10 Business Plan Dos and Don’ts
David Ronick is a co-founder of UpStart Bootcamp, but is also a from Harvard Business School Business Plan Contest. As somebody who is a judge on the Marketing Institute of Ireland’s All Ireland Marketing Awards, I know you can learn a tonne from this sort of thing. I have noted in the past on previous […]
Stop advertising. Now.
One of the first things I do when I join a company, or consult with a company is ask to see all the pieces of communication that are (supposedly) in place to drive new customers to the business. It is almost axiomatic that there will be a plethora of ‘stuff’ in place that is, at […]
The new ‘digital divide’
We have all seen the articles in the paper over the years about the so-called ‘digital divide’. According to Wikipedia, the ‘digital divide refers to the gap between people with effective access to digital and information technology, and those with very limited or no access at all. It includes the imbalance both in physical access […]
Single Shot Advertising – a great way to throw money down the drain!
Single Shot Advertising One shot ads, rarely get results. Most customers don’t jump on the band wagon the first time it passes by. It’s like asking to get married on the first date: it could happen, but highly unlikely.
The 26 Reasons why people buy
One of the original direct marketing gurus was the late Ed Mayer. He came up with the “26 Reasons why people buy”. An oldie but a goodie – but still applicable today to all forms of marketing. 1. To make money 2. To save money 3. To save time 4. The avoid effort 5. To […]
Internet Trends
Last month, Mary Meecker from Kleiner Perkins came out with a presentation on Internet trends that made a few eyes pop open. The big one that I took away was this… the top 200 leading marketers across all industries (the big players like P+G, makes of Tide, Pampers etc, Gillette) spent less than 2.6% of […]
7 major elements of an email
The construction of an email more is loaded with do’s and don’ts, tricks and techniques. Obviously, the basic requirements of are that it must attract the reader’s attention, stimulate desire, encourage conviction and generate action all by itself. If you are writing an email, there are seven major elements that need to be included. 1. […]
Revenge of the nerds
Blessed are the number crunchers as they will inherit the earth. Or something like that. The trend towards better use of analytics for driving decision-making within organisations is now front and centre, as they say in the US. In fact, any form of career as an analytics and data guru is a sure-fire winner in […]
How to look more attractive to more prospects.
I think that all businesses, whether large or small, are always looking for ways to make themselves more attractive in order to land more qualified consumers. Some revamp their image, while others tighten up their package. Generating new prospects is key to an organization’s survival and become critical during economic hard times. One’s ability to […]
Read all about it: This week’s Colin Lewis Newspaper
I’m sure you have heard of Twitter. What you may have not heard a lot of are all the other apps that hang off it. One of my favourites is paper.li – an ingenious tool that pulls together all the people you follow into one easy-to-read newspaper format. Paper.li automatically formats all of the people […]
The missing ingredient
When it comes to any website, the number one ingredient that you must have for your website is the answer to the question: ‘what do I want the visitor to do when they come to my site? In other words, what action do I want them to take now that they have taken the time […]
Move The Free Line
One of the best ways to get your prospects travelling happily through your sales and marketing system right from the start is to give away something on the front end of the funnel. This could be at a meeting, when people first visit your website, or on a business referring to a website etc. This […]
Back to basics on getting a new customer
Many companies appear to assume their sales process is like buying an ice-cream. The steps in buying an ice-cream are real simple. It’s hot. There’s a shop. Open fridge. Agonise over choice of Choc-Ice or Magnum. Moan about cost of said ice-cream at till. Consume. There is another one – more my style, in fact: […]
The guys at Lexus are ruining it for everyone else!
Until recently, consumers had a limited repetoire of companies that they could choose to deal with. This was often dictated by where they lived, how their tastes had developed, and what form of advertising was used. Of course, this is not the case anymore. The woman shopping in the local mall is also looking at […]
Marketing And List Building: Show Them Why
Even with the advent of thousands of Facebook and Twitter follower, building your own list of past and future prospects is the single most important thing to do. The list is equivalent to all your future income. Facebook followers are not as an engaged, despite the social media hype. Email is still the one to […]
Old is the new ‘new’.
I’m sure you have head of the movie ‘Alien’. It’s particularly memorable for John Hurt’s Kane character and his gastro-intestinal distress caused by a face-hugging alien. It was pitched to the studios with one line as ‘Jaws in space’! The ‘Pirates’ movies – The Curse of the Black Pearl, Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s […]
Maths: Who needs it?
As a marketing guy through and through, I think the Irish emphasis on science and mathematics is completely overstated. Make that completely overstated if want to run a business. To be honest, I would much rather be doing something that involved some creative thinking. However, the basics of any business are the numbers. Unfortunately, the […]
Stuck for content for your blog or need to do some research….?
I have pulled together all the basic sources of content that you can use for all your needs! Well, that might be a bit excessive, but it’s the best list I can pull together at the moment! • HubPages: http://hubpages.com • Ning: http://ning.com • Gather: http://gather.com • Squidoo: http://squidoo.com • Tumblr: http://tumblr.com • Scribd: http://scribd.com […]