Newt Barrett

CRM on Ulitzer I was inspired again by Jay Baer’s August 12 post about elevator speeches in which he asserted that the typical elevator speech is too long for today’s attention span. As he put it, "Understand that the Elevator Pitch is Dead. You remember the elevator pitch. The... (more)

Social Media on Ulitzer Social media marketing is a trend, not a fad. But,  most small to medium-sized businesses have yet to participate fully and enthusiastically. We have just written about a powerful new research study that paints a picture of how thousands of smart companies... (more)

If you’ve been dragging your feet on social media, it’s time to take both of those feet and jump right in. The just released study on business use of social media from the folks at Business.com is must reading for content marketers who are active, tentative or hesitant about soci... (more)

It’s All About the Power of Deep 3 D Content Over Skinny 2 D Content What’s the difference between 2-D marketing and 3-D marketing you might ask? Plenty! Think of all the junk mail you receive at home or at the office.  Tons of envelopes and a few postcards.  Virtually everything ... (more)

This week, several client meetings reinforced a vital truth:  Content marketing isn’t an arcane theory taught in expensive graduate schools that only billion dollar companies can use. In fact, great  content marketing is much more about brains than big bucks. Those client conver... (more)

How to Get Started on Cheap and Powerful Customer Studies Unless you understand your customers, you risk  painful marketing missteps. Because we know that effective content marketing depends on a thorough understanding of your customers, regular research should be a core component ... (more)

Dean Piccirillo Makes a One-Person Blog-powered Website Look like a Major Corporate Presence Online Building a solid business blog-powered website is challenging for all of us. But it’s even more difficult for anyone who lives in the financial services universe. Because financia... (more)

You Must Persuade Me to Act or Your Beautiful Promotional Piece Will Sleep with the Fishes I was perversely inspired to write this because of a recent gorgeous direct mailing I received from local French restaurant. They did a lot of things right. There was some beautiful photogra... (more)

Content Marketing Journal Effective content marketing online drives Chris Griffith’s blog powered website to number four on search rankings. You might think that Realtor.com, Yahoo real estate, the Yellow Pages, either of the two local newspapers or all of the big area real estate... (more)

Content Marketing Journal In 2007, the mention of content marketing brought as many blank stares from small business owners as the mention of a website did 10 years before. In fact, in 1997 when we started our small business magazine in Southwest Florida, few owners had websites... (more)

Personal Branding Journal Think Google. Think Bing. Think Kleenex. Think Nike.  But most of all think carefully before you attach that all-important brand name to your shiny new product. That’s the essential advice from Caitlin Randolph of BrandBucket.com in this guest post. Br... (more)

Even a micro business can use video effectively to communicate with its customers online. But, as we amateur carpenters know, you can wind up with a mess instead of a masterpiece unless you understand how to use a potentially powerful tool well.   In that spirit we’re happy to c... (more)

You must be clear on what you do and how your customers will benefit I became aware of the Metwell website as a result of a promotion they had sent me via Twitter. Their website is full of unintended ironies as they offer online marketing advice which the website appears to ignore.... (more)

Inspiration from ‘Visual Blogger’ Mark Smiciklas of Intersection Marketing It’s hard to make things easy. And, it’s even harder to be amusing at the same time. But the very best visuals take a complex idea or series of connected ideas and make them instantly understandable. Just... (more)

Lady Liberty Symbolizes All That’s Right about the United States in a Uniquely Powerful Way This may be more about loving the Statue of Liberty than about marketing.  So I might be slightly off-topic. Even so, you don’t have to look any farther than the Statue of Liberty to under... (more)

Use the B.E.S.T Plan to Plot Your Content Course My colleague and co-author, Joe Pulizzi of Junta42 fame, just posted an article that will make it easier for content marketing newcomers to build a solid, workable content strategy. The shift in mindset to a content-based strategy f... (more)

Just because you put a cute dog in a commercial, you won’t automatically communicate effectively with your customers. Storytelling is a key component of effective marketing and often of the very best advertising. But, you have to be really careful in the use of storytelling for a... (more)

The Paradigm is Shifting. Remodel Your Marketing Now. Marketing rules are changing all around us. The winners in this new world will be the early adopters who understand the new breed of buyer, take advantage of better and cheaper technology, and deliver problem-solving content. ... (more)

Why a talkative canine was able to put a family-owned business in our collective consciousness One can only imagine the original ad agency pitch to the company when they suggested having the company president and a talking golden retriever be the centerpiece of a national marketi... (more)

And Why It’s Not about Your Wonderful Qualities as a Human Being I don’t mean to suggest that your customers don’t care about your fundamental decency, professionalism, and your devotion to your local community. However, each of those qualities is necessary, but not sufficient fo... (more)