Press releases can be a powerful weapon in your marketing and public relations arsenal. Just be sure you don't shoot yourself in the foot with them. I can’t count the number of press releases I’ve written over the years in my career as a business writer--and it’s almost as hard to count the number [...]
Have you decided to hit the speaking circuit to promote your product or service? Congratulations! Giving talks is a powerful, effective way to enhance your reputation and grow your business. Once you’re booked, these tips will help you be a speaker who is applauded, referred and invited back: 1. Provide appropriate promotional materials in [...]
Do you use coupons to promote your business? In the first half of 2011, coupon redemption volume reached $1.75 billion despite a decline in coupon distribution, according to NCH Marketing Services, Inc. Today’s consumers, whether businesses or individuals, are value-oriented and looking for deals. There are pros and cons to coupon marketing, but if you [...]
Satisfying your customers is not enough to keep them—you need to make them loyal so they’ll keep coming back to you instead of another supplier who does enough to satisfy them. Here’s how to turn your satisfied customers into loyal advocates: 1. Find out what your customers want and provide it. Don’t guess; ask them [...]
How many ways can your customers communicate with you? Recently a friend of mine was evaluating two companies who were vying to provide a service to her church. One had a product with a pricing and service package that was clearly superior. But that salesperson would only communicate by phone -- he didn’t use email [...]
Recently a Florida high school teacher was suspended for controversial comments he made about same-sex marriage on his personal Facebook page. Pro golfer and ESPN analyst Paul Azingercaught some flak from ESPN for comments he made on Twitter about President Obama’s performance. The high school teacher was reinstated and ESPN is handling the Azinger [...]
If you’re in business today, you have a website. In fact, there’s an excellent chance you have multiple websites, or at least multiple domain names pointing to your primary website. Choosing those domain names must be done with care. You can use different domain names as tracking devices to test your various advertising and promotion [...]
Have you considered camel mail? No, I'm not talking about an alternative to the postal service; I'm talking about the design of your direct mail pieces. Camel mail is an envelope with a hump that indicates there is something unusual inside. The hump sparks curiosity and most people won't be able to resist opening the [...]
The highest quality e-mail database you can build is one where your subscribers have purchased from you and have opted-in to your list. These people are ripe to become repeat customers—as long as you don’t chase them away. I do a lot of online shopping and I like getting e-mails with specials, discounts and new [...]
A judge in a Florida case has ruled that debt collectors may not use social networking sites to contact debtors, their family or their friends. I found this case interesting in part because I used to write a column for Commercial Law Bulletin (published by the Commercial Law League, an organization of collection, creditors’ rights [...]