Archive for September, 2008

Marketing Sherpa positions itself as one of the leading authorities on marketing — B2B and B2C. As a result, they are hosting the 2008 B-2-B Demand Generation Summit on October 5th to 7th. Keep in mind that if you don’t make it to the event, Marketing Sherpa does sell many related resources.

**Make sure you check out the BusinessCast Podcast ‘Blog Review’ Episode where we outline how you can get some practical business books for free!**

Remember: Subscribe to the BusinessCast Podcast at iTunes

Over the last few months, Robert and I have spoken and written about a number of new and well-established tools/techniques/tips for sales.

So, here’s a quick Summary of Effective Sales Tips for Entrepreneurs - which is a collection of the sales-related BusinessCast blog entries along with links directly to the sales-releated BusinessCast Podcasts:

Nurturing Leads

Customer Incentives

Sales Collateral: Brochure vs. Website

How/When to Use Blogs

**Make sure you check out the BusinessCast Podcast ‘Blog Review’ Episode where we outline how you can get some practical business books for free!**

Remember: Subscribe to the BusinessCast Podcast at iTunes

Well a few weeks ago, we sat down with former Calgary Flames President & CEO, Ron Bremner. The result: BusinessCast Podcast #71 – Part One of Hockey Lessons for Business. His insights and personality certainly sparked a lot of strong emotions.

The truth is that some people appreciated where Ron was coming from, the challenges he faced and his approach to tackling them. At the same time, others didn’t quite see eye-to-eye with Ron’s approach.

Well, Ron had some further business lessons and now they can be heard on BusinessCast Podcast #73 – Part Two of Hockey Lessons for Business.

You’re an entrepreneur so, listen to the shows – and you be the judge. Does Ron have it right? What’s your take?

**Make sure you check out the BusinessCast Podcast ‘Blog Review’ Episode where we outline how you can get some practical business books for free!**

Remember: Subscribe to the BusinessCast Podcast at iTunes

Love ‘em or hate ‘em – Google is here to stay.

The Search Engine-come-everything-on-the-Internet company has just celebrated its 10th anniversary.

Google is a case study of never-ending ingenuity, persistence, swimming-against-the tide, wise investment and innovation. Here are a few resources to help you get insights into: (i) how Google has succeeded; (ii) why it is poised for greater things; and (iii) lessons that you can learn from and apply to your business:

Globe and Mail Article: Business Lessons from Google

Book: The Google Story

**Make sure you check out the BusinessCast Podcast ‘Blog Review’ Episode where we outline how you can get some other practical business books for free!**

Remember: Subscribe to the BusinessCast Podcast at iTunes

All business owner/managers have an unwavering passion for their business – and that usually comes out in many forms — often in the form of a company newsletter (online and/or offline). And, now that Summer is over, chances are you (and all of those other entrepreneurs like you) are kick-starting your newsletter distribution.

But before you start sharing your wisdom with your audience, take a few moments and develop for yourself a 6 month editorial calendar - that identifies the topics you are going to be sharing with your readers. This is a wonderfully useful tool to help you get and/or keep organized when you’re caught up in the day-to-day challenges of running your business. If nothing else, it means that you don’t have to scramble at the “last minute” to come up with an idea or develop content. But, it also helps to ensure that you can reinforce messages that are important to you and your audience.

Here are a few ‘best practices’ to help you develop a powerful editorial calendar:

Build each newsletter around one topic per issue. This allows you to demonstrate to your readers that you bring depth to the topics you explore.  The theme should be expanded beyond the newsletter too. For example, if you’re speaking at a conference/workshop, reinforce the topic you are speaking about in the communication piece(s) that you are sending around the time of your presentation.

Be sensitive to seasonality. In other words, your readers have different topics/challenges/solutions that they want to read about at different times of the year. For example, if you have a retail component to your business/service, address holiday-specific topics in October/November/December.

Build in to your calendar topics that allow others — like your colleagues, industry experts and clients — to contribute their insights. Allowing this type of content can save you time as well as provide you with an additional element of credibility.

**Make sure you check out the BusinessCast Podcast ‘Blog Review’ Episode where we outline how you can get some other practical business books for free!**

Remember: Subscribe to the BusinessCast Podcast at iTunes