Cleaning Out the Cobwebs

Life is funny. There are a multitude of universal truths that are relevant no matter what religion, faith, non-faith, philosophy, or lifestyle you lead. One thing that I’m learning is true, as I move into a new house, is that cleaning the space around you can effect you mentally. When was the last time you truly looked deep into the archives of your life and decided to clean everything up? When you did that, did it change the way you thought?... [Read More...]

Be Grateful for your Customers

Do you have a loyalty program? If not, you might be one of those people that believes the E-Trade baby is really talking. Okay, that’s not fair.That E-Trade baby is convincing. Regardless, as a business  you should be grateful for your customers. The best way to show that is through loyalty. Loyalty is great because it translates – like many things – in business as it does in life. When there is a confluence of relevancy in this... [Read More...]

Matching Technology to Need

How To Gain Respect with Businesses Usually I write for businesses and since this is a small business marketing blog that would be appropriate. Today, I want to speak with some of my cohorts in marketing who focus on technology. The social media, web dev, app dev folks of the world apparently need to be reminded that they are often ahead of the rest of society in technology acceptance. Think of technology as hip-hop and businesses as your parents... [Read More...]

Future so Bright the Midwest Needs Shades

This past weekend saw a conference of epic proportions. Typically I’m underwhelmed by conferences; they promise these mind-blowing, motivation inspiring experiences that rarely metastasize into realization of the guarantee. This was not to be the fate of the Future Midwest Conference (#FMW10 on Twitter), held in Royal Oak, Michigan. [Read More...]  Read More →

I Got The Feeling

Yes, this post is a play on Sir James Brown’s epic ditty. Yeah, I said “ditty” and I Knighted James Brown today.  ”Baby, Baby, Baaaaby.” Sometimes people don’t think that entrepreneurs need that extra kick when they get a feeling on something, as they are natural risk-takers. On the contrary – the more I work with entrepreneurs the more apparent it becomes that getting the ‘I got the feeling’... [Read More...]

Free Marketing Help

Some people might not be comfortable enough to offer free solutions for the same services they charge for. Well, there is a reason; I understand that many small businesses are operating on a budget. If nothing, Hand-Raiser Marketing is about small business success, which sometimes conflicts with our own capitalist goals. Without further adieu, here are a list of companies that I don’t make a dime to promote, but I do because I like their offerings. I... [Read More...]

Research

If you’re not sure what your current customers and prospects think of you, or just want to make some directional decisions and are unsure of which way to go, Hand-Raiser can work with you to develop surveys, questionnaires, and offer the data analysis to help you make those revelations and decisions. Let’s face it, you might be too busy worrying about payroll, products, logistics, operations and navigating the ever-changing marketplace... [Read More...]