360angles

It can be when you’re 16 and working at a hometown sub-shop or in the prime of your professional career, but most people experience the dreaded firing process one way or another if they’re in the business of being in business. Whether your being the one let go or the person letting someone go, it’s NEVER an enjoyable experience.

It’s a scenario we’re all familiar with, but what about when the tables are turned? What about when the subordinate in the situation fires their boss, the company they work for, or their client? It’s an odd thing, it goes against everything most dedicated hard-working “give-it-your-all” people have been taught, but necessary.

We recently parted ways with a client and it was our choice as an agency to “let the client go.” So how does it come to this? Well, in this case the relationship was no longer productive for us or for our client. And I suspect this is the majority of instances where this situation should and does occur. As an agency owner, it’s a tough decision to essentially tell a client’ “we no longer desire to work with you and no longer want your money.” Yikes!

This decision did not come lightly, but after much consideration we decided it was the best decision for all parties involved. We believe in the end, this bittersweet parting will prove beneficial for both our agency and the client. The client will be free to pursue an agency who better fits their needs. And we the agency, will be free to pursue clients who’s needs are best served by our skill-set.

Eric Karjaluoto has a great post talking about companies slashing marketing budgets during this recession. (Which many are.)

What baffles me about all of this is how people are choosing to cut their spending. I can appreciate reducing office space or negotiating a lower lease rate. I similarly understand reducing staff members or entertaining job sharing options. What I can’t quite grasp, however, is this tendency to narrow the pipe for incoming sales. When you aren’t getting dates, you don’t go home and watch re-runs of Matlock; you get out of the house and meet people.

It seems that most companies are in fact doing the opposite of this though. I talk to numerous people in key roles who look a little like they’re a moment from crapping themselves. When I ask what they are doing in terms of marketing they typically respond in the same fashion, telling me something to the effect of, “We know it’s something we should be doing, but we have to cut right now.”

A nice office space doesn’t directly drive sales. Office perks may heighten morale but they don’t necessarily bring in new clients. In times like these, all of us have to look at what keeps the machine running. As such, there’s one simple truth that I want you to embrace: your company has to accelerate its marketing and sales efforts…

…So, let’s just say you’ve taken a few moments to skim this article, and you think that I’m perhaps making a small amount of sense here. Well this then is the spot where I need to sell you on the notion that this whole “marketing” thing could actually work for you. Let me take the next few moments to push you off that cliff.  ;-)

When you’re half-way through a grueling run, feeling like you want to “puke your lungs out”, you tend to forget that you’re not the only one. Everyone else around you is likely feeling just about the same way, and it’s the one who can suck it up and push harder who wins the race. Although there are a few lucky ones who have managed to escape the pinch, I feel I can safely say that your competitors are hurting badly. So while they are retreating and licking their wounds, I want you to press the gas pedal and haul some ass. They’re vulnerable; isn’t this the perfect time to strike?

In fact, they’re running so scared that there’s less “noise” out there. When times are good, everyone’s clamoring to have their voice heard. Today, however, your marketing dollar has more bang, largely because fewer people are advertising, selling, and getting the word out. It’s ripe for you to get out there, bang your drum, and perhaps even grab a couple of your competitors’ clients in the meanwhile.

Read the rest of it: Stop Acting Like a Sissy and Market Your Company.

37 Signals AB Split Testing

Jason over at Signal vs. Noise is sharing some really interesting data from an copy writing A/B split test.

Writing Decisions: Headline tests on the Highrise signup page.

They basically discovered that short, punchy copy, combined with assurance of a low-cost of adoption spurs more sales. These are things that any copy writer worth their salt knows anyway, but now they have empirical data that proves it.

There’s been a lot of loud belly-aching over the marketplace implications of the $0.99 price point’s popularity in Apple’s iPhone App Store. Well, Mobile Orchard blew all that out of the water yesterday. Check out the sales distribution of iPhone Apps sorted by price:

iPhone App Store Sales by price

In 2008 Apple’s sales jumped 39% in Japan.

Why Apple’s sales jumped in Japan – Fortune Apple 2.0 Blog

Reports of the Mac Mini’s death are greatly exaggerated…

• The Mac Mini is #1 and #6 in Apple’s “Best Selling Desktops” at Amazon.com.
• It is also #16 over all in the ultra competitve “Best Sellers in Computer & PC Hardware.”

They say you have to sell yourself on your product before you can sell anyone else. That hasn’t been happening at Microsoft lately, what with the top brass not being able to figure out what Vista Capable means. And from the looks of this, that won’t change. This is the stuff Office Space nightmares are made of.