"Free" has always been a word customers love. Consequently, "free" has always been a very effective marketing tactic when the cost of giving away what you offer is offset by what it costs to acquire the customer.If you're a doughnut shop and you give away one...
strategy
What’s your most important marketing decision?
The single most important decision you make as a business is who you want for your customers. Who your target market is going to be. One of my favorite marketing authors liked to fancily call this "customer selection." The reason this is the most important decision...
A different look at discipline…
This may be the time of year when some of us are revisiting our New Year's Resolutions. Most of us seem to know that success in achieving any kind of goal comes down to perseverance. Commitment. Discipline. Setting a goal like a new year's resolution is easy enough,...
Billboards? Really?
Ever bought something singularly because you saw an advertising message on a billboard? More than likely, the answer is "No." If the next question is, "Does that mean billboards don't work?", the answer is also "No." Yes, I am aware that it is 2022 and there are...
If your competitive advantage lacks this, it isn’t a competitive advantage…
Part of "Marketing 101" dictates that a big key to marketing is making sure that the value of your offering (your value proposition) has something that the other guys don't. You need to have some kind of competitive advantage. This can be as simple as just doing...
We’re pulling for you, OnCue…
You recall I've voiced in the past what a fan I am of OnCue. I am a fan of their brand largely because they just execute so well. They execute so well because they are constantly paying attention to their customers. They get more of my business simply because they...
The real enemy of greatness…
I’ve always appreciated the Jewish proverb which states that good is the enemy of great. This has been applied many ways over the years, but it’s especially useful in reminding us of the negative consequences that can come from merely settling for for “good” when we are capable of so much more, whether we’re talking […]
How to get the most from EVERY strategy(Especially the ones that didn’t work)!
Og Mandino once said “Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time.” I think every success offers a lot of valuable lessons, too, and I know for a fact that most managers don’t spend nearly enough focus on how to derive […]