Mike Santoro has a great post on
when to use direct mail and when to use email.
Email, he points out, is permission based marketing.
We get so much email that
if we don’t know the sender,
we delete the message in seconds
without opening it.
With direct mail, however,
we have to touch the message
(even if it is to move it from mailbox to garbage can).
And there is less of it.
We’re more likely to read direct mail from strangers.
It is that busy time of year again and
in order to find spare minutes to spend with family,
many of us are pushing off less critical projects.
Marketing is NOT a less critical project.
Marketing helps with sales and
sales are priority one in a business.
So how to find time?
Colleen Wainwright, aka The Communicatrix,
posts about her top five
including my personal favorite, the postcard.
Postcards can be hand written quickly,
make a visual impact, and
cost less to mail.
Everyone has time to send at least one postcard a day.
Have you sent yours?
Readers of ClientK know that
I appreciate the executive summary.
Bare bones news and facts with no fluff.
That is one reason I like
ViralBlink’s blog concept
(warning site has nudity
and is very male targeted),
viral commercials and video clips
with no verbage,
no additional explanations.
Viral videos don’t need it.
They spread on their own.
BTW… once this site has built a bit of history,
it’ll be interesting to hear
if there are common components to
becoming “viral.”
On an episode of Sunset Tan ,
an employee was considering jumping
from the salon to a supplier.
The rather awkward approach was going well
until…
he badmouthed his current employer.
I saw the expression on the supplier’s face change
from interested to cautious in an instant.
Why?
Because she was thinking that
if this employee ever leaves the supplier,
he will talk negatively about them too.
No negatives.
If prospective employees want to know why you’re leaving,
make it about them and the positives they offer.
Continuous learning is a necessity today.
This can be accomplished in a number of ways
including books, magazines, live courses, seminars
and…
online courses.
This month, I’m taking two online courses
in two very different fields.
Not only do online courses have a lower tuition fee
than regular courses but
they can be completed on my own timing and
where-ever I happen to be.
Monday, I can complete my lesson
at 8pm EST in NYC.
Thursday, it can be done at noon in Vegas.
Or I could save it for the weekend.
Wonderful for the busy business woman.
Tony Blair once said
“The art of leadership is saying no, not yes.
It is very easy to say yes.”
Once you get a little bit of success,
the requests will come.
Sometimes the requests are one sided,
with no benefit to you or your company.
These requests are easier to say no to.
The more difficult ones contain opportunities,
new projects, new directions, new revenue streams.
But some of those will also have to be turned away
(or redirected to someone else) .
A company or person moving in all different directions
goes no where.
Saying no is a success requirement.
As a blogger, I get quite a few freebie books.
The usual process is…
a PR person emails me,
asks me to review the book.
I am sent the book with
a general cover letter from the PR agency.
I email them with a link to my book mention and
sometimes (not often) I get an email “thanks” back.
Not so with Carmine Gallo.
He emails me (he does, not his PR person)
says that he read on my blog
(and he names the blog site)
that I loved 10 Simple Secrets (I did).
Would I like a copy of his new book Fire Them Up!?
No mention of a review, a simple give.
I receive the book and
a pack of Fire Them Up! red hots are included.
Then I get an email.
Did I receive the book?
Was there any problems with the shipping?
Follow up.
And I suspect that when I send him links to the posts,
I will not only get a thank you back but
he’ll personalize that thanks.
THAT is how you win fans.
BTW… skimming through the book,
it has enough information in the first chapter
to put it on the keeper shelf.
A great gift idea for that business person on your holiday list.
It is the classic email mistake.
Everyone I know has done it at least once.
I sent out a reply which was supposed to go
to a specific person and it went to the entire loop
(blasted Yahoo).
So what did I do?
I thought about sending out an email
asking recipients to ignore the previous one.
Not a good choice.
That would rouse curiosity,
prompting a higher percentage of readers.
So I ignored it
(there was nothing terribly embarrassing
in the email).
And I received zero comments on it.
Which gets me to thinking that
most people don’t read their emails.
A recent study showed that
higher income people apologize more often.
This surprised many people.
Sorry is often viewed as a weak word,
apologizing a weak action.
It is actually the opposite.
It is the transfer of responsibility
from the recipient of the apology
to the apologizer.
It is also the acknowledgement of power
(although misused).
An apology done right
strengthens the relationship,
rather than weakens it.
Went to a live interview
with mega media mogul Ted Rogers
and he had some choice words to say
about entrepreneurship.
His feeling is that entrepreneurs are born,
not made because from the beginning
he was told by his Mom that
“if you’re going to be an entrepreneur,
you might go bust.”
He did it anyway.
Every business builder, he argues has
“to be willing to lost it all.”
He should know,
he almost lost everything
including the family home
3 times in his career.
That is, he says,
“the price of admission.”