Hot Ideas & Hot Air

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Tornado Marketing Blog

Thanks for stopping by to share your hot ideas (and hot air) about how small businesses can create affordable, effective marketing systems.

Archive for February, 2008

Don’t go on a date without a shower

Friday, February 15th, 2008

 
You’ve been scoping out this person for a while.  Put your best foot forward.  While you are in fact the same person in sweatpants as your are in a suit, first impressions count.  Your date is not going to look past the grubby person who showed up for their date looking like they cared less.  [...]

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When Bill is gone…

Thursday, February 14th, 2008

In the business world, it is a bit scary to think about retiring. But, when you’re Bill Gates, you come up with creative ways to still keep your time filled.

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Winning at any price - isn’t winning!

Wednesday, February 13th, 2008

My fellow Duct Tape Marketing Coaching colleague, Tara Robinson, posted a brilliant podcast today.  Every business owner and sales executive needs to be occasionally reminded that winning at any price — isn’t winning!    To quote Tara quoting John Jantsch, “Someone is always willing to go out of business quicker than you are!” 
Assuming that you have [...]

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Garden your marketing, don’t cook it

Tuesday, February 12th, 2008

When you plant your garden, you plant multiple seeds of in multiple locations; you water, nurture and work at it for days, months and years – but, if done right, you have a continual stream of fruits and veggies. When you cook, you spend minutes or hours on a meal and get to enjoy it [...]

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The Art of Cherry Picking

Monday, February 11th, 2008

 I hear marketing professionals complain all the time that the sales people are just “cherry picking” the leads they are given.  They pick the ripest, juiciest leads from the marketing funnel and leave the rest behind.  And…that’s a problem?  Wouldn’t you do the same? 
Imagine if you were planting a real cherry tree.  Would you [...]

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Sending out a marketing piece to one mailing list, one time and expecting it to work is like trying to make the ocean water boil with a bucket of hot water

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Work Yoga - De-stress.

Thursday, February 7th, 2008

The business world runs a mile a minute. Sometimes it feels like a mile a second. And, it is difficult if not impossible to do your best work when you are stressed and going that quickly. But, we can slow it down. No, I’m not talking abot stopping time (although it would be great…) I’m [...]

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Pick up a video camera, set up some lights, get a staging area and start taping.
No, we’re not talking about the most recent YouTube clip of someone begging to ‘Save Britney!’ We are talking about giving your clients and potential clients and chance to see that you are a real live human! Giving access into [...]

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Maintaining a system

Tuesday, February 5th, 2008

Marketing is not a one time thing.
It is not something that you can do once a month for a couple hours and expect it to work. You need to set up a marketing system. This system should include a plan for time set aside every day, every week, and every month specific for marketing. Block [...]

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Njevity, Inc. Presents Denver’s First Look at Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 delivers flexible power of choice and familiar Outlook experience. 
DENVER — February 1, 2008 — If you want a hands-on look at the all new Microsoft Dynamics® CRM 4.0, Njevity, Inc has announced that they will be holding a “First Look at [...]

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