Have you ever gotten to the point where you need to ‘pause’ and take a break because life seems to be stuck in overdrive and on fast forward? Could it be that you have so much going on that the hours and days are just one big blur?
Pause, Pray, Rewind & Play:
How to Increase Customer Retention
During one of my frequent trips throughout the Northwest, I revisited a little airport diner that I had tested a few months earlier. This simple airport diner is one of the most unique dining establishments I’ve frequented in the last 10 years. Not only was the food really good but reasonably priced and came with great service to boot! As I got up to pay my bill, I noticed that the server had left me a...
Social Media and Small Business Survival
You've undoubtedly known for some time that your small business needs to adopt strategies utilizing social media. What have you actually done to implement that? Here's one way to be sure you're getting the most of your efforts...
Water, Water, Everywhere,
But Not a Drop to Drink
Help wash away suffering by providing access to one of life’s most precious resources. Give now — for these children, every minute counts.
Strengths vs. Weaknesses
Learning to identify your particular "strength areas" and sticking to them, while learning to let go of those areas where someone else may be better suited to do the job, is the topic of this post. Here's how to do that...
SEO: Hire the Pros or DIY?
Here’s a story about three recent internet marketing firms making some SEO/SEM "wrong-turns" that might raise some eyebrows. Which of these sounds like you?
Who’s Behind the Voice?
Dave’s Voices!
Introducing Dave's Voices, a culmination of Dave K's passion and talent, served up on a brand new website devoted solely to his voiceover talent.
Tests, Surveys, and Ma Bell
Have you been testing all your advertising and marketing or just throwing mud up on the wall like most small business owners? Maybe you’ve wanted to test but it always seems that time and/or money get in the way?
Many years ago, back in the days of retail and rentals, we tested and tracked it the good ol’ fashioned way with the telephone and personal questionnaires. Testing was very slow and archaic back in the early to mid 1990’s. It took time to gather enough information but it enabled us to see which yellow page directories, radio stations and newspapers pulled the most, but it also allowed us to see which search engines were driving traffic. At one point, USWest (now Qwestdex) actually did an interview with me to find out what we did to track and research. Before we tested and surveyed, I thought that GTE was pulling all the traffic, but it turned out that USWest was the winner, and we were wasting quite a bit of money with GTE. Had we not tested and surveyed I would have kept placing the same old ads in the same old places. With testing and surveying we were able to better define our target markets, shift more dollars towards marketing that would bring better ROI, plus serve our customers better.
My recommendation is that you test all your marketing, online and offline. This can be done by split testing and surveying. It’s much easier and faster to split test online ads today with so many online resources. AWeber’s auto-responders are a great way to keep in touch with your PSC (prospects, subscribers, and clients). By using the autoresponder, you can test and survey as much as you think is necessary. I would also pay close attention to your search engine traffic, and check the reports frequently. Another option in today’s online environment is to utilize surveys.
Working offline? Then test all your marketing to see what works and is bringing in new prospects and existing customers. If you are using offline media such as radio, you might mention your website in your ads with a special promo code. Split-test ads to see which ones pull by producing two radio commercials with two different offers. Maybe one directs the listener to your website and then the other sends people to your physical location.
Remember, test everything; track as much as you can and survey periodically to see how you’re doing with your customers and prospects. In the long run you’ll be glad you did and you might be surprised at which ads really work.
If you want to learn more about how you can use testing, tracking and surveying in your small business, checkout My New Guide Here .
Dave K
Publisher
Decisions and Gut Feelings
As a small business owner you have to make countless decisions every day that not only impact your life but those around you. Ever heard that life is about the decisions we make and actions we take? Does your gut ever tell you to do something and you decide to go a different direction? Gut feelings come into play all the time and you might take notice of them or ignore them.
Global Leadership Summit –
Update and Review
Since 1990 I have attended many leadership conferences, experiencing speakers like John Maxwell, Og Mandino, Paul Zane Pilzer, Billy Zeoli, Zig Ziglar and many others.
Maxwell and Mandino have both touched my life the most, and to this day, they are still my favorite authors. Maxwell is considered by some to be the leadership authority of our time. He has had a
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