There are businesses out there that have the same customers as you but which aren’t rivals – a home builder and a mortgage broker, for example. You can use that to your advantage by forming a marketing partnership with these complementary businesses. They send your email marketing to their database; and, in return, you send their [...]
Recording video interviews or podcast interviews is smart content marketing, because your guests will help you create and promote your content. I often get asked to appear as a guest in other people’s interviews, which has taught me a valuable lesson. Some of the people who interview me make the mistake of winging it. The result? [...]
Your customers love simplicity and hate complexity. Complexity is confusing and intimidating, so if your marketing, communications and customer service feel complex, you’ll scare customers away. By keeping your messaging and your processes simple, you’ll make it easy for people to do business with you. Don’t be afraid your customers will look down on you for [...]
When customers say your prices are too expensive, what they’re really complaining about is a perceived lack of value. So the solution is not to lower your prices, but to increase their perception of your value. How? Through helpful marketing. If you regularly provide your customers with marketing that answers their questions and solves their problems, [...]
Sometimes, small business owners contact me to ask why their marketing isn’t working. These owners fall into two camps. The first group of owners blame themselves – they know they’re doing something wrong, but they’re not sure what, so they ask for help to identify the problem. The second group of owners blame their customers – [...]
Do you anticipate a time in the future when you’ll need a strong network? Well, you won’t have a strong network tomorrow unless you start building it today. Building a strong network isn’t a quick process, nor is it a process that happens by magic. You need to put in the work, over the long-term, to [...]
Doing paid SEM – i.e. paying for ads on Google – is a successful marketing strategy for many small businesses, because it immediately gets you to the top of Google’s results pages. The problem, though, is that once you stop spending money on ads, you stop appearing at the top of page one. Doing organic SEO [...]
When a customer asks for more than they’re entitled to, you should choose between two options. You can go the extra mile with a smile on your face – and make your customer feel happy. Or you can politely tell them no – and spare yourself the extra work. But don’t choose the third option of [...]
Do you find potential customers are sceptical about whether you can do what you say you can do? If so, you can overcome their scepticism with a brilliant marketing one-two punch. First, send them a collection of testimonials from customers with a similar profile to theirs – that will prove you know how to deliver great [...]
From time to time, company newsletters appear in your inbox. What do you do when you discover one of these newsletters is full of corporate propaganda? Do you eagerly read the email? Or do you delete and unsubscribe? If you’re like most people, you remove yourself from that company’s mailing list – which means they lose [...]
