Entries by Elizabeth Kraus

Make sure Marketing is more than your ‘Gal Friday’ | Marketing ROI

Do you know what a ‘Gal Friday’ is? I know from personal experience; I’ve been one, more than once. It’s that person in the office who’s often found un-jamming the copier or replacing the toner, who orders office supplies, who bounces out to pick up food for the important people, cleans up after the meetings […]

Happy Thanksgiving: Where did it all begin? History of Thanksgiving Day in the US

Sure, you’ve heard about the Pilgrims and the Indians and the first Thanksgiving, but that was just a dinner. Do you know how Thanksgiving, now officially celebrated on the 4th Thursday of every November, earned its place as one of the major US holidays?  Here are some fascinating bits of history of Thanksgiving Day in […]

4 Ways to Sell More Gift Cards | Holiday Marketing Ideas

Over the last couple of months I’ve been writing about “little white marketing lies” which are falsities many business owners tell themselves and others. These are things they often want to be true about their business but either don’t really understand or don’t want to do the real work needed to make them true. Here’s […]

You’re Too Cool for Facebook

I know people who think it’s some sort of badge of honor that they aren’t on Facebook. When we talk social media they lean back and with a disdainful look on their face proudly assert that they aren’t on Facebook, and they never will be. I read the dumb comments about how Facebook is just for grandmas to […]

November 14 is Loosen Up Lighten Up Day

November 14 is National “Loosen Up, Lighten Up” Day. If you’ve been procrastinating on getting your marketing in shape to ‘loosen up’ customer’s purse strings and ‘lighten up’ your load by getting your business going this is the perfect time for you craft some special promotions and seek out some strategic marketing partners. 4 Loosen […]

What you should do before you daily deal

Toward the end of his article, “The Real Repercussions of Discounting,” Darryl Manco made a very important point. In essence, he asks why you’re trying to cure what ails your marketing with the wrong medicine. Here’s what I mean.  In marketing 101, you learn the “4 P’s” of marketing: Product (the products or services you […]

Let’s get engaged!

The secret for small business (or any-sized business) success is not just attracting customers or getting one sale, it’s engaging them over the long haul. Engaged customers believe they are part of something. They believe they are important to you and to your business. Apart from having a family or social connection to your business, […]

Engaging customers requires your commitment, too.

The secret for small business (or any-sized business) success is not just attracting customers or getting one sale, it’s engaging them over the long haul. Engaged customers believe they are part of something. They believe they are important to you and to your business. Engaging customers requires not just a commitment on their part, but […]

The REAL Repercussions of Discounting

Yesterday I shared an article across social media channels from entrepreneur.com, titled, Groupon, Other Deal Sites Not a Good Deal for Small Businesses which noted that not only were up to 80% of deal buyers already customers of the businesses whose offers they purchased, but more than half of them also said they’d have made […]