How to Earn Customer Referrals
The best sales person is a happy customer; it sounds trite, but a happy customer is much more believable than your best sales pitch. If only you had more of them.
Flogs and Blogs Are Not the Same
As you know, I am a big fan of blogging. Blogging is a terrific way to build your personal and corporate brand as a knowledge broker, which is my term for someone who writes or speaks on the interests, needs, or problems of a customer segment. Key to a successful blog is authenticity. This brings us to the subject of “flogs”.
What the Heck is Web 2.0?
The technology trade press has been raving about “Web 2.0” as the next big thing. But what is it really?
Product Promotion Turns Prospects Into Customers
Unlike advertising and public relations which create publicity and awareness, product promotion delivers a call to action. Typically, the call to action is for the customer to buy now; often there is an incentive offered to encourage the customer to do so.
Speak To Me in Plain English
It is clear that there is an epidemic of business “double talk” out there and it has got to stop.
E-mail Messages Returned to Sender
A surprising large percentage of e-mail messages don’t make it to your target when you conduct a large e-mail campaign. Many are snared by spam filters, fire walls, and some are eliminated by the delete key without being opened. The reasons for this e-mail mortality rate are many.
Marketing Mantras Make Money
A marketing mantra is three to five words that describes how your business or offering is
different. It must be easy to say and remember while being easily understood. If it is in writing, it should leap off the page with authenticity and integrity. It can be used internally or externally. It should say how you are different instead of how you are the same.
Only Dead Fish Swim With the Current
A Sustainable Competitive Advantage (SCA) is a unique offering that is valued by your customer and is not available from the competition. It is not what you think it is or want it to be. It is what your customer believes be true that really counts.
If You Advertise, Be Sure to Measure It
Advertising is tough for most small-to-medium size businesses since it is expensive, difficult to connect with your target customer, and hard to measure for effectiveness. However, there some tricks when setting up your advertising campaign to ensure that the campaign’s effectiveness can be measured. The simplest method for tracking advertising is to ask the customer how they heard about your business or product. Most of the time, your customers will tell you exactly how they found you; this could be because of advertising or not.
A Couple More Things about Blogging
Based on my last article about blogging, it is obvious that I am a big believer in this exciting new method of communication; it is a great way to create a unique dialog with your customers and prospects (and whoever else reads it). The branding benefits can be extraordinary and a blog can dramatically impact on your website traffic.