Archive for the ‘Business Development’ Category
Wednesday, June 7th, 2023
One of the key lessons I remember from a time when I did a lot of writing about consulting and had the opportunity to interact with dozens, maybe hundreds, of consultants, was the importance of focusing on prospecting even when you’re very, very busy.
It’s wisdom that I was well aware of when I started my business, Strategic Communications, in 2008, and at first was very easy to do. I wasn’t that busy after all during the early days (especially since this was 2008 and the beginning of a recession!). But as many consultants warned me what I’ve fallen prey to over the years was slacking off on prospecting when my workload became too heavy. (more…)
Tags: Business development, connecting with prospects, constant prospecting, prospect nurturing
Posted in Business Development, Career Advice, Client Relations | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 26th, 2023
Social media can be a great way for businesses of all types and sizes to connect with their audiences and stay connected with them! In fact, for small businesses in particular, a social media strategy focused specifically on customers (rather than prospects, or the masses) offers the greatest potential to not only keep but to grow business.
(more…)
Tags: customer communications, customer first marketing, customer recommendations, customer referrals, referral marketing, spreading word of mouth, word of mouth
Posted in Business Development, Client Relations, Small Business Strategy | No Comments »
Monday, March 13th, 2023
“XYZ customer thinks our product should do ABC!” or “XYZ customer doesn’t understand…”
These conversations are often accompanied by chuckles, eye rolling and agreement among many, if not all, members of the group that the “customers just don’t get it.”
That may be true. But if they don’t, whose fault is it? Yours!
(more…)
Tags: Customer Service, listening to customers, marketing research, voice of the customer
Posted in Business Development, Client Relations | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 2nd, 2022
Moving forward with communication tactics without a good understanding of the target audience, their current attitudes and beliefs, and the drivers that might lead them to positive action relative to your product or service is never a good idea.
On the other hand, many companies—particularly small companies—don’t have the time or resources to invest in expensive research activities.
It’s a conundrum—but one that can be addressed (more…)
Tags: customer analysis, effective marketing research, market analysis, marketing research, polls, Survey Monkey, surveying customers, surveys
Posted in Analytics, Business Development, Marketing and Branding, Marketing Measurement, Marketing Research | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 26th, 2022
If you’re not on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or other social media sites —and believe it or not, many, many people are not!—you may be missing out on some very important conversations. Some of these conversations may be about you!
In working with a client recently, we did some quick online research and they were shocked (more…)
Tags: brand analysis, Brand Management, Customer Communication, managing an online presence, monitoring customer sentiment, Social Media, social media monitoring
Posted in Client Relations, Marketing and Branding | No Comments »
Thursday, July 7th, 2022
Sometimes it can be the smallest of things that leads to a lost opportunity from a marketing or sales perspective. Small things that can, I think, be easily corrected.
I had a personal example of this recently while working on a proposal for a branding project. I needed to gather some price information for some elements of the project. In two cases, I contacted two different individuals, asking for some estimates. In each of these cases, one of the people got back to me right away—the other, not at all. (more…)
Tags: beating the competition, customer acquisition, Customer Communication, Customer Service, Sales, sales success, sales tips, selling effectiveness
Posted in Business Development, Competition, Marketing and Branding | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 5th, 2022
“Fast follower” is a term used in marketing circles to refer to a company that moves quickly to do what its competitors are doing, or to do what one specific, extremely innovative competitor is doing. But I’ve never really liked the idea of
(more…)
Tags: beat the competition, competition, director competitors, follow the competition, indirect competitors
Posted in Business Development, Competition, Marketing and Branding | No Comments »
Thursday, June 30th, 2022
You’ve no doubt heard the definition of insanity: “Doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.”
It’s a common malady in the business world, and particularly evident these days during tough times. Companies know that the results they’re getting aren’t what they’d like to see and are not likely sustainable, yet they don’t quite know what to do about it. So they keep doing what they’ve always done in tough times – they (more…)
Tags: content marketing, Innovation, making marketing decisions, marketing budget, marketing channels, marketing missteps, marketing mistakes
Posted in Business Development, Marketing and Branding, Small Business Strategy | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 7th, 2022
I’ve had a LinkedIn profile since 2009. It has become the top source of referrals for my content marketing and marketing consulting services. Not because of the “brilliant” posts I share. Not because I get tons of likes and shares. Not because I write clever copy.
So how have I successfully leveraged LinkedIn to generate leads—and new clients—consistently? (more…)
Tags: content marketing, digital marketing, internet marketing, marketing strategy, search engine optimization, SEO, Social Media, Strategy
Posted in Business Development, Content Marketing, Internet Marketing, Marketing and Branding, Marketing Measurement | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 31st, 2022
Years ago I was fortunate to be able to work with one of the true gurus in the field of direct marketing copywriting—Herschell Gordon Lewis. A marketing genius, a horror-film writer! (he’s actually known for creating the “splatter film” sub-genre of horror, according to Wikipedia)— (more…)
Tags: Advertising, content marketing, copywriting, copywriting tips, Herschell Gordon Lewis, verisimilitude, writing copy
Posted in Business Development, Content Marketing, Marketing and Branding | No Comments »
Subcribe to This Blog
Brand Evaluation
CONTENT CREATION
PR/MEDIA RELATIONS
SOCIAL MEDIA
STRATEGIC PLANNING
