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Trish Lambert - EzineArticles.com Expert Author
Trish Lambert, president of 4R Marketing, is a marketing maverick/maven who brings a unique viewpoint to her customers along with impressive breadth and depth of experience. She and her team provide marketing copywriting, consulting, and project management for service businesses.
Trish is also a coach for businesses that want to replicate her "6-figure revenues while working from home" success. Through her blog and her coaching practice, both named Success in Sweatpants, she mentors "virtualpreneurs" who ... [More]
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Trish Lambert Email Alerts
- The Flea Market That is Elance
[Business:Solo-Professionals] I have been an Elance provider since the fall of 2004, and to date I have earned just over $100K on this freelance project site. In spite of the negative perceptions held by many freelancers, I am convinced that Elance can provide a good revenue stream to a freelancer, and I am also convinced that it takes a particular approach and the right expectations for that to happen.
- The 5 Characteristics of a Winning Elance Provider
[Business:Solo-Professionals] I have been an Elance provider since the fall of 2004, and have learned a lot. Mainly through trial and error. Having earned over $100K through this freelance project procurement site, I offer what I consider the five characteristics that a freelancers needs in order to succeed on Elance.
- Beware the Cruising Cult!
[Travel-and-Leisure:Cruising] If you are a "wannabe" cruiser with questions, there are plenty of us out here to give you answers. But there is an insidious aspect to this opinionatedness--an evangelical quality that we take on when we talk or write about cruising. There is a kind of arrogance in our position--especially, dare I say it, among sail boaters--that implies that we have found "the way."
- What is the Right Kind of Boat For Cruising?
[Travel-and-Leisure:Cruising] Hoo boy, ask that question loudly the next time you're at your favorite boater hangout, then sit back and watch the fun. As with most things about cruising, you'll get eleven opinions for every ten people you talk to. And as fun as it may be to watch, listen to, and read about the debate about cruising boats--sail versus power, monohull versus multihull, full keel versus fin keel, and so on--it can also be pretty overwhelming for someone who is trying to figure out the best solution for their cruising dream.
- Musings of a Female First Mate - A Boy and His Boat
[Travel-and-Leisure:Cruising] There is something about the relationship between a man and his boat that a woman can never completely understand. I've seen this gender-separation over and over again in the cruising village.
- Leveraging the Pareto Principle For Fun and Profit
[Business:Marketing] Though it may not be referred to specifically by business and marketing experts, the Pareto Principle plays a significant part in the advice they impart. The Pareto Principle says that for many phenomena, 80% of the consequences stem from 20% of the causes. One of the applications of the principle says that 80% of a company's revenues come from 20% of its customers. How are you making sure that you are taking good care of your top 20%?
- Using the Right Tools in Your Work-at-Home Business
[Home-Based-Business] As a virtual entrepreneur working from home in your sweatpants, being able to connect productively with your market, your clients, and your network is critical to your success.The tools you use to make these connections need to work well. In many cases, this means staying up to date with your technology. It also means understanding how you present yourself to the web-connected world. Are you using the right tools in your business?
- Get Smarter Faster With Before-During-After Learning Processes
[Business:Small-Business] When you are pursuing a business-critical project, how do you learn? What if I told you that spending a little time before, during, and after your project will put you in an impressive lead over your competition?
- What Freelance Pricing Model Works Best?
[Business:Solo-Professionals] I get asked a lot about the best way to price services. Hourly? Retainer? Fixed price? I have done all three, and I definitely have a preference.
- How Do You Minimize Disruptions in Your Home Office?
[Home-Based-Business] Working from home gives us a lot of control over our environments. The phone can be ignored, as can the doorbell. Doors can be closed, televisions turned off, and Internet disconnected if necessary. No one walks into your office uninvited (as long as you've established ground rules with your family), and there's no water cooler or coffee maker to hang around wasting time. Still, it can be a challenge to stay focused.
- When Your Marketing Should Run With the Sheep - And When it Shouldn't
[Business:Marketing] In marketing our businesses, we have been conditioned to think "differentiate, differentiate, differentiate..." Unique selling proposition, creating mindshare in our markets, standing out from the competition--these concepts tend to make us strive for novelty in as many areas of our marketing activities as possible. Actually, the only areas that need to stand out in our marketing are those that are part of our story. It's the story that sets us apart from the rest and captures the attention of the market, not the individual pieces of our marketing program.
- "Sez Who?" Marketing - Do It!
[Business:Marketing] "Subvert the Dominant Paradigm." This intentionally fancy pants statement is a way of reminding me to rock the boat, challenge the status quo, and, in my work with clients, to practice what I call "sez who" marketing.
- Is Your Content Actually Connecting
[Business:Marketing] The written word is king of the marketing hill these days. Between the intangible nature of services and the intangible marketing challenge known as the Internet, having content that increases interest and drives sales is a service firm imperative. Thing is, you can have loads of articles, white papers, web pages, and email messages, but if the words in those pieces aren’t making a strong connection to your market, all that content is worthless.
- Is Good Customer Service Going to the Dogs?
[Business:Customer-Service] Here is an example of lousy customer service in a dog grooming salong that (unfortunately) translates all too well to too many service businesses.
- Maximize WOM in Your Services Marketing
[Business:Marketing] Word of mouth (WOM) and its subset, referrals, differ from other marketing activities because they depend entirely on someone voluntarily endorsing your services to someone else. You can ask, invite, encourage--even offer to pay them for referrals--but when it gets right down to it, the only way WOM will make a big impact on a service business's growth is if clients are so excited and thrilled about it that they proactively endorse it to their own networks.
- What is Boat Cruising--Really?
[Travel-and-Leisure:Cruising] Cruising, I believe, is a state of mind. No, I'm not talking about listening to Jimmy Buffet music while sucking on a rum drink in the cockpit. That can be fun, and it might be part of the lifestyle, but it's not cruising all by itself.
- A Sure-Fire Way to Take Your Business from "Ordinary" to "Mediocre"
[Business:Marketing] Content is king when it comes to marketing on the Internet. Is it any surprise that the latest gimmick being used by eager but talent-challenged web businesses is to do what I call "reverse plagiarism?"
- Bowl or Fruit? The Difference Between Marketing and Sales
[Business:Marketing] It seems to me that there is a lot of confusion between "marketing" and "sales" in the business environment. Judging from the job postings and requests for proposals that come my way, there is a tendency to lump the two together, probably because resources are limited. Companies end up looking for a sort of holy grail: someone who can successfully fill both roles, either as an employee or as a contractor.
- Your Service Firm's Brand - It's Your Voice!
[Business:Branding] Branding, branding, branding. I am so tired of hearing about how lofty and complex branding is. This is one of the sacred cows of marketing that needs to be defrocked, at least as far as service firms are concerned.
- Let's Talk Trade Shows
[Business:Marketing] Are you thinking about exhibiting at trade shows as a marketing strategy? Before you start Googling for show names, consider the most "bang for the buck" strategy for your company.
- The Cruising Life: $afety $tuff $ucks
[Travel-and-Leisure:Cruising] Boats aren't like cars. They don't automatically come equipped with safety gear, and the cost of adding appropriate gear ranges from, say, a couple of hundred dollars to several thousands of dollars. I know that it's money that needs to be spent, but it makes me upset.
- Managing Your Marketing Mirror: Full-Length or Mosaic?
[Business:Marketing] Between cost and fuzziness of results, it doesn’t surprise me that it is the CEO or owner who directly oversees marketing in small to medium service firms. But with all the demands on their schedules, CEO marketers don’t have the temporal bandwidth to proactively integrate marketing activities and ensure consistency across the board. The result: Marketing that mirrors the company as a mosaic rather than as a full length image.
- Forget Strategy - SENSIBLE Marketing Is the Way to Go!
[Business:Marketing] Strategic marketing and marketing strategy are meaningless terms to most small and medium business owners. But I am not saying that business-oriented marketing planning isn’t necessary. You do need some kind of marketing plan, but instead of calling it strategic, let’s call it sensible.
- A Marketing Plan Minus Fanfare? What a Concept!
[Business:Marketing] Just because marketing planning is ineffective in many cases, does that mean it shouldn’t be done at all? I say no. In fact, I say that smaller businesses must plan their marketing programs—map out what they need to accomplish and how they will do it—preferably prior to the start of their business year. They need to step back and think creatively about how to use marketing most cost-effectively to meet business objectives, and how marketing can help them gain or retain competitive advantage.
- 7 Ways to Avoid Marketing Collateral Damage
[Business:Marketing] Managing contractors to get the best marketing collaterals for the best value is often a major challenge for small and medium service firms. The array of skills needed and the choices for final output can cause the cost pendulum to swing wildly. Here are seven tips to get the best quality for the best money.
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