Hot Ideas & Hot Air

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

Archive for the 'Requirements of every small business' Category

7 Recession Proof Small Business Marketing Tips

Thursday, September 25th, 2008

With all the talk about the economy and the bailout, I thought it would be perfect timing to re-post John Jantsch’s 7 Recession Proof Small Business Marketing Tips.

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Going GREEN

Thursday, September 11th, 2008

Wouldn’t you love to know how to help your business go green, AND save money at the same time? Most marketing documents have a short shelf life - many end up in the trash before they’re even given to prospects and customers. To reduce the amount of marketing waste, I tell my clients to:

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I don’t have time for marketing!

Monday, September 8th, 2008

It’s the one phrase I hear ALL the time  when I first meet with people.  “I know we should be doing more, but we just don’t have time for marketing,” they  confess dolefully.  I also hear its variants:
“I know our website hasn’t been updated in 10 years, but….”  
“I know we don’t have any collateral material, but….” 
“I know [...]

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Many of my clients have been in business for YEARS - some as many as 20 years - and before they hired me, they’ve never put together a marketing plan.  I know why they didn’t have a marketing plan.  Here’s what I’ve seen:
1.  Small Business Marketing Plans can seem like an academic exercise.  They just take too [...]

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Marketing to attract the ideal client

Friday, August 22nd, 2008

At my Mission Viejo Toastmasters Club meeting recently, a group of us were discussing how to attract more members.  Attendance has been really low over the summer, and the group would be more fun with more people.  The ironic thing is that our group actually has about 25 members - a very decent sized group!  [...]

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For some of us, social media is like breathing.  We check Twitter every day (ok, 10-15 times a day).  We blog every day (or at least try).  We have a group of friends on Facebook, MySpace, FriendFeed, plurk and all of the other creatively named social sites. But for others, like Landon Ray, the CEO of Office [...]

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Simply put: marketing is one of the most important things that your business can do to get more business. And it can get expensive in a hurry. But, there are some easy ways to increase your marketing without increasing your marketing cost. Here are 3 of the tactics that we use, and suggest that our clients [...]

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John Jantsch, Author of Duct Tape Marketing, is getting ready for his next in the Coaching Excellence Series. Next week he will be interviewing David Meerman Scott. The interview will be held on July 16th at Noon CDT. The seminars are free and give you a great opportunity to hear more about the success of [...]

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The all-important referral

Monday, July 7th, 2008

There is no ‘one way’ to get referrals, but there are a lot of simple things you can do to make it easier and more likely that you will get them! But, when I am talking to my clients about getting more referrals, I usually tell them to follow these 11 steps:
Deserve referrals: This should [...]

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I was looking in the newspaper the other day, and my eyes ran across an advertisement for dental implants. Normally, I don’t pay much attention to the ads, but this one stopped me in my tracks. Unfortunately, not because it was a good one. After looking at it for a couple of minutes in shock, I [...]

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