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The Blog - Where Business Collides with Human Nature

Chance Marketing

Successful entrepreneurs are risk takers who are willing to consider "Chance Marketing" knowing there is a possibility of failure.  As a result, entrepreneurs are the ultimate target for salespeople selling advertising. Their pitch is: "Anything that improves the chance of improving sales is worth looking at."

Topics: Guerrilla Marketing Advertising Marketing Strategy

Catching Fish With Strawberries and Cream

They look the other way, ignore your Facebook page, delete your email without reading and discount your interview. While your business is appears to visible, it might be intentionally ignored in the new world of media.

You take it personally because you took hours picking the exact photos for your website, the faucet for your AirBnB rental, the perfect font for your landing page. Perfection is ignored and it is all personal.

In reality, there is little seperation betweein personal and business.  This blur between personal and business warps our judgment and what appears to be so important may not be so.

Topics: Guerrilla Marketing Social Media Marketing Inbound Marketing Marketing Strategy

The ARUBA Marketing™ Checklist aka Getting a Yes

To hear a "yes, I will buy", everything must line up perfectly. To get the yes, here is your ARUBA Marketing™ checklist:

Potential buyers:

  • Are paying Attention
  • Find your message Relevant
  • Understand the message, language, product and service quickly.
  • Believe that it will benefit them
  • Believe enough to take Action - by buying and sharing. (and linking)

In short, the acronym to help you remember is ARUBA, where people not only vacation but also represents when people are most comfortable to move forward.  

Topics: Sales Marketing Plan Marketing Strategy Methodology

The Funniest Joke I Ever Heard [video]

Inbound marketing is a bit like writing a joke. 

You sit with a pencil.

You begin to chuckle and then guffaw... and write.

A little while later, the joke is written.  It is done.

You are convinced it is the funniest joke you have ever written.  Wait until they hear your joke.

Topics: Funny Inbound Marketing Marketing Strategy Methodology

Key Ingredients to a Winning Mobile Content-Marketing Strategy

Of the many ways customers may find themselves on your website, the likely driver of traffic is via mobile phones.  The latest statistics from Pew Research tell us that 56 percent of Americans own a Smartphone and many use these devices to browse the Internet.   Does your content-marketing strategy take these changing trends into account?  As a business owner, you may run your business from a Smartphone, so you know the importance of a website that’s tailored to your mobile phone for ease of use. As you develop a winning mobile content-marketing strategy, keep in mind these key ingredients for success.

Topics: Content Marketing Mobile Marketing Marketing Strategy

Consumers Say They’re Not into Personalized Marketing Messages

Once it becomes obvious that personalization has impact, creating software and automated tools to appear more personal just have to be built.  Since Facebook and Linkedin are large personal information farms, everyone is sure to receive new personal messages as if they are your next door neighbor.

It appears though that people are either smarter than that or they simply have little patience for shallow and insincere messages.

Marketing Charts article reviews the data in a recent study about how customers say "What ever" to personal messages.

Topics: Guerrilla Marketing Marketing Message Marketing Strategy

The True Power of the Gift [infographic]

The power of the gift has been a method to start conversations, get a date, resolve an argument, create addictions, get a promotion or a raise, give marketing campaigns a special punch and make people's day for longer than the Mayan calendar.

Science shows how a gift increases the endorphins and serotonin.  The prefrontal cortex of the brain is especially sensitive to pleasure and positive thinking.  The power of both giving and receiving a gift offers new brain activity revolved around happiness.

If you have an alligator brain, you too may be influenced by a gift.  Know that the alligator brains of the world appreciate a gift since they too have endorphins, serotonin and a prefrontal cortex.

Topics: Coupon Marketing Marketing Strategy Gift Cards

Diffusion of Innovations - Who buys your products, why and when

The discussion about predicting human behavior as to how and when people buy is often diverted to the Diffusion of Innovations. 

Diffusion of Innovations is a theory that seeks to explain how, why, and at what rate new ideas and technology spread through cultures.  How and when people buy products or services is thought to be affected by this theory. Everett Rogers, a professor of rural sociology, popularized the theory in his 1962 book Diffusion of Innovations.

Topics: Guerrilla Marketing Marketing Marketing Strategy

What is a Marketing Strategy?

A Marketing strategy is a process that can allow an organization to concentrate its limited resources on the greatest opportunities to increase sales and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.  - Wikipedia

A Marketing Strategy is a strategy that integrates an organization's marketing goals into a cohesive whole. Ideally drawn from market research, it focuses on the ideal product mix to achieve maximum profit potential. The marketing strategy is set out in a marketing plan. - BusinessDictionary.com

A Marketing Strategy is the result of decisions being made about how a particular product or service will be promoted to its target customers. Marketing strategies are used to increase sales, launch new products and generally provide profit for a company. Strategies involve the construction and implementation of the marketing mix. The marketing mix, which is also known as the five Ps, refers to the product, price, packaging, promotion and place or distribution. - WiseGeek

Topics: Marketing Plan Definition Marketing Strategy

Marketing is About Making Money - by Richard Gabel

Before marketing can be effective, the entrepreneur must understand people.  Richard Gabel shares deep thoughts on how technology is influencing the culture and core of society and how new technology feeds the wants and needs people have.  Richard makes a serious point about whether marketing results be measured by the number of Facebook fans or the appearance of the marketing vehicles. 

Richard Gabel has been in the thick of business turnarounds for many years and has shared a few thoughts about marketing and the rapid changes happening in this guest post:

Topics: Marketing Marketing Strategy

Speed to Market and Personalization

Is your small business not big enough?  Rely on speed.  Not rich enough?  Rely on personalization. Prioritize speed to market and personalization for all things related to marketing, service and delivering the product. 

It is impossible for an entrepreneur to win based on smarts, size and money.  There is always another business with more smarts, better research, a bigger team and more money. 

If you have speed to market and personalization top of mind, your competitors will find it difficult to compete. Many small businesses scaled quickly with speed to market and personalization but forgot the very thing that grew their brand and reputation.

Topics: Marketing Strategy Business Success Tips