Today is Halloween. Do I have to? But why? Have you ever asked yourself, why am I celebrating Halloween? I am 44 and I have never stopped and asked myself, “why am I celebrating this holiday this year?”  I can recollect about 39 times in my life that I participated in this holiday and truth be told, I can justify participation once. I don’t like processed sugar anymore and the holiday seems to be a retail driven. Even though I am a salesman and a marketing guy, I don’t like the concept of panhandling for sugar. I live in Colorado and it never fails that Halloween is always cold and bad weather. I don’t mark a religious celebration with the holiday. I like dressing up, but costumes that stand out are usually... (more...)

Over the past few months our firm has created new client relationships with many organic, nutricutical and natural food and supplement companies. It’s always exciting to start new relationships. My business plan did not call for us to focus in the “healthy living space” but here we are working with some of the top players in this vertical market.Fun stuff. I come out of the computer software and hardware industry and the one thing that industry does well is sell solutions.  I can site example after example where we created software and hardware combinations to complete a solution. Back in the day, (people always use that term…) I was involved in vertical marketing proof of delivery systems  in the early 1990’s.... (more...)

I would like to welcome to our family of clients, Cheryl Opperman Photography. If you are not familiar with Cheryl’s work, you really ought to check out her website, her photos are stunning. The pictures are so well done that some of them almost look fake. ( Cheryl, I don’t mean any thing but a compliment..) Our firm is helping Cheryl bring to the market her stunning work as we plan on getting her prints, screen savers and down loadable wallpaper for your digital device spread world wide. Thanks to John Hay for the referral. I am excited to see what kind of pictures Cheryl brings back from her next trip to Africa in a couple weeks.  Read More →

What drives people to tweet? Self promotion? Because it’s the thing to do? Because everyone else is? Bored? Unemployed? Day dreaming of self importance? The smart ones are doing it for Search Engine Marketing (SEM). Let’s look at the numbers. According to the “Consumer Internet Barometer” from TNS and The Conference Board, 41.6% percent of Internet users who used Twitter did so to keep in touch with their friends. Yet how many of you have 2,000 friends who have time or care when you get a cup of coffee or watch a movie? In addition, 29.1% used it to update their status, 25.8% to find news and stay updated, 21.7% for work purposes and 9.4% for research. Women and men both used Twitter primarily to keep in touch with friends.... (more...)

This past week I got a birthday card in the mail from Southwest Airlines. I did not get all sentimental about the card because I know it’s not like the CEO of Southwest was taking time out of his schedule to send birthday greetings but it demonstrated to me that Southwest invests in me as a customer. Last year I flew on four airlines, all of which I am a registered frequent flyer. Southwest was the only carrier to send me a communication for my birthday. Guess who will be getting my business more often than the other three? I bark about the reciprocal nature of attention. To get attention, one must pay attention.  It’s a death spiral to think that our current customers and clients will automatically come back and do more business... (more...)

I am not sure who coined the term “content is king” but who ever said it nailed it when it comes to online marketing. My firm focuses on the small and medium business market (SMB) and there is no bigger hurdle for any of my clients and their online marketing presence than content. I am sad to report, more SMBs fail online or struggle because of poor content. Marketing online is more difficult than traditional face to face sales unless your content can; interrupt the buyer, strike up a conversation, walk the website visitor through the sales process, answer all the questions, overcome the objections, educate the buyer and ask for the order. Sounds easy enough but it isn’t. The inexperience SMB business owner or online marketer... (more...)

Another sigh of disbelief. Why do so many companies fall for these bad marketing spends and programs?  This week’s Marketing Darwin Award goes to Belle Pelle Laser. Shopping cart advertising is right up there with bus bench advertising as a horrible investment. This is ego marketing at it’s best. Lets take a look. Points of Failure 1.       Not targeted – Some ad sales person will argue this is low cost advertising but this is just another form of “pay, spray and pray” broadcast. It’s not targeted to home buyers or sellers 2.       False interrupt – The sexy couple on the beach have nothing to do with smooth skin. This is using sex to sell another product. 3.       Ad is very... (more...)

In the United States we  celebrate Independence day this weekend. Happy Independence day to all!  Make this weekend a wonderful time of celebration of the freedom of not only thought but of action too!  Even with all the challenges our country faces today, freedom is the catalyst for greatness and I wish every human on the planet had freedom. As I prepare to celebrate independence day with softball,  water fights,  BBQ, root beer floats and fireworks, I think about tapping the spirit of independence in marketing, taking hold of your destiny. My message today is about independence in your marketing and sales. The world of internet marketing has changed and no longer can you build a website, execute  some nice Search Engine Marketing... (more...)

This week’s Darwin Award goes to Joan Pallone of Metro Brokers for her bus bench advertising.  I cringe when I see small business owners falling trap to this ego based advertising. For the money,  outdoor bus benches are no longer effective. Let’s explore why this is a HUGE waste of money… And this week’s Marketing Darwin Award Winner. Points of Failure 1.       Not targeted – Some outdoor ad sales person will argue this is low cost advertizing but this is just another form of “pay, spray and pray” broadcast. It’s not targeted to home buyers or sellers 2.       Phone number is spelled in a word -303-466-HOME –  Bad move these days. There are more than 300 different types... (more...)

Staying connected to your customers is a critical factor in being successful for business. The same holds true for the “not for profit” sector too. Recently I met with leaders and thought leaders in the local political arena through the invitation to a reception thrown by The Colorado Freedom Coalition.  A topic of conversation at the reception was the challenges of staying connected to voters, policy makers and influencers in the political process. It was pointed out in the discussions how well the Democratic party did in the last election by staying connected to the voters and especially the voters on the bubble or independent voters. The result was remarkable and the democrats won the vote of indepent voters because they were... (more...)