Marketing Entrepreneurship Business Blog for SMB's

Marketing Entrepreneurship Business Blog for SMB's

Marketing Strategy Blog - Page 68

Why your clients hire you for the job and not someone else

Why your clients hire you for the job and not someone else

We hit the road running in Atlanta and haven't looked back since.

In just six short months, we have embarked on changing the mindsets of many small businesses in Atlanta, that have been pressured by the Global Financial Crisis and are reluctant to ease their way out and invest in marketing.

As we know, many companies that increased their investment in marketing during this period grew significantly. It's just like when everyone is walking one way and you are walking the other. You all of a sudden stand out and people take notice of you. If they like what they see, then you make connections.

The past few months, we have been working with one of the most impressive companies in the US - Accretive Solutions. They provide consulting, staffing and outsourcing solutions to companies and have 11 offices throughout the country.

What impresses me most about Accretive Solutions is their people. If you ask any of their clients, they all say that it's their people that set Accretive Solutions apart from competitors. They don't hire juniors, and instead invest in people with experience and passion for doing challenging, interesting work.
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Whoa 40! Is this really happening to me?

Whoa 40! Is this really happening to me?

40. It's not exactly something that I have been looking forward to, but without realizing it, it is almost here. 

My friends keep telling me that "life begins at 40". To be brutally honest, I am not so sure. How can someone think that is the case, when in your 20's you made all your mistakes but had the time of your life. In your 30's, you made some more, but they were far more manageable and life was pretty good. You had more money than in your 20's, more experience and had fewer issues. You felt as though you were more comfortable in your own skin and you came to terms with your flaws.

Then you started approaching 40. Somehow everything went back a few steps. Firstly, just when you thought you were comfortable in your own skin, you realized that there were a few things you wanted to change. For instance, your appearance. Do those wrinkles really belong to you? Have your eyebrows really drooped that much? Are your boobs really that saggy?
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Why People Who Lie On LinkedIn Get Found Out

Why People Who Lie On LinkedIn Get Found Out

Over the years, I have been dumb-founded by what former employees have written on their LinkedIn profiles about what they did while working at Marketing Eye.

The first one that had me gob-smacked was a French assistant, who wrote that she had developed and managed the Marketing Eye brand, building the company’s marketing strategy and executing it.

In reality, she was a personal assistant, who had poor English and was struggling to do any task at all from an administrative perspective. She didn’t write anything, had no contact at all with design or branding but was excellent at organizing my dinner appointments, assisting me with my wardrobe and in general being a great personal assistant, albeit one that could not write on an email on my behalf because of the poor English factor. She worked for me for a few months only which I did it as a favour for her boyfriend who was a good friend at the time. In the end, I had to tell him, that her English was so bad, I couldn’t afford the luxury of her impeccable taste in clothing, makeup and picking restaurants at that stage of my life.

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How to make the tough business decisions - and stick by them

The best decisions are often the hardest to make.

With the economy on the recover, many business owners are faced with the task of reshaping the future of their business and having to look from the outside looking in - while taking into account that the economy may take more time than anticipated to get to a point where businesses are flourishing in the way it did pre-GFC.

When making a personal decision that is tough, I always write it down. Its something that I do and I find is helpful when looking at the pros and cons. I also don't think too much about it. In fact, it is usually my gut instinct that comes into play and while it is important to consider factors that impact the direction of your life or your values, it is always your gut instinct that will ensure your decision making results in the best outcomes. It is tougher when it comes to how you feel, but if you can put that all aside, then quite often if you reflect in the future, you will realise that it is in fact that best decision you could have made at the time.

Business is not too indifferent from that.

“You can't make decisions based on fear and the possibility of what might happen.” ― Michelle Obama

Top 5 Tips for Making a Tough Business Decision
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How Instagram Video Can Be Used For Business

Instragram, the billion dollar acquisition of Facebook, is finally paying dividends. Just weeks after the launch of a new feature, Instagram video, the social media platform has exploded overtaking its main competitor in short frame video, Vine. 

While Vine has been a novelty to many, it's 6 second video application has gone from 2.5 million Vine links on Twitter on June 19 to a massive dip of 900,000 links shared on Twitter, an alarming 64 percent drop, just one week later.
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Why marketing isn't brain surgery

A simple conversation can lead to anything. Literally, anything.

Like many entrepreneurs, gravitating to other entrepreneurs or business people is natural. Talking to a Neurosurgeon is not.

"It's not brain surgery" is one of my favorite sayings. The other, "it's not rocket science". It seems quite apt that I find myself in conversation with a neurosurgeon, whose gene pool is only bolstered by the fact his father is a rocket scientist.  Was I intimidated. Hell yes! But how impressed I was to be having such an intriguing and relevant conversation with a neurosurgeon, was only interrupted by moments of wanting to be opportunistic. I had to literally stop myself asking if a sperm donation was a point I could include in the discussion. Now, what single woman wouldn't want to have a child with this gene pool?

Nevertheless, when I pulled myself together, I realized the synergies between business and neurosurgery isn't actually poles apart and much closer than one would think. As a marketer, we have certainly learnt a lot from neuroscience and consumer behaviour, but the outlook of how a surgeon views what they do, was what struck me as being something every entrepreneur can learn from.
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How to run a successful marketing campaign by Lisa Mayoh

Published in Herald Sun and on www.news.com.au on June 12, 2013 and written by LIsa Mayoh.

WITH videos going viral every day and more products to be sold than ever before, marketing has never been more important. But how do you create and execute a marketing or advertising campaign destined to meet the masses?

Well for starters, if everyone is walking in one direction, turn around and run in the other.

That's according to experts, who admit that yes - creatines often do their best work over a game of ping pong.

Mark Held from www.thinksalot.com.au says the key to good advertising is keeping the message simple.

"You're essentially telling a story," the award-winning creative director tells news.com.au.

"So the story should always appeal to its audience, and be delivered in the right tone of voice.

"It's about finding something interesting and truthful about the product or service, then giving it a pinch of wit and charm so it becomes more easily palatable to the people you are talking to.
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Viral marketing campaign liked by Kid President

"Be the best you can be" campaign by Children of America is being launched on Wednesday officially in the US market, by childcare company, Children of America, tells children and parents that "if you want to run, run as fast as you can. Don't worry if you fall over - just get back up and keep running, running, running."

Children of America hired Australian headquartered marketing agency newcomer, Marketing Eye, to establish the company's social media presence while at the same time inspiring children, parents and even teachers to be the #bestyoucanbe. 

The marketing campaign will run for three months and will entail all facets of the social media mix along with a campaign to encourage people of all ages to inspire other's on how they are being the best they can be.
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What 24 year old's can teach you

What 24 year old's can teach you

Most founders and entrepreneurs have their heads stuck so far up their you know what, to actually take the time to truly learn something from the young guns in their offices.

Another gross generalization, but the reality is that too many of the Gen-Xers who have started businesses 5 years ago, are working their butts off and are not spending the time needed to lessen their load by giving the young, up-and-coming executives the chance to really make a difference.

Here's my experience. I was sharing a glass of wine with Maikayla Desjardins, a Marketing Executive at Marketing Eye Atlanta yesterday and I asked the question, "why did you leave your job in New York and come and work for me in Atlanta?"

Her first response was: "You sold me on Atlanta as this awesome place to live - but let's face it, it's not quite New York!"
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Will your tattoo affect your chances of a workplace promotion?

Will your tattoo affect your chances of a workplace promotion?

Today I was asked the question, "what inspires you to come up with blogs?"

The answer is simple: "things that happen in every day life often inspire me."

If the truth be told, the blogs have been few and far between of late because inspiration is being cluttered with real life work, legals and end of financial year in Australia.

Jackson, a talented young guy on a 3-month internship with Marketing Eye asked the question and then followed with, "what do you think of tattoos?"

I had to think - not much. I don't have one myself, but many people do. They don't offend me, nor do I think that it would affect my decision in hiring someone or giving them a promotion, but this is not the case with all organizations it seems.
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How to generate leads via Twitter - the new way

Kylie Saw from Marketing Eye Melbourne office did some investigation into a new trend on Twitter. This is what she found:

According to the latest figures from Emarketer, Twitter is now the fastest growing social media networking site in the world.

Over the years, we’ve witness how Twitter has transformed into different versions of itself while maintaining the core elements. For instance, integration with other social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, Photo Card to attach photographs and App Card to promote directly to mobile phone applications. Today, Twitter is recognized as the best social media channel for lead generation. And subsequently, is identified as a key marketing tool for brands everywhere.


Just this week, Twitter has unveiled an upgraded feature on its Twitter Cards program – the ‘Lead Generation Card’.

This Card is exactly as its name suggests – it generates leads.

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Are rich people the most unhappy?

I sat in my car on my one-hour journey to work in the frantic combustion of Melbourne peak hour traffic, I flicked the radio channel from Mix to Fox Fm to Nova trying to find some music, anything to pass the time. As per usual, there was no music playing but rather the drone of their voices over the latest hot gossip on celebrities and news of the world.

As they chatted about celebrities’ latest love affairs, divorces, D.U.I (drinking under the influence), drug dependencies and criminal convictions I wondered what a life of money and fame would be like.
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Before and after website design - why sometimes you have to start from scratch

Before and after website design - why sometimes you have to start from scratch

I met a guy at the bar at Treetops Restaurant on Peachtree Road in Atlanta a few months ago. He had a hint of an Australian accent and in no time at all was talking to me about how we both derived from Australia and were embarking on business expansion.

Quite a smart man, he was fascinating in so many ways; his knowledge of the world, people, psychology, business and his story on how he had grown up and started doing what he does today. I would imagine him to be a highly successful businessman who commands the attention of everyone in the room.
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Do you need to watch your back?

This morning I was a little shocked. Someone who I had never had a conversation with, who is an indirect competitor of my business, said something that was defamatory about my character.

12-months ago, I would have fallen in a heap, so devastated by someone actively going around (in this case internationally) to deliberately try and ensure that an opinion was made of me that is not only incorrect, but is made to ensure that others have the same opinion.
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