The most dangerous combination since Nitro and Glycerin

You know the gig: Company owners and chief executives are too busy running the company to pay much attention to marketing. So when a marketing fire starts - a seminar or trade show comes up, an RFP is due, a reporter wants an interview - they react quickly with one-off tactics. Some of it turns out ok, some of it stinks, and all of it is painfully lazy - it just doesn't work as effectively as it should.

Of course, these owners aren't dummies. They're knowledgeable about their business and they can sell - their passion is what sells. But they typically don't have a marketing background, and may not even have a good understanding of what can work. So they seek assistance from people who end up selling them a slightly better dressed version of drivel.

Or, perhaps they decide to get serious and they hire a marketing manager or coordinator to undertake a more concerted marketing effort. This "seems" to work a lot better, because tactics start rolling out. But rarely is much time and critical thinking spent on strategy and whether the product being promoted so fast and furiously should be marketed at all.

I help with both kinds of marketing: Country AND Western

My mission is simply to help this owner or executive think through the marketing issues that confront his or her organization. My passion and experience lies in understanding a business, making companies think about where they are and where they want to go, and drawing a road map of how to get there.

And then - maybe the most important part - I stay around just long enough to make them get there. Yes, I said MAKE them get there.

Every day I see that Covey was right: Marketing is IMPORTANT, not usually URGENT. It is so easy to push off this stuff, and when it becomes urgent, you only have time for crap.

If you think and plan, you can put the tools in place to make it easier to market - for example, a clean database that you can segment, an e-mail marketing engine, an interactive Web site, etc. With a plan, you can budget and prioritize everything from cheap, easy tactics to strategies that are increasingly difficult and expensive to execute.

My focus is to help companies - maybe yours - get ROI from limited dollars as fast as they can. I know you can get a return on your marketing investment, you can do campaigns that work and you can do affordable marketing without - ok, this is the last time, I promise - creating marketing crap.

How do you feel about four fried chickens and some dry white toast?

The purpose of this e-mail is to say hi, let you know what I'm up to and ask you to spread the word about my new venture. (Or is it adventure?) I'd love to talk to you or someone you know about the issues I've outlined above.

If you want to get together for some conversation and road food, shoot me an e-mail or visit my new site at startanavalanche.com.

Until then, stay cool.
-Dan

Elwood: It's 106 miles to Chicago, we've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses.

Jake: Hit it.

Look out Jake and Elwood. Dan's show is hitting the road.

The Blues Brothers packed a briefcase full of blues and embarked on their ultimate road trip. Now I'm heading out on mine. Only my briefcase is loaded with stuff I've learned throughout my career - lessons I "borrowed" (never stole!) from engineering, construction, software, systems integration, e-business, marketing and many other companies.

What I've learned is that most small to mid-sized companies do crap marketing (a lot of big companies do too).

Yeah, you heard me right, I said crap. It's not their fault though. The deck is stacked against them.