Reading Time: 2 minAbout a year ago, I shared a thought from Blair Enns where he stated that when it comes to sales, price is only a tie-breaker. It seems he considers a handful of things to “only be a tie-breaker”, as a recent episode of his 2Bobs podcast talked about how being well-liked is only a tie-breaker […]
Marketing
Who are your emails from?
Reading Time: < 1 minWhen you’re working on a big email marketing campaign, most of the focus is on the content of the email itself — as it should be. Next is the subject line, which is a big factor in open rates. What’s often overlooked, though, is the name and address that your email is “from”. While I […]
Specific goals versus “I’ll know it when I see it”
Reading Time: < 1 min“I’ll know it when I see it” is such a challenging phrase. On the one hand, it doesn’t offer any guidance toward the desired direction. On the other hand, that’s sometimes all anyone is able to provide. I think there are two problems behind this statement The goal isn’t clear. If there is a clear […]
Find your true fans
Reading Time: < 1 min11 years ago, Google did something amazingly creative to help find people to test their brand new Chromebooks. They offered some “spiffy Chrome stickers” to see which of their Facebook followers were really big Chrome fans. The idea was that you would have to take a quiz and then provide your mailing information — just […]
Testimonials should be specific
Reading Time: < 1 minReviews and testimonials can be a great way to develop trust with potential customers. I’ve talked about reviews a bit lately, but there’s an angle to testimonials that I think often gets overlooked. My friend Tom Tortorici recently posted something on Twitter that I thought summed it very well: Having testimonials that say “they’re great!” […]
Deficiency versus aspirational marketing
Reading Time: < 1 minTwo popular ways to present your marketing are as “deficiency marketing” or “aspirational marketing”. With deficiency marketing, you’re working to meet people where they are. This is similar to the idea of aiming to serve your past self. Show people that you understand their current problems, and you can draw them into your story. With […]
A few bad reviews can be a good thing
Reading Time: < 1 minI mentioned a few months ago that ratings between 4.2 – 4.5 were generally seen as more trustworthy than a 5-star rating. Google has now updated their help document for Google Business Profile (formerly “Google My Business”) to say exactly that: Value all reviews: Reviews are useful for potential customers when they’re honest and objective. […]
Marketing automation isn’t always the answer
Reading Time: < 1 minMarketing automation can be a great thing. If a user is interested in your service or product, creating a series of messages to go out to them can be a very beneficial for both parties. Too often, though, companies think that marketing automation is something magical that can solve all of their problems, and that’s […]
Have you faced marketing trauma in your past?
Reading Time: 2 minThere are times when we’re meeting with a potential client that we can tell they’ve been burned badly by a marketing agency in the past. They’re defensive, questioning, and unwilling to share much about their situation — and for good reason! If they’ve had a bad experience before, it can be tough to trust another […]
4.5 Billion Facebooks “likes” every day
Reading Time: 2 minI’ve said before that you are “the media”. Certainly big cable news channels and other outlets make an impact in our lives, but that impact is increasingly overstated. I tried to do some math to see how this works out, comparing the largest social network (Facebook) against one of the largest cable news shows (Tucker […]