Why Giving Free Products to Prospective Customers Should be in Your Marketing Plan One of the most effective ways to sell many products is to give them away first. Especially if your product is subject to repeat purchases, providing consumers with a free sample may be exactly what it takes to turn them into loyal—and [...]
I got irked with Udi's Gluten Free this morning and Tweeted about it. Within minutes, I had a response from Udi's and within an hour, the situation was resolved and I am a happy customer. The story is a great lesson in how to do customer service via social media. Here's what happened: I was [...]
Do the people who are on your email list really want to be there? Recently I was invited to a home sales party by a friend. She provided the company’s representative with email addresses for her guest list. The salesperson sent out invitations and reminders for the party on behalf of my friend. Because I [...]
Maximize Sales Potential by Reaching Everyone Involved In most organizations, there are more than one and often several people who either influence or actually make buying decisions. A savvy salesperson needs to talk with everyone who is involved in a purchase, but coordinating these efforts among a maze of departments and divisions can be a [...]
No business wants to be the target of a negative review, but an apartment complex near Walt Disney World in Orlando took efforts to prevent negative online comments to an interesting extreme. According to the Orlando Sentinel and other sources, Windermere Cay’s lease included a clause prohibiting tenants from posting negative comments about the complex [...]
Every book and article on blogging tells you that you need great content—and I agree: Great content is essential to any blog’s success. The flip side of great content is bad content. Bad blog content virtually guarantees that human readers and search engines will ignore your site. So what is bad blog content? Click here [...]
Never ignore your competitors. Certainly your primary focus should be on your own business, but you must always keep track of your competitors. Pay attention to where they are, what they're offering, and how they're marketing. Study their ads. Periodically visit their websites. Read what's written about them in trade publications and other media. "Secret [...]
Do you know how to excite your market? Start with a baseline market pulse -- that is, get to know your audience so well that you understand what's going to thrill them -- then turn on the heat and watch what happens!
Email templates are a tremendous productivity tool, but your readers shouldn't be able to tell that you're using a template. Ask any woman who has ever shown up at a party and seen another woman wearing the same outfit how she feels. That's how you ought to feel if someone recognizes your templates because they've seen [...]
One of the most effective ways to position yourself as an expert, generate media coverage and increase your social media engagement is a technique known as newsjacking. It’s a process by which you inject yourself into breaking news in real-time. Have you ever wondered where media outlets find the sources they quote? In most cases, [...]
