Laura says:
Have you ever had wrap rage - feelings of anger, frustration and violence over your inability to extract your kids’ new toys from their clamshell packaging?
My hubby and I certainly have! We’ve spent what seems like hours sawing through super-strength plastic bindings and laboriously untwisting dozens of wire ties.
Sometime after Christmas, we emerge from [...]
Blogs. Web sites. Social Networking.
When you ponder the plethora of the online venues from which you can promote your products and services, it’s hard to know where to start.
Prospective customers need 8-to-10 “touches” from you before they remember you or your brand. Cyberspace is a great place to reach out and touch someone. NOW is [...]
People like to buy from people.
Is this too obvious to state? If it is, then why don’t more companies apply it to their marketing?
Quick quiz: Think ice cream for a moment.
Whose image do you like better? Haagen-Dazs’ or Ben & Jerry’s? Ninety-nine percent of the time people will say, “Gimmie Ben & Jerry!”
Why? We can [...]
My husband just stomped in the door and announced, “I’m never going to McDonald’s again.”
My mouth dropped open. Robert loves McDonald’s. His first job was at McDonald’s. His dad was a bigwig in McDonald’s-he was even acquainted with McDonald’s founder, Ray Kroc. We own every Happy Meal toy that exists.
“Why?” I responded, dumbfounded.
“I just drove [...]
Sales trainers across America tell their audience, “Get to the decision maker! That’s how you move forward and close the sale.”
Wrong.
Marketing gurus spout, “Your message must be targeted to the person who makes the choice to buy.”
Really?
I disrespectfully disagree.
A quick story to illustrate why:
On the way to my first writing conference I rode in the [...]
By Erica Graf
Guest columnist
Yesterday, while leaving the mall, we decided it would be a good idea for everyone to make a bathroom stop. While drying my hands, I noticed a sign on the wall that read:
“If you see a problem with our restroom, please notify one of our friendly sales associates.” (emphasis mine)
Okay…but how do [...]
Yesterday I sent an e-mail to a potential client for He Blogs, She Blogs. I copied Laura on it. She said, “Post on this, it’s a fun example of creativity in business e-mail techniques.”
I’d been trying to get an appointment with this prospect and hadn’t heard back from him for a few weeks. Here’s what [...]
When e-mails with pictures land in Outlook on my laptop, the pictures are disabled. I click once to download them if I want to.
Which e-mail below attracts you more? Rhetorical question, I know.
The content is the same but the pictures make the e-mail come alive. Using pictures in the body of your posts make an [...]
Politics and religion. The two subjects you’re not supposed to ask about.
I blow it on both counts. I continually ask people about their spiritual and political beliefs.
Why? The very reason you’re not supposed to ask. People usually have passionate feelings about both subjects—witness Laura’s Nov 18th post about the raving Twitter woman—and I’m fascinated with [...]
We subscribe to several e-newsletters and e-zines, and we often remark about the differences among them.
Some are distributed weekly; others monthly.
Some can be scanned in 9o seconds; others take 10 minutes to slog through.
But the biggest difference we’ve noted is that some are text-only and others are packed with snazzy, colorful graphics.
We asked our Twitter [...]