We just returned from our vacation in Aruba. We’ve been there many times and own a timeshare at the Marriott Surf Club. We go to just get away and relax – no site seeing, no golf – just reading, sunning, swimming and oh, yes a bit of gambling at night for entertainment.

I attended the Coldplay concert last night at the Boston Garden. Throughout the entire show, my focus was on the band, enjoying every moment. The garden was sold out and the crowd was a mix of young to an older crowd. I also attended several U2 concerts during their Vertigo tour and I had the same enjoyment, getting into the music, singing along with the crowd and taking part in the entire experience.

Someone on LinkedIn last week asked the question about the difference between push vs. pull marketing. The definitions posted for push marketing by various marketing folk were pretty consistent.

Works both Offline and Online

For many thinking of starting their own businesses, the fear of finding clients can paralyze them enough to sabotage their efforts. Cold calling prospects can make some of us break out in a cold sweat. One of the things that I learned early on in my business start-up days is that there are other ways to find clients.

The experience your customer gets from your business has the ultimate effect on whether they will do business with you now or ever again. One difficult experience can offset the effects on all your good marketing you have done. Putting roadblocks in place cause dissatisfaction and a negative experience, no matter how great your service initially was.

We just returned from Aruba, our annual destination for completely doing nothing and recharging our worn batteries. We love it there and the question many have asked us has been why we haven’t bought a timeshare yet. We’ve more than spent the price in hotel bills. The answer to that question was because it never seemed right for us.

I was offered a great promotional deal from Comcast to move my phone lines to their service which saved me about $90 a month in phone service for the next 12 months and about $50 after that. Since we already had cable TV and Internet through them, the deal was one phone for free for 12 months and a second line for $20.

Business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing is different. Understand the differences and develop marketing programs that are appropriate for your audience.