Happy New Year from The Marketing Twins at 1429 Creative!  

As the image shows, I think alot of people are glad to check 2008 off the list and move on!  Good riddance!  Now reports are running rampant these days about what 2009 will bring.  For the small business owner, times are challenging no doubt.  But the agility and innovation available to a small business far outweighs the bumbling blubber of corporate America.  This could be the year when more small businesses are started and the most explosive year for new entrepreneurs!  Are you in?

Here in Fort Worth, the FW Chamber EVP says we’re looking pretty good.  Stay tuned to over the next week to hear more about our review of 2008 and how the New Year 2009 can be the best year ever!

-Randy & Donny

Be sure and check our Upcoming Events for a calendar of our marketing coaching sessions and free workshops coming in 2009.

BONUS:   John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing shares a tip on making sure your site is current on its copyright information.

CLICK ON IMAGE BELOW TO OPEN AUDIO PLAYER:

Registration begins immediately and will be initially open to the first 50 participants!

(Click image to Register)

FAITH & SPORTS SERIES: Inspiring Christian Business Leaders in the Marketplace

* * * FREE CONFERENCE CALL* * *

Today’s Press Release

Have you heard the news?  We are interviewing Olympic Gold Medalist, Stephanie Brown Trafton in a future Double Take LIVE Broadcast.  For more details, check out our blog and the upcoming events section.

-Donny

themarketingtwins@1429creative.com

p.s.  For those who have been following the blog, Randy will be returning tomorrow (Tuesday) to the states from his 3 week trip to Benin, West Africa tomorrow.  If you missed any of Randy’s Branding Series, check it out here.

If you missed it, local North Texas hero Melissa Lawson won NBC’s “Nashville Star” last night - she’s 32-year old mother of 5 boys and lives in Arlington. Congratulations on a great success story! And it’s always the full story that makes it an inspirational story!

————————-

And don’t miss the upcoming MARKETING COACHING EXCELLENCE series with Stephen M.R. Covey - son of the well-known author of “7 Steps to Highly Effective People” - it’s a FREE call. Check back FRIDAY for details on how to register!

————————-

At 1429, we offer a ONE-on-ONE marketing audit. This audit provides you up to a 2-hour assessment of your marketing strategy and materials in order to establish a comprehensive marketing strategy. By the end of our time together, we will help you see clearly a path of strategic marketing solutions for your business or organization! *** In 2009, this popular marketing audit will go to $350, so contact us soon to schedule this 2-hour assessment. We have only 4 timeslots available each month - we only have one time remaining in August and 2 slots left in late September. Schedule yours before the price increase in 2009! Save $150 if you schedule your ONE-on-ONE in 2008!

————————-

Finally, as John Jantsch typically does, we are introduced to “How To Use Twitter for Business.” John creates this FREE eBook and you can go his blog and download it. It’s very simple to understand and I think you can get some pretty good ideas there.

By the way, if you are Twittering and want to follow the Marketing Twins, go over to the right sidebar and see “Get Connected” - Donny’s Twitter handle is “donny1429” and I am “MarketingTwins”. Follow us and maybe we’ll follow you (for you non-Twitters, this probably sounds like bizarre stalking language but it’s really pretty cool - get in the game!)

How have you used Twitter? Is it working for you? Please share any ideas so that others (including myself) can learn how to use this powerful social networking tool.

-Randy

Today I had lunch with a marketing coach - someone for whom I have great respect and who helps me see what I cannot.  That’s one unique role of a coach, isn’t it?  The coach always sees the plays and formations easier than the players on the field.  They have experience and they have eyes to see what sometimes we can’t see when we are in the middle of the game.

Today I was inspired to try harder and work smarter.  I learned ways to make my own business more efficient and more profitable (and not always having to raise my prices just to do so).  I got ideas on how to better package my services so that they become resonators for our clients.  I was able to share my struggles, frustrations, fears and just admit - you know, even as a marketing coach myself, I don’t have all the answers.  This seasoned marketing coach not only admitted the same thing (which made me feel a ton better), but I also learned by sitting down with someone with greater experience and knowledge, I came away better and more inspired.  Energized.  Renewed.

So here comes the shameless pitch - I want to be that coach for you!  Yes, you heard me right.  Admittedly, I don’t have all the answers, but I spend most of my days working with a variety of clients learning what works and what doesn’t - gaining alot of experience that could save you alot of costly mistakes!   I spend the other part of my day studying marketing trends and trying to find ways to teach our clients about them.  (That sounds like a full day, but I still get to put on the husband and dad hats, too!)  So I believe I am equipped to help you go to the next level, rediscover your passion for being an entrepreneur or independent business owner, and reignite your vision for your small business!

The things I learned today, I am eager to pass them on to you.  Contact me and set up a time to talk.   We conduct a FREE 30 minute consultation over the phone or in person.  That’ll give us both a chance to see if we are fit.  Then we can proceed from there in mapping out a blueprint to your marketing success.

As a proud member of the Duct Tape Marketing Coaching Network, I look forward to sharing with you a systematic approach to your marketing that is simple, effective and affordable.  As one of only 3 DTM coaches in the DFW area and the only Authorized DUCT TAPE MARKETING Coach in Fort Worth, I am eager to get together with you.

TO CONTACT ME - CLICK HERE  (I prefer email because I can answer it at all hours!)

-Randy

* Thanks to my friends, Cidnee, Sandra and Ken for an inspirational day!

Our local team, the Dallas Stars fell to the opponent tonight, 4-1.  A blow-out, right?  Well, maybe, but considering the Dallas were down 3-0 in the series only to win 2 straight, it’s no wonder at game’s end, the crowd at the American Airlines Center here in Dallas was on its feet cheering.  For a win?  No.  For a loss??? No.  For a great effort.

Also today, Jon Lester of the Red Sox, is the first left-handed Sox pitcher to throw a no-hitter … in 52 years!!

INSPIRATION FOR YOU & ME:

Some days we go down in defeat.  Some days sales don’t get anywhere close to where they need to be to meet payroll (or that looming mortgage or college tuition payment!).  Some days are just hard.  Your brilliant ideas lay dormant, not because you haven’t put forth amazing effort - but because they just aren’t hitting a nerve with your customers.  They are somehow not resonating and bringing you the ROI you were hoping for.   Wouldn’t it be easier to just throw in the towel, go work for someone else (never-the-matter you might be miserable doing something you don’t want to do, all-the-while dreaming about your REAL dream that you gave up on) . . .??

Perhaps you’re down 3-2, or even 3-0!  Defeat stares you in the face.  If you lose on this day, know that the Marketing Twins stand to applaud you for a great fight!  We know the challenges of small business.  We know what it feels like to be pursuing a dream, only to find that the reality of net profit for the month seems to startle you out of that blissful vision about what you DREAM about!  Yes, we occasionally have an idea or two that seem awesome, only to find them fall flat.  (Of course, those are just ideas we try on ourselves - all of the ideas we offer our clients bring super fantastic great returns … uh … 

Don’t give up!  Keep trying.  Maybe it’s not been 52 YEARS since you’ve hit it big, but maybe it’s been 52 long days!  Persevere friend!  Learn something new.  Try something new.  Try something old.  Pick one area and stick to it rather than trying to try a little bit of this and a little bit of that on the overwhelming marketing technique buffet.

MOST IMPORTANTLY:

Find inspiration in that you are not just in this for money, power, profits or yourself.  Truth be told, most of you are in it to do GREATER THINGS.  More time for charity.  More time with your families (you’re best friend works at a job 80 hours a week and never has time for his son’s Little League games, but that’s not for you!!)  More time to travel around the world helping people.  More money to give to local charities.  More money to give away to people in need.  More opportunity to give of yourself, your ideas and your talent so that others can advance alongside of you.  That’s GREATER THINGS!

If you need inspiration and a solid and practical marketing strategy to do GREATER THINGS, sign up NOW for Tuesday at 2pm!  Every Tuesday, we offer a FREE conference call - simple enroll for FREE and we’ll send you the call-in information.  Absolutely FREE!

-Randy