Ahh the mature woman! Something all of us girls grow up to be…well hopefully. As I have embarked on this leg of my personal journey I have noticed more than ever the lack of significance placed on my role, generation and participation in the marketplace.

Is it marketers have counted me out? Do they think I am over the ‘hill’ and no longer am a substanable source of revenue for their bottomline?

It could just be our fascination and even obsession with “being young” but whatever it is…marketers that ignore this market segment are pretty stupid in my books.

November 2009 a white…

Aah…the Thanksgiving holiday!

For many of us it conjures up memories and emotions of wholesomeness, family, fall colors, great food and of course, being thankful to God for all of the blessings we have.

Despite the fact Thanksgiving is just about being swept off the map and overshadowed as a major holiday these days…it will always be a significant holiday I will respect and honor in my lifetime.

I believe Thanksgiving 2009 offers up a special opportunity to those of us in business. No doubt it’s been a tough year for many of us here in the U.S. despite what the news says. I…

This is my final article of my four part series on Business Suicide Mindsets to Avoid in 2009.

Although I this one is last, it can be just as damaging for a business as the other three I have already covered.

I call this Business Suicide Mentality #4: The “I Don’t Have Too; I Don’t Want Too, I Will Not Change!” Mindset.

Yep, Change…it’s a word we all know yet often we find we are naturally opposed to the meaning of this word.  We find change is disruptive and unsettling, so we resist it.

The dictionary defines change as…

Change

to make the form, nature,…

So far I have covered two of the four mindsets I believe are deadly in today’s new marketplace.

The first was the Status Quo Mindset and the second was the Arrogance Mentality Mindset.

Today I will cover the third mindset I find very noted for the season we are currently in.

It is the Business Suicide Mentality #3: The “Hunker Down” Mindset.

The reference to hunker down means two things: One is preparation for some type of pressure you’re anticipating. The other relates to hiding.

With the jobless rates soaring, consumer spending way down and the incredible shifts occurring in new millennium business across the board…

Why is it business websites and web assets ‘don’t get no respect’? That’s right.

In my 13 years as a web business professional I see this happen over and over. It happens with large corporations, to one man shop freelancers, to mid size and small businesses to entrepreneurs. Their website gets very little attention and nurturing at the stage of inception often handed off to the ‘web people’ to Make It So!

What’s wrong with that you ask?

Well for starters, your website and web properties (blogs, social pages, digital campaigns, etc) are not just flipping things that show up on the Internet! Rather…

STRATEGY ONE - Strategy is King…Status Quo is Dead!

Of all the things that entrepreneurs and small business owners fail to do, one of the most serious is strategic marketing planning. Strategic marketing planning in today’s marketplace IS the most important thing you should do. A Strategic Marketing Plan is a management tool that determines which steps to follow, and the methodologies and times to reach certain objectives. Gone are the days where marketing planning is an isolated activity! It has to be perfectly linked to the rest of the business functions (First contacts, billing, assistants/virtual, production, personnel, etc.)

STRATEGY TWO -Fall…

Lately I have been hearing all over the web ‘marketing is conversation‘ and you better be on board with social media or you are not marketing.

I say that’s hog wash (I get it! Like pigs wash!).

I am not going to be arrogant enough to say I have the total explanation of what marketing means or what it is because I believe it encompasses really everything you do in your business.

But I will say I know it is about a whole lot more than conversation. No doubt, conversation is one of the “tools’ or methods we can use when marketing.

Marketing TODAY starts…

Ever wished you could contact someone at the companies you do business with to complain, resolve problem or just give them the props for something they did you liked without dealing with those aggravating automated phone systems!?

I have and so have many, many consumers for that matter!

It’s so hard to find direct access via the “old model” of doing business but now that social media has provided the tools to voice the consumers experience with millions online…you can now reach some companies and businesses who ‘get’ the power of the people in this digital economy.

If you want to position your business (this…

Because understanding what is going on with people and technology is critical for any business strategy today, I would like to share some information that reveals theory on where the web (3.0 & 4.0) is going and why that is important to consider.

The truth is we (people, your customer) are the web and we always have been! But technology has empowered us to connect with one another like never before…and this is just the beginning.

Here is a informative map on the convergence of technology and social connections i think you will find interesting.

Also, there was an eight-part 2008 survey of technology…

Recently Burger King’s advertisement antics have been a marketing nightmare if not corporate suicide in my opinion. What the heck is going on over there at corporate BK anyway? It seems as though they are trying to impress us with your tasteless presentations using “shock” propaganda to get our attention.

Really now, business must be pretty bad for Burger King when you feel you have to resort to making fun of and disrespecting Latinos or try to convince parents the BKing singing about his love for square butts, and his desire to “get with” SpongeBob while ladies shake their booties and “square butts” to…