Archive for Permission Marketing
Building a Database to Build Your Small Business
In the Information Age, information isn’t just power. It’s life. Especially for small businesses. Now that the nature of marketing has shifted the power to buyers over sellers, new marketing strategies are required. Something that hasn’t changed is that every business needs to make sales and needs people to sell to. A key strategy today [...]
Embrace Change in Your Small Business Marketing
Everything around us is in a state of flux. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. For instance, the information age has unleashed a sea change in how virtually everything is being done. The transformation has affected how we communicate, how we seek and receive information, even how we shop. New technologies have given your [...]
If You Give It Away, They Will Come
Even if you recognize the merits of Hub Mentality, it can still be a leap of faith to start giving away free content. “But that’s good content!” you may say. “I could package and sell that!” Exactly, and that’s why Hub Mentality works so well. Giving something valuable builds rapport with customers. It creates a [...]
Old Media Skills in a New Media World
Old Media may be dying, but its skill sets are still worthwhile. In fact, learning the old ways to do business will make your New Media enterprise a lot stronger. Old Media helps grow your business locally and New Media makes it thrive. On the local level, small business marketing hasn’t changed all that much. [...]
What Should I Give Away?
You’re ready to start building your database through permission-based marketing. You’re all set to nurture these relationships through high-quality free content. Only one problem: what are you supposed to give away? Here are a few places to start. Teach Them Something Say you run a gourmet bakery. Your research says your average customer is 30-60 [...]
New Vitality: A Skin-Crawling Case Study in Sales Mentality
Last month I bought a health supplement from New Vitality. These guys are so entrenched in sales mentality they make my skin crawl. Their first mistake was to automatically subscribe me to their email newsletter when I made my purchase. No permission. Their next mistake was to email me 10 times in one month. The [...]
6 Rules for Ensuring High Open & Click-Through Rates With Your Email Marketing
I’ve been in the trenches of email marketing for more than four years. I’ve sent hundreds of emails to more than a dozen databases. I’m obsessive about analytic data. I explore the tiniest details to maximize my open, click, and conversion rates. According to this 2008 report, the average open rate in the industry is [...]
Hub Mentality Isn’t Just For Businesses
By the way, database marketing doesn’t just apply to business. It also applies to every project where widespread influence is the goal, including but not limited to non-profit ventures, think tanks, personal blogging, and politics. In fact, Hub Mentality was central to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008. In What Americans Really Want…Really, Dr. Frank [...]
Why One Mortage Firm is Thriving in a Horrible Lending Environment
I met Kenton Brown, co-founder of Sente Mortgage, at a Wizard Academy seminar. Having experienced first-hand the ugly failure of the lending market, I was curious about how their business was handling the recession. “So how’s business?” I asked him. “Never been better,” Kenton responded enthusiastically. “We’re having our best year ever.” Surprised, I asked, [...]
Can Traditional Advertising Still Work?
Given our focus on online marketing and permission strategies, as opposed to traditional, intrusive media and sales models, you may think we’re opposed to traditional media and salespeople. This isn’t the case at all. Hub Mentality is less about what you do and more about how you do it. It’s a mindset and philosophy more [...]
