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marketing: Changes in Attitude, Changes in Latitude . . . - 07/26/09 11:39 AM
As I was sitting in my office a fortnight ago it came to me that for two years I have been working virtually seven days a week. When I say seven days a week I am not speaking part-time or casual drop-ins to the office but actually spending hours on end consumed with work on the behalf of my clients. I get an idea and start a project and come out of my trance when the phone rings: are you coming home tonight? I think I have the opposite of AADD.
Contemplating the meaning of life, I realized that I needed to make … (6 comments)
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marketing: BEFORE You Hit SEND! - 07/02/09 12:29 PM
Ah, technology. How did we ever manage before the internet and the ability to email?
This is an email I received earlier this morning from another agent, an agent whom I don't know. The message pertains to my attempts over the past three months to hold a weekly all agent caravan in our market area. The names of the area and lane were removed to mask the identity of the agent. I am NOT making this up:
was this caravan to lease or to buy please advise. i have a property in the m******* on c**** p*** lsne fopr … (17 comments)
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marketing: Branding - Part II of Focusing Less on the Sizzle - 10/07/08 02:04 PM
In my previous marketing-related post, Focus On The Steak and Not the Sizzle, I discussed the importance of focusing more on the steak and less on the sizzle.
To focus on the steak and capitalize on your brand, forget about working on your logo and tagline for a moment. Instead, gather your team together and define your values. Does everyone in the company, at ALL levels know what the corporate values are? Do they share those values?
Here's the tough part: be honest with yourself and ask your employees and customers if you and your company are living up to those … (0 comments)
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marketing: Focus on the Steak, Not the Sizzle - 10/06/08 08:08 PM
As a professional marketer, I have always been taught to sell the sizzle, not the steak. The problem with selling the sizzle is that often companies begin to rely strictly on the sizzle and forget that what the customer really wanted in the first place was a good steak.
For many companies, branding has become the sizzle. Someone in the executive chair is telling marketing to craft messages that are often at odds with the quality of the products and services that marketing is attempting to sell, and gobs of money is being spent to get those carefully scripted message in … (7 comments)
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marketing: 6 Degrees of Seperation - 2 with Social Networking? - 08/05/08 09:42 PM
For the past week or so I have immersed myself in social networking to see what impact, if any, it could have on my business and that of my clients'. What an interesting exercise this has become.
While I have only just started getting involved with Facebook, Twitter, Utterz, and some of the other networks that are available, I did make a decision a few weeks ago to actively post to my Active Rain blog spot, and have followed through, posting, reading, and commenting when appropriate. I've made some great contacts on Active Rain, people that are smart, people that make me think or laugh, and these have … (18 comments)
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marketing: Business Cards: Design Them to Leave a Lasting Impression - 08/02/08 02:34 PM
Wow, did I collect a lot of business cards at the Southeast Builders Conference over the past few days, and fortunately I was able to hand out a bunch of mine. I hope that people will hang on to them as a reference for whenever someone says that they need help with marketing, and that they'll remember us and pass our contact info along. I think I prefer handing out a card over a Blackberry to Blackberry data swap. I want something that will last a lot longer than my last mobile backup.
As I was sorting through the cards and … (6 comments)
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marketing: Email Marketing: Have We Killed the Golden Goose? - Part II - Improving Your Open Rate - 07/24/08 09:00 PM
In my previous blog post "Email Marketing: Have We Killed the Golden Goose? Part I" I stated that I believe we have been using email marketing recklessly and as a result, consumers are ignoring their in-boxes because of the amount of irrelevant mail they have to endure. I presented some strategies for you to use to get past the gatekeepers and hopefully that post has made you rethink your approach to emarketing.
One thing I'd like to point out here: relying solely on emarketing will likely not produce the results you desire. Augment your emarketing with a matching well-designed direct mail piece targeted … (2 comments)
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marketing: Email Marketing: Have We Killed the Golden Goose? - Part I - 07/23/08 10:52 PM
Three emails I would really like to send:
Dear Dethroned or Exiled Monarchy,
I would be happy to help you with your banking needs. When can I expect the check? Would it be okay if I used your money to float my business until my ship comes in? Since we are on a first-name basis, and you are so gracious to give me this opportunity, I feel it only fair to tell you that every now and then I have to close out my checking account and open a new one because, well, quite frankly, I am not much on bookkeeping and … (5 comments)
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marketing: Consumer Behaviour During a Downturn - How to Adapt & Generate Business Part II - 07/23/08 05:04 PM
With fewer buyers driving around aimlessly looking at open houses and model centers, in yesterday's blog post "Consumer Behavior in a Downturn How to Adapt & Generate Business - Part I" we were trying to shed a little light on how to adapt and position yourself in front of consumers who might have a need for your services or product. The post ended by bringing up that with high fuel prices, people are hibernating at home and using the Internet as a source of entertainment.
In January, 2008, Nielsen reported that 94% of Internet users have shopped on-line. 94%!! I am convinced that given the current … (0 comments)
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marketing: Consumer Behaviour During a Downturn - How to Adapt & Generate Business Part I - 07/22/08 07:57 PM
Having been through multiple market swings over the years, and survived, I feel incredibly optimistic that I can still grow my business even though many are saying that we are in "hard" times. No matter what business you are in, you can use this time to grow your business through different strategies.
Never have we been able to inform consumers about our product and services like we can today. In the 80s, when the real estate market was slow, actually very much like today, I was selling on-site for a builder. We used to run a bunch of line ads on the weekends … (26 comments)
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marketing: Slashing Your Marketing Budget in Tough Times: How Deep Should You Cut? - 07/20/08 08:47 PM
My business is a little different from that of most Realtors. We are a marketing company that also happens to be a real estate company, so we are working not only with real estate agents on a regular basis but also with builders and developers. The one thing that both builders and Realtors are talking with us about is how they have curtailed their marketing efforts is an attempt to reduce expenses.
This concerns me. I have a hard time thinking of anything that promotes and increases my business as an expense. Marketing is a necessity. Without it, no one would know what service or product … (2 comments)
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marketing: Attention Builders! This is not the '80's! (Or why I don't have big hair and wear bows) - 05/31/07 10:50 AM
I am a homebuilding marketing addict and I can't resist touring builder's model homes. As a homebuilding marketing executive for a number of years, a member of the NAHB, and now the president of my own company (we provide professional real estate services to the general public as well as sales and marketing services to homebuilders) I live and breathe residential marketing, and I love to see what builders are doing well.
When we take on a builder client, we spend time learning as much about them as we can so that we can do a great job on their behalf. Yesterday, when touring … (1 comments)
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Deborah Fisher
Fort Worth,
TX
More about me…
Fisher & Company, P.A., Marketing & Creative Strategists
Cell Phone: (817) 559-2945
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