Archive for the ‘Business Development’ Category
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, making marketing decisions, marketing budget, marketing channels, marketing missteps, marketing mistakes
Posted in Business Development, Innovation, Marketing and Branding, Small Business Strategy | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 28th, 2022
Identifying the key benefits that answer the question of WIIFM (“What’s in it for me?”) for your customers and prospects, the first step in writing compelling copy. The second is positioning what you have to offer relative to what your competition has to offer.
In considering your competition you need to (more…)
Tags: analyzing the competition, beating the competition, competition, direct competition, indirect competition
Posted in Competition, Content Marketing, Customer Communication, Marketing and Branding | 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
Posted in Business Development, Content Marketing, Internet Marketing, Marketing and Branding, Marketing Measurement, SEO, Social Media, Strategy | No Comments »
Thursday, June 2nd, 2022
Over the years I’ve noticed a dangerous tendency—among myself and others—to assume that we “know” our customers, or target customers. Because we think or believe something, we assume that—of course!—others think or believe as we do. They don’t.
This was driven home to me a while ago as my husband was watching the MLB All-Star Game.
“Great!” I said—”this must mean the baseball season is over!” No, he assured me — only halfway over; still about 80 games to go. “Good grief! Who in the world wants to watch that much baseball?!! How can the networks possibly afford to keep broadcasting these things?!?!?!”
And then it hit me. (more…)
Tags: customer analysis, market analysis, marketing and promotion, marketing research, strategic communications
Posted in Content Marketing, Customer Communication, Marketing and Branding, Marketing Communication, Strategic Communications | 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: content marketing, copywriting, copywriting tips, Herschell Gordon Lewis, verisimilitude, writing copy
Posted in Advertising, Business Development, Content Marketing, Marketing and Branding | No Comments »
Thursday, May 26th, 2022
A recent LinkedIn question resonated with me—”Why don’t people like to talk about pricing UPFRONT?” Why indeed?
Have you ever been frustrated when trying to make a purchase decision because you can’t get pricing information from coy salespeople or cryptic web sites? In my opinion, (more…)
Tags: how much does it cost, marketing strategy, Pricing, pricing strategy, sharing prices, strategic marketing
Posted in Business Development, Marketing and Branding, Strategy | No Comments »
Monday, March 21st, 2022

Elevator pitches have been a mainstay of business networking for decades. Initially named because they were likely to be delivered while riding in an elevator, requiring a short, pitchy and impactful statement for that brief span of time, today’s elevator pitches are just, if not more, likely to be delivered via Zoom.
(more…)
Tags: Business development, connecting online, elevator pitch, elevator speech, making connections, Zoom
Posted in Business Development, Marketing and Branding, Remote Work | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 7th, 2021
We’ve been managing our own, and client, LinkedIn profiles and company pages for several years now. I’ve always been a big LinkedIn fan and I’ve seen interest in using LinkedIn for business development grow significantly during the pandemic as opportunities to connect in person with clients and prospects has diminished, or disappeared in some cases. As we work with clients who are new to LinkedIn we tend to see a lot of the same issues that are hindering their ability to use this powerful business-to-business (B2B) social media channel most effectively. After working with a couple of new clients to help them develop and fine-tune their strategy, I thought I’d share some of the most common missteps I see and offer some advice for others who don’t feel they’re getting enough traction on LinkedIn (or other social channels—the same best practices apply there as well). (more…)
Tags: best practices in social media marketing, communicating on social media, LinkedIn best practices, LinkedIn marketing, marketing with social media
Posted in Business Development, Content Marketing, Internet Marketing, Marketing Communication, Sales, Social Media | No Comments »
Thursday, December 2nd, 2021

One of the most common mistakes I see many businesses fall prey to, and especially small businesses, is focusing too much on getting in new customers/clients and not enough on nurturing the customers they already have. I think most businesspeople are widely familiar with data that indicates that existing customers represent more value in terms of repeat business, at less investment of time and money, than seeking new clients/customers. Yet far too many small businesses, perhaps because they’re worried about keeping the customer pipeline full, neglect the customers they already have.
Savvy small businesses can take steps to nurture those new customer relationships by being proactive and process-oriented in their approach. For instance:
(more…)
Tags: attracting and retaining customers, attracting customers, building customer relations, communicating with customers, customer appreciation
Posted in Business Development, Client Relations, Customer Communication, Customer Service | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 30th, 2021
So you want to be an expert? Seems like just about everybody does these days, and social media makes it relatively easy, and very inexpensive, to take steps to gain expert status, or thought leadership. We work with a wide range of clients, primarily in business-to-business (B2B) related industries, many who are business consultants wishing to establish themselves as thought leaders in various industries. Here are “3 Steps for Gaining Traction as a Thought Leader”: (more…)
Tags: becoming an influencer, content marketing, influencer, media relations, pr, public relations, thought leader, thought leadership
Posted in Business Development, Career Advice, Content Marketing, Marketing and Branding | No Comments »