There may no more powerful communication tool than a story well told. A story is not a PowerPoint presentation or a canned pitch or a memorized speech. It is as it sounds: a plain English parable with a beginning, middle, and end. Stories help people understand and make sense of what you are selling. A…
As a follow up to my last blog about driving web traffic with off-line activities, here are some ideas about how you might drive traffic to your website using the web. 1. Pay-Per-Click Advertising. This can be done with Google, Yahoo, MSN, and many others. If done right, this is cheap and effective. 2. Article…
When you think about methods to drive visitor traffic to your website, I bet you mostly think of web related activities. These on-line activities are great, but don’t overlook the offline methods which can be surprisingly effective. Here are few ideas: Signage- If you have a bricks and mortar business, include your URL on the…
(This is an reprint by special request of my blog from July 6th, 2007) For most of us, knowing the difference between right and wrong is pretty clear, but sometimes doing the right thing is hard to do. Or, let’s say we are challenged to make the right choices. Our government helps us out with…
Corporate America is accountable for what it does and does not do —businesses must be socially responsible (or, at least they should be). Social responsibility is a company’s duty to make the right choices that will contribute to the welfare and interests of society, as well as those of the organization itself. Recent headlines suggest…
The “Golden Rule”, also known as the ethics of reciprocity, is often expressed as, “Do onto others as you would wish them to do onto you.” The golden rule message is a simple one: do the right thing. Doing the right thing is best for others and ultimately is best for you. The world’s religions…
Much is being said and written about how the increased price of oil to over $140 per barrel is injuring our economy. Moreover, the prediction of $200 per barrel by the year end is being heralded as the “Tripping Pont” by many pundits—an unthinkable change in the landscape of western civilization. My response to these…
Yes, there are still things to be invented. How about square watermelons and glass floor mats? Japanese urban dwellers live in notoriously small houses and apartments which in turn have tiny refrigerators. Watermelons are considered a delicacy in large part because of their size and storage issues. Because of this storage issue, watermelon is a…
Sometimes in sales, you have to give bad news to customers. While this is never easy, a little preparation goes a long way to helping you get the job done. Start by gathering all the facts and preparing yourself emotionally. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes—how would you feel when delivered this bad news? Here…
Getting found on the Internet is what really matters in web marketing. No matter how great your offering is, you are nowhere if they cannot find you. To be found you need “rank” and “frequency”. According to marketing writer Seth Godin, when there are 2 million Google matches for a search, the number one match…