Practical Strategies for Challenging Economic Times
While we continue to watch our global economies “rock and roll,” a frequent topic of conversation in my consulting circles is whether organizations are still seeking help with their technical, business, marketing, and personnel needs.
The answer is yes! Smart enterprises have realized that the most strategic investments during challenging economic times revolve around shoring up infrastructures, designing novel offerings, streamlining operations, and strengthening talent bases. For businesses rich in ideas about increasing their value, this represents an ideal incubation period.
Later, when the seas calm, the rain stops pounding, and the sun resumes shining again, these savvy organizations will have a significant advantage. That’s because they hunkered down and concentrated on core improvements while less-focused groups were distracted by events.
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More Tips on Creating Attention-Grabbing Movie Messages
Today we’ll continue our theme of boosting online visibility by creating low-cost video for educational and marketing purposes.
My last newsletter discussed several ways to produce inexpensive video using a variety of recording devices and/or software.
Today’s installment covers several video and slide-sharing venues where you can upload your finished video productions for maximum exposure.
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It’s Time to Focus on the Production Details!
My last newsletter focused on various ideas for creating simple marketing and educational videos to use in promoting your business products or professional services. These videos can help you communicate your offerings in a creative and compelling way.
This approach can dramatically boost your expert status in the eyes of your audience members! It enables them to see you as a much more familiar and accessible individual or company figurehead.
So, are you ready to get started? If so, it’s time to begin focusing on how to produce low-cost, highly effective, promotional video campaigns!
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Let Your Creativity Flow!
The fall season is upon us, which means it’s time to finish tweaking and start unveiling our latest and greatest marketing campaigns!
During the summer, many of us were busy inventing new approaches and projects while employers, clients, and customers were on holiday or vacation. Autumn signals the point when people return to the office and begin seeking or acquiring custom solutions, products, or services.
If you’ve been preparing for this carefully behind the scenes, you’ll be ready to show them what you’ve been up to!
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What’s Your ROI (Return on Imagination)?
At this time of year, I always find myself experiencing a nostalgic sensation of going back — to school, to new projects or challenges, or to some as yet undefined, but mysteriously important destiny.
All summer long, I’ve been buried while working on several creative endeavors, allowing a plethora of new ideas to percolate in my brain. Since I’ve been exercising my imagination even more than usual, I’ve planted several new seeds; mulched, watered, and cultivated my mental garden; and harvested some interesting results.
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Influencing Cooperation Is This Season’s Hot Topic
Today, I’m continuing the discussion of behavior and the fascinating research on influence. You might recall from prior newsletters that Dr. Robert Cialdini has published many groundbreaking findings on this subject over the past few decades.
Many of these studies appeared in his original “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.” Savvy businesspeople who learn to apply the principles gain tremendous advantages over those who aren’t aware that they exist.
In the same vein, “Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive,” published by Cialdini and his research colleagues in 2008, also has become a foundational resource for many aspects of business and marketing.
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Another Look at Our Fascinating Eccentricities
Today’s issue provides a sequel to my recent newsletter on consumer behavior, which I thought deserved an encore performance! There’s much more to this fascinating topic that we can use to our greatest advantage when trying to anticipate how our peers, colleagues, customers, or clients are going to behave.
As I noted last time, Dan Ariely’s “Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions” tops my list of the most compelling bodies of research to be published in recent years.
Ariely, an MIT professor, studies the seemingly “irrational” idiosyncrasies and impulses that unwittingly guide our social and consumer-based actions. These insights can help us recognize many mysterious influences that shape our decision-making and our perceptions of ourselves and others. That’s why I feel it’s important to cover another collection of his findings today.
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Ideas for Probing Your Prospects’ Psyches
Today’s issue focuses on the psychology of our audiences, including their buying behaviors. When thinking about your clients, customers, constituents, or prospects:
- Do you have a general, one-size-fits-all idea of what makes them tick, or a much deeper insight into what goes through their minds when they’re dealing with a problem or challenge?
- What kinds of solutions are they looking for?
- What sorts of impulses and idiosyncrasies subconsciously guide their social and consumer-based actions, regardless of the industry, market, or field?
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New Ways to Influence Your Audiences
Today’s newsletter issue focuses on using effective presentation design and persuasive story-telling to communicate compelling and convincing ideas to your colleagues, clients, customers, employers, personnel, and students.
Why is this topic important?
Do you need to inform your audience of the merits of a proposal, develop an influential case for a new training program or project extension, or provide facts and data that other people will need to interpret and act on?
If so, at stake are the project ideas and pipe dreams that may be incubating in your think tank, or decisions that need attention and concurrence from others.
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Powerful Ways to Resolve Customer Angst
Awhile back, I devoted a newsletter article to using suggestion boxes to increase customer satisfaction.
It subsequently generated an unexpected and welcome outcome: A personal note from Jeff Whitton, founder of a now-successful online service that had been much needed for a long time: SuggestionBox.com.
Since boosting customer satisfaction won’t ever go out of style, I’m shining a spotlight on SuggestionBox.com again in today’s issue, along with updated findings on how to use the power of apologies to help resolve major customer complaints.
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