Friday's Marketing 5 Shorts and Sweets

I don't know about you, but this week has been information overload. From worries about the imploding stock market to the roller coaster ride as it recovers, I'm ready for some short, sweet and inspiring news to get me in the mood for the week's end.

Here are 5 short and sweet marketing bits that I thought worth sharing this week:

[READ] Boring Meeting Suck (Here are some ways to kill them for good.)
Your fourth hour-long meeting of the day may have convinced you that all meetings are useless and hopelessly, irrevocably boring.
Not so, says Jon Petz in his recently published Boring Meetings Suck. In his world, meetings are productive events at which information is shared, perspective is offered and everyone emerges better for having been there. They are also quick and even rare.

I especially love the idea of rotating meeting hosts.
Presumably, those attending your staff meetings are department heads or hold some type of unique responsibilities/position. So why not give all the leaders within your business a chance to actually flex those leadership muscles? You can even use this as a team building and employee education exercise, because holding meetings within the confines of other departments can give you a better perspective on the demands and challenges they face on a daily basis.


[READ] 7 Ways to Inspire Others
Conventional wisdom tells us that we cannot change people. The results of our attempts to direct different actions, behaviors and thoughts will not be immediate, guaranteed or precisely as we envisioned. But you and I can be agents of transformation for our colleagues, employees, business partners, mentees and customers. Here are 7 ways to inspire others to become better.


[VIEW] Infographics: The Marketing Hourglass (Duct Tape Marketing)
It’s not a marketing funnel, it’s an hourglass, and what happens after the “know, like and trust” that leads to your sales will make the difference in whether your customers buy again, buy other products or trust you enough to refer their family and friends to your business. Don’t miss the graphic at the bottom, which gives you an idea of several types of offers that should be part of your core product or service menus.


[READ] 7 Ways to Reward Customers with Shipping Perks
You might not be able to soak up all shipping costs, but there are other ways to reward your customers with shipping perks; here are 7.


[READ] 3 Key Elements of Email Subject Lines
Rumors of the death of email marketing have been greatly exaggerated. Email is still the way to go in many lucrative mainstream niches. You must first, of course, get your emails read. And it all starts with the subject line.


Want more? Here's a link to last week's Friday's 5 [click here].

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