Joel Norton
Is your business backed up?
As a small business owner I struggle like most people to get everything done. And one of the many things on my to do list is backing-up my computer files. Fortunately, having an Apple Mac I get reminders from the Time Machine application when I haven’t backed up my computer for 10 days, which prompts me to do it.
Content is king but where do you start?
The mere thought of publishing a regular stream of content is daunting, particularly when you’re already busy with your day job. It’s something else that needs to be done, in an already busy schedule, however there are ways to make it more manageable.
5 Reasons online is critical to your offline success
In simple terms, using online to generate quality leads via inbound marketing is more cost effective than traditional outbound marketing, particularly when combined with established processes around ongoing lead-nurturing and sales conversion.
7 Steps to Boost Your Marketing in 2011
If you don’t have a marketing plan in place yet, or you need to improve what you’re doing, here are seven steps to boost your marketing in 2011.
Is it time to focus on the top 20 percent?
Most small business owners have a lonI want you to consider what would happen if you applied the Pareto Principle to your Weekly and Daily list.
4 tips to improve your networking
Thirty seconds is not a lot of time to ‘pitch’ yourself, so it’s a great test of how good your elevator statement is. It’s also a timely reminder that you need to practice your networking, just like anything else you want to do well. Here are my tips for improving your networking…
Is it time you started promoting your competitors?
How do you feel about actively promoting your competitor? If you’re like most people, you’ve probably never even considered it. What a stupid idea, right? It’s something that Yahoo did in the early days, prior to Google entering the scene, and helped them to become the leading search engine at the time.
9 ways to improve your B2B marketing
There are three main factors that differentiate Business-to-Business (B2B) sales from Business-to-Consumer (B2C).
It’s time to get passionate about your customers
I love my clients. They all have tremendous passion for their business, and genuinely believe in what they’re doing. And when you’re passionate about what you offer, marketing and sales become a lot easier, and your business is more profitable. Here’s why.
4 ways for small business to improve their marketing plan
I’ve been working with a number of businesses lately developing their marketing strategy and marketing plans for the next 12-18 months. One of the key parts of the planning process has been identifying clear and measurable targets, so we can develop a plan on how to achieve them. For some businesses it also helps manage internal expectations of what can be achieved.
6 ways to automate your marketing
Last week I wrote about the importance of having a marketing system in your business. This week I’m continuing the theme and will focus on technology-based systems that help automate or improve the effectiveness of your marketing.
Is your marketing systematic?
Anyone who has read Michael Gerber’s emyth revisited understands the importance of systems within your business. Systems and processes that give you the ability to duplicate and replicate what you do, time after time after time in precisely the same way. Ray Croc, founder of McDonald’s, built a global empire based on this idea, and […]
Is it time you fired your marketing team?
I see so many marketing consultants giving advice to small business owners that are focused purely on marketing tactics, without any thought to marketing strategy.
How does your behaviour influence customer loyalty?
My question is, how is your behaviour impacting customer loyalty? I’m not talking about your behaviour with your customers but your behaviour with your employees.
What business are you really in?
It’s not a new question but it’s an important one to ask. Theodore Levitt wrote an article for Harvard Business Review in 1960 entitled “Marketing Myopia”, where he encouraged businesses to switch their focus from selling to meeting customer needs. He asked an important question to the railroad industry: What business are you really in? Railroads or transportation?
How to use social media as a loyalty tool
I worked on The Com Store account way back in the early nineties, when it was one of the dominant forces in mobile phone retailing, along with Strathfield Car Radio.
5 Tips to get more from Google Local Search
I was having a chat with my neighbour last week. We started chatting about things of national importance, like what the surf was like at the moment, and if he was going out in the morning.
What’s a name worth to you?
I recently bought a skateboard from SkatersHQ at Manly. My wife calls it ‘the poor man’s mid-life crisis’ as I can’t afford a Porsche!
The #1 reason your business should have a blog
The harsh reality is the world is not waiting breathlessly to hear what you have to say, so it begs the question, why bother having a blog?