Hot Ideas & Hot Air

TornadoMktg.com’s B2B Small Business Marketing Strategies

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 the 'Small Business Online' Category

Business Blogging Content Strategies

Wednesday, October 8th, 2008

I know that many of you are new to business blogging.  So - for all you “newbie” business bloggers, I want give you some advice on creating compelling business blog content. 
When I tell my Tornado Marketing clients they can’t just pitch product and services, they’re often stumped. “Then what will we talk about?”  Chris Brogan wrote a great post “Blog [...]

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…showing the disconnect between advertisers and consumers - and how social media marketing can bridge the gap. Businesses large and small need to COMMUNICATE with their audience not just throw information at them, hoping something will stick…

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Clients and friends are always asking me, “How much of my time and money should be spent online?” In most cases, I recommend about 75% of any small business marketing effort should be invested online - but there are exceptions.

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I truly believe that businesses in general (and Microsoft Dynamics partners in particular) will be making a huge mistake if they choose to ignore this new era of business blogging and social media. Web 2.0 is a game-changing phenomenon. Never before has it been so easy, and so affordable to promote a small, regionally based business. The early adopters will reap the rewards.

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Do we need the marketing hype?

Monday, August 18th, 2008

Marketing hype drives me crazy.  I understand the need to be compelling, persuasive, and time-critical, but do marketers really have to underline and highlight every third word?  When I respond to an interesting marketing offer, and find a landing page filled with marketing hype, I just want to abandon the page.  Personally I’m turned off by 2000-word pages, [...]

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Try before you buy

Wednesday, August 13th, 2008

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know I’m a big fan of social media for small business marketing – but I haven’t always been. While I don’t have a Twitter following like some people and I’m not a big believer in “promiscuous linking” on LinkedIn, I believe that social media is [...]

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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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Writing when there is nothing to write about

Wednesday, August 6th, 2008

Most people start blogs about a topic they are passionate or knowledgeable about. They think that because they love a topic or know a lot about it - it will be easy to maintain daily posts. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done. Despite your passion or knowledge, you don’t always have a brilliant idea on [...]

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Twitter Guide - Business use explained

Monday, August 4th, 2008

THANK YOU JOHN JANTSCH!
Recently I spent some time trying to explain Twitter for business to a client. After the conversation, I kept thinking ’someone should write a guide’ but just didn’t have the time. Well thankfully I wasn’t the only one in need, and John Jantsch has answered my request. If you are wondering about [...]

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So far in John Jantsch’s Duct Tape Marketing Coaching Excellence Series, we have had some amazing interviews, and the next session looks to be no different. On August 18th from 12pm-1pm CDT (10am-11am PDT) , John will be interviewing Stephen M.R. Covey. They will be discussing Covey’s book “The Speed of Trust” and cover a range of topics including leadership and authenticity.

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