MARKETING Strategies
When it comes to burger or fries you automatically think of McDonalds, Burger King and other similar chains. But what if your business has burgers and / or fries, too? What if you have several burgers but no sides in your portfolio? And what about those businesses which focus entirely on fries, shakes and muffins without ever considering adding a burger to their menu?
Who doesn’t love some marketing quickies that you can understand on the fly and more importantly, apply effortlessly? Sorry to disappoint you, but that’s not what today’s post is about. Quick fixes seldom last. And most things you acquire effortlessly, you value less.
Mass marketing or personalized marketing? What’s it gonna be? Are you going to blast out your posting to the masses or will you deliver individualized messages to your most relevant audience? Sometimes you can do both whereas other times you’re better off with the latter.
Having all your revenue coming from one source is a huge risk. Using a single sales and/ or marketing channel to market your business is a fatal mistake. Single-source dependency aka over-reliance on any one thing can ruin your business. How many sources do you use to promote your business?
For small business owners: discover how to gain competitive advantage by incorporating proven marketing funnels into your business. You see, most business people do not approach their business and marketing needs in an organized manner that is essential for setting them apart from the crowd.
Discover the three most common marketing mistakes made by medical professionals and learn new marketing strategies and techniques that go beyond mainstream approaches.
Do you have an international clientele? How do you manage business operations and finances without losing sight of all the atypical needs that business owners from foreign countries may have? These two online marketing tools will help you avoid outrageous bank fees when sending money abroad, closely monitor project performance, increase productivity and maximize outcomes.
Have you been to Disneyland? Disney World is a true marketing bonanza. It would be a crime to put Walt’s teachings into three simple marketing lessons. However, I do want to share with you the marketing lessons that most stood out for me because they can be applied to ALL businesses.
What happens when you put your prospects, leads or customers through your marketing funnel? How do you facilitate awareness, interest, desire and action? We’ll have a closer look at the reasons WHY some marketing funnels perform extremely well while others fail and I’m also going to share with you two best practices – one from Amazon and another one from iTunes.
Are you a savvy member of the small business community feeling totally overwhelmed and exhausted by social media, content marketing, SEO, pay-per-click and things of that nature? Are you desperately trying to keep up with technology and all the Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram craziness going on? Discover three common online marketing challenges small businesses face.
Do you have a formal referral system in place? What are the benefits of referrals, and more importantly, why do you need a process behind it? Consumers rely on word-of-mouth. Research shows that referrals and recommendations from friends, colleagues and other consumers trump every other source available.
What happens to your business when direct sales becomes less effective? What happens when people stop sending you referrals? The Parthenon Philosophy states that you build your business on several robust pillars or marketing profit centers. But which pillars?
Are you copying what seems to be successful? You see, modelling big business isn’t a good thing if you’re a small business. Big businesses have a different agenda and economics aka they operate with “play money”. Here are three common marketing mistakes for small business owners to avoid at all cost.
What podcasting system(s) do you have in place to support your growth? Do you have a checklist for creating and publishing a podcast? The following easy-to-follow podcasting system includes three simple steps…
Kindle marketing made easy: The following 10-step checklist will help you publish your book on Kindle to position yourself as an expert authority, draw in quality prospects and make more sales. Amazon is the ultimate sales machine and Kindle is a publishing powerhouse.
Marketing fundamentals are boring and unsexy. So, why bother with the very basics of marketing when there’s a new tool waiting to be discovered around every corner?
Here are 5 essential questions to ask your customers now to get better results and grow your business. Gathering valuable feedback from customers will help you deliver a more targeted service.
What is an ideal market? How do you pick a hot market? What about targeting? Discover the three mission-critical questions you need to ask yourself prior to launching your business.
Is the eBook revolution just a fad? Are headlines such as “Amazon selling over 1 million Kindles a week” a thing of the past? What category is responsible for the decline of the publishing industry? Still worth joining the Kindle game? Loads of questions… and loads of answers presented as Kindle marketing tidbits coming up…
“Will Podcasting Hit It Big? (And What Is It?)” – This was the news headline back in 2005, at the peak of “podcasting”. Since, awareness for this “new” medium has been on the rise. In 2013 Apple announced that the iTunes Store had exceeded market expectations topping one billion podcast subscriptions. OK, so 1 billion…
What does your marketing mix look like? Where do you invest most of your marketing budget? Is it all sorts of marketing campaigns that take money out of your pocket, or do you focus on building modern marketing assets?
The old model of sending batch email to a list is no longer effective — no matter how awesome that list is. And due to the huge success of this “oh so great model”, certain things changed. Gmail for example, has made unsubscribing from annoying emails a lot easier and other email providers followed… Fast…
WHO is buying from you matters more than WHAT they’re buying. This insight was a game changer for me. It shaped the way I do marketing and how I onboard my own clients. Fortunately, I learned this important marketing lesson early on thus enabling me to focus on building strong pillars for future growth and…
Podcasting is on the rise. Podcasts are undeniably popular, entertaining, educational and informative. On iTunes, podcast subscriptions top 1 billion. Obviously, podcasts are not exclusive to iTunes. Many other apps and services, so called podcatchers are eager to share the latest and greatest podcast episodes. When I launched my first podcast episode back in April 2012…
One billion heartbeats… As humans, we get an average of 2.2 billion heartbeats out of our bodies and we live more than twice as long as our heart rates would indicate. When we exercise, our heart rate increases. When we are frightened, our heart races. When we listen to music our heart tries to sync…
The Babylonians were the most powerful state in the ancient world after the fall of the Assyrian empire. They built the most famous city in ancient Mesopotamia, in the fertile plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and created the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Now,…
Are you ready to solve complex problems with everyday materials and become the next MacGyver of marketing resources? Unlike MacGyver, you don’t really need to possess an encyclopedic knowledge on marketing to achieve your goals but you certainly have to tap into your resourcefulness. So, how can you accomplish this task? Whether you’re new to…
Are you a business owner or marketing professional looking for new ways to generate leads? Do you want to get more customers through the door without overspending? Well, it’s time to use those marketing resources more wisely. Whether you are a marketing pro or an entrepreneur, you’re constantly looking for potential clients. No clients means…
Getting customers through the door, putting a powerful marketing message in front of the right people and picking the right marketing channels — all at the same time, can be challenging indeed. Inviting the right prospects to visit your virtual home aka your website, blog, or social media profiles takes the concept of customer acquisition…
Where should you promote your new piece of content? What are some of the most effective marketing channels to reach the right prospects? Which one is “better” than the others? There are so many attractive ways to bring in the audience. Some channels bring more visitors than others. And some of them convert better than…
Have you ever been to a Swiss chocolate and candy shop? There are literally a gazillion brands to choose from (Lindt, Teuscher, Favarger, Sprüngli, Frey) and each one has a gazillion flavors (milk chocolate, hazelnut, cherry liquor, mint, coconut, dark, white…). So, what happens next? You end up not knowing what to buy, right? When…
We all know that the Internet, the rise of Facebook, Twitter and all those other social media platforms have changed the way we do business. The marketing landscape continues to shift and budgets aren’t exactly exploding – to say the least. With all this, it has become quite difficult for marketers to know how to…
Attracting visitors to your website is one part of the equation. The second component is to ensure they stick around… the longer, the better. Keeping visitors on a website, inspiring them to read your blog posts, awakening the interest in them to hover over to your About page, sign up for your newsletter, or better…
Speed seems to be everything in today’s fast-paced and ever-connected world. Feeling rushed and overwhelmed? Are you missing out on being part of the conversation because you’re too slow? Is real-time marketing all about responding quickly to the latest trends and events? If you take a good look at social media conversations that are taking…
What online marketing tools do you use to build your landing pages? Are you still heavily involved into coding and customizing to make the page look professionally designed and optimized for conversions? If you love to code and have the tech know-how required to do so, I’m not here to stop you. For those of…
What do you need to be successful in eBook marketing? Content alone won’t make it. Marketing and promoting your content across multiple channels to expand your reach, influence, and credibility is as important as writing an engaging story. Social media has changed the way we consume content. Nevertheless, the rise of YouTube, Facebook, or Instagram…
Why still bother with the old-fashioned channel of word-of-mouth marketing when you have Facebook, YouTube & Co.? Do most of the independent workers aka solopreneurs really get their gigs through social media? Nothing could be further from the truth. In today’s digital world one might think that most independent workers get the vast majority of…
Google’s Keyword Tool used to be my first go-to keyword research site. The tool was intuitive, easy to use and quick. But things have changed in the online world and the much-loved keyword tool has now been replaced by the Keyword Planner. Today’s online users are sophisticated and savvy thus making it a lot harder…
How would you feel if you’d have an arsenal of deadly online marketing weapons that gives you a competitive edge in the market and a better chance for profitability? Would you like to boost your Google branding without overspending your marketing budget? If you have read Jay Conrad Levinson’s Guerilla Marketing book, you already know…
Finding the right information in this loud and crowded online marketing world can be tricky. It’s hard to figure out what’s what and more importantly, who to trust. Searching the web for marketing blogs to find reliable tidbits on SEO, social media, email marketing, or PPC can be very challenging indeed. Where can you find…
New media marketing aka online marketing requires a different approach from brick and mortar businesses. This can be challenging and often times quite overwhelming. While many entrepreneurs and small business owners are conscious of the fact that marketing principles don’t change, they don’t know how to cope with the massive shifts that are taking place…
YouTube continues to be the go to platform when it comes to watching videos online. What surprises most people is how international the content and consumers are. 60% of YouTube’s 1 billion monthly viewers comes from countries where English is not the primary language. Who would have thought, right? One last number before we dive…
What does Word-Of-Mouth Marketing (WOMM) look like today? Has the Internet changed the effect of the most credible form of marketing? Technology has revolutionized the way we do business but has not weakened the power of recommendations. Quite the opposite is the case. Let’s start our journey with a simple example to showcase the power…
How often do you shop online? When was the last time you purchased something on Amazon? Whether it’s books, electronics, tools, or goods, the eCommerce industry is booming. And so does the online retail giant Amazon. Nevertheless, there are a few items people won’t buy on Amazon. The Internet has changed the way we communicate,…
Readers are leaders. Successful entrepreneurs and small business owners love to expose themselves to new ways of thinking which is best achieved through reading books, listening to audio tapes and networking. Today I’d like to share with you a list of five must-read marketing books for small business owners. Prior to my corporate career I…
Marketing is getting into the minds of prospects; it’s about communicating to the world that your products and services are valuable and unique. Although it is fun and exciting, there will be times when you’ll feel lost and confused. To motivate you to push forward I decided to share the following 25 motivational marketing quotes…
Dale Carnegie’s book “How to Win Friends And Influence People” and Robert Cialdini’s bestseller “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” made the term influencer marketing more popular. The concept isn’t new though. It has been around for thousands of years. In ancient Babylon, those merchants who recognized the power of ‘befriending’ key individuals became wealthy. A…
Marketers are desperately trying to bridge the digital and physical dimensions to leverage social interaction at all consumer touchpoints. Is this approach going to lead you to discover the holy grail of marketing? Does everything come down to creating an emotional connection and delivering that ‘WOW’ experience? We live in a loud and crowded ‘physical’…
A couple of days ago I came across a video with Seth Godin sharing some boneheaded marketing mistakes entrepreneurs and small business owners should definitely try to avoid. Marketing doesn’t have to be expensive and most certainly it doesn’t have to be hard. The key is to know the most common pitfalls and try to…
A hyper-competitive online space requires way more than simply creating and delivering a few promotional campaigns. If you want your messages to stand out in this loud and crowded world, you need to start using your marketing mind more effectively. A couple of days ago I came across an infographic that got my attention immediately.…
The world wide web has changed the way we communicate forever. Today, any individual can harness the power of the internet and build a strong presence online. In this blog post we’ll have a look at some tips for effective personal branding online. One of the main benefits of the internet is the fact that…
Understanding consumer buying behavior has always been a challenge for marketers. Amazon has come up with a magic wand that might forever change the way we shop. Welcome Amazon Dash! Convenience is often the number one criteria when it comes to purchasing items. Indeed, it’s often more attractive than price. We are ready to pay…
What are the things that influence a purchase decision? Is it quality, design, layout, or free shipping? How do colors affect purchases? A couple of months ago I shared an infographic about the 10 key factors that influence a purchase decision. Today I’m going to focus on one of these key influencers and that is…
Marketing has a significant history. Ever since we had something to sell, we’ve been marketing. Think of Babylon and the evolution of marketing and sales ever since. The marketing landscape has changed significantly. Today we are living in a cluttered and fast-paced world. It’s easier than ever before to create products and get your message…
Having a set of proven promotional strategies that will help you increase brand awareness and position your business strategically, is of tremendous value. There are loads of ways to promote your company’s products and services. You can use one method, or combine several different methods thus fueling the marketing fire of your business. Do you…