in Late 2016 The FAA issued a safety alert to the airlines regarding the Samsung Note 7 and its exploding battery issue. Airline gate attendants announce to millions of travelers every day the special regulation to completely turn off the Note 7 phone to avoid a potential battery explosion during flight. To the everyday person, […]
How to Exploit Bad Press Read More »
Most people believe that it is the product or service that makes a business successful. To those people, I say they are wrong. From my perspective, it is marketing that makes a company a success. Consider this example – did Starbucks invent coffee? No. Are they the only company that says they have the best
Quality Products Don’t Matter – Marketing Does Read More »
In the old days, companies would do extensive research to try to predict what the market would buy. Once they felt that they had a good idea about what would sell and how much of it they would need, they would build a product line to produce it and develop a strategy to deliver it.
Why Advertising Is Dying In the Long Tail Marketplace Read More »
Link-baiting is the practice of crafting content that is designed to get other content producers to link to it. The purpose is to increase the number of inbound links to your content and thus improving its performance in search engine results. Link-bait content falls into one of two major categories: Timeliness Content – Create timely
Get Hooked On Link-Bait Read More »
A 2013 survey by Neilson.com looked at the trust factor in advertising. They based the trust factor on where the consumer saw the ad. While none was considered 100% trustworthy, word-of-mouth recommendations from a friend, which is considered earned advertising, was by far the most influential and effective form of advertising. Here is how they
Where Do You Rank in Trust in Advertising? Read More »
It occurred to me as I saw an article about Apple computers that there are some businesses clearly branded to their founders. For example, while I worked for Digital Equipment Corporation, founded by Ken Olsen, the company was not inexorably branded to his personality. However, that is not the case with Steve Jobs. Jobs was
Branding Your Personality for Profit Read More »
When he was watching the 2012 London Olympics, Steven Marx felt disappointed with the television coverage offered by NBC. Since he was an intermittent Twitter user with only about 20 followers at the time, Marx tweeted his frustration and used the hashtag #NBCFail. That single post catapulted Marx to fame and put an unfavorable light
Creating and Using Hashtags Read More »
Some time back, I participated in what I believe was a brilliant promotional concept. A local HVAC company held a competition for the oldest water heater. They requested that you email them a picture of the product tag that included the model number and manufacture date. At the time, I had lived in the same
Host a Contest to Self-Identify Customers Read More »
Your product or service may be what your customers are buying, but they make their decision based on your packaging. Since customers can’t interact or use a product until they purchase it, the packaging is what they rely on to make their buying decision. What about the service industry? I can hear many of you
Your Business Packaging Read More »
It amazes me that many businesses just play music when they put a prospect on hold during a phone call. All too often when we are placed on hold, we hear the default phone system music playing. Why not use your customer’s hold time to actually market your business? Why simply have a canned music
