Blog
Analyst group Merrill Lynch recently found that spending among women in the US is a staggering$5 trillion dollarsa year.
Most important, women are multiple markets in one. Because women serve as primary caregivers for children and the elderly in virtually every society in the world, women buy on behalf of the people who live in their households and influence the buying habits of their friends.
So as marketers we must determine how to target this powerful demographic.
Most important, women are multiple markets in one. Because women serve as primary caregivers for children and the elderly in virtually every society in the world, women buy on behalf of the people who live in their households and influence the buying habits of their friends.
So as marketers we must determine how to target this powerful demographic.
Published in Marketing
Tagged under
Every year I speak with and help other entrepreneurs market and grow their businesses.
Some are able to achieve their desired success. They have a solid business plan in place, the right attitude, make the proper investments, are able to delicate and know when to enlist help.
Others have every good intention, but wander aimlessly with no plan or a plan that changes from day to day. They rely on luck rather than hard work and a more strategic approach.
Then of course, there are the dreamers who do nothing more than dream and talk about their aspirations. They often talk about what the could have done or will do, without taking the first step to put their plan into action.
Being an entrepreneur takes a lot of grit and determination, bravery and thicker skin than you might have first thought. There will be people that want to see you succeed, but just as many that secretly (or not so secretly) want to see you fail.
For an entrepreneur, that's all part of the journey. They are often motivated as much by proving doubters wrong as they are proving to themselves that their ideas and instincts were right. They value the reward of building something for themselves over the risks and long hours that are required.
Some are able to achieve their desired success. They have a solid business plan in place, the right attitude, make the proper investments, are able to delicate and know when to enlist help.
Others have every good intention, but wander aimlessly with no plan or a plan that changes from day to day. They rely on luck rather than hard work and a more strategic approach.
Then of course, there are the dreamers who do nothing more than dream and talk about their aspirations. They often talk about what the could have done or will do, without taking the first step to put their plan into action.
Being an entrepreneur takes a lot of grit and determination, bravery and thicker skin than you might have first thought. There will be people that want to see you succeed, but just as many that secretly (or not so secretly) want to see you fail.
For an entrepreneur, that's all part of the journey. They are often motivated as much by proving doubters wrong as they are proving to themselves that their ideas and instincts were right. They value the reward of building something for themselves over the risks and long hours that are required.
Published in Small Business Marketing
Tagged under
![A Lesson In Chasing [client] Love](/media/k2/items/cache/4695cb3b19cbf906e45dac0da0913068_S.jpg)
Ah, St. Valentine’s Day, when thoughts turn to romance and finding the right partner. So much time and energy is spent chasing the object of your affection, only to find the feelings aren't mutual. And worse, you see that special someone holding hands with someone else.
We’ve all been there. We’ve all felt the pain of rejection and wondering to ourselves “What’s wrong with me?” Generally, there’s nothing wrong. In business we often feel the same. Why are my customers choosing a competitor over my product or service. The issue may not be what you are offering, but how it is being offered and perceived by you customers.
We’ve all been there. We’ve all felt the pain of rejection and wondering to ourselves “What’s wrong with me?” Generally, there’s nothing wrong. In business we often feel the same. Why are my customers choosing a competitor over my product or service. The issue may not be what you are offering, but how it is being offered and perceived by you customers.
Published in Marketing
Tagged under
As I moved up in my corporate career, I sought out mentors. It is amazing what I learned that helped me grow, improve and maneuver sticky situations. As a business owner I enjoy mentoring young business men and women and seeing them grow in their career with me, above and beyond what I can offer them.
I had a call today where another business owner told me she spoke with a woman who worked for me. My former employee and she said I had helped her build her confidence enough to apply and interview for a job she had really wanted. Guess what, she got the job.
Being a mentee and being mentored is all well and good, but what do you do when you are at the top of the business? You can't look to someone up-the-ladder for guidance. This is when your enlist a coach.
I had a call today where another business owner told me she spoke with a woman who worked for me. My former employee and she said I had helped her build her confidence enough to apply and interview for a job she had really wanted. Guess what, she got the job.
Being a mentee and being mentored is all well and good, but what do you do when you are at the top of the business? You can't look to someone up-the-ladder for guidance. This is when your enlist a coach.
Published in Small Business Marketing
Project vs. Retainer Outsource Marketing: Why the Decision is a Piece Of Cake
Feb 10, 2016 Written by Guest Who doesn't love good cake? It tastes great, smells wonderful, can be absolutely beautiful and is the center piece of many celebrations. All you need is a good recipe, good ingredients and a decent baker.
If you were to taste each of the cake ingredients on their own, most would be downright awful. A poor recipe can leave you with a cake that is flat, dry, dense or in many other ways unpleasant.
So why so much talk about cake, no it's not the mid-afternoon need of a pick-me-up. It's that marketing is very similar to that of baking a cake. Marketing components do not function as well individually as they do when implemented together under a single strategy.
As you move forward with any marketing plan consider how outsourcing marketing to a company with full oversight differs from outsourcing each piece ad hoc.
If you were to taste each of the cake ingredients on their own, most would be downright awful. A poor recipe can leave you with a cake that is flat, dry, dense or in many other ways unpleasant.
So why so much talk about cake, no it's not the mid-afternoon need of a pick-me-up. It's that marketing is very similar to that of baking a cake. Marketing components do not function as well individually as they do when implemented together under a single strategy.
As you move forward with any marketing plan consider how outsourcing marketing to a company with full oversight differs from outsourcing each piece ad hoc.
Published in Marketing
I get it, marketing is frustrating. It's not fast, it can be unpredictable and even with modern analytics it can be difficult to measure.
What I can tell you is that if you don't put together a marketing strategy, you are as good as hiding. If your website isn't mobile friendly and optimized, it can been like finding a needle in a haystack on Google. Yes, people can type your business name in, but what if people don't know your name or they misspell your business name? Then what?
What I can tell you is that if you don't put together a marketing strategy, you are as good as hiding. If your website isn't mobile friendly and optimized, it can been like finding a needle in a haystack on Google. Yes, people can type your business name in, but what if people don't know your name or they misspell your business name? Then what?
Published in Marketing
How a Little Box of Cookies is Creating Our Next Generation of Businesswomen
Feb 02, 2016 Written by Guest It's week three of the Girl Scout cookies sales season. It's hard to miss these little girls, decked out in sashes and aprons outside of your local supermarket, drug store or restaurant. What you may not see is all that goes on behind the scenes of this truly entrepreneurial experience.
My daughter is a third generation Girl Scout. The tradition of selling Girl Scout cookies dates back to 1917 (for the organization, not my three generations) and cookie sales has been many girls' first experience in business, sales, marketing and entrepreneurship. Few organizations have stood the test of time like Girls Scout cookie sales.
Here are the amazing skills each girl learns as part of being a Girl Scout...
My daughter is a third generation Girl Scout. The tradition of selling Girl Scout cookies dates back to 1917 (for the organization, not my three generations) and cookie sales has been many girls' first experience in business, sales, marketing and entrepreneurship. Few organizations have stood the test of time like Girls Scout cookie sales.
Here are the amazing skills each girl learns as part of being a Girl Scout...
Published in Marketing
Tagged under
Do you remember the most popular girl in high school? She wasn't necessarily the prettiest, the most athletic or the smartest, but she was the one who told everyone that she was popular. She walked around with her head held high and commanded attention.
Business can be much like high school in that those who are most successful, are often the very people who show confidence and tell others of their success.
Business can be much like high school in that those who are most successful, are often the very people who show confidence and tell others of their success.
Published in Small Business Marketing
Tagged under
Last week I wrote a blog about blogging; I know that sounds slightly ironic. After speaking with a few people who read the blog , the one question I kept receiving was, "How do I use this blog to help me generate leads?" After you have spent your valuable time working on a blog, that you feel will be helpful to your audience, you need post that article in a place that will get read by your intended audience.
If you read last week's blog, you know that your blogs should be more informational and not a sales pitch. Go with the 80/20 rule on informational vs. sales blog. Add some personality, keep the word count at a reasonable level, make the blog readable and blog consistently. You can find more about blogging here.
For this article, I'm going to assume you load your blog to your website. It's not only a great component of your SEO (search engine optimization) strategy, it's the place you want to drive traffic (assuming you have a good website). It's the website that will do your sales pitch, not the blog.
The blog is written and posted, now let's get the word out...
If you read last week's blog, you know that your blogs should be more informational and not a sales pitch. Go with the 80/20 rule on informational vs. sales blog. Add some personality, keep the word count at a reasonable level, make the blog readable and blog consistently. You can find more about blogging here.
For this article, I'm going to assume you load your blog to your website. It's not only a great component of your SEO (search engine optimization) strategy, it's the place you want to drive traffic (assuming you have a good website). It's the website that will do your sales pitch, not the blog.
The blog is written and posted, now let's get the word out...
Published in Marketing
Tagged under
I was talking with a friend of mine the other day about customer service. She is buying a new home and needed to speak with her bank. She called the bank's automated line and listened for seven minutes of bank promotions only to get a message that said that the customer service number (for her particular issue) had changed. And so the process began again as she called the bank's new number and listened to minutes of promotions, departments selections, just to be put in a waiting cue.
The two of us listening to this story, just shook our head in agreement as we had both left this particular banking instruction in the past.
I don't believe customer service is dead, but it is a rarity. Sometimes it is the little things that count. My mom has been buying all her makeup and skincare from the same person in Dallas for ten years. Not unusual, except for the fact that she lives in Kansas and makes it to Dallas only twice a year.
Another friend recently made several 45 minute trips to a store for a particular product. If you ask her why, it's because the boutique sent her a personal note when she stopped in the first time and they were out of the product she was wanting to buy. They invited her back for a visit and thanked her for stopping in. Guess what she did just that, found the item on her second visit and told our entire Saturday running/breakfast group. Several ladies in the group left breakfast to head over to the store. You know the drive was never necessary, she could have just went online, but the personal touch made the difference.
While bad service drives us away, good service makes us so loyal that we'll keep coming back, even if it means being inconvenienced.
Most business owners want to have great customer service, after-all keeping a customer is less costly than getting a new one, and referrals are golden.
Here are a few things as business
owners we can do to improve customer service, and maintain loyal customers.
The two of us listening to this story, just shook our head in agreement as we had both left this particular banking instruction in the past.
I don't believe customer service is dead, but it is a rarity. Sometimes it is the little things that count. My mom has been buying all her makeup and skincare from the same person in Dallas for ten years. Not unusual, except for the fact that she lives in Kansas and makes it to Dallas only twice a year.
Another friend recently made several 45 minute trips to a store for a particular product. If you ask her why, it's because the boutique sent her a personal note when she stopped in the first time and they were out of the product she was wanting to buy. They invited her back for a visit and thanked her for stopping in. Guess what she did just that, found the item on her second visit and told our entire Saturday running/breakfast group. Several ladies in the group left breakfast to head over to the store. You know the drive was never necessary, she could have just went online, but the personal touch made the difference.
While bad service drives us away, good service makes us so loyal that we'll keep coming back, even if it means being inconvenienced.
Most business owners want to have great customer service, after-all keeping a customer is less costly than getting a new one, and referrals are golden.
Here are a few things as business
owners we can do to improve customer service, and maintain loyal customers.
Published in Marketing
Tagged under
With over 6 billion people in this world it appears that originality is dead. It seems impossible to even come up with a new idea that has not been thought of before? Not only are business concepts being copied, music is being 'sampled' from great songs of the past. Is it possible to set ourselves apart and is that important?
In Peter Thiel's book, Zero to One: Notes on Startups, he states, “ZERO TO ONE EVERY MOMENT IN BUSINESS happens only once. The next Bill Gates will not build an operating system. The next Larry Page or Sergey Brin won’t make a search engine. And the next Mark Zuckerberg won’t create a social network. If you are copying these guys, you aren’t learning from them.”
I believe there is a way to both copy and learn at the same time. Sampling ideas of great entrepreneurs may be one of the biggest things impacting entrepreneurs today.
Here is how it is being done:
In Peter Thiel's book, Zero to One: Notes on Startups, he states, “ZERO TO ONE EVERY MOMENT IN BUSINESS happens only once. The next Bill Gates will not build an operating system. The next Larry Page or Sergey Brin won’t make a search engine. And the next Mark Zuckerberg won’t create a social network. If you are copying these guys, you aren’t learning from them.”
I believe there is a way to both copy and learn at the same time. Sampling ideas of great entrepreneurs may be one of the biggest things impacting entrepreneurs today.
Here is how it is being done:
Published in Small Business Marketing
People are going to say what they will about your company or brand, or worse not talk about it at all. Why not guide the conversation? Blogging is a great way to start a conversation with your target audience, share helpful information and stay top of mind with your audience.
If you're going to go to the effort, why not make the effort count and write a blog that gets attention?
Here are some helpful tips to create a blog that doesn't suck.
If you're going to go to the effort, why not make the effort count and write a blog that gets attention?
Here are some helpful tips to create a blog that doesn't suck.
Published in Marketing
Tagged under
We are barely through the first month of the new year and I quit. That's right, before I get too far into the new year, I quit and you should join me. The key to living your best year and accomplishing your greatest goals is in saying, "I quit."
More and more I am convinced that success is not only based on what you do, but also powerfully connected with what you don't do. So to break through the barriers of success and joy we must courageously quit!
Quitting is not a negative thing. It is an essential part of success. This is the year we stop living an inch deep and a mile wide. This is the year we go narrow and deep and set the foundation for the years ahead.
Here are 5 things I will quit doing and you should join:
More and more I am convinced that success is not only based on what you do, but also powerfully connected with what you don't do. So to break through the barriers of success and joy we must courageously quit!
Quitting is not a negative thing. It is an essential part of success. This is the year we stop living an inch deep and a mile wide. This is the year we go narrow and deep and set the foundation for the years ahead.
Here are 5 things I will quit doing and you should join:
Published in Small Business Marketing
Tagged under
Ironically, I started my career in the ad business, but have spent much of my marketing career identifying ways to increase credible sales leads without paying for advertising. When I began Marketing Eye Dallas over a year ago, I had the backing of a strong international brand. Unfortunately, the Marketing Eye International name was virtually unknown in my region and my client base started from scratch. Since it takes time to build a name, network, referrals and online presence, I started building my business through LinkedIn.
Here are a few things I have learned in the last year as I have grown my connections x100, built a solid base, and landed some terrific accounts.
Here are a few things I have learned in the last year as I have grown my connections x100, built a solid base, and landed some terrific accounts.
Published in Marketing
Tagged under
Where can you find 400 million business professionals at your fingertips? The answer is LinkedIn and they are adding two members per second. Over a quarter of those individuals are right here in the US. We know that LinkedIn is a great place to connect, but how do you stand out in a mass of professionals?
Published in Marketing
Tagged under
