The journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single step....Confucius The first and most crucial step in creating a marketing strategy for your small business is to identify the reason WHY people would want what it is you're selling. It doesn't matter if you're selling products or services - if you don't know WHY people buy - then you won't know HOW to persuade them to … [Read more...] about The first step to marketing a small business
Beyond Marketing
Great Moments in Niche Marketing
The other day, I was over at the ARS Technica blog - reading about the latest iPhone news when a banner ad in the blog's header caught my attention. So much for "banner ad blindness" or the old "online banner ads don't work" because this one did. The banner ad that caught my eye and earned my click was for the new Schlage Link products - lock products for your home which you … [Read more...] about Great Moments in Niche Marketing
Niche Marketing Strategy for Small Business Owners
Creating a niche marketing strategy is AMAZINGLY simple - in theory. To create a niche marketing strategy you simply decide what "niche" or segment of the market you want to target with your marketing message. In other words, instead of targeting EVERYONE with your marketing message - you create marketing messages which speak to SOMEONE in particular. I find this marketing … [Read more...] about Niche Marketing Strategy for Small Business Owners
Exposing Deceptive Marketing Tactics with Social Media
As the web matures and users become more web savvy, it's becoming more dangerous than ever to engage in deceptive marketing practices. In the post Blogs and the Art of Deception I wrote about a website which was designed to look like a blog. Instead of "testimonials" the faux blog contained hard coded "comments" to act as user testimonials, compete with avatars - pulled … [Read more...] about Exposing Deceptive Marketing Tactics with Social Media
KFC Coupon Disaster
The KFC Coupon Disaster of 2009 is an example of a great advertising idea that went horribly awry. It's not the first time I've written about the strange exploits of KFC advertising. In 2006, KFC was advertising targeting extraterrestrials. The KFC Coupon Disaster of 2009 illustrated the great cosmic power of Unlimited and Free. Unfortunately, it was implemented so poorly … [Read more...] about KFC Coupon Disaster