Author Greg Godek claims to have invented “reverse shoplifting.” He takes a copy of his book, 1001 Ways to Be Romantic into a bookstore that doesn’t carry the book. Then, he quietly slips the book onto the shelf. Godek’s theory is that when someone tries to buy the book (and it doesn’t show up in [...]

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Do you believe direct mail is too expensive? It doesn’t have to be. The underrated postcard can be an effective way to keep in touch with customers and potential customers. Unlike traditional direct mail packages, which may include a multi-page letter, brochure, return envelope and more, a postcard is simple. Recipients are almost forced to [...]

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One of the questions I get a lot goes something like this, “How do I get customers for my business? I don’t have an email list, a popular web site or any other way to reach an audience. How can I start making money without those things?” Here’s how…

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No, customers aren’t bloodsuckers (well, maybe a few are!) and they don’t come out only at night. According to legend, vampires don’t come in until they are invited. And that’s true of customers, too. You may think you’ve invited your customers. After all, you put up signs identifying your store, got a web site, placed [...]

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Tara Hunt recently wrote an interesting blog post about influencers and it got me thinking about how many businesses approach marketing and publicity. Marketing is a numbers game, but are you looking at the right numbers? We all want to get the attention of the bloggers who have huge followings, have feature stories written about [...]

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Are you asking your customers to buy? This is one of those “duh” things that many of us miss. It’s so simple we often overlook it. And sales will suffer as a result. The fact is that in order to make a sale, you’ve got to ask someone to buy. It’s not being pushy, it’s [...]

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Horrible advice, right? Then why are you saying that you can’t do any marketing until after the holidays or until you know how things are going to go with the economy? There are lots of excuses for not marketing now: I’m busy with the holidays, you can’t reach anyone now, no one will make a [...]

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My tagline at IdeaLady.com is “Attract Customers and Make Yourself Famous.” Those things go hand in hand, as becoming even a little famous in your niche will cause customers to seek you out. It is not as hard as you might think to get a little famous and, no, the paparazzi will not begin stalking [...]

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