Idea of the Day: Sort your network...

As an entrepreneur and Connector with Boston World Partnerships my network expands at a pretty rapid pace.  That’s a cool thing, as I love bringing people together in mutually beneficial ways. Obviously this advantageous to me as well, since it is a lot easier to get introduced to key collaborators. LinkedIn is my main portal for network aggregation, but there’s something missing from their approach. The...

Web Conferencing Basics...

This post corresponds to podcast Episode 19: Web Conferencing with ReadyTalk which is included in the Free Marketing Made Easy Core Program, accompanied by workbook and video tutorials that show you how to do this on your own. My last post explained how you can use teleclasses and podcasts to record audio, then distribute it on the web. If you want to use that same concept of re-purposing content, but take it to another...

How (and why) to start Podcasting...

This post corresponds to podcast Episode 18: Podcasting Basics with Adam Weiss which is included in the Free Marketing Made Easy Core Program, accompanied by workbook and video tutorials that show you how to do this on your own. As mentioned in my last post, it’s easy to record your teleclasses. That means you might have some audio tracks which you could edit and re-publish, so this is a good time for us to talk...

How to set up a Teleclass...

This post corresponds to podcast Episode 17: Conducting Teleclasses with Office Queen Tracey Lawton which is included in the Free Marketing Made Easy Core Program, accompanied by workbook and video tutorials that show you how to do this on your own. Our last couple of posts have explored “traditional” methods of marketing which are being reborn due to new technical advancements. Public Relations and Email...

Getting Started with Email Marketing...

This post corresponds to Free Marketing Made Easy podcast Episode 16: Email Marketing with MailChimp which is included in the Core Program, accompanied by workbook and video tutorials that show you how to do this on your own. My last post explained the basics of Public Relations and Press Releases. Those things have been around for quite a while, but they are being revived because of new tools and distribution methods....

Using Public Relations and Writing Press Releases...

This post corresponds to podcast Episode 15: Public Relations & the Killer Press Release with Susan Payton of Egg Marketing & PR which is included in The Free Marketing Made Easy Core Program, accompanied by workbook and video tutorials that show you how to do this on your own. If you are following along with the Free Marketing Made Easy course overview, we are now moving into Part 4: Get More Customers! Why...

YouTube and Online Video...

This post corresponds to podcast Episode 14: YouTube and Online Video with Lou Bortone, the Online Video Guy which is included in the Free Marketing Made Easy Core Program, accompanied by workbook and video tutorials that show you how to do this on your own. In our last post about Twitter and Social Media automation tools, we promised to introduce you to Online Video. When I approach the subject with our friend Lou Bortone...

Using Twitter for Business...

This post corresponds to podcast Episode 13: Twitter for Business with Seth Resler, Founder of New England Social Media which is included in the Free Marketing Made Easy Core Program, accompanied by workbook and video tutorials that show you how to do this on your own. In my last post about Using Facebook for Business I acknowledged that you don’t have all day to spend on social media. You might want to use something...

Facebook for Business… from friends and family t...

This post corresponds to podcast Episode 12: Facebook for Business with Susan Payton of Egg Marketing & PR which is included in the Free Marketing Made Easy Core Program, accompanied by workbook and video tutorials that show you how to do this on your own. Here we are, reading our way through the social media section of Free Marketing Made Easy. Our last post considered why you would want to blog. Now we’ll...

Blogging for Your Business...

This post corresponds to podcast Episode 11: Blogging for Business with Michael Martine (aka: Remarkablogger) which is included in the Free Marketing Made Easy Core Program, accompanied by workbook and video tutorials that show you how to do this on your own. In our last section we considered social media by taking a holistic view of online marketing. Now we’re going to get into specifics. By now you’ve probably...

All these online marketing pieces…how do they fi...

This post corresponds to podcast Episode 10: A Holistic Approach to Online Marketing with Denise Wakeman which is included in the Free Marketing Made Easy Core Program, accompanied by workbook and video tutorials that show you how to do this on your own. Our last post concluded the first two areas of the Free Marketing Made Easy Program with a discussion on Site Optimization and Conversion. If you are following along...

What is 'Site Conversion & Optimization&#...

This post corresponds to podcast Episode 9: Site Optimization and conversion with Marketing Experiments which is included in the Free Marketing Made Easy Core Program, accompanied by workbook and video tutorials that show you how to do this on your own. As we previously discussed when defining Search Engine Optimization, getting traffic to your website is a good thing but you want it to be relevant traffic. Once you...

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Basics...

This post corresponds to podcast Episode 8: Search Engine Optimization with Christine O’Kelly of SEO Content Solutions which is included in the Free Marketing Made Easy Core Program, accompanied by workbook and video tutorials that show you how to do this on your own. In our previous post about Building Your Website on Wordpress we outlined a way for you to create an easy-to-manage, scalable site with plugins that...

Building Your Website on WordPress...

This post corresponds to podcast Episode 7: Building Your Website (and Blog) on WordPress with Ben Cope of WordPress University which is included in the Free Marketing Made Easy Core Program, accompanied by workbook and video tutorials that show you how to do this on your own. Our last post discussed the way you can create an affordable and professional brand identity. Now that you have the right look, it’s time...

Easy, cost-effective ways to design your Brand Ide...

This post corresponds to podcast Episode 5: Sourcing Your Design Projects with crowdSPRING and Episode 6: Brand identity beyond design with Vistaprint which are included in the Free Marketing Made Easy Core Program, accompanied by workbook and video tutorials that show you how to do this on your own. Our last post described Content Marketing; the discipline by which we create a concrete message. Since you now understand...

Create a message worth spreading...

This post corresponds to podcast Episode 4: Content Marketing with Joe Pulizzi, Founder of Junta42 which is included in the Free Marketing Made Easy Core Program, and is accompanied by workbook and video tutorials that show you how to do this on your own. In our last two posts we talked about market research and described the importance of getting actionable feedback. This time we’ll go a step further and figure...

Get Actionable Feedback from Customers, Prospect a...

This post corresponds to podcast Episode 3: Get Actionable Feedback from Customers, Prospects and Employees with Rypple which is included in the Free Marketing Made Easy Core Program, and is accompanied by workbook and video tutorials that show you how to do this on your own. Throughout the Know Your Market section of this program, we’ve been explaining how good market research is the foundation for good marketing....

See the Big Picture Using Google Tools...

This post corresponds to podcast Episode 2: Research Your Market with Google Tools which is included in the Free Marketing Made Easy Core Program, and is accompanied by workbook and video tutorials that show you how to do this on your own. Selling can be a pretty complicated process. Why is it so perplexing? Because customers rarely make intellectual purchasing decisions. The fact is, that as consumers we typically...

How to market online: An overview of New Media and...

This post corresponds to podcast Episode 1: Integrating Your Marketing with David Cutler of Creative Business Development which is included in the Free Marketing Made Easy Core Program. So you own a small business and you know you should be online, but you’re not sure where to start. Hi there! We get it. To warm things up a bit, consider these six points that our buddy Dave Cutler would like you to know about Internet...

Idea of the Day: Tic-tac-toast (play with your foo...

Other than the kid in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (you know, the one who made Devil’s Tower from mashed potatoes) we’re usually told not to play with our food. Bah! Why not turn breakfast into a game? If bread-makers created grid lines in their loaves (with cinnamon, maybe?) then we’d have a perfect tic-tac-toe grid on our toast. Fill in the spaces with jelly X’s or O’s...