• As companies transition from this tough economy to the stability of business basics, it’s time to re-think and re-innovate your marketing.

• Whether you’re in the business-to-business or business-to-consumer sectors, “personal connection-oriented marketing” still works. Although it’s a throwback to the old days of “Mom and Pop” marketing, it has made Nordstrom a success – even in this economy.

• Make sure you add “human touch-points” to your sales-building plan. These include a genuine smile and honest conversation, a thank-you note and a post-sale phone call.

• Make “personal connection-oriented marketing” your competitive edge. Very few companies are taking this approach, believing that shaking a hand and having a conversation takes too much time and is simply old-fashioned.

• How effective is the personal connection? After all these years, through good times and tough times, this strategy still works for Nordstrom and no matter what business sector you’re in, it will work for you.

2. Want A Better Ranking On Google?  Here’s How A Blog Can Help

• Having a difficult time securing a strong ranking on Google for your prime search phrases? Getting your company’s Web site into the top range of the search results is a difficult and daunting task, especially if having a strong Internet presence is a critical part of your marketing plan.

• The best solution to this problem is a company blog. A blog can enhance your search engine rankings simply because Google looks at blogs differently than it looks at Web sites. Google views blogs as being extremely relevant in terms of the content.

• In addition, Google likes frequent copy changes. A blog with frequent postings gets spidered more often than a static Web site. Ultimately, the more frequently you blog and the more relevant your posts are to your company’s expertise, the more often Google will visit your blog and believe that it is important enough for users to see it, thus giving it a much stronger consideration for a higher placement in the search results.

3. Surprise!  Advertising Is Not Dead

• Contrary to what the pundits have been spouting for the past decade, advertising is not dead. In fact, it is more alive and popular than ever.

• While there have been changes and course corrections in some of the more traditional media, the popularity of advertising is evident on countless new mediums. Witness advertising on the different transit systems, billboards, escalators, grocery carts, gasoline pumps, T-shirts, pizza boxes, grocery receipts, bus shelters, park benches, buildings, movie theaters, airline boarding passes, washrooms, baseball stadiums and, of course, everything related to the Internet.

• So, is advertising dead? Certainly not. It’s just that the venues to reach different targeted groups – your customers – have changed and multiplied.

4. The 60-Second Close: When Did Marketing A Business Get So Complex?

• There’s no doubt that your “daddy’s same old marketing plan” won’t grow today’s business. The Internet and an influx of new and non-traditional mediums have made life a little more complex and much more interesting.

• Need help separating it all out? Need help determining what will work best to reach your target customer? Let us know. We can help you get there … faster than ever.

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60 Second Impact – May 2009

• Each January, we suggest a theme on which to focus your business activities for the coming months.  This year’s theme is “the year to risk.”
• During 2009, we urge you to take risks and do things differently.  Risk introducing a new service or product.  Risk trying new online marketing efforts, such as those within the arena of social media.  Risk changing your Web site to something that captivates users.
• Risk trying new offline sales and marketing efforts such as networking or speaking – efforts that improve your image as a leader and an authority in your business category.

All the World’s a Twitter.  Claim Your Twitter ID Before It’s Taken

• The popularity of Twitter as a social media platform continues to zoom.  Up to 10,000 people join Twitter each day, and more companies are jumping on the bandwagon, using Twitter as a micro-blogging conversational tool to “talk” to their customers.
• We urge you to claim your Twitter ID, whether you decide to participate in Twitter or not.  A Twitter ID is like a URL.  It’s part of your personal brand.  Once someone else takes it, you’ve lost it forever.
• Remember when you couldn’t get that domain name for your Web site because someone beat you to the punch?  It’s the same situation with Twitter.
• Follow us on Twitter: @cjrwadvertising

New Year’s Top Ten Lists: Why Your Company Should Write One

• Inundated with top ten lists?  There’s a reason that people are fascinated with lists.  They’re easy to read, easy to remember and easy to talk about.  Some lists are ridiculous, some are humorous and some are factual.
• Lists play an important role in your company’s marketing efforts by educating people, in an easy format, about the value of your product.  Does your company have a list of the top ten reasons your product or service differs from your competitors’ or the top ten characteristics that set your company apart?
• Having a top ten list gives you and your staff the ability to easily verbalize how your company stands out from the others, especially if you’re in a business sector that’s full of similarity.

The 60-Second Close: How to Get Better Results

• You need to think and act differently.  Blending and similarity aren’t going to get you where you need to be during this economy.
• Interested in learning more about the risks you should take in order to succeed in 2009?  Do you want a team behind you that will challenge you and put you on a path to success?  Then call us.  We can help you get there – faster than ever.

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60-Second Impact – January 2009

• By the time you read this, Americans will have selected a new president and for the next month or so, the pundits will continue to analyze what went right, what went wrong and who voted for whom and why.
  
• The arrival of a new administration traditionally sparks optimism within the economy, but this year will be different. Retail prognosticators are forecasting a gloomy holiday shopping season. Is your business prepared to beat the odds?
  
• Going to battle against the recession is a no-win situation. But if you want to be the one standing when the smoke clears, you’ve got to have a plan to outwit and outsell your competition.

Why You Shouldn’t Lower Prices During These Tough Times

• It’s hard to resist the urge to lower the prices of your retail products or services during these times, but you must realize that if you do so, you are taking a risk.
• Despite eating into their profits, most companies lower their prices, hoping to bring in additional sales and keep their staff on payroll. This tactic may attract bargain customers, but they’ll most likely abandon you once you increase your prices.
• So, what do you do? Rather than lowering your prices, develop a way to increase your value. The reason people won’t pay your price is because there’s not enough value attached to the product.
• For example, a high-end steak restaurant, rather than lowering their menu prices, should be adding value by developing a promotion with a high-end retailer like Brooks Brothers.
• Discounting and dropping your prices is the penalty you pay when you’re not delivering enough value for the money you’re charging.

Record Numbers Are Visiting Newspaper Web Sites

• They may not prefer the paper version, but readers continue to flock to newspapers’ Web sites for fast breaking information and analysis of the news. Visits during the third quarter were up 16% over the previous quarter. (www.marketingcharts.com)

The 60-Second Close: Being There When The Dust Settles

• Some of the best-known companies in the country, in your region and in your neighborhood –- your competitors — may not have the endurance to make it through the next quarter. We believe you will succeed. But just as your customers have changed, your marketing needs to change as well. It needs to tell a story of trust and integrity — of something remarkable.
  
• Interested in learning more about how you can outwit and outsell the competition? Want to be there when the dust settles? Then call us. We can help you get there … faster than ever.
  

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60-Second Impact – November 2008

• The “fewest dropped calls” is now being dropped and replaced with a line that could be more appropriate for the hospitality business — “More bars in more places.”

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Why AT&T’s “Fewest Dropped Calls” Campaign Got Dropped

• The “fewest dropped calls” is now being dropped and replaced with a line that could be more appropriate for the hospitality business — “More bars in more places.”

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Why AT&T’s “Fewest Dropped Calls” Campaign Got Dropped

• Buying TV is easier than developing and implementing one-on-one customer relationship programs, easier than developing training and incentive programs, and easier than implementing a VIP customer service strategy.

• In order for mass media to be successful, your “house” must be in order on the sales floor. Do you or your current advertising firm go beyond mass media to examine this for you? If not, then call us. We can help you get there … faster than ever.

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Is Your “House” In Order?

• Without an appealing “invitation” to a series of events or sales promotions that benefit your potential customers, you allow them to roam and possibly give their business to (yikes!) your competition.

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The True Meaning Of Marketing And Are You Doing It?

• Need help? Call us. We can help you get there … faster than ever.

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The 60 Second Close: Your 99 Day Forecast

1. If you’re the “face” of your company, upload a video of your personal “campaign” message: what your company stands for and how you differentiate yourself.
2. Upload a product demonstration on YouTube.
3. Invite customers to upload video testimonials.
4. Include an interactive chat function on your Web site (www.meebome.com) so customers can get answers immediately.
5. Attend networking functions. Get to be known as the “face” of your business.

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Using The Election Campaign As A Marketing Template For Your Business

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Election Campaign #3: Winning Voters With Low-Tech Shoe Leather Marketing