In 2011, only a fourth (26%) of marketing professionals reported their felt overwhelmed by social media. Only 9% felt it makes their life easier. Fast-forward to today. Worldwide, 3.5 billion people use social media. In the U.S., 79% percent of people have at least one social media profile. Clearly, it’s useful. But more and more, marketers […]
20 404 Pages You Can Write Home About (& 3 You Shouldn’t)
It happens. A link breaks on an old blog post, and the webmaster is too busy to notice. Or a URL gets typed wrong. Trouble is, people clicking on those links end up… on your 404 page. What’s a 404 page? It’s that page you sometimes land on that tells you the page you were […]
The Truth About Why You Aren’t Attracting Better Customers
I’m responding to several articles I read this week. First is a rant by Greg Ciotti on Bidsketch about why writers aren’t getting the same level of respect (or pay) as designers. In that same vein is an article by Ed Gandia that tells freelancers how to position themselves for higher paying work. This is […]
One (Often-Overlooked) Email that All But Guarantees Engagement and Sales
Do you ever get an email that makes you stop and think, “Wow. I should do something like that”? This is one that arrived in my inbox last week.…
Selling on Social Media: Find the Friend Zone
One of the biggest challenges in social media marketing is that social and selling don’t seem to go together. If anything, they’re opposites. Yet social media is slowly becoming a mainstream marketing medium. So clearly it is possible to sell and still build relationship. The bigger issue may be whether it’s possible to sell without […]
No Need to Yell at Your Online Visitors
In the days before computers, if you wanted to sell something, direct response was your best bet. It didn’t matter what your media was — ad, radio spot, television commercial, or sales letter — to get response, you had to, well, yell. First, you’d catch people’s attention. Then you’d build interest, stir desire, and finally, […]
Does Your Website Drive Traffic — Away?
These days, it seems that no business can succeed without a website. But let’s be honest: Having no website may be better than having a bad one. You heard me right: A website that doesn’t attact your ideal customers may actually drive them away. So it’s worth the time and effort to build a strong […]
Why Marketing Matters
When it comes to building your business, having a great product or solution isn’t enough. You need customers. Watch this video to learn more…
Keep Your Customers Coming Back for More
We come to the end of “Love Your Customer” month. Each week we’ve covered things you can do to build your business by putting your customers first. Today, we wrap up with a focus on long-term relationship. Let me start by asking a question… Is relationship important, or does that introduce an element of “unprofessionalism”?
How to Build Trust and Wow Your Customers: The Easy Way
This month, we’re exploring ways to love your customer. We’ve already discussed two methods, honest respect and extreme value. Today we talk about the importance of customer service. The long-time star in this category is Nordstrom. They’ve built their reputation on a willingness to do whatever it takes to make you happy. But they aren’t […]