This is the time of year that many of our clients are making marketing plans and budgets for the year. It’s part of the reason why I wrote the Smart Marketing List last week. If you are making plans, you should go back and read that blog.One question I get a lot regards how to break up a marketing budget. Generally, a good marketing plan...

Some say that marketing is more of an art than a science. When it comes to the creative side, I agree with that but strategy is entirely a science. And, like anything else that has objectives, you are either doing it well or you are not. Here is a Smart Marketing Checklist of what Dog Star Media thinks is vital to understanding the...

When I first was pitched digital billboards by reps at two billboard companies, I was skeptical. But, my experience so far has been nothing but excellent. And, it is giving our clients some clear and decisive advantages. There is no doubt that billboards are great ways to promote web sites, especially if you have done a good job picking...

Dog Star Media is proud to present two new web sites for AACS President Patrick McMenamin. Dr. Mack has been hard at work revamping the look and feel of his online presentation for several months and it has resulted in two kinds of web sites. The First ImpressionThe first site at renewyou.com is a Flash, HTML and Video site with a...

Remember the movie Scared Straight? Well, as things seem to be loosening up economically, I hope that we can institute a marketing version of that while the sting of the last year is still fresh in our minds. As I mentioned in several past blogs, this is the time of year where I work with a lot of my coaching clients on re-setting their...

For several years, I have been a strong proponent of tracking telephone numbers. These are unique numbers that route electronically to your phone number, capturing all the critical data about the call. When you use these unique numbers on specific locations, you can measure who is calling from which of your marketing strategies. For years,...

One of the new features we have added to our Keyword SEO program is a new auditing software and process. It yields remarkably clear instructions on what to do to improve your keyword content and how to do it. And, yes, it is another reason why Dog Star Media’s Keyword SEO program is the easiest to understand.In the audit, you receive...

I have been getting this question a lot lately. For some reason, everyone wants to know what everyone else is doing. Well, here is the answer.Right now, I am seeing a lot of yellow pages and print advertising canceled or not being renewed. Part of this is a trend coming from my coaching and retainer clients. I regularly recommend using...I...

I am happy to announce that Dog Star Media has been selected as one of handful of media design companies to participate in a new pilot program with a top national pay-per-click company. We will be offering web design, video and other creative services. Details will be released in the near future. It’s a pretty big honor and I am...

Way to upgrade your web strategy! Congratulations to Mark Weiser, DDS with the launch of his newly designed, highly optimized new web sites.You can see them at SantaBarbaraDDS.com and Boutique-Dental.com.Dr. Weiser gets it. From a design point of view, these sites are graphically very good, offer plenty of video with lots of topics (the...

Before Thanksgiving, I visited with one of my coaching clients, Charlie Morgan, a cosmetic dentist in Frisco. I recommend to my coaching clients some basics. One of those basics is email marketing, a staple of Circle of Influence Marketing. My formula is simple. Write a blog and email market it out to your patient database on email.I...

Last week, when I debuted WowSmileNow.com in my blog there was a pretty consistent response. Lots of people emailed and commented that they loved it. Yes, it is a great design, we agree.And, wait until you see what we will be rolling out next. A new gold standard is about to be set for using a web site to introduce the doctor to the...

Season 2 of The Cosmetic Channel™ just became more exciting. Our first Spanish language shows are just now wrapping and our we project they will be available before the end of the year. These shows feature Spanish language talent and a native Spanish speaking surgeon talking about facial surgeries. This is the beginning of a new...

I had planned on writing a blog this week on web design, but after seeing our October Keyword SEO reports on Monday, I wanted to add one more comment to the series I have been writing on Keyword SEO.I was compelled to do so based on the gains I saw on every report. The longer the client had been in the program, the more broad and significant...

I have had this question on just about every call or email I have had for about two weeks, so I thought it would just be best to broadcast the answer.In lieu of the last few weeks, I can tell you there are generally three groups of business owners in the market right now. The first is the group who is trying to pick up ground on competitors,...

After last week’s blog, I got a lot of response about our Keyword SEO program. It is clear that there is a lot of frustration with other companies out there when it comes to SEO. So, I wanted to give some greater detail on a key measuring factor we use as part of our program. Generally, I think it is safe to say that most people do...

This has been the talk all week for some reason, so I thought I would address it in my blog. I think maybe a lot of you are looking at your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) with a big question mark hanging over your head.Yes, SEO can be a mystery. We have worked for years to find a suitable SEO partner without success. Our conclusion:...

There are a lot of you who are turning to marketing a little bit smarter right now during the slow down. That is good and I offer plenty of good advice on that in my coaching program. However, I have spoken to several doctors and dentists in the last few weeks who had wanted to make a major step forward in their web design this fall but...

We are very happy to announce another season of our successful video programming product, The Cosmetic Channel™.Those of you who are subscribers, users of the in-office DVDs or are simply aware of the product from my blog will know that in Season 1, we offered video on demand on our subscribers’ web sites. After listening to your...

Congratulations to Drs. Albert and Michelle Carlotti! Last week we launched the new DesertPalmSurgical.com. This new web site uses great photo content and the beauty of Flash to create such a high-end image. It really is a great web site.We all know what is going on in the financial markets but the people who are pushing forward with...

I was going to publish a big announcement about enhanced services for The Cosmetic Channel™ but Charlie gave me some pretty big news. We have definitive proof that Google is reading Flash files. This means all of you who are afraid to use Flash for SEO reasons can feel free to design in Flash. Here is all the proof you need.Many of you...

Week 2:Charlie Patric - New York GiantsDonald Griswold - ArizonaJason Lim - SeattleKen Collins - New York GiantsApril Good - PhiladelphiaLisa Morgan - Out in Week 1Charlie Morgan - Out in Week 1Ken Collins - Out in Week 1Amy Norman - Out in Week 1Jennifer Jens - Out in Week 1Jenn Zickefoose - Out in Week 1Week 2:Charlie Patric - New York GiantsD...

This week in Tulsa, I introduced our new marketing concept for increasing referral marketing. The strategy is called The Patient Zero Strategy. Patient Zero is an epidemiology term. It is the first person in a epidemic. They infect people near them and the epidemic branches in out in an unpredictable growth that pulls in people from all...

We have some new players this year. Good luck to everyone... we will all need it. Just to bring everyone up to speed, Charlie won last year’s pool with 10 consecutive winners. The rules are simple: Pick one team per week. Pick a team and you have used it for the year. Lose and you are out.Week 1:Charlie Patric - PhiladelphiaDonald...

I have had several people mention that things are slow over the past few weeks. I tell them all the same thing. You can blame the economy, the summer or gas prices if you like, but if you are not doing the basic ground working we recommend, look no further than the mirror for the responsible party.One of the biggest misconceptions about slow...I...