Small Business Internet Marketing

I meet lots of really terrific people every week, many of them looking for ways to grow their business. But I’m continually amazed that most of them have the same answer to a vitally important question: What sets you apart from your competition?

What would you say? If you’re like most of the people I meet, it goes something like this, “I am completely dedicated to my customers’ satisfaction, and work hard to earn the trust they place in me.”

If I walked down the street, your competitor would say pretty much the same thing. [Read more →]

Tags: Customer Service, Marketing // Add Comment »

When I graduated from college (no need to get into specifics here; let’s just say it was a while ago), I went immediately to work for a small investment management company.

Each of the 12 people who worked for the company when I joined could probably write a book about the funny (in hindsight) antics that took place there. The president of the company was, to put it gently, a bit eccentric and completely unpredicatable.

But the company was very successful, weathering the storms of the financial markets. I credit that in large part to their incredible dedication to client service. [Read more →]

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Pay-per-click advertising with Internet search engines is commonly called search engine marketing. But as I tried to explain it today to someone unfamiliar with the concept (and there are still people out there who don’t know how search engines come up with their search results), I realized that search ‘marketing’ is something of a misnomer and a source of confusion for many people.

Search marketing, unlike most forms of traditional marketing, only happens when someone is actually looking for you. [Read more →]

Tags: Marketing, Search engine marketing // Add Comment »

11:10am. In my inbox this morning, there’s an email from Old Navy. A really straightforward message announcing their Summer Sale – Up to 50% Off.

Nice clear offer and call to action. I clicked in the body of the message, and here’s what I got:

We’re updating our site to bring
you a better shopping experience.

[Read more →]

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I’m a big fan of JetBlue. (Though I admit I wasn’t affected by their recent fiascoes, which would probably have tainted my positive feelings.) In every experience I’ve had with them, the employees have been smart and friendly, flights were on time, and the planes were comfortable.

But here’s the thing that really pushed them to the top for me: on an early-morning flight from Orlando to Boston a while back, the free (a relevant fact here) in-flight television was intermittently out. [Read more →]

Tags: Customer Service, Email marketing // Add Comment »