The mute button saved me this week.
I was on a teleconference about marketing messages with dozens of participants.  Someone asked the leader whether he thought she needed a brand for her business, now that she had crafted a marketing message.  Before he could answer, someone yelled:
“Of course you do!  A message is not a [...]

In recent posts we focused on two of the three essential strategies every business needs to thrive: follow-up and keep-in-touch.
Now it’s time for the fun stuff: lead generation! How do you attract, on an ongoing basis, potential clients to your business?
This is a key piece of the marketing puzzle, since businesses that do not have [...]

This is a guest post from Enlightened Marketing protege, Andy Andrews. – Samantha
Every once in awhile my branding eye spies a major, worldwide brand acting as though it were one of our Enlightened Marketing perfect clients. (If you’ve got the Enlightened Marketing Branding Roadmap tool or taken part in a branding action group, you’ll know [...]

Recently I wrote about Follow Up strategies, which help you keep an active sales offer in front of someone who’s not ready to buy yet.  Today I want to cover the “cousin” of Follow Up, a related marketing strategy called Keep in Touch (KiT). A Keep in Touch strategy outlines how you will be in [...]

Successful business owners know they need three key marketing strategies: lead generation, follow up and keep in touch. While I write often about how to attract good leads and will review keeping in touch next time, I wanted to zoom in on follow up as a neglected strategy.
What do you say when someone is “thinking [...]

Picture this: Tim’s client has just had a wonderful experience with him and is happily raving about it.  Time to ask for a testimonial!
So, Tim works up some courage and says, “Thank you, Olivia.  Would you mind sending me those kind words as a testimonial I could share with others on my web site?  [...]

Last weekend I attended an Internet Marketing conference with 180 die-hard entrepreneurs.  Everyone there was hoping to connect with potential clients, partners and vendors.  There was quite a mix of people in the room, from millionaires to newbies.
For some reason, fabulous interpersonal networking is always a powerful learning experience. Lest you think I’m focused on [...]

What’s the point of creating a business vision for your small business?  In times like these, more and more people are stuck and searching for a reason to push through overwhelm to get business results.
I had a dream a few months ago in which I purchased tickets to a concert at a box office window.  [...]