Owl tell you a secret  OK. It’s not really a secret. The biggest bang for your marketing effort (and expense) is most likely a regular email newsletter to your potential, current and former clients.   If you want to get fancy, you can also send client specific emails...

Target audience.  Niche market.  Choose a segment. All of this is common advice for marketing consultants to give their clients and I give it too.   But, sometimes, it also helps to think about who is not your cup of tea. Who don’t you like to work with?  Who is not a...

Happy, Happy New Year! Wishing you happiness & prosperity! 2011 was YES! 2012 was LEAP for my business (it was a leap year after all) and Practicefor my personal life 2013 was Focus and this year is… STRETCH! Have you made any resolutions yet?    For your personal...

Which cheesesteak do you want? I’m reading Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger. The introduction starts with the story of Barclay’s $100 cheesesteak- and how it helped the restaurant launch successfully. People rushed to tell their friends and colleagues...

What are your boundaries?   What expectations do you set for your clients? This topic comes up for some of my clients in their interactions with their own clients and for me in my interactions with my clients (or prospects).  What is in scope?  What is out of...

Another take-away from To Sell is Human by Daniel Pink…  do ask, don’t tell… yourself.The first time I read Napoleon Hill’s famous book “Think and Grow Rich” was several decades ago and it did impact my life profoundly.     I remember writing down goals, stating them...

I’m reading To Sell is Human:  The Surprising Truth about Moving Others by Daniel Pink. I must admit that I’m not finished yet, but I’ve gotten some great insights already.   I’ve always been pretty empathetic and good at taking the other person’s perspective....

by Lisa Cain What makes a game good? What makes a game good for marketing? You might remember that I’m taking a course called Gamification offered by Coursera and provided by my very own alma mater, The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.  I just started...

I just signed up for a class on Coursera.org called Gamification. Let me talk about the class briefly before I talk about how companies are using gamification for marketing. You may have heard about massive open online courses (aka MOOC). These are free college-level...

There is a concept that I teach called the ‘perishability’ of services.   Can you provide services at 9am today if it’s now noon?   Nope. The ‘inventory’ has perished- just like food might perish (be spoiled and tossed out) if it stays in inventory too long.    On the...