Small Business Trends has gathered
top marketing tips from dozens of experts. 

My favorite was from Drew McClellan
of Drew’s Marketing Minute. 
He advises to limit the number of marketing techniques. 

“Pick 3-4 marketing tactics that you think
are really going to be valued by your audience
and drive the behavior/action you’re looking for.
Then, figure out how you can do them
in an extraordinary way. 

100% consistency.
100% relevancy.
Do less. But do them better.”

From my recent adventures
in blogging partnerships,
I’ve learned that,
as with marriages,
its often best to decide
how the partnership will end
before the partnership starts. 

This “prenup” is needed even for
the most informal partnerships
(as my blogging relationships were). 

Launching a new venture is a tough, tough business. 
To expect all partners to survive is unreasonable. 

Recently I was being pitched by a financial advisor. 
He assured me that managing my money
would be a priority for him. 
That he would give me 100% of his attention. 

Then… he got a message on his Blackberry. 
Instead of ignoring it or excusing himself,
he suggested that I “keep on talking”
while he answered it. 

I considered sending him an email
(which obviously he gave higher priority to). 
Instead I left his office. 

Louise Fox, owner of The Etiquette Ladies,
says the number one etiquette blunder
is the improper use of technology. 
She reminds people that the person they are with
should be most important. 

I agree. 

One of the ways that I save time
is to accumulate similar tasks
like answering email or sending snail mail 
and complete them all at one time. 

Brian Tracy in the book Million Dollar Habits says
“Efficiency experts calculate that
if you have ten similar tasks to do,
and you do them all at once,
one after the other,
by the time you get to the tenth task,
you will be working so efficiently
that it will be taking you only 20 percent of the time
it took you to do the first item on the list.”

The maximum length of time
I spend writing is four months. 

Why? 

Because any longer than that
and my business knowledge is no longer relevant. 
That’s how fast business evolves. 

As Louis Ross, CTO, Ford Motor Company, said
“In your career, knowledge is like milk.
It has a shelf life stamped right on the carton.
The shelf life of a degree in engineering
is about 3 years.
If you’re not replacing
everything you know by then,
your career is going to turn sour fast.” 

I think 3 years is optimistic.

I talk often about the
power of asking questions
but I sometimes don’t talk about
how shutting up and listening
is as important. 

Recently I went to a workshop
with a fascinating host.  
Instead of letting the paid host
share her expertise with the group,
some audience members asked such long questions
that a friend was able to run out,
get a coffee
and return
before the question was done.  

A waste of a learning experience.  

One of my buddies is also a daily blogger. 
She is constantly having to
forgo opportunities and rearrange her schedule
to get her posts done. 

She thinks this sends a signal that
she puts her non-time sensitive blog first. 

I disagree.  

It says to me that she’s disorganized
and a last minute type of person. 
Not someone I prefer to have on my team.

In contrast,
I always have a week of general type posts
“just in case.”

That way if I get a chance to meet Stephen King,
I don’t have to say no thank you.

Give yourself a buffer
so you can take advantage
of opportunities.

A friend of mine wanted help
with finding a unique conversation starter. 
I replied that wasn’t difficult. 
Simply don’t talk about the weather. 

Doug Morris, pilot, meteorologist, and
author of From The Flight Deck,
says that 9 out of every 10 conversations
begin with the weather. 

How do I start a conversation? 
I ask for an opinion on a relevant current event
(no politics or religion).

I had to order checks for my business account. 
Based on the amount of business
I do with the bank,
I insisted that there be no additional charge.  

When the account manager didn’t argue,
I said “guess you get this request all the time.” 

No, actually he didn’t. 
He did for personal accounts
but never for business,
no matter how small the cashflow was. 

Foolishness.  
Expenses are expenses,
whether they’re business or personal. 
Don’t overpay for either. 

Charlie Munger recently said
in a commencement speech,

“I constantly see people rise in life
who are not the smartest,
sometimes not even the most diligent,
but they are learning machines.
They go to bed every night
a little wiser than they were
when they got up and
boy does that help,
particularly when you have
a long run ahead of you.” 

That has always been my goal in life,
to learn at least one new thing a day
and to help at least one person.