Welcome to My Marketing Thoughts
I want to begin this blog with a poem I read somewhere — I can’t remember where — But, it’s so apt, it just stuck in mind.
You see, for a long time I was constantly whining about my lack of success in business, despite having gathered a head full of knowledge about anything and everything about internet marketing.
What I forgot to do was to put any of that knowledge into action.
Like I kept saying to my students in school, you can have all the intelligence in the world, but it’s no good if you don’t put it to use.
What I’m saying is, don’t just read everything I write and expect things to happen.
If you want to achieve anything, you have to do something about it.
So, with that, enjoy.
Don’t be a quitter
Don’t be a quitter
When the job is tough.
Or fail in trying,
When the going is rough.
A well worn path
Is easy to find,
When following the crowd,
Is left close behind.
To make a new trail
May be left to a few,
For a worthwhile task
Is not easy to do.
But the proof of the fighter
Is how long he can stand
The reigning blows
From the opponent’s hand.
No blaze of glory
May follow your name.
Or titles of honour
Deserving of fame.
Yet, in being a victor,
Rewards have their due,
When joy in the doing,
Belongs to you.
Filed under Uncategorized by on Sep 17th, 2008. Comment. 
Three short years ago, when I lived in London, I was the administrator for a small private school.
I had started there as a teacher but, because they never had a basic structure to their office, and I had over a decade’s worth of prior admin experience, they asked me to set up their office from the ground up.
It was a big task, one I didn’t relish, but someone had to do it.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, the school’s budget was miniscule and trying to get cash out of the headmaster for anything was like trying to squeeze… tax cuts from a labour government.
One problem we had was, due to there being no formal office, once things got under way, a lot of people suddenly realised there was loads of work to be done, including laminating tons of posters.
We had a laminating machine which was… well… let’s say ‘cheap’ would be an understatement. (Crap comes to mind)…And it kept breaking down.
I think a couple of the teachers were even bringing their own, cheap, laminating machines into school.
It was at that time the stationery company we were buying from sent us some advertising material through telling of a heavy duty laminator they were promoting and, to sweeten the deal, they were giving away a ton of free plastic laminates.
Being in dire need of just such a machine, I showed this to the headmaster, who promptly dismissed it saying he wasn’t prepared to pay the £200+ (around $400) they were charging for it.
The free laminates didn’t make any difference.
That was the end of that.
Until the next week.
We had another mail come through about the same machine with the same deal, except in this case, they were selling the laminates for £200+, with the machine thrown in free.
As soon as I saw that, I knew we had a new laminating machine coming in.
I took it to the headmaster and showed it to him, and he promptly told me to order it and he’d make the payment.
Deal done.
Heck, it was the exact same deal as the week before… what made the difference?
I’ll answer that in a future post.
Meanwhile, let me know what you think.
Filed under Uncategorized by on Sep 19th, 2008. 1 Comment.
Don’t know your CPC from your CTR, or your SEO from your RSS?
Fear not; it’s very likely you’re not as alone as you may think.
Being a bit of dummy, I’ve decided to put together a list of terms even I can understand.
And if I can understand, I can almost assure you can, too.
Leaving out the absolute basic terms such as www, ISP and URL, I’ll list the less basic terms here:
- Web 2.0 This the basically the name given to all the different technologies and trends being bandied about on the net.
- RSS Short for Really Simple Syndication, this is an internet technology which allows you to receive notification of updates to a site without having to constantly visit it.
- Blog Short for weblog, this is a personal online journal where you can put down your thoughts… like an online diary open to the world.
- Cookie A small text file sent to a user’s computer by a website so the user can be used recognised if he visits that site again.
- Podcasting Simply put, this is series of audio or video files made available to users to view or listen to, particularly via mobile devices.
- Spam Commercial email sent out to users without them asking for it.
- Keyword A word users can type into a search engine to find certain products or services.
- SEO Search Engine Optimization is the process of making a site more visible on the internet, hence making it easier to find by user, such as by using relevant keywords.
- CPC Cost Per Click A way to pay for online advertising by being charged only when someone clicks on your advert.
- CTR Click Through Rate The number of people who click on a link when they see it.
- ROI Return On Investment How much profits are made or how much loss is avoided on a product or service.
- Social networking Various sites on the internet which allow people to get in touch, make friends and generally ‘socialise’ online.
Hopefully, this short list will make things a little easier on the web, but let me know if there’s anything else you feel should be on there.
Filed under Uncategorized by on Sep 20th, 2008. Comment.
Twenty years ago, or thereabouts, in a school in the North West of England, two students graduated and went on to two of the most prestigious schools in the world to pursue higher education.
Mr. X went to the more prestigious, and well known, of the two schools.
He finished his higher level course, a course which usually takes two years, in the first year.
As a result, he gained a reputation as someone who is highly intelligent and knowledgeable.
Mr. Y also graduated well from his school, but had finished his course in the usual two years’ period.
Fast forward to 2008, and Mr. Y has now opened several schools in and around London, and doesn’t look like he has any plans to stop any time soon.
Mr. Y. on the other hand, opened one school in the North West of England in the early 90′s, from scratch, and has been concentrating solely on that.
Now, while Mr. X’s schools have been multiplying, they are not in the best of conditions physically, and they have yet to produce any students of repute.
As a result, Mr. X now has a reputation of going from one project to another and not achieving much with any of them.
Mr Y’s school, however, has not only produced numerous students of repute, but has gone on to become generally recognised as the top school in it’s field, producing graduates of the highest calibre.
And, while not seeking any reputation due to his naturally humble nature, he has gained a high status not only among his students and the general public, but also amongst his peers.
What made the difference?
Well, while Mr. X was busy opening numerous school, he has been unable to give his full concentration and efforts to any one.
While he is the more knowledgeable of the two he has divided his knowledge between his various projects… thus diluting the value to any of them.
Mr. Y, while not as knowledgeable as Mr. Y, has been devoting everything he has to his one school, ensuring everything went right from the very beginning, and continues to do so.
Thus, Mr. X may be giving his schools 10% of his efforts, Mr. X has been giving his one school 100%.
The moral of this story is, it isn’t what you know, or even how much you know, but how you apply what you know.
If you want to achieve anything, concentrate fully on the task at hand… give it 100% until it’s done.
If you go from one project to another, you’ll end up not finishing any of them and achieve nothing in all of them.
Mr. X is an example of an extraordinary man who has produced ordinary results through his inability, or lack of desire, to concentrate his efforts on one thing only.
Mr. Y is an example of an ordinary man who has achieved extraordinary things through his desire and his ability to concentrate all of his efforts to one thing only.
Filed under Uncategorized by on Sep 23rd, 2008. Comment.
Okay, I wrote this post, How One Little Change In Tactic Made A Big Difference, a few days ago and promised I’d reveal how it worked.
Heck, I think everyone can see why it worked, but the question is how?
Well, this is how…
He knew the laminating machine was good, but wasn’t prepared to pay £200+ for it.
Once he saw the new offer, where the same machine was now free, he had to have it.
The fact that he still had to pay the same amount for the laminates was irrelevant.
You see the free item, the bonus, was more valuable than the item he was paying for, and that’s all he cared about.
He just had to have that laminating machine for free.
I know it’s weird and twisted, but that’s how the human mind works.
Keep that in mind and you’ll make tons of dosh.
Filed under Uncategorized by on Sep 26th, 2008. Comment.
