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Aggressive Small Business Marketing & Advertising
Showing archives from 02/2005.
Technical Problems
Posted by Michael Cage on Tuesday, February 15, 2005The blog is having some technical problems relating to a server move. I'll be back and blogging on Wednesday or Thursday. (My fingers are starting to twitch..........)
There are 0 comments, add your own!J-Curves and Relationships
Posted by Michael Cage on Wednesday, February 02, 2005Found a great new-to-me blog thanks to Feld Thoughts. Try this post on for size:
A J-curve runs through the New Normal. That's when you invest more than you reap in the early stages, but in the long run you get paid huge dividends. You won't be able to predict when a relationship will be valuable to you--or even if a particular relationship will be valuable to you--but if you invest in enough relationships, the payoff will be huge.
Good stuff!
There are 0 comments, add your own!Cynicism and Marketing, Your Customers/Clients KNOW!
Posted by Michael Cage on Wednesday, February 02, 2005Barreling through the net this morning I found a neat little story about Ed McMahon and his sales career (selling pens!) before his other sales career (show biz).
When you present your product, act "as if' it is the most precious item in the world. For example, Ed McMahon used to sell fountain pens on the boardwalk in Atlantic City long before he became a famous television personality. He learned to hold a fountain pen as if it were a fine piece of jewelry, and he set new sales records in the process. He added more life to his selling performance and more income to his pocketbook.
Perspective #1 says to learn the tricks and tactics to make it appear like you are inspired by your product or service. "Hold the pen just so even if you think it is a piece of crap." This would be the fast-food, quick-fix ... and drop dead of heart disease at a later date model. This is "acting as if."
Perspective #2 --- and the only one I recommend --- is to invest the time to discover why what you sell is meaningful to your customers/clients, and why THAT is meaningful to you.
A month ago a coaching client was talking cynically about his clients. What made it worse is that he's in the tech consulting field, where cynicism from tech-geek to non-tech-client is amplified many times over.
Customers/clients DO pick up on your cynicism AND your PASSION! It DOES count. What you FEEL but don't say comes across in ways many people don't consciously recognize, but unconsciously ... they REACT to it.
Every time.
So, I had him tell me about the impact his service/Service would have on his clients.
After we got through the fluff ... he remembered a client whose business was out of control. The solutions my client put in place, allowed his client to keep his business running and spend more time with his family, as a result. As he's telling me the story, including a few gooey specifics I won't go into here, I can hear him warming up.
"That," I said, "is the position you need to hold when you communicate with your market. Let them feel your passion for THEM, and they'll love you for it."
The Ed McMahon story made me think of it. 
Any comments?
Have things unspoken ... but present ... kept you from buying OR got you to buy where words alone would never do it?
There are 1 comments, add your own!iPods @ Microsoft - Enemy Inside The Gates
Posted by Michael Cage on Wednesday, February 02, 2005What would you do if your employees started using (and LOVING!!!) something from a rival? From Wired:
To the growing frustration and annoyance of Microsoft's management, Apple Computer's iPod is wildly popular among Microsoft's workers. "About 80 percent of Microsoft employees who have a portable music player have an iPod," said one source, a high-level manager who asked to remain anonymous. "It's pretty staggering." The source estimated 80 percent of Microsoft employees have a music player -- that translates to 16,000 iPod users among the 25,000 who work at or near Microsoft's corporate campus. "This irks the management team no end," said the source.
Tipped off by MacMinute.
There are 1 comments, add your own!Blogging & RSS for Business: What, Why & How
Posted by Michael Cage on Wednesday, February 02, 2005Two years ago I wanted to get up-to-date on E-mail marketing strategies, so I rushed to a seminar put on by Debbie Weil at the Tower Club. I left with exactly what I came for ... thorough, A-Z, usable information to increase the profits of my business.
Later this month, Debbie is giving the same treatment to blogging with her Blogging & RSS for Business: What, Why & How.
Have you heard the buzz and want to fit blogging into your business? Or already "get it" and want to blog better?
Do yourself a favor ... book your seat now.
There are 0 comments, add your own!Page 1 of 1 pages