Mainstream small business will more reliably get better results from social media if they view it more as selling than marketing. Why? Because effective relationship selling is personal, and now marketing is too. As social influences continue to profoundly affect business, just about every business activity is going to require relationship building skills. Traditional marketing or advertising was [...]
Category Archives: Awareness
If I Were Starting Social Media from Zero
A couple of months ago without notice, all of the social media sharing counters on my primary website had reverted to zero. Just like that, thousands of shares that had accumulated over a period of nearly seven years had vanished. Why is this significant? Social sharing is what is known as “social proof.” It’s evidence [...]
Social Media is Still Uncharted Waters
When you are embarking on a journey whose destination is uncertain, you have to get comfortable with uncertainty. When it comes to social media, uncertainty has been, and for the foreseeable future, will necessarily be part of its use in your marketing equation. These are uncharted waters. Everyone is still learning. So, small businesses simply [...]
Why The Best Products are Souvenirs
Marketing expert Seth Godin has more than once noted that a book is souvenir – a vessel for ideas that allows them to be readily used and shared. I believe we can further expand on that idea. Have you ever considered that the products and services your small business creates are souvenirs too? What Exactly [...]
Why Writers Should Practice Meditation – And How to Get Started
Meditation is usually associated with relaxation and stress release, but those outcomes are more accurately by-products of the practice. The true purpose of meditation is to quiet the mind. When that happens, all kinds of personal benefits ensue, including improved health and resiliancy, greater awareness, and the spiritual awakening that comes from tapping into one’s [...]
Advertising That Enhances the Media Experience Works
Advertising (especially digital) has earned a reputation as something interruptive, and therefore, unwanted. Selling earned the same reputation back in the days of the stereotypical fast talking salesmen. In both circumstances, the problem was not with the medium for communicating the message – it was the message itself. While social media has in many ways [...]
Being the Best Connected Business
In this connected economy, your marketing message is traveling through complex and interconnected networks of relationships. This is why marketing today is more than a process of earning the attention of people and engaging them with your business. It also requires that you do the same with their friends and influencers, and then theirs too [...]
Be the Best at What Matters Most
Successful companies seem to make everything look easy, because they have mastered their craft – doing only a few things, and sometimes just one thing better than any one else. In fact, the concept of business best practices is just that – doing what needs to be done and doing it well. In this interview with [...]
Memorable Marketing Content is Original, Fresh, and Personal
The practice of repurposing marketing content across multiple channels seems to be not only acceptable, but one that many online marketers encourage. Is repurposing marketing content really a good idea on a web that is rewarding original work? Google Authorship in particular, as well as the periodic freshness updates by the search engine giant, all [...]
