focus on the wrong things

Most people starting a business spend entirely too much time, energy and money playing house rather than marketing the business. They focus on setting up a corporation, printing business cards, pens, etc. And all that seems like a lot of work and they’re busy. But they’re not in business…not yet.

Here’s how you need to allocate your upfront time:
1% – do I have legal and financial structures in place to do business (copyrights, bank accounts, etc)
49% – Do people want to buy what I’m selling?
50% – Do I have a marketing plan?

You’re not really in business until someone gives you money for what you’re in business for.

seth doesn’t care for purple cows

Today Seth wrote a post that seems to partially contridict the entire thesis of one of his most popular books, Purple Cow. (main takeaway from the book — Be remarkable. Stand out. Etc)

From those who have read the book, what do you think?

1492

While I’m sure one of the ways you’ll celebrate Monday is to go buy some furniture, you can also celebrate by re-living this Columbus Day post from 2005.

speaking south

A few notes on upcoming speaking events:

• (near) Birmingham, AL — On Fri Nov 14, I’ll be talking healthcare B2B marketing at the annual national meeting of the Contact Lens Manufacturers Association.
  (more info and registration)
• Baton Rouge, LA — I will be doing my presentation, “Selling the Image: Developing a Winning Brand Strategy,” for the Advertising Federation of Baton Rouge on Fri Mar 6
  (more info)

As always, if you need a marketing speaker to deliver an entertaining and engaging presentation on branding, media, healthcare marketing, sales, or any of the other marketing topics I cover, then please contact me.

no thanks

So I get this email from a major organization that you’re well aware of —

….we’ve received inquiries from [redacted] members who are wondering about the reports they are receiving from [redacted], Inc. We put together a short FAQ to answer your questions about this free service, at…

I can imagine the meeting that precipitated this email. Why are people emailing us complaining about this list? Why are our emails getting blacklisted?

I don’t care how valuable you think your information is.
I don’t care how much you think I need it.
If you place me on an email list that I didn’t ask to be on, then you’re spamming me.