Speaking is one of my favorite parts of my job. I have almost no stage fright, in fact, I have fun in front of an audience and I try to make sure the audience does too. What I've learned is that it's important to be authentic and relaxed, to be yourself, and to care...
Small Business Marketing
Small Business Marketing: Tell a Story
If small business marketing is your job, you must learn to tell a compelling story. Stories bring your copy to life. They make the difference between boring copy and words that mean something to the reader. Here’s an illustration of the power of story. I’m a fan of...
Online Reviews: How to Handle Them
Online Reviews Can Make or Break You Online reviews are a fact of business life. Like it or not, your customers are free to express themselves where it concerns your product or service. There's little you can do to prevent negative reviews other than provide a level...
How to Understand Your Customers and Increase Sales
If you'd like to increase sales, I have an exercise for you. I want you to begin to define your avatar(s). You may have more than one, in fact, you probably will. Wait - what’s an avatar? You may also have heard them referred to as personas. Same thing. You are...
Do I Need to Blog? Yes. Here's Why.
I get this question often from clients who don't think they have the time to write original content: Do I need to blog? My answer is nearly always the same: Yes. Yes, and yes. Why is Blogging So Important? Google. I'm really talking about all search engines here, but...
Marketing and Fried Chicken
KFC’s Colonel Sanders can teach us a lot about small business marketing. He crafted his chicken recipe based on customer feedback.
20 Tips that Make Public Speaking Fun
I'm no Steve Jobs, but I've spoken at quite a few conferences and events, so I thought I'd share a few tips that help me avoid making a fool of myself. Here are 20 things I've learned about the art of public speaking. Organize your research. Gather ideas, quotes and...