“Where do I start?”

“What is social media?”

“Will blogging help?”

“I’m lost!”

If you’re asking yourself these questions –even after years in business– you’re not alone.  My clients ask them every day in their search for the best ways to grow their businesses, reach their goals, and measure their results.

Chris Brogan has a great article entitled “If I Started Today” up on his site.  I love his focus on audience (the most overlooked facet of great marketing). Though he gives a great preliminary road map, I would have loved to see more real-world implementation strategies (but hey, that’s what we specialize in, so you’re covered).

Consider his post to be what it is:  a great road map made of arrows pointing you toward your final destination.  It’s up to you to decide what values and goals need to be served by your marketing plan and what resources you have to help get you there.  Once you’ve made those decisions and are ready to commit, the next step is a phased marketing plan with measurable metrics that you reassess when realistic and are flexible enough to change.

In closing, I’d like to echo Chris’s question.  What have you learned from this year’s marketing efforts? What would you tell someone just starting out?

The Renegade Writer Blog is aimed at, you guessed it, writers, but today’s post on sexing up your e-mail subject lines to guarantee you get read can benefit everyone.  I find that an interesting subject line can up the open rate of an e-mail campaign by double digits.  Next time you bemoan the lack of opens on your e-campaign or latest round of resumes, it might be time to ask if your subject line is seductive enough.

As marketing professionals, we see a TON of really, really bad business cards.  You know the ones:  they have VistaPrint logos all over them.  They list 20 phone numbers and no actual contact information.  Weird, mangled, or outdated imagery abounds.

We’re going to get a chance to evaluate business cards next week, both at the Boulder Business Trade Fair sponsored by the Boulder Chamber of Commerce (November 19, 5-8:30 pm) and the exciting Angel Capital Summit sponsored by the Rockies Venture Club, a group we are proud to sponsor and assist with all things marketing (November 21, 8 am-6 pm).

Here’s the scoop:  Drop your business card in our fishbowl and you’ll get a free business card evaluation, a special business card promotion a la VOCO, and a chance to win a fabulous prize.

Free advice, a fun and useful evaluation, and prizes?  People, it doesn’t get much better than that.