The Competitive Advantage

December 30, 2015

Top 10 Blog Posts & Articles of 2015

As 2015 draws to a close – and we put a wrap on another year of content – I thought it would be interesting to look back at the year and highlight our top 10 blog posts & articles… those that generated the most likes, views and comments.

December 22, 2015

9 Proven Marketing Tips to Try in 2016

Last week, our blog post contained 9 really great sales ideas to try in 2016. This week, I want to tackle some marketing ideas you might want to try next year. Like the tips last week… they’re all low-cost/no cost, easy to do and – most importantly – have been proven to work…

December 15, 2015

9 Proven Sales Tips to Try in 2016

One of my favorite sayings of all time is this: “If you keep doin’ what you’re doin’… you’ll keep gettin’ what you’re gettin’!” It applies to your business just as much as it applies to everyday life.

So, unless you’re 100% satisfied with the growth of your business in 2015, now is the time to think about trying something new in 2016. “Like what?,” you ask! Well, here are 9 sales tips to get your creative juices flowing and help you to increase revenue next year…

November 11, 2015

Get Away, Part 1: 5 Key Lessons Learned at our First Corporate Retreat

I just got back home after two days in the woods… at Harpeth Marketing’s first-ever corporate retreat. Our goal was to think through and discuss the direction for our firm in 2016 and beyond.

OK – in full disclosure – the assembled group was made up of just me! [So, for all of you independent consultants and small shops – you, too, can do this!] And like every other corporate retreat I’ve been involved with, there were flip chart pages taped all over the walls, good ideas, bad ideas, some yelling and arguing (even alone, saying things out loud is really helpful)… and a cold adult beverage (or two) to wrap up the day.

It was a very productive couple of days… and I walked away with a clearer vision and direction for our business. I also walked away with some thoughts about how to get the most out of these kinds of gatherings (especially for smaller firms)…

October 13, 2015

You can’t be “half-ass” about marketing and sales.

I had a conversation last week with a sales prospect… he was the co-founder of a firm with about 20 employees. Actually, it was the last of several phone calls and email exchanges and I was calling to find out if he was going to accept the proposal I had sent to him. He didn’t.

He said that, rather than outsource to us, he was going to have one of his employees “take care of” sales and marketing… in addition to continuing to work with and service clients, which he does now.

I’m gonna let that sink in for a minute.

October 6, 2015

Integrated Marketing: Getting Maximum Impact from your Marketing Tactics

Imagine you work for a small-to-mid-size firm with a small – but active – marketing program. You have a solid website, you blog weekly, send out a monthly email blast, post to social media daily (LinkedIn and Twitter) and even produce a webinar once each quarter. Pretty good stuff!

But here’s the thing… if all of those tactics are not working together, you might not be achieving the kind of results you could be. For example…

September 23, 2015

Don’t Be an Idiot When Making Marketing & Sales Decisions

How do you make your marketing & sales decisions?

For example…

• What topics do you choose to blog about?
• How do you decide what your ads will say?
• Why don’t you Tweet?

For most people and most firms… these kinds of decisions are often made by the senior executive at the firm… who relies (far too much, IMHO) on his or her own feelings… on what they think ought to happen… and on what their gut tells them to do. And even if it’s a reasonably well-informed gut – it’s still boils down to just a guess.

September 8, 2015

Why Spelling and Grammar Matter in Marketing

A guest post by Debra Semans. Based in Atlanta, Debra, is the lead writer for Harpeth Marketing, as well as an independent market researcher and focus group moderator. She can be reached at Debra@HarpethMarketing.com.

I am a Grammar Nerd. I know the difference between “there”, “their”, and “they’re.” I know about the Oxford comma. The difference between active and passive voice is clear to me.

I read your Facebook posts, your Tweets, your emails, and I judge you for your typos and grammatical errors. My esteem for a company drops if they have typos and grammatical errors in their materials.

I know it is not my most endearing quality, but there it is. I admit it.

However, does any of that matter? Or, am I simply hyper-critical and old-fashioned?

Apparently it does matter – quite a bit.