Archive for the ‘Business, Sales and Marketing’ Category

Communication is key with customers

Monday, August 30th, 2010
No Gravatar

It amazes me how simple communication can satisfy a customer and no communication can cause frustration and can cause customers to jump to conclusions.  I recently took my boat into get repaired to a mechanic that we know quite well.  I took it in on a Wednesday and they said they would look at it by Friday.  Saturday, no call, so I called in to ask what the status was and the person there told me that they were waiting for a motor assessment tool and I left a message for the mechanic to call me.  No word back, the next week I was going away so I did let them know there was no rush but I did want it the following weekend, got back in town and still no message.  Finally I heard back the following week and the mechanic was very nice and said that the motor has been fixed and we could pick it up.

Google Presentations is Free PowerPoint?

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010
No Gravatar

We learn to treat the Google Docs software different than other software, when we don’t wait years for the next improvements to our applications. If you haven’t used a Google Docs application recently, you should find the interfaces much improved. I recently discovered how far the Google Docs presentations application has come — Ironically, Google Docs apps don’t seem to be named separately. Like the aspiration of other Google Docs applications, Google Presentations are Microsoft PowerPoint presentations on an attractive diet.

What did Lebron James teach business owners?

Friday, July 9th, 2010
No Gravatar

It’s a rare moment in history when a professional athlete holds North America’s attention for six weeks of summer plus an hour long nationally televised special. When we see a basketball player garner attention like a presidential candidate it’s not a stretch to think Lebron James might have changed the way people view athletes. But can it change the way we view the owner and employee relationship?

Trade Show Tips

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
No Gravatar

A few months back we had a booth at a digital day conference and I thought I would share my thoughts on what I feel you need to do at a trade show if you have a booth and if you are attending.  If you have a booth:

  • Ensure your booth is professional and has some form of catchy look to it.  We developed a custom flash movie for the trade show that was looping all day, it got our brand across and our core capabilities

HST, Taxes in Canada, and e-Commerce

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010
No Gravatar

HST is coming to Ontario and British Columbia July 1, 2010. Are your e-commerce stores ready? There are implications for small business and online retailers. HST is not simply PST + GST. For the purpose of this article we’ll stick to what online retailers need to know for selling goods between provinces, i.e.  if/when/how the taxes are collected and remitted.

Start-Up Business, Why Put It on Paper?

Friday, June 25th, 2010
No Gravatar

Entrepreneurship is something I care so much about that when I decided to make it my second major in university, it totally changed my outlook on school. I started to love going to class, reading text books, and writing assignments, because everything we did centered around different businesses that all have their own story. It has been said that innovation and entrepreneurship are the fuel of an economy, and I feel they too fuel my passion for business.

Radio ads good and bad

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010
No Gravatar

I like to listen to one station going to work as it gives good local and Canada wide news and it also offers good timely traffic tips so I know where to avoid on my way downtown.  But along the way I hear a lot of ads and here are some of the annoying radio tactics I hear and some of the good ones.

Annoying Radio ad tactics:

  • Radio spokespeople who whisper on the air (speak up I cannot hear you!)
  • Advertisers who point listeners to their ad in the yellow pages (can you sound anymore out of date with the online world)

In Business; It’s Growth or Death

Thursday, May 20th, 2010
No Gravatar

“My company is growing” is a sentence that every person in business would like to be able to boast. If you’re not growing you’re dying right? Our question today is how does good marketing and advertising help a business grow, and keep it from dying?
Allow me to answer a question with a question. Does a good business owner have to spend money to make money? Well I suggest to you that the money a business owner spends must make money! Positive growth will always be achieved if a company constantly takes on positive projects, and if marketing projects in particular are giving positive return on investment; growth cannot be more evident. Good marketing increases incoming demand and we’re all chasing demand with our time and our money. Better marketing will mean less time spent chasing demand. The catch is that you must ensure the money spent is less than the money made. If a business can handle this increased demand, they can handle growth, save time and money and boast that they are growing.

Focus Groups are Dead

Monday, April 19th, 2010
No Gravatar

I find it easy to be confident in the products and services I offer in the online marketing industry. A big reason for this confidence is the measuring tools that online resources provide to show consumers what their advertising dollars are accomplishing, or their return on investment.

Advertising mediums like print, T.V and radio have never, and will never be able to support their product offering like online marketing can. I’m sure a radio station can tell you how many people listen to their broadcasts, but can they tell you how many people were listening to your commercial? Can a T.V station tell what aspects of your commercial caught people’s eye? Print advertising can’t even tell you how many of your advertising dollars get thrown directly in the garbage before anyone ever has a chance to read them.

Impressive office space

Friday, April 9th, 2010
No Gravatar

Lets face it when you are a start up its hard to spend all your start up cash on office space.  A lot of start ups do work out of less than professional office space and some do try to look more successful than they are and then build off this and grow their business.  I heard a comment last week that said they were not sure if they would deal with a supplier of theirs as they visited their office and it was less than impressive and they were concerned if the company was going to survive and be around in a few years.  When you are proud of your office space there are a few advantages: