Strategic marketing is built upon the quantity and quality of names written down in that “little black book”. To coin an overused cliché, it’s all about who you know. That means it’s important to fill up your database file (Rolodex, Microsoft Outlook address book, ACT or SalesForce) with as many prospective clients, industry professionals, mentors and business partners as possible.

And gathering contacts is all about three things: networking, networking and networking. However, you cannot simply go to a Web site and sign up for a contact subscription list. Building relationships takes time. And most movers and shakers or designated sales/marketing targets don’t hang out at the same place.

Or do they?

Interested? Read more now. »

Experiences during WWII have been written about, filmed, avidly discussed and memorialized. But yet another perspective brings new insight into the atrocities that one set of humans thrust upon another. Fred Gross has written a newly released book One Step Ahead of Hitler, and this time, the experience is from a child’s point of view. Only three years old when his family was forced to flee Antwerp and outrun/outsmart the Hitler regime, Fred tells the story of his family’s plight through France staying one step ahead of Hitler. Fred is an excellent story teller, and this book was a sit down and must complete it type of read. And now, it seems that more should read and understand how fragile our freedoms are, and that we must pay attention so we do not repeat history. Interested? Read more now. »

It’s one thing to launch a marketing campaign to sell bananas. After all, bananas have relatively straightforward selling points: they’re nutritious and delicious. That’s about it.

But what about promoting more complex products … like word-processing software, or a reengineered hybrid vehicle, or home health care? In situations like these, the complexity of the product often obscures the marketing message. Instead of a clear understanding of the product or service and why he should buy it, the prospective customer sometimes gets an overwhelming barrage of irrelevant information – everything from an in-depth analysis of how the technology works to a long-winded narrative of the product’s history to inundation with industry vernacular that is meaningless.

Interested? Read more now. »

It’s difficult to overestimate the importance of a good online marketing presence. A successful Web site is so much more than just a brochure site for your business, or a way to show off bells and whistles. To be found by those who seek your products or services, a Web site needs to be designed with SEO – search engine optimization- in mind.

Suppose your company builds widgets and you design the snazziest widget Web site ever to hit the information superhighway. There’s Flash video of dancing widgets on the home page. The resources page is stocked with dozens of white papers informing visitors of all the different types of widgets available. There’s even a message board where widget lovers from around the world discuss how the invention of the widget has changed the course of manufacturing forever. This site should, without a doubt, establish your company as the world’s foremost authority on widgets.

Interested? Read more now. »

One of the more crucial selling points of home care is the fact that an agency can relieve some of the pressure on family members who try to administer that care on their own. According to this article written by Jayne Williams of the Port Clinton (Ohio) News Herald, and backed up by solid statistics, a lot of family members are going to need a lot of relief in the near future.

Williams cites government statistics that indicate that the odds are more likely than not that an adult will serve as an unpaid caregiver to a family member at least once in their lifetime. Roughly 44 million Americans will do so in a given year – that’s 21 percent of the adult population. According to the article, 80 percent of the long-term care in the U.S. is provided by non-professional family caregivers, 61 percent of whom are women and 13 percent of whom are aged 65 and older.

Interested? Read more now. »

Hypothetical situation:

Ned, an overzealous darts enthusiast, buys a dartboard for a local bar. The bartender has never played a game of darts in his life and thinks it will disrupt the normal operations of his establishment. He wants Ned to remove the dartboard, but Ned convinces him to play one game, thinking he’ll be hooked in a matter of minutes.

When the bartender’s turn comes up, he grabs a fistful of darts and – without even aiming – hurls them in the general direction of the dartboard.

Ned is embarrassed. Not only did the bartender completely miss the bull’s-eye, most of his darts never even made it to the board. Two of them are jutting out of a barstool and one has poked a rather unstylish hole in one elderly patron’s Derby hat.

“See what you’ve done?” the bartender shouts at Ned. “This is a ridiculous game! Now take the darts and go!”

It’s a humorous story, but unfortunately that’s how some companies view their marketing programs. They cast a skeptical eye at their advertising budgets (“Won’t these expenditures disrupt the normal operations of our business?”) and they doubt that marketing can do anything for them.

Interested? Read more now. »

Does this sound inviting? It is “Social Networking”, something that is considered in today’s world a solid component for any marketing strategy.

Facebook. Twitter. MySpace. LinkedIn. They’re the online Web tools that form the framework of social networking. In the “old” days, networking required the business owner to attend gatherings such as charity auctions, professional development seminars or cocktail parties to build and maintain relationships with prospective clients.

While there’s no way to replace that kind of face-to-face interaction, the advent of the Internet – and online social networking in particular – has provided additional tools for the arsenal of the marketing professional.

How does online social networking work?

Interested? Read more now. »

When good old standard media relations does not work, a way to get into the media is a sometimes powerful marketing tools called  an “advertorial.”

The term – a combination of the words “advertisement” and “editorial” – refers to a print or online advertisement that promotes a company’s products or services while at the same time reading like an editorial. The effect is that the reader often forgets that he is looking at an advertisement, so he ingests the selling points of the service offering, without experiencing the negative reaction readers so often have when stumbling across ads.

Interested? Read more now. »

Three recommendations for reading came out of the recent Private Duty Homecare Association’s Leadership Summit in Phoenix:

With a focus on making joyful moments for those who are caring for a person with Alzheimer’s Disease, Dr. Jane Thibault a noted Gerontologist recommends Caring Moments of Joy by Jolene Brackey Read a news excert about this book here.

Release Your Brilliance is Simon T. bailey’s latest book and it is about taking the 4 Steps to transforming your life and revealing your genius. Simon says that everything you need to be brilliant is already inside you. Interested? Read more now. »

Popular psychology says that longitudinal fissures separate the human brain into two distinct cerebral hemispheres - the left brain and the right brain. These sides each have different functions and cause two different modes of thinking to occur. The left brain hemisphere functions are analytical, logical, focus on exact calculations, object and look at individual parts of puzzle. Right brain hemisphere functions are holistic, intuitive, synthesizing, and subjective and look at the greater whole puzzle. I’m sure you have heard people be referred to as “right brained” or “left brained” individuals.

It is commonly believed that certain professionals and tasks lend themselves especially well to specific brain types. Scientists, mathematicians, for example, are lefty types while creative professions like designers and free thinking occupations tend to be more right brained. But occasionally, you find professions where using both sides synergistically can make a person, not just good but GREAT at what they do. Marketing is one of the professions where being great involves being both right and left brained.

Interested? Read more now. »