Tag: marketing

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Some Thoughts on Borrowed Interest Advertising

I have got to admit that I’m not normally a big fan of borrowed interest advertising. It’s not very original and can even be downright illegal. But I also have to admit to being a big fan of whoever puts together the DirecTV television ads.  I think they’re creative and funny and I’m going to borrow some of their ideas in case you haven’t seen the actual ads.

Are you depressed because you aren’t getting enough business?  If you are depressed, you’ll probably participate in webinars designed to show you how to increase your sales. This will make you go do the things you learned about in the webinars.  But they won’t always work. And that will frustrate you. So don’t just listen to webinars and become frustrated.  Call Jon Turino for help in growing your business through better marketing strategies.

Are you finding that spending lots of money on the latest Internet marketing fad isn’t working for you? If so, you’ll probably spend lots of time finding the next Internet marketing fad and spending a lot of money on it before finding out that it isn’t working for you either. And that can make you broke. So don’t just chase the latest Internet marketing fad.  And don’t go broke. Call Jon Turino for help in growing your business through better marketing strategies.

Are you trying to market to one audience using techniques designed for another audience and getting frustrated because that strategy isn’t working? If so, you’ll probably spend a lot of time and money trying to figure out which messages work with which media to market successfully to multiple audiences. And you’ll probably be spread so thin that you won’t really know which things are working and which things are not.  And that can be very frustrating. So don’t do this to yourself.  Call Jon Turino for help in growing your business through better marketing strategies.

Are you getting the message I’m trying to convey?  If not, my borrowed interest approach isn’t working with you.  This could be because you aren’t really paying attention as you read this. Or because your sense of humor is not as fully developed as it could be. Or because you’re not thinking about how different approaches to getting your marketing message out to your prospective customers might be more effective than what you are currently doing. If it is the latter, don’t get frustrated by this.  Call Jon Turino for help in growing your business through better marketing strategies.

Get rid of the old ways that aren’t working for you.  Call Jon Turino for help in growing your business through better marketing strategies.  You won’t be nearly as frustrated and you won’t go broke.

COmments, please!

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The Synergy of Collaboration

We’ve got a small group here in Portland called HUB that was formed a few months ago by a couple of solo entrepreneurs who wanted to get out of their home office spaces and work side-by-side with their friends, associates and colleagues in a communal setting. As those who do work from home in one-person enterprises know well, it can get lonely and you can really miss the synergy that comes from being able to bounce ideas off one another.

These folks found a copacetic coffee shop with free WiFi and the group has now grown to anywhere from six to ten participants on any given Friday from mid-morning to mid-afternoon. It’s kind of a loud, exuberant and chaotic atmosphere in the coffee shop, the caffeine factor notwithstanding. People are not working on joint projects.  They’re doing their own work on their own projects or getting caught up on tasks that haven’t been completed yet. But they are talking to each other, asking each other questions and getting answers they wouldn’t get when working alone.

Someone working on a website might have a question about search engine optimization.  And there’s usually someone in the group who knows more than a little about that subject.  Another might be wrestling with a graphics issue, or placement of a graphic in a web site, and there’s usually someone in the group who is able and willing to help. It’s not all just computer work, however.  There’s discussion about social issues, pets, kids, organizations, projects and a host of other topics. With work getting done in the process.

If you work alone most of the time, perhaps a group like this would be of value to you.  I know that it is of great value to me even though I can participate only once or twice a month. You’ve got to be willing to give of your time and knowledge during the sessions but you’ll get payback in droves from those you help. New ideas, new techniques, new relationships and new business possibilities abound.  For their really is synergy in collaboration.

If you’d like more information on this group, let me know via a comment on this blog entry or the Contact page on my website and I’ll put you in touch with its founders.

 

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The Value of Experts

The Value of Experts

Expert key image

I am continually amazed that the more I learn, in general, the less I seem to know about specifics. I wonder if my brain will hold only so much and then overflow the older stuff. Case in point: creating an important message for social media or email consumption.

Over the weekend, I got a call from someone on the East Coast looking for the “free, quick” consultation I offer on my website. He was having trouble crafting a short message for Facebook describing what his company offered and including a call for action that stressed benefits rather than features. He had a start but wasn’t happy with it. I asked some questions, visited his website and wrote a three-sentence post for him that thrilled him. He wanted more work that day, but I told him he’d exhausted the “free, quick” offer and that help with his follow-on projects would cost him.

I don’t know if he’ll pay anyone for the follow-on work or not. But I do know that if he does decide to pay for it, I’ll be the first person he calls. And I’ll get the work. Because I did a good job for him on a quick freebie, he knows that he’ll get expertise and value on a longer, working consulting job.

That story brings me to the topic of the value of paying for experts. I have an email message that needs to go out in the next couple of weeks to over 1,200 people. I consider that message critical to the launch of an important new activity and I spent a lot of time working on it contents. And then I did something really smart: I hired someone else to make it right. Based on my skills above, which clearly show me to be more than capable of doing things for myself, why would I do such a thing?

Forty-eight hours later, I had my answer. The passive voice that had crept in a couple of places was replaced with the active voice. The right words were converted to anchor text and the links were inserted where they worked the best. The flow of the message was improved, as was the call to action. I have got to say that I just hadn’t, and maybe even couldn’t, have paid as much attention to those details as did my expert copywriter. She punched up the words and grammar, optimized the message for search engines and made it far more appealing, in my view, to my intended audience. I really think the improved version will work much better and I’m happy to pay my expert for her work.

Are there things you aren’t so good at when you try to do them for yourself? Things you don’t use quite as critical an eye when producing for yourself than you would for a client? Then do what I did: hire someone else to do them for you. If you’re a marketer, why are you doing accounting work? If you are an accountant, why are you trying to play marketer? If you’re a designer, why are you trying to manufacture things yourself?

The value of an expert can mean the difference between the success and failure of your venture. Don’t take chances to try to save a few dollars. It may not even be penny-wise, let alone pound foolish. Let me know what you think. I’d love to hear your”war stories,” good and bad, and so would my readers I’d guess.

P.S: The copywriter who helped me on this project is Ms. Kristin O’Neill, www.KnockOutWords.com.