MARKETING Strategies
There is a marketing world out there that operates based on trust, community, integrity, caring, sharing, friendship, kindness and love for fellow humans. This might sound far fetched and fairytale-like if you’ve spent your entire life giving your valuable time, energy, money and attention to entities, organizations and structures that have been brilliantly designed and disguised to suck everything out of you without you even noticing.
Dan Kennedy had a massive positive impact on me. He defies the odds of conventional wisdom and provides you with wisdom that you can draw from for many decades to come. Dan Kennedy will always be my marketing mentor, a legend and true maverick.
You’ve been led for centuries to believe that human uniqueness is wonderful when it benefits society, however it’s detrimental when it’s deployed for your own good. Are you battling to fit in into society, school, the entrepreneurial lifestyle, some crazy fashion trend, or other ‘fill in the blanks’?
Don’t let common myths and misconceptions stop you from writing a book. Don’t let other people’s good opinions infuse self-doubt and shatter your confidence. Write your book. Leave a legacy worth sharing.
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 forward… Email marketing has evolved.
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 not fall into the many traps that are easily encountered.
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.
Successful marketing campaigns evoke strong emotions. These emotions could be negative (fear, anxiety, anger) or positive (joy, awe, excitement). They can go both ways. Emotions drive us to like, share and buy. Great brands know how to use a story and connect with their target audience. They understand the power of stories and are very adept at developing ad and marketing campaigns that touch our hearts.
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, what’s all this got to do with marketing campaigns?
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. No clients means no sales and no sales means sooner or later no business.
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Do you remember when the very first books were launched in digital format? Publishers thought that was the end of people reading books, just to see a few years later that quite the opposite had happened. Books kept being read, only the preferred format changed. If you ever thought about writing a book this is…
In my last blog post I wrote about the importance of effectively integrating marketing channels in order to attract a broader audience and make more sales. Today, I’m going to focus on distribution channels — the concept of a vertical marketing system, to be more precise. First of all, let’s clarify the term of vertical…
Do you keep your marketing channels in individual silos? Have you considered leveraging your marketing efforts with a more integrated approach? Successful marketing requires different channels to work in tandem. If you want to achieve better results make sure you integrate your marketing channels effectively to promote your products and services. Leverage your resources —…
A Very Happy, Prosperous, Joyful and Successful New Year! How did your New Year’s celebration go? Did you watch the traditional New Year’s Concert from Vienna yesterday? The annual New Year’s Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic (German: Das Neujahrskonzert der Wiener Philharmoniker) is a traditional concert of classical music, comprised of Strauss waltzes, polkas and…
If you want to spend some amazing days in Europe than you should definitely pay a visit to London. London is the multicultural hub in Europe, a melting pot of business, fashion, people, stories and culture. Let’s not forget the shopping mecca of Piccadilly – a place with tons of musicals, ads and some of…
As technology evolves, marketers are facing new challenges positioning their brands and making their valuable message stand out from the crowd. These parameters might get one to think that the basic principles of marketing have changed too. Some things change while others don’t. The shift from print – radio – billboards – TV – to…
The global digital marketing elite met last week in Cologne, Germany at the Digital Marketing Exposition & Conference (dmexco). The fairs motto for 2013 was “Turning visions into reality”. About 720 exhibitors from all over the globe, staged in three halls for the first time, a two-day Conference program at top international level, extended opening…
Marketing impact – A couple of months ago Forbes published an amazing interview with Sir Richard Branson revealing 7 important customer service secrets. Why is Richard Branson’s brand Virgin considered the ‘Gold standard’ in customer service? What makes the employees and the management team at Virgin go above and beyond to satisfy customers? Marketing Impact…
Maximize your marketing impact with a mind-blowing video commercial – do it like Heineken! Would you play Departure Roulette? Would you change your current plans and travel to a place the roulette picks for you? Heineken released a new video commercial about a game of Departure Roulette. A few people at JFK Airport were ready…
No customers, no sales. No sales, no business. Simple but very powerful statements. Customers are the lifeblood of a business hence the importance of looking for several ways to increase customer loyalty. During the last years, corporations, small and medium sized enterprises have invested heavily into customer services and customer relationship management (CRM). Word-of-mouth remains…
Last year was all about new technologies, trends and marketing strategies. What will 2013 look like? Will those 2012 tips for online marketing be of any importance this year? Our fast changing environment forces marketers to adapt new strategies and ways to impact the online community. We have to find continuously new paths and streams…
Are you looking for innovative ideas and content marketing strategies to include in your 2013 marketing strategy plan? Last month, the Content Marketing Institute published 42 content marketing ideas that are definitely worth considering as we start our new business adventure this year. What happens when 3 of the top content marketing experts hangout together?…
Have you ever been to a trade show? Have you noticed that the majority of attendees are influencers and decision makers? Isn’t that a great opportunity for you to be engaged and ready to market your business effectively? How do you sell your business at trade shows? Trade shows offer a perfect selling opportunity as…
Often businesses create products and services prior to asking themselves how to motivate people to buy from them. What are the key reasons people buy? And, why should they buy from you and not somebody else? Today, more than ever, people buy what they WANT rather than what they NEED. It’s quite a paradox if…
How to Create a Marketing Plan Template (Part 2) Have you read the first part of our ‘Marketing Plan Template Creation’ series? In case you want to find out more about the first two key elements of the template we advise you to go back and read the executive summary, and the situation analysis. Before…
How to Create a Marketing Plan Template (Part 1) Do you have a marketing plan template? Did you create it yourself or did you use a software? A proven template is worth gold! Whether you created your own marketing plan template and adjusted it along the way, or you used a good software to accomplish…
What does the ROI of marketing mean today? Do you still track the return on investment (ROI) for all your marketing activities in the old fashion way? Before jumping into the new way of understanding ROI, let’s watch this short video to see the old way of calculating ROI. Well, now it’s time to wake…
In a ‘dog-eat-dog’ world where Corporations are pushing the small guy out, there is a great vehicle small businesses can use in order to dominate their market and leave the big dogs behind. By far the best way to achieve this, is by creating, developing and implementing a strong marketing strategy plan. How To Beat…