Category Marketing

Jun 26 2016

More Brains Than Budget? Steal These $0 Marketing Strategies.

Ten years ago, Chris Dingman launched his company on the flimsiest of grounds. It’s called The Dingman Group, and it relocates professional athletes — so, say, if a guy is traded from the Miami Heat to the Cleveland Cavaliers, The Dingman Group would arrange to sell the house in Miami, pack it up, move the stuff and find a new home in Cleveland. It’s a clever, one-of-a-kind service, but there was a hitch: The “Group” was just Dingman, and he had no experience in real estate or professional sports. Also, he was damn near broke — and it took him almost a year and a half to find his first client. “It was gnarly,” he says. “No matter how much you’re struggling as an entrepreneur, you have to put a face on.”

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Nov 17 2015

Why the Bloomingdale’s Ad Was an Inexcusable Marketing Mistake

In a recent Christmas advertisement, Bloomingdale’s startled the world and sparked a slew of complaints on social media.

A woman is laughing, with her head tossed back at a holiday party. The man on her right, however, is strategizing, and even has a creepy look on his face. The caption?

“Spike your best friend’s eggnog when they’re not looking.”

As a direct-response marketing copywriter, my first response was, “Who the HECK allowed this to be green-lighted?” Any project of this size has to go through four to six people to even go to print. So I’m wondering where the managers were on this case. I’m wondering where anyone was.

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Apr 7 2011

Four Tips for Raising Your Google Rank

A rundown of need-to-know basics for improving search-engine results.

To increase your visibility and authority on the web, you need some knowledge of Google rankings. Learning how Google’s ranking system works can help you make important changes that can move your website up the ranking ladder. What follows is a quick primer on need-to-know basics for improving your site’s                                                                                              Google ranking. Continue reading →

Apr 7 2011

Do’s and Don’ts of Securing a Domain Name

Consider these six tips from small-business owners and experts before deciding on a website name.

Navigating the world of domain names can be a daunting task if you’re not up to speed on how to get one. With countless caveats and hosting companies out there, it’s easy to be overwhelmed or worse, make a mistake that could ultimately cripple your business.

Consider these do’s and don’ts from small-business owners and experts to help secure your company’s domain name.

Do: Include a location or keywords in your domain name, if you can.

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Mar 15 2011

6 Sure Ways to Increase Sales

Shift Your Sales Focus for Increased Sales

Want to increase sales dramatically? Then shift your sales focus from attracting new customers to enticing your proven customers to buy again. The best sales prospect is a prospect that’s already converted – in other words, one of your current customers.

Think of it this way; if your business is located in a small town with a population of 1000 people and you sell a sprocket to everyone in that town, man, woman, and child, you’ve sold 1000 sprockets – and saturated your market. Your sprocket selling days are over. Is it time to pack up and move on?

No! If you start focusing your sales efforts on your proven customers, you’ll be able to increase your sprocket sales

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Mar 15 2011

Marketing or Selling – – Which is more important?

Sales Leads Only Matter if They Convert Into Sales

A question I often get from clients and students goes something like this: “I’ve been collecting marketing ideas… and I have a drawer full! I also have a stack of promising sales leads I’ve accumulated. And I know it’s important to stay visible, so I do a lot of networking, but then I just end up with more names in the stack. How do I prioritize all this?”

If you’ve ever wondered something similar,

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