Each summer for the last three years, my wife and I have stayed at the same hotel while visiting the Montreal Jazz Festival. Each time Ali was at the desk checking us in with a smile. Each time asking us a question or two. Not only did he know his [More]
Have you ever gone to a website, and for whatever reason, felt the need to actually contact the organization? You may have a product or service question, or you may have a technical issue that needs resolution. Or perhaps a billing error that needs to be fixed. Unfortunately, many organizations [More]
How often do you research a product online, and then purchase it at the store? Or, check out the product at the store, and then use the internet to make the purchase? If so, you're not alone. These newer consumer behaviors are both the new reality for retailers - and [More]
Are your blog posts really that effective? Do they grab the reader, and convince them to read on? And is there a magic bullet that can immediately make this so? Too often, a blog post is an outgrowth of "stream of consciousness" thinking, and rarely hits the mark. Adding strategy [More]
"If you build it, he will come." This quote, from the movie Field of Dreams, captures the hopes of many marketers: write great content on your blog, and an audience will be magically attracted to you. Thanks to Google this is partially true, but are there things that you can [More]
Are you one of the millions who remain uncertain about using Twitter? While I've written about this before (Twitter Strategies), I thought it might be worthwhile to boil it down again, but from a different perspective. Here are five key Twitter activities that might expose a previously hidden opportunity: Monitor: Professional [More]
How do you determine the ROI on your marketing and sales investments? The standard formula is simple: divide the return, less investment, by the investment. A marketing campaign costs $1000, and reaches out to 1000 prospects. Five per cent of these respond, generating $1000 profit, for an ROI of zero: [More]
Unfortunately, this zeal to include Social Media is often done thoughtlessly. There are numerous cases where "doing" Social Media makes no sense at all. Three examples: 1) When there is no call to action - or when there isn't even a social address provided. In the picture above, taken at [More]
No one cares about you - they care about how you can solve their problems. Write for your readers. These two expressions epitomize the most important marketing concept: relevance. How often have you seen a post, picture, tweet, or comment that adds zero value? Or where the signal-to-noise ratio is, [More]
What's your reaction when you read a company newsletter, instruction manual, or other corporate communication? Do you think it is plastic, anti-septic, and homogenized? If so, you're like most people - they see corporate-speak as fake, and they can sniff it a mile away. The best communicators have always known [More]
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