Cold Calls and Silver Bullets
An article that recently appeared in the Los Angeles Daily Journal, “Coming in out of the Cold: In-house Counsel Say Cold-Calling Is Not Always Best Sell for Firms,” had me re-reflecting on a professional services marketing truism: No marketing strategy is a “silver bullet.” Rather, most marketing strategies can be successful if they’re implemented well. […]
Taking the Bull by the Horns—or Goring Yourself With Them?
I did something in a meeting yesterday that I had never done before. I and a Berbay account manager met with a few members of a prospective client firm. At some point in our discussion, one of the prospects mentioned that he was a friend of one of our former clients (I’ll call her Jane […]
Wall Street Journal “Wall” Remains Standing After Exec’s Resignation
I was surprised and heartened to read that Andrew Langhoff, publisher of The Wall Street Journal Europe, had recently resigned after an internal investigation revealed he was closely involved with an ethics breach at the paper. Allegedly, WSJ Europe’s circulation department made a deal with a Dutch consulting firm to sell the firm discounted papers […]
Going the Right Weigh With Your Business Card
In making the rounds of my Saturday errands this morning, I used the products and services of two different business people who understood the importance of the quality of their marketing materials. We’re still human beings and even in this digital age, can’t get around the fact that touch and feel convey a lot about […]
Dispatch from Krakow: The Riches in Niches
We often recommend to our clients that they identify and develop a niche—and they often reject the idea. Many of these professionals are concerned that specializing in one area will keep them from getting work in others. That’s understandable, but the truth is that in the final accounting, having a niche typically helps professionals get […]
How to Ensure a Superior Professional Photo
You’d think it’d be easy…just a smile and a click, right? Contrary to popular belief, taking a great-looking professional photo involves more preparation than that. Photos are a major part of your brand, and an inferior photo can make you look sloppy or unprofessional—exactly the message you don’t want to send. However, it doesn’t have […]
Dear Berbay Blog Series: All Hands on Tweetdeck
Berbay often receives questions about using social-networking services such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. We recently got an email asking about Tweetdeck, a popular application that enables users to (among other things) update multiple social-media accounts simultaneously. We thought that our response might be of interest to readers of this blog. Dear Berbay, I use numerous […]
The 75-Year-Old SEO Salesperson
At Berbay, our account managers are all relatively young, and very capable. They were talking recently about when they meet with prospective clients, they are often meeting with people at least a decade older than them. Sometimes, they agreed, they get the feeling these prospective clients are thinking, “My kids are this age” or, “This […]
Wake Up and Smell the Metal (and Other Marketing Lessons I Learned from Jewelry)
I recently had the pleasure of attending a conference in New York on antique and estate jewelry, a passion of mine outside of marketing. The conference was supposed to be an extracurricular activity but, ever the marketing professional, I couldn’t get Berbay and our clients off my mind. I kept seeing unexpected connections between jewelry […]
Why You Should Blog
Even if you don’t have thousands of people following your blog, there are still many reasons to have one. For instance, depending on how it fits in with your website, a blog can contribute to a higher search engine ranking. There are ways to “push” your blog comments out into the world via social media […]