Charlie Cook's MArketing for Success Insider's Club

 

The Top Experts Reveal Small Business Marketing Strategies
That Get Results In This Economy

Catch and Release Marketing

By Colleen Kilpatrick   |   September 4, 2010

I was sitting in my client’s office last week listening to him describe all the creative and costly ways he finds new customers, then lament his failure to retain those customers.

Later, as I drove away from his office, my mind drifted back 20 years to a fishing trip and the marketing lesson I learned while on it.

It was the summer of my junior year in college. I was working as a bartender on an island dotted with hundreds of fishing ponds. One day, a friend asked me to go fishing with him. Always game for a new adventure, I agreed. Read More »

The Rules of Negotiation Are Like Squash…

By Eric Garner   |   September 3, 2010

Although each set of business negotiations is unique, there are a number of themes that are common to all kinds of negotiation. One of these is that negotiations are like a game.

For example, to engage in negotiations requires at least two players. There are set rules and ritual moves and maneuevers. At any one time, one side or another may be in the lead. And, like a game, people come away having won or lost even if they are ready to engage again the next time round. Here are 10 rules of negotiation based on a coaching handbook for squash. Read More »

Hanging By a Thread

By Michael Katz   |   September 2, 2010

If you’ve been receiving my posts for even a little while, I’m sure you’ve come to view me as a serious, thoughtful, dare I say… highbrow kind of person.

And while I appreciate your kind words (thank you), it will probably come as a shock when I reveal the following: When the Sunday newspaper arrives each week, the first section I read is the comics. In fact, and as long as we’re telling tales today, I should mention that there are weeks where the only section I read is the comics. Read More »

Forget the Recovery – It’s a Transition

By Tom Borg   |   September 1, 2010

I continue to talk with a number of small business owners who still think that if they just hunker down and just hang on a little longer that the economy will return to normal.

That is not going to happen.

As Thomas Friedman says in his book “The World is Flat,” the transition that the US is going through will be painful for many large and small businesses. The key is to take advantage of this transition and rethink your business so that it is positioned to take advantage of this changing economy. But, that will require changing the way they do things, and that is uncomfortable. Read More »

Making the 80/20 Rule Work For You

By Jeffrey Mayer   |   August 31, 2010

When I’ve written about the 80/20 Rules I was taken to task by several readers who vehemently disagreed with the concept that 80% of one thing comes from only 20% of something else.

One reader we’ll call him John, wrote : “I’ve just read your most recent success newsletter. I must say that I’m appalled that you refer to and believe in the old Pareto law.”

“Did you know that Mr. Pareto lived in the 16th century? Believing in the 80-20 law is like believing that Earth, our planet, is flat.” Read More »

Don’t Make This Marketing Mistake Again…

By Charlie Cook   |   August 30, 2010

Ever hit your finger with a hammer when you were hanging a picture on the wall? It hurts! Make this painful mistake once, and you’ll swing more carefully the next time, and try to improve your aim. With practice, you’ll hit the nail on the head and get the job done.

Is your marketing also missing the mark? That will hurt your bottom line. Banging away with the same failing marketing strategy is like hitting your finger over and over, all pain and no gain. Believe it or not, I know many small business owners that do exactly this.  Read More »

How to Write a Killer Close For Your Advertising

By Mike Jezek   |   August 29, 2010

When it comes to direct sales, most people are too afraid to ask for the order. Consequently when Friday comes, their paycheck is small and they go home to skinny kids. You’ve got to be bold enough to ask for the order. In fact, you might be surprised by what you can get, just by asking for it!

The same principle applies in copywriting whenever you write a marketing communication. Most people write weak closes or they don’t even put one in their marketing! And then people wonder why their ads and sales letters didn’t pull! Read More »

Don’t Drink From Hotel Glasses

By Joan Stewart   |   August 28, 2010

The next time you stay in a hotel, you’ll think twice about drinking out of the glasses and coffee cups if you watch the 4½-minute video at http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a7f_1194813218

It’s an I-team investigation from a TV station, presumably in Atlanta, Georgia. The team took hidden cameras into guest rooms at three major hotels–Embassy Suites, Holiday Inn and Sheraton Suites. In all three instances, housekeepers never used soap and water to clean dirty drinking glasses and coffee cups. Read More »

Wise Women of the Web – Don’t Miss Out!

By Susan Rice Lincoln   |   August 27, 2010

I know that we are all bombarded with lots of information on how to make our online businesses run better.  Some of the information is good, some not as good. Often we feel like we have just heard it ‘all before’ and are disappointed.

I want to invite you to an amazing virtual teleseminar event that is anything but the “same old stuff”.  It is called the “The Wise Women of the Web.” Register here >>

This once-in-a-lifetime teleseminar series, runs between August 30th and September 3rd. Read More »

Two Words That You Should Never Use…

By Drayton Bird   |   August 27, 2010

If you don’t know what you’re talking about you can get into terrible trouble, because if what is said is not what is meant you end up doing the wrong thing.

One great curse in this respect is jargon. All professions and industries have special jargon to confuse and impress outsiders whilst giving insiders a comforting feeling that they belong to some special group and are doing something important.

At the same time it confers an air of mystery to proceedings, enabling those in the know to charge more money for doing what are usually quite routine and simple tasks. Read More »

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