The Competitive Advantage

November 13, 2013

Never forget… we are in the “people business.”

“All things being equal, people do business with people they like.  All things not being equal, people still do business with people they like.”

Say what you will about the efficiencies of technology like emails, text messages, social media posts and even the telephone… the best business is still conducted face-to-face.

That was validated and confirmed for me yesterday… when I flew to Pittsburgh to meet with a client to talk about planning for 2014.

October 29, 2013

6 Reasons Why You Should Consider Video Marketing

Video, as a marketing tool, has largely gone unused in our industry… and I’m not sure why.

We are very much a TV/video society… it only make sense to communicate in a style that people are used to and that works for them.

October 8, 2013

Measure your marketing for a competitive advantage… a neat little trick (and it’s free)

Measuring your marketing effort is critical to your success.  When you measure, you learn what works and what doesn’t… and from that, can create a process for continual improvement.

Sometimes, the measurement requires some good ol’ nose-to-the-grindstone effort.  And other times, some really smart people create easy-to-use tools that make the job a whole lot easier.  Here’s one of them.

We’ve all used a service like bitly to create shortened versions of very long URLs.  It can be a very useful tool.

But did you know that bitly also provides a very easy way to help you track your marketing tactics?  Here’s an example of how it works…

September 24, 2013

Details matter… are you paying attention?

I’ve blogged before about the local coffeeshop that I frequent – The Good Cup in Franklin, Tennessee.  I’ve described it as a real social networking site because I always run into old friends there and it gives me the chance to catch up.

A month ago, my son and I ran by for some coffee and a chance to spend a last few minutes together before he headed back to college.  I ordered a cup of coffee and he ordered a drink that needed to be made by the barista.

His order got dropped and when they finally brought it around, they apologized for the delay and gave my son a coupon, good for a free drink on his next visit.  Take a look at the coupon in the photo… it’s a guitar pick.  And I thought it was fantastic…