Train Wreck Ahead

Sooner or Later, a disaster will occur in your business. (Unless you decide to quit, in which case why are you reading this column anyway?)

How can you prepare your company to survive if you are temporarily unavailable?

Bonnie Price wrote: "Keep Your Business Humming Amid a Personal Crisis."

Presidential Powerpoint? (or Boardrooms For Bonzo?)

In my lifetime, only one president has truly been good at Salesmanship and Presentation. Although Clinton was good at schmoozing and building a powerbase, he never succeeded in convincing independents in America that he had a vision.

The one president that really convinced many Americans that he had a vision for the future was Ronald Reagan. He was so successful at Salesmanship that the term "Reagan Democrats" was coined to describe those voters who were persuaded by his presentation.

Whether you agree or disagree with Reagan's politics - his example of presentation and salesmanship should be studied as an example for improving your own presentations.

Steve W. Martin wrote "How Ronald Reagan Would Change Your Corporate Presentation."

P.S. If you do admire Reagan's politics, check out Abe and Ron.

Can You Be Trusted?

There has almost always been a segment of the business community that was convinced that Nice Guys finish last.

These are the Donald Trumps and the Financial Advisors that do redistribution just in time to pass on 1099s to those who are supposed to be their clients.

Well if you want to swim with the sharks, go right ahead. But sharks are neither trustworthy nor trusted, at least not by the wise.

Someone recently asked Marshall Goldsmith what advantage there is in business to being "good." He wrote an article entitled: "Why Shoot Straight in a Crooked World?"

Impress The Point on Quick Scans

Information Overload.

Insufficient time for reading.

These two factors prevent your message from being read.

How do you communicate with people who do not have enough time to read your articles?

Ardath Albee discusses formatting tactics for insuring that the main points of your articles are communicated even to the Quick scanners.

The article is entitled: "Formatting Choices for Marketing Content."

Tell Me Where It Hurts

In selling to business owners, it is important to identify what is motivating their interest. Frequently, there is a problem which they are trying to solve. However some problems are only minor nuisances while others are major pains.

Seeking to identify the reason for the prospects interest not only helps you to close the deal but also helps the prospect to develop a clear picture of why this change is needed.

Jonathan Farrington wrote an article entitled "Do You Probe For Pain?"

Controversy - A key to Web Success

In traditional public relations, the publicity manager is always trying to avoid negative publicity. However, on the internet being a little "in your face" can be as valuable to the blog author as it is to the radio talk show host.

In some rural markets, a very pleasant non-controversial talk show can be quite successful within the local community. But there are almost no national talk shows that don't include a bit of controversy.

But you do pay a price for that controversy. There are some fringe radio talk shows that have a national audience but there audience is not mainstream. Finding the right balance and avoiding tainting your brand is a constant challenge to the program.

Similarly, in the internet world, finding the right balance of "edginess" is key to success in the Internet publishing world. Different venues call for a different degree of controversy.

Either extreme amiability or gratuitous shock can be a death blow to internet publishing.

Sonia Simone wrote: "9 Little Known Traits of Successful Bloggers."

Traditional Branding Is Dead

When a mainstream marketing source says that traditional brand management is obsolete, its time to lay the corpse to rest.

Martin Lindstrom author of Brand Child and Brand Sense recently wrote on The Blake Project blog that the days of Corporate management of marketing brands is over and that now the customers will control the brand.

Read his article: "Preparing for the Brand Power Shift."

Describe Your Perfect Fashion Widget Accessory

Say What?

I did not quite get that. Could you reword it, please?

Oh, wait a minute, I am not talking to a person I am reading your website and I have no idea what you just said. Worse than that, you have just asked me a question that must be answered or else the sale can not proceed.

But I don't understand the question.....so I can not give you the answer.

Oh, well, maybe my friendly search engine will direct me to your competitor's website which is much more friendly to novices.

Karon Thackston wrote: "How Poor Usability Can Kill Your Copy and Conversions."

Can You Pass This Exam?

If your businesses main marketing focus is primarily offline and you aren't really wanting to change that focus, then this exam is not extremely vital to your marketing success.

But if you want to succeed in the Internet Marketing world, then you have to adapt to the new user-centric web.

On the web, the audience drives the discussion. This is very difficult for many business owners to grasp. Quite frequently, business owners think that using new internet technology is all that it takes to participate. But as long as you are focused on telling, instead of responding - you can't play effectively in this game.

Ed Cotton asks some very basic questions, which if answered honestly can help you to determine whether you are really ready to participate in the audience driven social internet.

Plant Seeds now for Spring bounty

With the economy sagging into a recession, many business owners are uncertain as to how to prepare for the future.

Next Year's success will be due to this year's preparation.

Heather Nolte wrote "Economy Got You Down? 9 Things to Do NOW."

Substance is the Key to List Development

For decades, salespeople and marketing exhibits have given out Logo Promo Merchandise (aka: Advertising Specialties). The successful Promo merchandise were those things that were the most useful for the longest period of time. ( A wallet calendar tended to be less successful than a daily planner - because it was less useful.)

In the world of the internet, Substance (as in useful content) is much more successful than advertising and brochure copy. The uniqueness of the information which you provide combined with the degree of value which it provides to your potential audience is key to the success of your ezine address development.

Ivana Taylor provides four brief but valuable ideas for helping you get started in her article: "Help Customers Get Educated by Giving Presentations Away."

Phrasing the Point

Prose or Poetry.

Austin or Bronte.

Tactful or Suave.

Sometimes it's all in the WAY that you say it.

This is also true in writing copy that succeeds in marketing your message.

James Chartrand wrote "Seven Tricks for Magical Copy."

Tomorrow's Leader

Short term leadership is easy compared with life long success. If you want a long career as a leader of the pack, you have to consistently convince the pack that you are worthy of long term leadership.

Jonathan Farrington wrote "Influencing Really Is That Important!"

Sure, I remember your company

A car is a Car, right?

Then why does GM have more than one brand? When did you last see a Fortune 500 CEO driving a "luxury Chevrolet?" Even the phrase "luxury Chevrolet" phrase sounds like a contradiction in terms.

But, brands are more than intra-mural. Do the words Cadillac and Mercedes generate the same impression in the corporate world?

The difference between brand identity and brand is the difference between the name and the mental impression which is generated by the name.

Creating a brand identity is relatively easy compared with managing the development of your brand. If your company is in business for any length of time, it is impossible to avoid creating a brand - but it may be a very unfortunate brand if you don't manage the development. Some brands are like lead weights, they drag the business down.

Peter Da Vanzo provides some elementary advice to manage brand building on the internet with the article: "Brand Building Tips (On A Budget)."

Is the Cheque in the Mail?

While email marketing seems to the beginning entrepreneur, a fantastic avenue for marketing the new venture or product, it is actually a minefield for the uninitiated.

First, you can run afoul of the Anti-Spam Laws.

Second, you can irritate your potential prospects by failing to "follow the rules."

However, if you know how to use email properly as a marketing tool, it can actually be just as great as you imagine it to be. Doing it right frequently requires a guide to show you what to avoid and how to improve your ROI. However, there are some "rules" that are easier to communicate than others.

Jason Drohn provides "10 Quick Tips for Creating Great Email Marketing Lists."

To Be or Not To Be (An Entrepreneur)

Just as I started to write this post, the radio started playing "Staying Alive."

So with the economy on shaky ground and with the political environment about ready to take a different direction - you may be wondering whether or not, now is the time to re-evaluate your occupational plans.

Whether or not you are thinking of closing your business or planning to wait things out, you will probably benefit from reading "How to Recession-Proof Your Career" by Sally Hogshead.

Sometimes, Substantial takes time

Fluff and Foam will not make you a major player in the world of Internet and Electronic Publishing. You need to provide content which is valuable to your audience if you want to grow your reader base ad develop tenure with your readers.

But, sometimes it may feel as if the point that you are trying to make is not "coming out" and onto your computer's editor. This is when you need to learn how to nurture and develop an article.

Sonia Simone wrote: "How to Grow a Blog Post in 7 Easy Steps."

Surviving in the Virtual Village

Movies have provided entertainment based on the humor of watching an urban suit try to adjust to a rural community or a real cattle drive. There have been other movies that focused on small town visitors to the big city.

The serious theme behind these comedies is that survival in one environment does not necessarily provide you with the skills which are necessary to survive in a foreign environment.

The social web is like a foreign culture to those executives whose primary focus in marketing is offline. The rules which produce marketing success offline, do not produce the same results within the social web's Virtual Village.

Within the social web, relationships are vital to marketing success! The anonymity of the metropolitan environment allows for impersonal marketing offline. But online, you can irritate your potential audience and alienate your past clients by failing to focus on relationship development.

Ardath Albee wrote "Build Relationships ONE Step at a Time."

Expanding Your Territory

"Can I see what work you have done in my industry?"

"Well, we have been in business for X number of years and we annually service Y number of customers!"

Have you ever had to deal with the obstacle of expanding into a new market?

There are a lot of business people who feel that there industry is unique and who have a Lemming attitude when it comes to following the crowd.

Nevertheless, the need to build a reputation hinders some businesses from expanding their marketing horizons.

Jill Konrath wrote: "How to Develop Credibility - When You're Not Credible."

P.S. Jill's headlines are frequently featured in the right sidebar of rainmakerwebsites.com.

Can you speak "Buyer?"

When a company writes me a letter that is all about them, it really irritates me. Also when a company sends me email that is completely irrelevant to who I am, it irritates me.

You probably have experienced the same reaction to a promotional mailing.

So what makes you think that your audience is different from you and I?

You think that you already know all this? Then why did that last mailer you sent out irritate more than half of the people who received it.

Maybe you don't know your audience's language after all.

Oh, you think that you do? Did you ask them?

How do you feel when someone ASSUMES something about you?

What is the best way to avoid making a wrong assumption? That's right! ASK, already.

Karon Thackston writes "Understanding & Communicating with Your Customers."