Archived post. Originally published 8.18.2010.

Trent Hamm, author of "The Simple Dollar" posted a fantastic article the other day on OpenForum titled "Be Where Your Customers Are."

The premise of the article is an easy one - take your product directly to your customer, and they'll buy. Sounds simple enough, right? 

Unfortunately, no, sometimes it's just not that simple. Business and day-to-day operations happen, which pulls the focus away from simple tactics like this, and forces small business owners to rely on impersonal outreach to communicate with their customers. 

Sure, social media has helped to turn this tide by opening a deeper and more engaging relationship with an audience, but is that really more powerful than taking a product and physically putting it into the hands of a potential customer? No, it's not.

So my challenge to you (and myself!) is the same as Trent's - find one way to bring your business directly to your customers. Eschew the inbox, the newsletter, and the phone call for a bit and devise a plan to invest your time and energy to physicallybe where your customers are, and put your service or product into their hands.

To keep myself honest, I'll post my plan and update on its results within a month. If you're game for the challenge, tell me in the comments! 

Archived post. Originally published 10.15.2009.

For those of us who might be building out Facebook pages in lieu of email marketing, prepare yourself: A recent study shows that many adults are more willing to share information with marketers via email rather than social networking sites.

Check out the article from Adweek here.

Does this mean choose one tactic or the other? No. Keep the Tweets rolling if that’s what works for you.

What this does mean is that before taking the leap (and budget!) with any new tactic, you must internalize the process by which you develop productive, trusting relationships with your prospects. If social media is the key to finding and nurturing new customers, then by all means, invest in that tactic. If it's not, then perhaps it's time to put the blog, Facebook pages, LinkedIn Groups and Twitter aside for now and develop whattruly delivers on your goals.

Archived Post. Originally published on 12/4/2009.
One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever gotten, or have offered, is that “Your content sucks.”

Harsh, I know, but let’s sit back and ponder it for a minute. How many of us have company descriptors that beg further explanation? How many times do the words “leading,” “best-of-breed” or “innovative” appear in the first paragraph of anything you write? Do your customer case studies actually present a case?

I thought so.

Like any good article, content development should start out with an outline of the 5 W’s. Ann Handley of Marketing Profs presents this theory nicely in her article “What the ‘Five Ws’ of Journalism Have to Do With Marketing (and Why You Should Care)”. Check it out today by clicking here.

Afterwards, I challenge you to take a handful of your written materials, and evaluate them. How could you improve your writing by applying the 5W rule? Share your thoughts in the comments today!