On August 31, I received an email from Home Depot with the subject line: Is Your A/C System Ready for Summer? Really? My A/C system has been working overtime for months. And the email offered Labor Day savings – on summer A/C service? The end of summer is almost here. Maybe they're getting a head [...]
Is your blog rich with content you've written over the last several years that's still relevant and valuable? Use social media to drive fresh eyes to those articles. Set up a series of social media posts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and whatever other platforms your target market uses) with brief snippets of information and a link [...]
When you “borrow” something without permission, it’s not borrowing — it’s stealing. And if you’re a developer of a mall, hotel and entertainment project estimated to cost between $300 and $400 million, there’s no excuse for using images on your website that you found online and posted without permission or compensation. Apparently Orlando Sentinel writers [...]
A young entrepreneur doing some major hotel renovations in Orlando recently got caught with some inaccurate information in the bio on his company website. He says it was a mistake and it’s apparently been corrected, but the fact that it happened is casting an unnecessary shadow on his reputation and credibility. If you put yourself [...]
We all know that the fastest way to find a mistake in something you've written is to publish it. As much as I preach proofreading, I'm well aware that mistakes will slip through. And sometimes what you write is accurate when you publish it but may change later. So the question is: Should you make corrections [...]
Generating quality leads is often one of the biggest challenges in marketing. But what if your prospective customers were willing to pay you to receive your basic message and then contact you to tell you they want to know more? That’s what happens when ebooks are part of your marketing strategy. Here’s how it works: [...]
If you have a question, just ask it. Whenever there’s some controversial issue in the news (and when isn’t there?) and the pundits are engaging in their usual back-and-forth, someone almost always says, “And that begs the question …” and asks a question about the issue or situation under discussion. For example: “That begs the [...]
One of the best ways to promote yourself as an author or expert in any arena is through speaking gigs. But if you do these don’ts, you won’t be invited back or referred to other organizations. 1. Don’t respond promptly to requests for information. You may be busy, but so are the people in charge [...]
Recently I wrote a post suggesting that you proofread your marketing emails by sending test messages to people on your team and having them check every element of the email before you blast it out to your entire list. Laplink Software is a good company that offers quality products and support, but here's a screenshot [...]
Recently I wrote about the importance of a consistent file naming protocol to keep track of digital documents and manage work flow. That advice applies to internal files; you should consider a different approach to naming the content files your customers and prospects are going to receive. If your content marketing strategy includes distributing information [...]
