- February 15, 2019 -

Brad's Drink turned into Pepsi Cola in 1898.

Backrub became Google in 1997.

AuctionWEB morphed into eBay in 1997.

Datsun re-launched as Nissan in 1981.

Blue Ribbon Sports officially became Nike in 1964.

Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo re-branded as Sony in 1958.

Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation converted to IBM in 1924.

...all examples of companies who made the name brand switch successfully.

So when the rumors about Infusionsoft changing their name starting making their way into online (and offline) conversations, the insinuations were inevitable:

"Infusionsoft is going under. This is a last ditch effort to reinvent a failing company."

"They've been bought."

And then when the new name [...]

- January 15, 2018 -

First things first...

I'm moving back home to Philly! Land of the Eagles and winners lol...

Nah, just kidding. But after the Steelers were down at 0-21, I'd had enough.

Moving on...so if you're an Infusionsoft user, you might have heard that ICON (their annual conference) was cancelled.

At first, I was bummed. Cheryl and I have been going for years. It was an a tradition.

I'd attend Day 1. Loved talking to clients, prospective clients and friends. Listening to speakers all day? Not my jam.

By Day 2, the links were calling me...

Seriously, part of me hates to see the death [...]

Cheryl and I were featured on a Podcast, Infusion Cast, with host Jason Hartman of Hartman Media to chat about what Barron Marketing does for our clients using...

You guessed it...automated marketing. You can see the original page here if you’re looking for a solid podcast about how other companies are using Infusionsoft to grow their businesses.

/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Hartman-Media-IC6-Automated-Marketing-with-Art-Basmajian-and-Cheryl-Hunt.mp3 Transcript

Intro: Are you ready to grow sales? Save time? And make money? Automated marketing has never been easier! And Infusion Cast bring you hard hitting interviews with the thought leaders and experts in small business sales and marketing that will give you inside tips! tricks! hacks! And [...]

How do you justify the expense of attending professional conferences?

Event ticket, travel, hotel, food expenses – they all add up.

How do you begin to measure ROI?

If you’re like the majority of us... at the very least you total up all your receipts and hand them over to your accountant as a tax write-off.

And you toss the conference swag bag (now a cluttered pile of business cards, speaker/session notes, and vendor booth free goodies) in a closet or a corner in your office.  You tell yourself you’ll get to them as soon as you catch up on all the stuff that [...]

If I had a nickel for every time I heard someone refer to Infusionsoft as “Confusionsoft,” I’d be richer than Tiger Woods even after he lost GM’s and Gatorade’s endorsements.

Tags, campaigns, decision nodes, reports. ARGGH!

Yes, using Infusionsoft is hard, frustrating, and overwhelming.

So let's simplify it. Ask yourself:

I'm talking about a plan that systematically does these seven things:

Bobby Wilder, the head football coach at Old Dominion University tells his recruits: "If you're in love with Twitter, go someplace else."

He has a strict ban; if you are on the team, you are off social media - period - for the years you attend the school.

The story goes that as he began his freshman classes, one lineman tweeted: "Signing off. See you in about 5 years."

If you’ve read my blog posts for any length of time, you know that I am not a raving fan of social media.

And if every business owner spent as much time working on their [...]

I recently came across a YouTube video that absolutely nailed several foundational concepts of marketing.

If this were shown in every Marketing 101 class, there wouldn't be a snoozing student in the house.

Not only did did this "Marketing-Concepts-by-Borat" inspired video effectively summarize marketing in two minutes, it highlights perfectly why we all need to nail our own sales and marketing systems.

I can't resist adding one more concept:

You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say: I am very rich. Marry me! She says, "Hmmm...let me think about it a day or so." Two [...]

Put a crowd of business owners in one room.

And it doesn’t take long before their competitive natures rear their ugly heads.

Especially when they all are vying for clients in the same industry.

Everyone keeps their trade secrets close to their vest for fear of competitors stealing their ideas and potential customers.

Usually…

But not so at the inaugural conference of Infusionsoft Certified Partners (PartnerCon as it's known now.) There were only 75 of us, but there must have been more than 1000 years of collective marketing expertise in a room at all times.

During breakout sessions, meals, lobby chats, shuttle rides to the airport…every [...]

Max was an entrepreneur who had a local real estate business.

He had a sales team. He was advertising his business both online and off.

Phones were ringing, and deals were closing.

Max (name has been changed at our client's request) had a lot going on - but what Max didn't have was a plan on how to followup with leads that slipped through the cracks.

And he didn't have a plan to help his sales team automate all the internal tasks that were repetitive and time-consuming.

Like Max, most small business entrepreneurs feel overwhelmed and uncertain about what they should include in their marketing [...]

Call it a sickness.  Or a curse.  An obsession.  A passion.  A blessing.  A calling.

Those of us who are entrepreneurs understand why we'd rather work 60 hours a week for ourselves than 40 hours a week for a boss.

Only entrepreneurs "get" what it means to fail early, fail fast, and fail often... because it's not really failure. We just know that before you can fly, you'll crash a lot.

And that quest for success...for being independently wealthy...for making a difference is what drives us over and around the bumps and roadblocks along the way.

At ICON in Phoenix (previously know as InfusionCon) [...]