Was reading though Scott’s extensive article listing
on HelloMyNameIsScott.com and
loved his thoughts on describing what you do.

“When people ask you,
“So, what do you do?”
make your answer memorable, valuable and unique.
If their response isn’t
“Hmm, that’s interesting…” or “Cool!”
you need to rework your answer.
Remember, even the most boring jobs can be
explained in an UNFORGETTABLE way.”

We’re all experts on something and
when that expertise is combined with passion,
that’s when magic happens. 

I once listened to an environmentalist
talk for a half hour about
the re-uses for styrofoam containers
…at a party
…and there was a crowd around him. 

He was THAT passionate,
that interesting.

I was talking to a friend
in the early stages of
a company start up.
She has been busy, busy, busy
sampling her product.
She must have given out a thousand samples.

When asked,
she’ll tell you that her marketing is working.

Its not.
The true test of whether marketing
is working is in the sales.
She hasn’t sold a single product
and she is quickly becoming known as the sample lady.

Unless your product is marketing,
marketing is not the goal,
sales are.

Last night, during the Daytime Emmys,
you heard cast members of
The Guiding Light,
the longest running soap opera on American television,
thank Proctor & Gamble.  

P&G owns a soap opera?  

No, they don’t just own the show,
they helped create it.

Soap operas are called that
because of their sponsorship by soap companies. 
And P&G has been affiliated with The Guiding Light
since that first radio broadcast in 1937. 

A marketer’s dream. 
A campaign lasting 70 years. 

Who buys Father’s Day cards? 

Children, right? 
A no-brainer. 

Or is it? 
According to Greetingcard.org,
15% of all Father’s Day cards are bought
by wives for their husbands. 

This is a huge secondary market
and should not be ignored. 

As with any secondary market,
target the primary market (the kids)
but ensure that the product is suitable
for the secondary (the wives).

I hear the questions asked often…
Do I need a blog?
Do I need a website?
Do I need business cards?

No.
That’s not what you truly need,
that’s a tool.

What you truly need could be
A way to communicate with your customers daily.
A means for prospects searching online to find you.
A reminder for that person you met at a cocktail party
to call you.

There are many tools available to accomplish that.
Pick the best one.