Image by net_efekt via Flickr
So, every weekday, I rattle on here. I thought it was time for something different.
Today, the spotlight is completely on you.
Use the comments to introduce yourself.
What do you do? How long have you been doing it? What makes you love it?
Or, if you prefer, share a project you worked on recently, or a blog post you wrote (links are OK).
If you’re feeling shy, point to someone else’s really great post.
Thank you Steve.
Edit: after some thought, I decided to share two stories.
I got my first Mac in 1988. My boss bought them. I’d been using computers since 1969, and hated them. I had never used a Mac. It sat in the box for weeks. IT was supposed to set it up, but kept dragging their feet.
Finally, I decided to do it myself. I had used mainframes, terminals, and computerized typewriters for years, but never set one up. A few minutes later, I had it up and running. Even networked it to my bosses’ printer. It was as if I’d been using it for years. I loved it!
Some time later (same job), we were working on a big project for IBM. At that time, all PCs had limited fonts and very few graphics. But, our Macs had lots of fonts, desktop publishing (Quark 1.0), and drawing tools too (MacDraw!).
We put together a huge presentation, with manuals and training materials (under really adverse conditions too – the copier drowned) and sent it off. I wanted to put tiny apple logos on the pages or the cover sheets, but my boss wouldn’t let me.
After everything arrived, we got a phone call from IBM, “How did you do this!??? It’s amazing!”
Yes, it was.
My dad called me the other day. He was excited by Google’s doodle honoring Freddy Mercury (it was pretty fabulous, you can see it here if you missed it).
The funny thing is, my dad had no idea who Freddy was. He never heard of him, or the group Queen.
So, no nostalgia, or great memories for dad. He just saw something he really liked and wanted to share it.
If you do something really great, people will want to share it (even if they don’t quite know what it is!).
Image via Wikipedia
It sounds counter-intuitive, but it turns out it works: fewer emails can lead to more sales.
Here’s how it worked for one IT company (story from Marketing Sherpa).
First, they changed the “from” line to come from an account manager (instead of the marketing department).
Then, they streamlined the emails. They used less HTML and graphics, and more plain text. They staggered them in a series, offering more help at first (free guides and webinars), and switching to a more sales-oriented approach later in the series (product demos and free trials).
The result?
Read the full article here (open access until Sept. 16)
Now, all emails and lists and marketing is different. However, it does suggest that simplifying, adding more useful content, and carefully showing leads along a path to a sale, can make a big difference. Start with signing them up, add valuable content, helpful videos, ebooks, etc. Then add in materials that are more directly related to a sale (a demo, a free consultation). Finally, ask for the sale.
