By Andrea Norman on Sunday, June 21, 2009

Clearly defined mission, goals, strategies and tactics are the foundation of a business.  The marketing decisions should flow from those fundamentals. Whether you implement a new marketing collateral piece or search engine optimization, asking the question, "Does it get us where we want to go?" will help you to prevent chasing the latest, greatest technology or tool for its own sake.  After all, marketing should have a return on investment associated with it.

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By Andrea Norman on Sunday, June 14, 2009

Today's Arizona Republic's article, "Fizzling arts fundraiser offers lessons" discusses the less than overwhelming response of the "MyArtsCommunity.org" campaign.  As the article aptly points out, there were several errors and problems that plagued the campaign.  They pinpointed timing as the primary culprit. Not enough time and bad timing, specifically, they claimed were the issues that made this campaign's ROI -(-349%)!  (They earned $22,258 but spent $100,000.)  Timing was clearly one of the issues but the two bigger issues were ill-considered marketing strategy and a lack of compelling messaging.

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By Andrea Norman on Thursday, January 29, 2009

The trend challenging a number of construction companies is the recent shift by many municipalities to qualification-based selection processes. Great estimators and/or bidders have been the key to success for many companies. However, the rules are changing. There is little estimating and/or bidding that is required before the project is landed. Now, marketing, qualification-based document preparation (proposals) and presentation skills are the keys to winning construction manager at risk (CMAR) work.

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