Is It You or Your Company?

By |2023-03-13T14:33:03-04:00March 7th, 2023|Categories: Marketing|Tags: , , , |

It’s not unusual for business owners to have healthy egos. It takes a great deal of confidence to launch and guide a business through the ups and downs. Unfortunately, egos can inflate into so much self-confidence it impedes success. I thought about that after I concluded a conversation with a business owner who responded to my [...]

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Marketing and Sales Don’t Have to Be Enemies

By |2022-10-31T10:51:47-04:00September 13th, 2022|Categories: Marketing|Tags: , , , |

I’ve long found it amusing (and amazingly frustrating) that the two departments focused on driving most companies’ revenues are rarely in sync with one another. Often, their conflicts rise to the level of sworn enemies. Instead of taking a symbiotic approach, both departments avoid and sidestep each other, impairing their success and that of their employers. [...]

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Sneaking a Look Under Your Competitors’ Hood

By |2022-06-01T15:22:54-04:00May 25th, 2022|Categories: Marketing|Tags: , , , |

Have you ever wished you could take a surreptitious peek into your competitors’ operations or decision-making process? What if I told you, it may be easier than you think? I’m not suggesting you hire industrial spies to break into a competitor’s production facility or try to place a mole into their executive suite. The simple fact [...]

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Everything Your Company Does is Marketing

By |2022-02-28T14:48:03-05:00February 25th, 2022|Categories: Marketing|Tags: , |

I was excited to open it. The website had been compelling, and the box was beautifully designed. The product was exactly as advertised. And then I saw the sheet. It was a simple slip of paper, containing the assembly instructions, apparently cranked out on the company’s photocopier. The text was skewed on the page, so whoever [...]

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The Customer Isn’t Always Right

By |2022-09-20T09:29:11-04:00December 10th, 2021|Categories: Marketing|Tags: , |

The disagreement grew increasingly intense. His frustration was obvious as he angrily snapped, “I’m the customer! I’m always right!” I didn’t yell back. I simply resigned his business. “The customer is always right” is an outgrowth of the intense competition among early big-city retailers. 19th century titans like John Wanamaker and Marshall Field wisely emphasized customer [...]

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Are You Forgetting Your Most Important Audience?

By |2021-08-23T17:03:39-04:00August 18th, 2021|Categories: Marketing|Tags: , |

The marketing director worked hard on the new campaign and convinced the CFO to budget extra dollars for the launch. It was an exciting promotion with an impossible-to-ignore offer that was certain to boost sales to new highs. Only one problem: nobody told the sales team about it. So an hour after the email blast went [...]

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What Separates an Advocate from a Vendor?

By |2021-10-13T15:18:21-04:00May 21st, 2021|Categories: Marketing|Tags: , |

I developed a better understanding of our company’s business model the morning our son and his three-week-old driver’s license crossed paths with another vehicle in a local roundabout. Our car didn’t look too good, but he was fine. The driver who hit him was also uninjured, and her car suffered the worst of the damage. Most [...]

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Three Easy Fixes for Your LinkedIn Profile

By |2021-04-05T07:13:05-04:00March 29th, 2021|Categories: Marketing, Marketing Assets|Tags: , , |

While LinkedIn celebrates its 18th birthday on May 5, few people realize that LinkedIn was launched nine months before Facebook launched at Harvard – making it one of the oldest social networks still in use today. With 55 million companies as members, LinkedIn is clearly a driving force in the economy as evidenced by 61 million [...]

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How Do You Know if Your Marketing Efforts are Successful?

By |2022-04-19T10:41:04-04:00January 21st, 2021|Categories: Key Performance Indicators, KPIs, Marketing, Strategy|Tags: , , , , |

It happens frequently, and it always puzzles me. During an initial conversation with a CEO or company owner, I’ll ask how well their marketing is working. And they’ll reply with something like “I guess okay” or “it seems to be” or “I’m not sure” or even just a shrug. These are companies that invest significant sums [...]

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How Do You Sustain Trust with Customers?

By |2020-12-15T04:26:05-05:00December 1st, 2020|Categories: Marketing, Strategy|Tags: , , |

In my last column, I described a variety of effective ways for building trust among those who don’t know you. Once you’ve started the process, how do you maintain and grow that trust? A recent experience with a prospective service provider helped me think about the steps I take to strengthen trust among my customers and [...]

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