There are aspects of our business life that are challenges. When I blog or when I design or consult, I often come across challenges that only research can address. I am currently investigating podcasts. I want the production to be more than me in front of a microphone discussing branding tips. What about production values? Background music? The intro? All of these concerns are what is known as pain points. In the course of accomplishing something, these are the little irritants along the journey. When you develop your marketing materials, recognizing your target audience’s pain points and exploiting them, will…

Recently my daughter was admitted to the hospital for a serious eye infection. If you’re not familiar with our story last November she was diagnosed with hodgkins lymphoma, and thank the Lord she was shown to be completely free of all disease half way into her treatment. But in the meantime she developed pnemonia, along with most recently an eye infection and was admitted into the Children’s Hospital last week. Thankfully we only had to spend 5 days there and she was able to come home. Since December of last year I started learning how to plan better for the…

The above headline is a hook based on sexual innuendo coupled with no intention to deliver. It is also something that I find despicable on the web and that is the classic practice of “Bait and Switch”. In its classic scenario, you picked up your weekend edition of the newspaper, went through the advertising flyers and low and behold you locked on to some incredible offer with a time limitation such as, limited quantities – sale ends 5:00 sharp! – you don’t have to tell me twice, I’m there when the store has shortly opened. Ad in hand you approach…

You don’t have to spend $2 million dollars on a Super Bowl commercial to have a creative ad that grabs people’s attention. What are some keys to having something that breaks through the clutter? Try these 5 rules: Surprise your audience. Do something they don’t expect. Make sure it is relevant. Funny for funny sake doesn’t sell more product. Remember your end game. No inside jokes. Everyone should get it. Different medium = different funny. You can be more esoteric in print ads because your audience has time to figure it out. Outdoor — they have about 5 seconds, so…

Lately if you have been following our Media page, here at SBB we have received some pretty cool exposure. 1) Logoworks by HP featured Ed Roach where he gives us 5 Tips To Branding A Powerful Presence. 2) Dell featured Drew McLellan`s Article You Can Say Thank You Too. View the post by Dell here In light of this recent exposure, I wanted to share with you some things you can do for your own business to not only get the word out about it, but to thrive! Building an online business has become one of the most popular forms…

Twitter? I have a group of friends that are NOT technologically savvy. They don’t know a hard drive from a long drive. They do know sales and how to run a business, so how and why would they want to take the time to learn about social networking and Twitter specifically? Well let’s first take a look at what is Twitter? Twitter is a micro blogging platform designed to let users answer the question: “What are you doing right now?” It allows friends (followers) to hear and answer that question in real time via SMS, IM and webpages. Purpose How…

It has been repetitively said that communication is key. Whether a business is looking to initiate new business or grow relationships within its existing book of business, effective communication is the driving force in helping companies moving their business in the right direction. Communication should be seen as ongoing starting from the first phone or email contact with a prospect to the completion of a project or throughout the course of your relationship. It is comprised of many components, many of which are highlighted below. Following these ten important tips will help your company cohesively form a communication strategy that…

There are many people who have no idea how to make money online. You have a website up, and we use all the traditional methods of advertising, word of mouth, etc. The online world is SO different from offline. If you’re a business with a brand and a message you want to grow, then there is no other place I think you should be this year than at the 30 Day Challenge. FINALLY IT’S HERE AND IT’S FREE! Every year I look forward to the 30 Day Challenge because I know all year long Ed Dale and Dan Raine are…

Avis and their 3 Minute Promise Guest post by Bill Hogg www.billhogg.ca In the same vein as my earlier post Are You Measuring What Counts, the blog Customer Relations referred me to an article where EasierTravel reported that Avis has launched its “3 Minute Promise” service, for Avis Preferred members in France and the UK. “The 3 Minute service begins when the customer enters the Avis premises and time can be measured by the renter with a stop watch provided at the start of each rental process. If the time elapsed is over the three minutes, the customer will receive…

Yaro has been working hard behind the scenes for the big launch day for Blog Mastermind. NOTE: Yaro is offering 3 Action Bonuses for the first 100 people to join! Today at 10AM EST, you will have an opportunity to join his program and put his teachings into action. It’s not easy putting together a big launch like this as I know I’ve gone through the process myself. Over a rather short period of time I wanted to share with you some things that I’d like to do with my own blogs, and the first thing that will change is…