Have you noticed that people are less and less trusting?

This really struck me while watching HGTV’s hit show Yard Crashers this past weekend.  The host Ahmed Hassan wanders through home improvement stores looking for someone he can help with a little yard work.  Little do they know they will get an AMAZING yard makeover for free!

Ahmed is not intimidating in any way.  He’s the kind of guy that can kick up a conversation with anyone.  He flashes his smile and tries to find one person who is willing to say yes to his help.  He even has a camera crew with him so you’d think people would put two and two together but they don’t.

Not only do most people say NO, many are rude about it! [Read more...]

When we network on and offline, we get this question all the time…

And the truth is, if you ever want to receive quality referrals you have to be able to clearly communicate what exactly makes your business stand out from the crowd…

We have found the best way to get to the core of what makes a business great is to ask the client or customer…  For example, most of our clients have had experiences with other companies who do internet marketing.  All we have to do is listen and we will very quickly know if we are different and if we can offer them a better experience.

Even when a client is completely ignorant about an industry, they can always pick up if the company cares about them… [Read more...]

Do you remember Sea Monkeys?

You know, the little packet of powder that “magically comes to life” when added to water?

If you used to read comic books like I did, then you would have found some great direct mail ads for Sea Monkeys in the back of your typical comic book.

Now, the other day I wrote a post about the difference between selling and marketing in which I said that you had to find some people with problems that your product or service solves… and get in front of them with your marketing message.

So, what if your product doesn’t sell a solution to a problem? [Read more...]

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

While you may not find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, I’m hoping you’ll take these five simple marketing “pots of gold” and apply them to your business.

Now, with most things that are simple, they are often overlooked and underestimated…

But, if you’re really serious about making more of the green stuff, you’re gonna apply these tips… [Read more...]

The truth is if you want to make money or make more money in your business, you better learn how to sell…

(And part of the selling process sometimes involves giving your best stuff away for free!)

This weekend we were up at the Little Italy Farmer’s Market for the fourth week in a row. We have our list of favorites, for example… we never leave without eggs, berries and mozzarella cheese. But we also try something new every week.

I had seen one particular vendor with at least 15 different kinds of hummus, but I never stopped by to check it out. I love hummus, so that’s not the problem ;-)

They just never did anything particularly special to get my attention… [Read more...]

First of all, let me just make clear that the whole point of Marketing is to sell more stuff…

This post is dealing more with what I perceive to be some common misconceptions between the words “selling” and “marketing.”

“Selling is marketing, but marketing is not selling.”

If the above phrase doesn’t make any sense to you, allow me to explain… [Read more...]