Is posting a link always the best way to go?

Content marketers have a well established technique to drive traffic. Publish a social network posting containing a link to further content, and hope the viewer finds the opening paragraph interesting enough to select the link. But it doesn’t work all the time. Not even close. And it’s only going to get worse. The proliferation of content writers and marketers has created a diluted stream of...

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Over-the-Virtual-Counter - The New Business Engagement Model

I have worked the counter at restaurants, retail shops, trade shows, and even an arcade back in the day when pinball was all the rage. And I can tell you from experience there is no better way to engage with your contacts, and cultivate rewarding relationships, than having that face to face "over-the-counter" discussion. Because they are expecting it. Over-the-counter is such an established engagement...

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Influence Marketing Strategies - The do's and don'ts

An old concept is being re-invented by the modern on-line community. Influence marketing has arguably been around since the birth of society, when someone first had something to sell. We called it "Word of mouth". Today, social networks make word of mouth far more reaching, faster, and if you're smart about it, the most effective influence marketing strategy ever witnessed. The key is to be smart...

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And the Scams Just Keep on Coming

One of the things you get a lot of when you're a freelancer, and you've been working the social media markets and forums, are proposals for partnership and revenue earning. Yesterday I received a "Make Money From Home" offer that presented me with the pitch, "All you have to do is Like our postings". Followed by an outrageous claim of making up to $1000 per day. This of course is just a complete...

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When is a Poll not really a Poll? When just asking, alters the results!

I worked in politics for a few years. As part of that effort I designed and managed the on-line portion of a few provincial election campaigns in Ontario. |In each campaign I was involved in, "the Team" would pay particular attention to the ongoing polls. And each time, after the election was complete, the result didn't reflect the ongoing polling at all. Why? It's likely because the polling methods...

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Marketing with Facebook... Not as easy as some believe!

So a couple of years ago I had a client come to me completely exasperated. "My Facebook postings are only being seen by 10% of my fans! And there's a Boost button under my post now. Do they want me to start paying for my fans to see my posts!? I can't believe it!" I kind of felt sorry for him, but at the same time a felt like saying, "well duh, how long did you think the free ride was going to...

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Spam, Spam, and More Spam... The Trouble with Email Marketing

So I made the mistake of participating in a "How was our service?" poll, conducted by a well know restaurant chain, in the hopes of winning a free meal. Twenty four hours later my inbox has 20 emails from sources I've never seen before. And more come in daily. Hardly worth the free meal I never got. I've unsubscribed but that doesn't do much. More emails come in. Just from different sources....

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Why has Twitter Not Saved a Life Yet?

Take one part simple communication application, two parts custom functions, and a dash of it fits in your pocket, and you get one of the most globally influential technologies ever created. ... and we use it to spread fluff & hate. Back in 2010, like many others, I was introduced to the new social craze that was Twitter. I created an account and emailed out to my @rossbartlett Twitter id to...

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Welcome to my blog

Over 20 years into this industry and I'm still providing "Do's and Don't" advice to my community of business clients.  Some advice relates to current on-line environment evolution. However the bulk of my advice I have repeated, to so many new clients,  I can't help but feel that the start up business community is as much a mystery to many that it was back in the nineties. In an attempt...

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