A Brand You World
I’ve been using my mp3 player the past few days to catch up on the teleseminars from A Brand You World – the global summit celebrating a decade of personal branding. From the site: In 1997, Tom Peters wrote his now iconic article “The Brand Called You” in Fast Company. Now ten years later, the…
Write for real people in your newsletter
Here’s a useful writing tip from Drew McLellan. Here’s one of my favorite “tricks of the trade” when it comes to writing. I create my audience from a composite from bits and pieces of the real people who engage with the product or service. From those seemingly random facts, I concoct a 3-D, multi-faceted person.…
Now say it like you mean it
I’m a big fan of using greetings cards as a marketing tool. I send them myself. They’re a good way to keep in touch with clients and prospects because they allow you to write a personal message that’s delivered in a format which is likely to get read. But if you’re using cards, you’ve got…
A Marketing Lesson (With Rice and a Naan)
It’s a good day when dinner comes with some great marketing ideas. I’ve just come back from ordering at Veda, a new chain of Indian takeouts here in Toronto. Thought I’d share with you some marketing lessons. 1) Positioning. Most Indian takeouts (and I’m from the UK, where chicken tikka masala is the national dish!)…
Why Smart Businesses Happily Spend Money on Marketing
There are two types of business owners: those who spend as little as they possibly can on marketing; and those who spend as much as they can. The difference between the two is that the former looks just at the cost of marketing, while the latter looks at the cost of marketing and, most importantly,…
The independent bookstore — and your newsletter
Running an independent bookstore is a difficult task these days: you’re squeezed by the bookstore chains, the superstores and online retailers, all of which offer books (the bestsellers, at least) at a discount. So I was interested to read an article in The Guardian newspapaper today about an independent bookstore in London, England. Here’s a…
Accountants who get it
Karin over at The Kiss Business Too blog points us in the direction of her accountants’ website. Before you yawn, it’s got a lot of interesting stuff worth checking out. Lots of things they do right. As Karin points out, they have a regularly updated news page (which would be even better if it had…
Dental care
Just back from the dentist. On the wall of the office was a sign that said something like: “Our aim is to give the very best of care to your teeth so that you keep as many of your own teeth as possible for the rest of your life.” A good sign, I thought. A…
Printing money?
I like Vistaprint. They’ve done some very nice postcards for me – great for small runs. They also have a smart marketing machine. 1) They encourage you to sign up to get emails from them with the bait of special discounts2) They mail frequently – once every few days3) They put great offers in these…