I write a lot of B2B case studies, which means I conduct a lot of interviews with customers and experts. Here’s a basic set of questions I usually ask, which helps me form a kind of chronological story that I eventually turn into a case study. Feel free to use them, or add your questions [...]
What Apple can teach you about business writing
I love this Apple iPad 2 tv ad. It’s not only beautiful and emotional, it sells without seeming to sell. How do they DO that? What can you learn from this ad that will help you write for your company? I’m not just talking sales sheets or offer e-mails, I’m talking all the marketing materials [...]
Five Ways to Slice-n-Dice a Case Study
The case study is the workhorse of marketing materials. Once you write a good case study, you can use it again and again in multiple formats. Business case studies have it all: they establish your expertise, authority and real-world experience. On a gut level, people just like reading about what other people have done to [...]
How ONE trade article is worth $20K (or more)
Business blogging, tweeting and social media tactics often overshadow the value of a trade print article, which can pay off BIG. While a full-page print ad in a trade magazine can run you upwards of $6,000, getting an article about your business in a trade magazine is worth at least worth 3 times that. Here’s [...]
See Jane Blog Part III: How to Create a Search Engine Optimization Strategy for a Business Blog
If you’ve been following along, you know that Jane Hamill and her company, Fashion Brain Academy, help fashion designers on the business side of things. After tackling some business blog basics (Part II), we started to work on keyword selection and a search engine optimization strategy. As I discussed with Jane, there are two main [...]
See Jane blog part II: Business blog basics
As you may recall from Part I, I’m working with Jane to make her business blog more effective. She’s got a fantastic blog and Web site that focus on the business of fashion for new and established designers. So, before we tackled the big stuff, here’s what we did… Defined business goals Yep, you can’t start [...]
Why was e-mail number 2 opened WAY more than number 1?
The other day, a client sent out two e-mails. The first was opened by 232 people, the second by 332! Can you help figure out why? E-mail 1: “Starting today, I’m offering GROUP consulting” Opens: 232 E-mail 2: “Awwwww shoot!” Opens: 332 So, exactly 100 more people opened e-mail #2, which was really just dashed [...]
See Jane blog part I: Meet my business blog guinea pig
Jane Hamill, of Fashion Brain Academy, is a business consultant for fashion designers. She has also graciously offered to be my business blog guinea pig. I’m working with her to optimize her blog and promote it through social media, article marketing and SEO. We’ve just started…here is Part I of where we are so far. Jane [...]
Reader question: “I can’t come up with one idea for my blog!”
It’s not easy to come up with blog ideas in a vacuum, so readers are welcome to write in for free business blog ideas. Lola is in a crowded field (and she knows it) – selling online marketing e-books and tutorials to making money. But although she can come up with book contents, she’s having [...]
How does your business blog stack up? Technorati survey
Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere 2010 report surveys more than 7,000 bloggers for an overview of what’s going on in the blog world. It’s an interesting read, but I’ve pulled out the tidbits that are most relevant to business bloggers. How does your blog compare to the results? Technorati just released the State of the [...]
