. The answer is really easy: People refer people, products, services and companies because they like to, it makes them feel good, it's just human nature.

What’s In a Name These Days? - Click To Read Article
The name of a business is an essential marketing decision and certainly should be considered in that vein.

What's An Appropriate Web Site for Your Business? - Click To Read Article
Web design and features are a lot like fashion in a way - trends and looks come in out of style with the changing seasons.

When Free Is Just Too Expensive - Click To Read Article
Offering free stuff as a marketing tactic is an accepted practice in most industries.

What's In Your Name? - Click To Read Article
The name of your company can and should carry some serious marketing weight.

What's the Measure of One Word? - Click To Read Article
It's absolutely essential that you find a way to differentiate your business in a meaningful way. I know I talk about this all the time, but it's that important.

What would the perfect business day look like? - Click To Read Article
Most days small business owners are juggling all the stuff that comes at them all day, either planned or self-inflicted, with a somewhat unsystematic, gut level kind of approach. I know I do that - sometimes it works, sometimes it really, really doesn’t work.

What’s Your Signature Response to Problems? - Click To Read Article
I’ve written often that one of the ways to create goodwill, positive buzz and happy customers is to exceed expectations. Responding proactively to problems offers, in my opinion, one of the easiest ways to exceed expectations available.

What Do Successful Small Businesses Do That You May Not? - Click To Read Article
In an article published in the January issue of Investment Advisor magazine several points in an article called Stepping Up - How the best advisors take their firms to the next level jumped off the page.

What Gets Measured, Gets Converted, Gets Results - Click To Read Article
I'll attribute the title of this post to the legendary Peter Drucker, although, that's not exactly what he said - it does capture the spirit though.

What Have the Senses Got To Do With Marketing? - Click To Read Article
Emotional connection to something is translated by the senses. With marketing one of the goals for many companies is to create and deepen the emotional connection clients and prospects develop with a product, company or service. This is what creates unshakable loyalty, unsolicited referrals, and viral word or mouth.

What I Don’t Know - Click To Read Article
What we don’t know about our markets, our customers, our products, our business is where our lack of growth and outright failure resides. Of course, the rub is this - on our own, we don’t know what we don’t know and are powerless to do anything about it.

What Are You Afraid Of? - Click To Read Article
Fear is the most basic of human elements and plays a major role in business success and failure.

Want to cut your ad budget? - Click To Read Article
Advertising is a very effective way to generate leads, but it remains one of those double edge swords type of things for budget crunched small businesses. On the surface, advertising can represent the single greatest marketing expense - on the other hand, it is how most businesses take it to the next level.

What a Business Makes - Click To Read Article
I’ve owned my business now for over twenty years, I love it, wouldn’t have it any other way. I’ve worked very hard to make my business what it is, but I’ve finally come to the conclusion that, after years of hard work in this endeavor - you don’t only make a business in this process; a business makes you.

Two Questions That Matter Most - Click To Read Article
When you consider writing marketing copy, throw out all your notions about features and benefits, riveting, detailed descriptions and techno jargon and focus on answering the only two questions that really matter - and do it before you pass go.

The ultimate secret to business growth - Click To Read Article
I talk to business owners every day that want to take their businesses to the next level, but are puzzled as to why it’s so hard. They push and work and expand and contract only to find themselves right back where they found themselves last year.

Those idiots in sales just don’t get it - Click To Read Article
I’m presenting a workshop this week titled - How to get sales and marketing on the same page.

The Ultimate Measure of Marketing Success - Click To Read Article
While many metrics help marketers determine the success of things like messaging, lead campaigns, and brand awareness there is one all-important metric that I believe, if captured, is the key to unraveling every marketing challenge that you face.

The Press Release Triple Threat - Click To Read Article
PR is great, it’s not free, it’s earned, but when it is, it packs some very nice ROI. One strategy that small business owners should employ is to take their PR message online and directly to the prospect by consistent use of the age old tool, the press release.

The Power of the Embedded Entrepreneur - Click To Read Article
Just the other day I did an interview with a columnist working on a story about people starting up a business venture while still employed.

The Less I Do, the More I Make - Click To Read Article
The trap of the small business owner is, that in many cases, to grow a business to some level of success means putting your head down and working real hard doing the making it, fixing it, shipping it of the business.

The Abundant Marketing Mindset - Click To Read Article
It seems like every time I conduct a marketing workshop for small business owners about half the crowd admits that they don't really like marketing - it makes them feel like they are self-promoting. This mindset is particularly common among professional services providers. (Yes, doctors, lawyers, and accountants, I'm talking about you.)

Teaching as a Marketing Tool - Click To Read Article
The saying goes if you want to really learn something, teach it.

The definition of branding - Click To Read Article
One of my readers pointed out that they really appreciated the definition of marketing that I use throughout Duct Tape Marketing. Marketing is getting someone who has a need to know, like and trust you. Most small business folks, exposed only to more academic definitions, really seem to appreciate the truthfulness of that characterization. This same reader (Eddy) also asked then for my definition of branding (as it might relate to marketing)

The 7 Stages of a Referral Generation - Click To Read Article
Referrals happen, thank goodness, but for too many, they happen randomly, almost accidentally.

The 5 Things People Really Buy - Click To Read Article
No matter how many shiny, cool features and benefits you cram into your marketing messages, brochures and presentations, you better find ways to help the prospect get what they really want. And, no matter if you sell heating and cooling services, legal services, hand painted greeting cards, or consulting, at the end of the day, your customers all buy some variation of the same five things.

Staying top of mind - Click To Read Article
It’s a pretty accepted fact that finding ways to do more business or get more referrals from your existing customers is a smart way to build a business. But as the din of noisy demands captures your attention it’s easy to forget all about those existing customers until they pick-up the phone and reorder.

Stumped for content? - Click To Read Article
Content is the commerce of social media. But, relevant content, the stuff your customers and prospects actually want to know is the gold. Constantly cranking out this gold can sometimes present creative challenges.

Shopping Online for the Holidays - Click To Read Article
A recent Yahoo!/Harris poll had some telling results for small business owners.

Small Business Using Video - Click To Read Article
A few days ago I asked readers to tell me the best ways they've seen people using video in marketing...

So You Think You’re Different? - Click To Read Article
Being different, or more accurately, having a point of differentiation that matters to a market, is one of the most critical marketing strategies for the small business.

Selling the Soul of the Business - Click To Read Article
Successful businesses usually get that way by doing something well. Really successful businesses get that way by doing something well and documenting, duplicating, and training associates on how to do it using a system.

Sell Em What They Want - Click To Read Article
I had an interesting conversation with a colleague the other day. We were discussing the fact that, try as we might, our prospects don't always know that they need what we have to offer. Often, they think they know what they want, but professional (not infallible) experience tells us we might know better.

Ringtone Branding - Another way to spread the brand - Click To Read Article
Ok, this one might not be earthshattering, but it's kind of fun. Sound is a great way to build brand recognition - think about all the jingles over the years that you could not get out of your head.

Reduce, reuse, recycle and repurpose - Click To Read Article
I’ve adapted the slogan above, borrowed from the original green movement, to apply to the new rules of content and information on and offline.

Posting relevant comments on blogs is networking - Click To Read Article
I happen to think that many small business folks would find networking on the web as valuable as networking at, say, the next Chamber event. There are many ways to do networking on the web but I happen to think one of the easiest is to participate in blogs you enjoy by frequently posting relevant content. Blog comment posting is very much like standing around chatting with a group of folks at a networking event (except you don’t have to balance the Swedish meatball plate on your wine glass.)

Pre-written emails to the rescue - Click To Read Article
Email is awfully invasive, no way around it these days, but it’s also awfully effective for all types of communication and response.

My Daughters Are So Pissed - Click To Read Article
Here's how it all started. Hey girls, "I just signed up for a Facebook account."

Most of the Time Talent's Not Enough - Click To Read Article
You're a talented writer, designer, speaker, consultant, coach, salesperson, but doors aren't flying open for you. Why not? Talent, I'm afraid, is assumed - a lot of people have talent. It's the price to get into the game. Talent, married with creativity, however, is how you get out of the cheap seats. (In fact, creativity will allow you to get places with lesser talent than others - oops, potential self indictment)

Marketing is What You Do and What You Say - Click To Read Article
A lot of marketers get caught in the trap of figuring out what to say to get the sale. Then, well, then things go south a bit.

Life time value, now there’s a number I love - Click To Read Article
I’m a marketing guy, so, like many marketing guys, I’m not so much a numbers person. I know I should be, but, there you have it.

Make them a oneconditional guarantee - Click To Read Article
Guarantees have long served marketing organizations as a way to shift the risk from buyer to seller. By assuring that a prospect can get a 100%, no questions asked, no hassle full refund if not thrilled guarantee, the thinking is that the buyer has nothing to fear if the product doesn’t live up to expectations.

Live blogging the Thanksgiving drive - Click To Read Article
I’m headed down I-35 somewhere south of Oklahoma City fully wireless and blogging - don’t worry I’m not driving.

Lifetime Value of a Customer is Unlimited - Click To Read Article
Maybe you’ve heard of this term that some marketers use called “Lifetime Value.” The idea is to calculate what a customer might be worth over the course of doing business with you perhaps for years as opposed to a single transaction. The determination of this number might change the way you look at how much you are willing to invest to get each new customer.

Keeping your employess in the light - Click To Read Article
When asked to list the most important factors for considering a job number one and two was having the right tools and the information to do the job well. Income was down the list a bit. The best selling book - First Break All the Rules - does a great job highlighting this reality.

Is appreciation referral motivation enough? - Click To Read Article
I talk to lots of small business owners and marketers about referrals. One of the burning questions always revolves around the topic of motivation. In other words, how do you motivate someone to refer your business when the time comes. Or, the perfect situation, how to do you get them to proactively evangelize your business.

If Gap Needs a Niche - Click To Read Article
The New York Times carried an article today with the headline - Gap Is in Need of a Niche.

How the perfect marketing plan would work - Click To Read Article
Depending upon who you ask a marketing plan is either a necessary evil or tremendous waste of time. - That’s such a shame, but I think I’ve finally come to understand why this is.

How Long Should It Take For My Marketing To Work? - Click To Read Article
I get the question posed in the title of this post often so I have two questions myself to preface the answer - How long do you plan to be in business? and, How long does it take to build a really high quality home?

How Social is Your Email? - Click To Read Article
I’ve noticed a really interesting phenomenon lately that I think needs some addressing.

Help a Reporter Out (HARO) - Click To Read Article
The title of this post is the name of a great free service. Help a Reporter Out (HARO) is the brain-child of East Coast PR pro Peter Shankman. (I did a podcast with Peter that I will publish shortly, but I wanted you to know about this resource right away.)

Gift certificates for referral - Click To Read Article
Sending gift certificates, good towards the purchase of your products and, yes, services too, can be a great way to stimulate additional purchases.

Go ahead, dream small - Click To Read Article
There’s a time and place to go big, lord knows we get told how small we are often enough.

Get To Know (No) Fast - Click To Read Article
I spent two days in training with a very seasoned group of sales professionals recently and the same point kept coming up over and over again as we applied the principles of marketing to selling situations.

Get Your Shine On - Click To Read Article
One of my most frequent mantras for small business is “Strategy Before Tactics.” In other words, you must develop a solid marketing strategy before you ever consider the what and how of the tactical side.

Filling the Gap Between Generation and Conversion - Click To Read Article
I had a journalist ask me the other day to define the difference between sales and marketing for the typical entrepreneur.

Every Media Mention Counts - Click To Read Article
Sometimes to get the PR ball rolling you’ve just got to get a little press. It doesn’t matter if that ends up being a mention in the neighborhood business association’s newsletter. Work every angle when you are just getting started and eventually you will start build up some steam.

Exchanging services for advertising - Click To Read Article
Large advertisers have been doing it for years - buy our product and get a free t-shirt to wear around and help spread the word about our company.

Does Your Firm Suffer from Feature Creep? - Click To Read Article
I have a software development client that is always complaining about "feature creep." This is their industry term for a software development project that continues to grow as users determine they need little add ons along the way. Next thing you know, nobody can really remember what the software was supposed to do because it doesn't really do any one thing particularly well after the weight of the creep carries it down.

Do Just One Thing Better Than Anyone - Click To Read Article
Beverly Sills, America’s best known opera soprano, died yesterday and I was struck by a quote she made during a past New York Times interview.

Create Your Own Referral Sales Force - Click To Read Article
Joining referral networks like BNI or local chamber groups can be a great way to help you network and generate referrals. The most powerful way to use this strategy, however, is to grow your own.

Creative Emulation is the way to Innovation - Click To Read Article
For some, the term creative emulation means copying, so I guess that’s what I’m talking about. But, I’m not talking about copying, like stealing, no, I’m talking about the kind that takes a much greater amount of creativity.

Direct Response Directory Ads - Click To Read Article
For some, not all mind you, directory advertising, the kind the Yellow Pages sells, is still a decent place to advertise.

Do You Suffer from Occasional Contentapation? - Click To Read Article
You’ve got a blog, you’re getting into the education based, content rich, web presence thing, but sometimes you just can’t think of anything to say. Don’t worry, you’re not alone and it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Millions of marketers have begun to complain about the symptoms commonly diagnosed as Contentapation.

Could you work without a staff? - Click To Read Article
The Internet has made working, collaborating and sharing down right simple. With it many businesses are living the dream of running multi-million dollar business without any permanent staff. This magic is done increasingly at the hands of a growing world of workers known as virtual assistants. A virtual assistant is someone who is set-up to complete tasks remotely for a fee

Could you pull a Radiohead? - Click To Read Article
Radiohead, a wildly popular UK band, shocked the music world by first dumping their record label and then announcing that they planned to make their latest album, In Rainbows, available digitally with a “pay what you think it’s worth” pricing model.

Co-Creating Know, Like and Trust - Click To Read Article
I am giving a talk this afternoon at the Inbound Marketing Summit in Boston and here is the essence of the message I plan to deliver.

But You Do Need To Be Smart Enough to Buy It - Click To Read Article
A lot of small business owners are good at what they do. But, they’ve learned that’s usually not enough to grow the business so they get outside help, quite often in areas related to marketing, so they can “focus on what they do best and let others handle the rest.”

But What Do I Write On My Business Blog? - Click To Read Article
Man, do I get tired of the question posed in the title of this post.

Blurb Books a Great Tool for Telling Your Story - Click To Read Article
I ran into a service called Blurb at the SXSW Interactive Conference this March and think they have a tool that has some great small business marketing applications. The service lets you take written words and images and turn them into very professional looking hard bound books in small quantities.

Build Your Boats Before You Need Them - Click To Read Article
A lot of folks thinking about starting a business spend all their time doing the typical start-up stuff like incorporating, finding office space, and designing business cards. All good and needed steps mind you, but don’t neglect the most important step.

Building Your Own Social Network - Click To Read Article
Social Networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace are all the rage at the moment for the potential they offer some businesses. They do offer tremendous applications for building community and even building business but these giants also possess some real limitations for most businesses due to the overwhelming size and potentially unfocused nature of the community inhabitants. (Do you really want some creepy 16 year old reading all the private, intimate details about your products?)

Books as naked conversations - Click To Read Article
Perhaps you’ve already heard about Amazon’s new ereader device called the Kindle Given the amount of press, both good and bad, it has received, including about 3,000 words in Newsweek, I suspect maybe you’ve heard something about it.

Build your you hub - Click To Read Article
Today’s happening small business entrepreneur has several businesses, maintains multiple web sites, blogs at a couple places, has written a book, and has profiles on half a dozen social network sites. I havn’t even mentioned that they have also thrown themselves into a couple cool new beta start-ups, projects and fun not-for-profit adventures.

Are There Holes In Your Network? - Click To Read Article
Once you build a little trust with your clients they often come to rely upon you for more than the scope of your products or services. “I know you’re my accountant, but do you know anyone who can fix my garage door?”

Are You Waffling? - Click To Read Article
Politicians are often accused of waffling between stances on issues in an attempt to broaden or redirect their appeal. Well, I’ve run across a small business or two plenty guilty of the same.

Be the Red Leaf - Click To Read Article
So I come back from my chilly morning run and am greeted by the site of one lone red leaf popping out of a sea of green ivy and decaying brown leaves - and I can’t help but take notice.

Answer Questions Get Search Traffic - Click To Read Article
Keyword research tool Wordtracker recently added a cool free tool called Keyword Questions. I think this has some great SEO potential for small business marketers.

Are You Right Brain Dead? - Click To Read Article
A ton of research suggests that the right half of our brain supplies the more creative aspects of our thinking. So it goes that more creative people use that side of their brain more predominately.

A Facebook and Google Reader App for Bloggers - Click To Read Article
A few weeks ago I wrote a post pointing out the growing usefulness of Facebook as a business tool. It isn’t that I am so enamored with the social network as I am optimistic that the new open platform will allow developers to create some very useful business applications.

A lesson in marketing from my dear sweet wife - Click To Read Article
I was reminded today of a running joke I have with my wife. Occasionally, she will ask me to do some odd job or another and then immediately proceed to tell me just how to do it.

All Tweet and No Cattle - Click To Read Article
Today I’m going to take on a topic that may not be altogether popular in some social media circles, but it’s a message that small business owners need to wrestle with.

Adding Social Features to Your Web Site - Click To Read Article
The web has become a terribly social place and that raises the expectation of most web site visitors. The ability to add content, comment, rate, review, interact and share information found when surfing the web has become standard fare.

5 Tips For Getting More from Facebook - Click To Read Article
In continuing with my series of quick social media tips (check out 5 tips for LinkedIn) I’m covering some tips for business use of Facebook here. I’ve actually written about some of these tips in great detail before, but this can act as a quick primer for folks who like their info snack sized like this.


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