Out of the Fog Marketing

We've recently setup a lens on Squidoo on the benefits of strategic outsourcing of a marketing department. I'll be monitoring the effectiveness of this lens in driving traffic to this blog and overall lead generation. I'll report back in a couple of months on its effectiveness.

Labels: link building for SEO, outsource marketing department, squidoo, squidoo lens

Thanks to the tip from Josh of Web1Marketing, we'll be adding the BlogRush widget on our blog and clients' blogs this week.

When you add the Blog Rush widget to your blog, you get instant distribution across blogs in a similar category. The categories are pretty broad right now - we had to choose just generic "marketing". Blog Rush uses a viral marketing scheme by rewarding bloggers that refer more users and show more impressions of their widget with more exposure. across their blog network.

We'll write another post in about a month when we've had time to evaluate the tool.

Labels: blog traffic, BlogRush, viral marketing

We're happy to announce that starting today through 2008, our firm will loan a percentage of its net profits to fund entrepreneurs in developing countries. We will fund the loans through Kiva - an amazing organization that funds microloans in countries such as Afghanistan, Nigeria and Cambodia. There's a great NY Times video article on their organization.

As part of campaign to promote small business throughout the world, Clarity Quest Marketing is offering great marketing through the end of 2007. We will give a 5% discount on new marketing services to any client business who funds at least one loan of $25 through Kiva.

Labels: kiva, marketing discount, marketing promotion, microloans

The following paragraph was posted in today's newsletter from one of my favorite vendors - Printingforless.com . On a day that's somber in remembrance of the event 6 years ago, I liked the optimism.

Close your eyes and picture the one thing that you love to do more than anything else. What did you see yourself doing? Cooking? Playing your violin? Skydiving? Hopefully high on the list is running your business. Passion for what you do is a key ingredient in persuading others to jump on the bandwagon. In fact, one of the most important roles that business owners and employees should embrace is the role of business evangelist. Start by empowering employees to spread the good word by making sure they understand the company mission and why it matters to customers. Passion is contagious and, when channeled properly, leads to increased sales. Once converted, customers become powerful evangelists. Give them the tools to send leads your way, and they'll happily do so.

Labels: business evangelist, empower employees, word of mouth marketing

Business networking sites such as Linked In are only moderately successful at getting new leads or contact for small businesses. However, I advise clients to encourage all their employees to get a Linked In profile for 2 different reasons:
1) Individuals can insert their company's website URL which is a great quality backlink to your website helping to increase your search engine rankings;
2) Potential clients really do search for your name and look at testimonials/references.

Labels: business social networking, link building for SEO, SEO backlinks