11 Must Ask Questions (Your marketing plan depends on it)

One of my favorite workshops to give is the “Create Your Do It Now Marketing Plan“.  I love giving this workshop for several reasons.  To begin, I love showing small business owners what goes into a traditional strategic marketing plan.  When they see the amount of work involved in a traditional plan, they understand what a marketing strategist really does.  {Secretly, it makes me giggle looking at their faces.} I also enjoy contrasting the traditional strategic marketing plan to the 1 Page 1 Day marketing plan concept that I trademarked for Marketing With Ease™.

While not as comprehensive as a traditional marketing plan, the Do It Now Marketing Plan™ does include the core (more…)

The Business Of Being Social

Ready or not, like it or not, the art of doing business is social.  Now what?

Recently I had the privilege of being interviewed by Fox News 8 anchorman Bob Buckley.  As part of a special broadcast, The Buckley Report, Bob asked me and 2 other experts about the business of social media.

Social media is not a fad, a trend or a Generation Y thing.  It’s not going away. The sooner you embrace the shift from business as usual to social business, the better.  In a very real way, social media is now the new world order.

If you run from social media, you risk loosing the confidence of your customers. Now, more than any other time, customers are demanding a “brand experience“.  They aren’t interested in what YOU have to say until you show them (more…)

Why I Pimped My Poken

Never let it be said that I don’t have a fun, free-spirited side.  Most people (who don’t know me socially) are under the impression that I’m all work and no play.  Can you believe it?  While I’m no party girl, I do have a playful side.  In fact, sometimes I’m just plain outrageous.  I live in a house with teenagers, I have to be outrageous to keep my sanity.  So, when I decided to purchase my Poken, I knew I wanted one that had a little character to it.

Not familiar with Pokens?  A Poken is a portable electronic device that stores and retrieves social networking contact information.  When you meet someone with a Poken, you simply make the Pokens touch (or poke) and presto – you (more…)

Market Research Fast & Dirty

Arguably, the most unglamorous part of marketing is doing market research.  I hear the complaining and the excuses often.  I personally, just don’t understand it.  In the 21^st century, nearly everything you need to manage your business is at your fingertips instantaneously.  So why on earth are people still complaining about market research?

If you know what you are looking for, you’ll discover that online data information gathering through various data mines, social platforms and information portals offer widely available content.  Here’s the kicker – it’s free! (more…)