9 List-Building Gifts You Can Make This Month

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Scroll to the bottom of this post for presents!

Mailing lists. You’ve heard you need one, but why?

Here’s why: email is one of the least expensive, most direct ways to communicate with your prospects. You can build a relationship with them by offering valuable information over time, and giving them a peek into your working process. When they’re ready to make a purchase, your business will be the first one they think of.

But where do you get started? And how can you build your list? [Read more...]

Why Try, and Why Hang On

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Mario Schulzke of IdeaMensch is back, and this post shares some of his — and his interviewees — views on trying, failing and the power of hanging on in business. –Pamela

Don’t fail fast, try fast.

When I was in sixth grade, I saw that a lot of the older boys on the bus started to have girlfriends. While I had no real interest in girls, I decided that it was time for me to have a girlfriend too.

I spent the next four weeks keenly observing every girl on the bus before deciding to ask out the one I thought was the prettiest girl around. She was in eighth grade and was about six inches taller than me. When I decided to “cold call” her after finding her parents’ number in the phone book, she had no idea who I was.

Note to self: only ask out women who actually know who you are. [Read more...]

Just For You: A Cornucopia of Helpful Posts

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It’s Thanksgiving week in the United States, and I’m going to continue the tradition I started last year by gathering together some of the best posts from this past year for your reading pleasure.

Blogs are funny: the information you write is presented chronologically and — over time — some of your most helpful posts get buried in the dusty archives of your website.

Once a year, I like to look back at what I’ve written, pull out the most useful stuff and put it back in front of you. That’s what today’s post is about. [Read more...]

Hello. Nice to Meet You!

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It’s nearly Thanksgiving in the United States, and I’m thinking about how grateful I am that you’re here, reading my blog.

Every week I hit my keyboard and do my best to come up with helpful marketing and design advice. What drives me to work hard for you is the belief that even if your business is small, your brand can be big. Everything I do is to help you accomplish that.

We’ve built a nice community of people here at the Big Brand System since it started early last year. Even if you’re new here, you’re a part of it. :-) [Read more...]

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