Reading Time: < 1 min Years ago, salespeople had all of the knowledge. If you needed information about a specific feature on a car, or a list of homes for sale in your area, there was no Google to help you out — you needed a human. The best salespeople were great problem solvers. These days, much of that has […]
Marketing
Unexpected ads are the problem
Reading Time: < 1 min Advertising isn’t a problem. Most people recognize that services are often paid for via advertising, and that’s often preferred over having to pay out of our own pockets. However, unexpected advertising is a bigger problem. If I’m watching TV, listening to the radio (or a podcast), or browsing a website, I know ads are likely […]
Deceit is a poor marketing tactic
Reading Time: < 1 min A while back I shared how you shouldn’t try to hustle those that you wish to serve. Taking shortcuts to try to reach people is rarely a good idea. For example, the below came in the mail from a local HVAC company, with the indications of a check (such as “pay to the order of”) […]
I was fantastic with Google+
Reading Time: < 1 min I thought Google+ was a great product. I dug in deep, and developed a solid following on there. Today, that’s worth absolutely nothing. It’s good to develop strong skills in a particular area, but it’s even better to develop skills that don’t rely on a particular piece of technology or a single service. My Google+ […]
Buy, Beg, Bug, or Earn
Reading Time: < 1 min Interruption marketing is fading, and most people are very happy about that. While we’ll likely have traditional interruption-based ads for the foreseeable future (TV, radio, etc), true interruptions like cold calls are finally starting to go away. According to David Meerman Scott, there are really four ways to reach a potential buyer: You can BUY […]
Anchor and twist
Reading Time: < 1 min This term has been around for a long time, but I hadn’t noticed it until very recently. It has to do with sharing new ideas, and “anchoring” them to something people are familiar with and then “twisting” into how the new product is different. It’s similar to Seth Godin’s concept of putting your new product […]
Are your requests scaring customers away?
Reading Time: 2 min When we’re developing a website, we work hard to make sure that every single page has a goal. The call-to-action (CTA) might be to sign up for a newsletter, reach out with more questions, or to simply continue on to another article for more information, but you have to have something there. Too often I […]
B2B isn’t really a thing
Reading Time: < 1 min Our marketing agency focuses on serving “B2B service-based companies”, and it’s worked out very well for us. However, “B2B” (business-to-business) isn’t really a thing. For example, we work with a logistics company, but we’ve never spoken with “the company” — we talk to people like Geri and Wade. We work with a land planning company, […]
Selling versus hustling
Reading Time: 2 min For a while in the early years of our company, I didn’t like the idea of selling. I wasn’t against doing it, but the idea of it just felt kind of sleazy. My experience with salespeople had been for things like cars where it always felt like they were trying to hustle you. Over time, […]
You won’t be discovered, and that’s ok
Reading Time: < 1 min Years ago, many people desired to be “discovered”, particularly in industries like music. Make some great stuff, and then hope that the right person hears it and can vault you to stardom. Those days are long gone, but it’s ok. These days, with sharing so painfully easy, any great talent will quickly be shared and […]