Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

Sure, I’m just a bit prejudiced - my biz card says “Albuquerque, Santa Fe and the Virtual World.” But recently I was chatting with a local business owner and she said, “Oh, sorry I didn’t get back to you, but I didn’t check my email last week.” No, I wasn’t offended, but I was embarrassed for her. Ouch! Why does she have the email address on her business card?

Same type of thinking often happens with web sites. A company will spend mondo time and money on getting a site up, and then get so busy with the day-to-day “stuff” they never look at it again. Why bother in the first place?

But, does everybody “need” a web site? Well, no - not if all of the following apply:
1. They’re happy with their current revenues and profitability.
2. They don’t have any competition.
3. They only want customers within, say, a 25 mile radius of the company’s physical location.
4. Their market space, industry, local weather or the economy will never change.
5. They plan to close the business or retire within the next five years.

Otherwise, yes, everybody needs a (good) web site. And to learn how, when, why, where to use email for effective communications, customer relationship building and buzz creation.

Our world is increasingly flat (and virtual). An ever-growing number of white collar jobs are being done in places like India (including U.S. tax returns). More and more people of all ages, both male and female, use the Web to do research, find prices and narrow down their choices - before they ever set foot in a store or make a phone call.

If you’re thinking, “Well, some jobs are impossible to outsource and send off shore.” Think again - some McDonald’s franchises already outsource their drive-through orders to a remote call center, resulting in better customer service and reduced costs. (Besides - I don’t know about you - but I’d really look silly in one of those McD hats - and I hate polyester.)

Lurking Readers! Like what you’re reading? Don’t “get” the whole RSS thing? Simply subscribe to Mary’s Blog by Email (I don’t send you any email or give the address to anybody else. It’s an automated feed to your email box to read at your leisure.)

If you’d like to leave a comment, please do so. It may take a bit to show up since I hate making people type in little letters (I can’t read most of them myself) - so I moderate all comments. Feel free to disagree - debate is healthy. However, I’ve blacklisted the worst obscenities, including the “f” word, as part of the troll wall.