Skip to main content
Tag

budgeting

Web, Search And Social Marketing: DIY Or CTM?

Web, Search And Social Marketing: DIY Or CTM?

By Marketing Insights & Strategy, Podcast, Readings

Ralph and I have a shared philosophy when it comes to things like home improvements, automobile repair and event planning. It’s the CTM philosophy and it involves one or the other of us picking up the phone to Call The Man.

It’s our generic way of saying, “Let someone else deal with it, preferably someone who knows what they’re doing.”

When it comes to marketing, there are some things you can DIY and others you definitely shouldn’t. Here’s what you can comfortably tackle (and when) and what you should think about hiring out (and why).

Read More
My Credit Card Or Yours? Your Marketing Relies On Smart Financial Decisions.

My Credit Card Or Yours? Your Marketing Relies On Smart Financial Decisions.

By Marketing Insights & Strategy, Podcast, Readings

Guess what? Your marketing company can make things really simple for you.

They can pay for your hosting, your domain renewal, your email software, and your social scheduling software. They can itemize all of those expenses for you and then send you one bill.

Easy peasy. Lemon Squeezy.

But I want to share two stories with you that illustrate the downside of the easy-peasy-one-bill method so you’ll see why it’s so important to know who owns your accounts and services.

Read More
To Cut Or Not To Cut? When It’s OK To Cheap Out On Marketing And When It’s Not

To Cut Or Not To Cut? When It’s OK To Cheap Out On Marketing And When It’s Not

By Marketing Insights & Strategy

You’ve heard it before: don’t cut your marketing even when budgets are tight.

But there is a practical reality to how much any business can spend.

Part of being a good marketing consultant is knowing when to advise clients to spend money and when to advise them to hold onto it. And while it’s never a good idea to cut marketing entirely, there are certainly more cost-effective ways you can do it.

Here are a couple of things you can cut and a few you shouldn’t if you want to get the most out of your marketing dollar.

Read More
Dear Customer, This Is What You Should Pay To Hire A Marketing Company

Dear Customer, This Is What You Should Pay To Hire A Marketing Company

By Marketing Insights & Strategy

It’s Word Carnival time, that once-a-month gathering of my colleagues and some pretty smart business folks when we all write on the same topic. This month’s topic is “selling based on VALUE and not based on PRICE”. But sometimes, dear customer, we have to sell on price.

So this post is for you – the person who may one day hire me or even hire a marketing company that isn’t me. It’s to help you think about your approach to budgeting, hiring, and ultimately working with someone. And it’s not about my value. It’s not even about my pricing. It’s about how those things work together – and sometimes don’t play nicely together – and what that means for your business.

Read More
50 Shades Of Wordpress: How Much Does A Wordpress Site Cost?

50 Shades Of WordPress: How Much Does A WordPress Site Cost?

By Website Design & Marketing

Bloggers know WordPress as the premier blogging tool. All businesses, however, should know that WordPress has evolved beyond just blogging. It has become a feature rich, intuitive and easy to use tool that is both blogging platform and website content management system rolled up into one. The magic of WordPress is that all of that power can be utilized even by the Little Guy without a fleet of human resources or a multi million dollar budget. The natural question then is, “How much will a WordPress site cost me?” That’s what we are going to explore.

Read More
How To Convince Cheap, Broke, Price-Shopping Customers To Pay What You're Worth

How To Convince Cheap, Broke, Price-Shopping Customers To Pay What You’re Worth

By Marketing Insights & Strategy

I’ve been there. I bet, if you’re a service provider, that you’ve been there, too. You meet a customer who simply wants it for less and thus begins a process of angst, dilemma and possibly even disaster as you cave in and give them what they want for the sake of the job or the relationship. The fact that people will try to cut you down on price isn’t your fault. Everyone wants “a deal” and services are somehow always perceived as negotiable. The fact that they try to cut you down… and win… well, that is your fault. But there’s a way to bring those cheap (or low-budget) customers over to your side of the fence and still keep everyone happy. Here are a few tips for dealing with the pricing conundrum – and for still getting paid what you’re worth.

Read More