The BUZZ Blog
The Buzz is a blog about small business marketing. Tools, tips, strategies and success stories. Subscribe and enhance your marketing position.
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Don't be too quick to judge
I was thinking about an old friend of mine the other day. He was always a bit excentric, but was well-off financially. He liked to dress in scruffy old clothes when he went out to make major purchases—like a new Porsche—and see the look on the salesman's face when he took out his cheque book to buy. …
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Retailers ignoring consumer debt time bomb
UK researcher Vanson Bourne have come up with some pretty stunning stats on how retailers in the UK at least are responding to Times Like These.We're betting it's no different here. Have a look:- 36% of retailers questioned are leaving themselves vulnerable by not proactively checking customers debt …
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5 Ways to Make Direct Marketing Pay
One thing entrepreneurs understand better than anything is this: we all create our own job security by the caliber of our work.We wish we had said this, but Clate Mask already did, and very well, too. "When the media is preaching gloom and doom, when casual conversations are weighed down by the "R" …
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B2B Marketers’ Priorities and Pain Points for 2009
Marketing Sherpa's newsletters is one of our favourite reads.One reason is that they provide FREE research-based insights that we all need. here's a summary of the latest one - CLICK HERE to get the whole article which is open access only to tomorrow, January 28SUMMARY: B2B marketers are adapting to …
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6 Things To Know about EVERY Ideal Prospect
Recently, Geoffrey James uploaded these "must knows" for sales people before presenting to a prospect. It's a great list, so we've adapted it for marketers - have a look.An Ideal Prospect is an Ideal Client "in training". Here's what you must know about your Ideal Prospect so you know how to market …
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Improve Your Sales Results: 2 Live Upcoming Webinars
We are big fans of RainToday, and regularly get their newsletter. Here are a couple of webinars they are putting on that offer not only good advice, but ideas grounded in good research. So they are worth paying for. Tuesday, January 27, from 2:00-3:30 p.m. ESTWhy Clients Don't Buy in 2009 and What Y …
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Are you marketing to the right people?
Whether it’s online or traditional marketing, the peculiar thing we find in dealing with our clients is that most of them do not know who their ideal customers are. But how much of an average marketing budget is actually targeted to qualified prospects? The answer is a surprisingly small percentage. …
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5 steps to find out what prospects really want.
One of our fellow Duct Tape Coaches, Tim Nagle, had a recent conversation about a sales prospect who was interested in hiring a marketing coach or at the least inquiring about programs and how she could be helped. After asking about coaching, she mentioned that she had discussed this with people in …
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MarketingSherpa's 2009 Email Marketing Awards: Deadline This Friday
Are you a holiday procrastinator? Don’t worry. You still have time to seek some recognition for your email savvy.Enter MarketingSherpa's 2009 Email Marketing Awards competition. The deadline for submissions has been extended to January 16th.The fourth annual competition honors B2B and consumer marke …
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9 Steps you CAN take RIGHT NOW to make your Advertising Budget Work Harder
In our work as Duct Tape Marketing coaches, we see some of our clients struggling while others continue to do well. How are these companies different?First, an observation or two. Some businesses are positioned to thrive in a challenging economy: if you sell wood stoves, car repair, maintenance or b …
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Resolutions for 2009
After sitting down and putting together our individual New Years Resolutions, we thought it would be a great idea to document our combined lists and post them here, for the world to see.We've learned a lot over the last 18 months and we've seen time and time again, the business owners who don't have …
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Holidays - A Time for Reflection & Planning
In my experience, now is the perfect time to be thinking about how to improve and grow your business in 2009. It’s time to review your progress during the last 12 months and begin to think strategically about the year ahead.Did 2008 bring you the success and growth you desired? If not, why?Many time …
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Get Over Your Hero Complex in Time for a New Year
Last week I had an interesting experience with a client who was getting so bogged down with serving everyone else, she was forgetting the most important person, herself. It called to mind a recent article by my good friend Jude Smiley of Rainmakers and Beyond Bitch. Here it is:Having a hero comple …
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The Gift of Referrals
Ho Ho Ho! The holiday season is upon us. If you have been working on getting your greetings cards and holiday gifts out…..have you considered having them help you to generate referrals for your business?With so much fluff and junk out there, using every touch point with an existing customer can be a …
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The Art of Lead Generation
The Art of Lead Generation While the concept of lead generation is unlikely to be new to any small business owner, effective lead generation, or the art of turning “suspects” into actual “prospects” who need and want what you have to offer seems to evade many. Why? Because there is no magic bu …
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Red Flags: When Your Eyes Are Deceiving You
When we do the Duct Tape Marketing Kick Start Scorecard (the first step in creating an Ultimate Marketing Plan), we keep our eyes out of these Red Flags.What’s a Red Flag?It’s a belief our client is basing decisions on, which we have learned time and time again may not be accurate. In other words, w …
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Find Your Core Difference
Last week we talked about Red Flags which is actually step 1 to Success in Your Small Business. Here's step 2.Find Your Core DifferenceWhen you talk about your business at a party, do people respond, "Wow! Tell me more about that?" Or do they escape and run to the shrimp dip?If they don't say 'Wow! …
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I wish I could write copy as well as Bill, the painter
I was on the phone with a Duct Tape Marketing client one day last month, while Bill, the guy who is painting my new house, was working in the hall outside my office."Hey Liz," he said as he was ripping off the last of the bubble-gum pink wallpaper border off the wall at the top of the stairs, "you'r …
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What's Your Story??
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Has the ship sailed without you? Six reasons you can’t afford to be left standing on the dock when …
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The BUZZ Blog
