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.

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. 

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?

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...

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.

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.

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.

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?  

Every year I buy myself a new journal to keep notes from my client meetings, business ideas and new technologies I'm planning to adopt.  There is something about a blank book full of opportunities and ideas to be noted and recorded that excites me.  What does the future hold and what will the journal say in December 2016 about the past year?

As I start my journal this year, rather than starting with resolutions and goals on page one, I'm going to begin with the last page.  Writing what has been achieved, writing what the year looked like, rather than writing what the year will look like. Here is my final chapter of an amazing 2016...