When Your Main Marketing Vehicle Is A Vehicle

I had some electrical work done at my house yesterday. When I was writing the check out to pay my electrician he slapped a magnetized version of his business card on my fridge. When I complimented him on the idea, he told me that he kept a bunch stuck to the back of his van below the painted words “Please Take One.” I think this is...

Marketing Lessons in Brilliance for Entrepreneurs

I loved reading Jennifer Wang’s recent blog post for Entrepreneur.com about 10 Lessons in Marketing Brilliance. I have always been a sucker for great advertising and love when someone conveniently gathers a “Best of” list all in one place. Jennifer’s blog piece focuses on “marketing marvels from 2011” and the...

Top Ten TED Tweets from TEDx Midwest

I was very excited to attend TEDx Midwest a couple of weeks ago. The 1 1/2 days of the event were filled with thought-provoking speakers across technology, psychology, entertainment, business and other disciplines. While it was a little frustrating not to be allowed to tweet from the event, I applaud the device ban in the auditorium. I think it...

3 Inexpensive Ways To Enhance Your Marketing Efforts

It seems you can’t turn around these days without bumping into another article about why smart companies are increasing their focus on marketing. There are a few easy, relatively inexpensive steps that any company can take to enhance its marketing efforts: 1. SINGLE MESSAGE Decide what the most relevant value proposition of your brand or...

Entrepreneurs Think Differently

Not surprisingly, successful entrepreneurs approach problem solving very differently than do their equally successful large company peers. It all boils down to something called effectual reasoning. In plain English that basically means that entrepreneurs are “brilliant improvisers” and create their goals along the way, based on...

LinkedIn Etiquette

I’m an old-fashioned girl. Because of this, I try to only “LinkIn” to people I actually know. My philosophy is grounded in the spirit of LinkedIn which is all about being a network of trusted connections. How can I trust a connection if I don’t know them? And why would I unleash a stranger on the network that I have...

Three Common Marketing Mistakes

BASICS EVERY BUSINESS SHOULD TACKLE As part of Washington Business Tonight’s Consulting series, I was asked to talk about three common marketing mistakes that small to mid-sized businesses often make. These can be summed up by “Do, Reach, Say.” Watch the interview here and let me know if you agree!

You Don’t Need Marketing (yet)

B2B companies under $2M in revenue don’t need to hire a marketing person, much less a Chief Marketing Officer This is a reprint of a post I wrote earlier this month as a guest blogger for the Entrepreneurial Execution Project run by Professors Waverly Deutsch and Craig Waitmann of the University of Chicago Booth School’s Polsky...

Customer Appreciation – The Power of Thank You

I was a loyal United Airlines Premier flyer for 15 years. I loved getting on the plane first, sitting towards the front in Economy Plus, and always being able to find room for my bag. Not to mention all of United’s wonderful international locations to which I took many a free flight over the years. However, at the same time, there was no...

Marketing Strategy via Baby Steps: Do

In a recent TV interview, I cited “Do, Reach, Say” as three common marketing mistakes I see companies making. I thought it might be helpful to write a post about each of those elements, starting with Do. How is “Do” a marketing mistake? It is shorthand for the fact that many companies do not stop and think about what they...