Blog

A Profile of Your Customer*

“I’m a modern man, a man for the millennium. Digital and smoke free. A diversified multi-cultural, post-modern deconstruction that is anatomically and ecologically incorrect. I’ve been uplinked and downloaded, inputted and outsourced, I know the upside of downsizing, I know the downside of upgrading. I’m a high-tech low life. A …

Practice What You Preach or Change the Speech

A local hospital, a state rep and an oil company need to learn this DO AS I SAY The worst direction a parent can ever give a child is “Do as I say, not as I do.” In other words, if Dad tells the teenagers not to drink or smoke, …

Nine Rules for a Successful Trade Show

THEY’RE BACK Trade shows are making a comeback. Companies are starting to get back out there and display their products and services. Others are sending people to go and learn about what is offered. As much as trade shows have been maligned in recent years (due in part to the …

Successful Marketing: Know What You Can’t Do

You’ve probably heard the famous Serenity Prayer: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” GOOD MARKETING ADVICE While this prayer brings peace of mind to many suffering souls including me, …

Adapt…or Die Not Trying

Business models that seemed ideal just a decade ago are obsolete. Don’t wait until it’s too late to make a change. Not many people like change. Most naturally resist it until there is no choice — and then only change as much as they need to in order to survive. …

Presidential-Style PR

I attended President Obama’s visit to V&M Star Steel last week as part of a project we’re working on for the expanding plant. Although the President was, as usual, a terrific orator — it was the White House organization and “travel team” that impressed me from a marketing perspective. IT’S …

What’s So Special About FREE?

IT GETS YOUR ATTENTION It’s kind of like being on vacation with your wife and stumbling upon a topless beach. Even if you have no interest, you gotta look when you see the word FREE. WHY DOES FREE STILL WORK? Nothing has been more overused in ads than the word …

20 Things Research Will Tell You. Two Things It Won’t.

If you don’t conduct research, if you don’t ask the “dumb” questions…YOU are dumb. Ordinary organizations don’t ask the questions they should be asking. Why? Because they believe they already know the answers, or the answers are not important, or it’s too difficult to get answers, or it’s too expensive. …