A lot of small business people balk at writing a marketing plan, thinking it is too time consuming. Think about it in terms of shopping, and you may see things differently. If you go Christmas or grocery shopping without making out a list, it can get expensive pretty quickly. Why? Because you don’t have a [...]

The 2009 Doritos Crash the Super Bowl contest entrants seem to have stepped it up a notch this year. Similar to past contests, the winner’s 30-second spot becomes a Super Bowl commercial. Since the recession and the fear of being perceived as frivolous is causing many former Super Bowl advertisers to dial down their lineups [...]

Coupon users tend to have higher income and more education than non-users. And the wealthiest among us are some of the most frugal. Think about it.

Sometimes a formula just isn’t enough. A reader, who recently read the Figuring Break Even Point piece from a few years back, was confused about how to use the CPM formula. I responded, explaining — in words and figures — how to figure the break even point using his numbers. Analytical Bobette was pleased with [...]

When updating your marketing plan, do you imagine the future and take into account how your business environment will change? Throw the current environment out the door, predict what will happen to turn your industry on its head, and plan for that? Perhaps too few of us take that approach. Most (including yours truly) tend [...]

If you had any doubts about the power (or swiftness) of social media, think again. Over the last several days, Johnson & Johnson has felt the downside of this power. Through social media such as Twitter (#MotrinMoms) and YouTube — and blogs across the Internet — moms rebelled at a commercial many saw as patronizing. [...]

Used correctly, I believe commenting on blogs (and leaving a Website link) is a good strategy. Signature links — or links to content supporting or expanding on a point — help the reader learn more about you or find more information and are good strategy. Links plastered on a forum or blog along with a [...]

Listening to the MarketingExperiments Powerful Value Propositions Webinar, it hit me that many marketers do not realize that the tag line and value proposition are two different things. While the tag line is a short phrase — often worded to elicit an emotional response — the value proposition answers the question “Why should I buy [...]

I am way off topic, but hey, it is Halloween. I spent part of Halloween 2008 admiring and inventorying my collection of Anne Rice’s Cuvee Lestat wine. In 1995 and 1996, she — along with her husband Stan Rice and Babcock Vineyards — bottled only a few cases of this “vampire” wine. There was blood-red [...]

Writing and distributing articles can be a high-ROI activity (thanks, Chris Knight, for that post), but the potential marketing uses do not stop there. Any place you use the written word represents an opportunity to “recycle” that content. Here are a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing:
- Convert part of an article to [...]