Make Your Marketing Emails Deliver

Authentic marketing emails are becoming rarer and rarer. I’d like to acknowledge the many fine emailers out there. I remain subscribed to a good number of newsletters and promotional emails I don’t ever remember subscribing to because I get value or interesting ideas from them. To you I say keep it up! Then there are… Read More »

Budgeting for Marketing: a metaphor that works!

Effective budgeting for marketing is like driving a car, especially when it comes to using the gas pedal. Think about it. First of all, and from my experience, small business owners are notorious for treating marketing budgets with a bit of disdain instead of confidence. This is because marketing is seen as a discretionary expense item… Read More »

Regional Brands Going Local

Gaining Market Share – One Local Market at a Time Ever wonder why you see so many national or regional brands show up in Google searches for local businesses? In short, it’s because they want to, and they can. They don’t just show up in Google, but they construct buildings, rent offices and put up… Read More »

Let ChatGPT Handle It!

No, don’t. Use your noggin like every wise teacher always told you. We got here fast, didn’t we? Suddenly we live in a world where you don’t have to do any hard intellectual or investigative work, and you can’t be sure what’s real or rendered in your media feeds. Just a heads up for what’s… Read More »

Know Your SEO in 2023

Do you know your SEO in 2023? You will in a few minutes. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) enables your website content to be given situational context, then indexed and ranked in authority for searchers of information. I think we all know that. But did you know… “Prioritizing valuable content is the key ingredient to success…… Read More »

Robotic or Real: AI Chatbots – Can you tell?

Who’s writing this, AI Chatbot or Yours Truly? First disclosure: This article is 100% human written. The illustration above is an AI-generated stock image. Second disclosure: Yours truly and his partners are starting to use AI tools in cases where it can help our clients and us. Given the right inputs, AI Chatbot tools save… Read More »

Great Marketing Campaigns Get Out!

Why be Shy to New Business? Holding off on launching a great ad campaign is like keeping your beautiful, prized sports car locked in your garage to avoid people seeing and admiring it. That makes absolutely no sense! This is what too many small business owners do to their would-be customers when it comes to… Read More »

Niche Specialist or Broad Market Leader?

“How many pet hotels have you worked with, hmm…?” The category experience question comes up often in discussions about hiring business services professionals. Whether it be an architect, law firm, CPA or marketing agency, potential clients naturally want to know what you’ve done for others in their industry. Tempted by Templates Gaining experience serving one… Read More »

What to Do if Marketing Stops Working

Do more marketing. Yes, it is that simple and now you may think you wasted time opening this article, but read on. You’ll appreciate the message if you have an open mind. When I say “do more” I’m specifically talking about doing more of what works, not necessarily about increasing budgets. And, if your budget… Read More »

Are You a Marketing Leader?

The Transparency of Real Leaders Every Business Owner I’ve worked with closely has spilled some beans to me about his or her business challenges, sometimes personal challenges. Beyond the important conversations concerning their markets, we often get into the confidential internal issues at the company that deal with employees, contractors, and vendors. We share personal… Read More »