4 Ways to Get Buzz-Building Brand Advocates

A brand advocate isn’t just a satisfied customer, it’s a satisfied customer who is talking about your products or services, or your business itself, in such a way that prospective customers turn into actual customers as a result of buzz and word of mouth marketing. In fact, brand advocates can be so persuasive that they […]

Bring on the Drama! Why You Need Emotion in the Workplace

How many times have you heard that emotion has no place in the workplace? I pondered that, thinking about how often we believe that every problem can be solved if we can only apply enough logic and keep our emotions out of the equation. I realized that it just is not true. In fact, in […]

The View from Under the Bus

http://www.cafepress.com/under_the_bus.87530543 Good morning, I’ve been elected to speak to you on behalf of the group – those of us you’ve thrown under the bus, in the course of running your business, managing your team or otherwise trying to control the tiny little bit of commercial territory you’ve been allotted. You said that you wanted us […]

The Little Things that Cost Your Business, Big Time

I love football. I’ve been an avid fan since I was young, mostly of college ball, but now that I’m married to a bona fide ‘cheese head’ – a native of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin – I’m watching a lot of pro ball too. During one of the games I watched today, a team (thankfully […]

What You Should Do Before You Daily Deal

Toward the end of his article, “The Real Repercussions of Discounting,” Darryl Manco made a very important point. In essence, he asks why you’re trying to cure what ails your marketing with the wrong medicine. Here’s what I mean.  In marketing 101, you learn the “4 P’s” of marketing: Product (the products or services you […]

Little White Marketing Lie #5: We’re Just One Great Idea Away from Success

Little white lies are falsities we tell people (and sometimes tell ourselves) that we believe to be benign, harmless. But there are little white marketing lies we tell all the time that may be hurting our businesses: Little White Marketing Lie #5: We’re just one great idea away from overnight success. Most of the time, […]

Little White Marketing Lie #4: Our Customers Love Us

Little white lies are falsities we tell people (and sometimes tell ourselves) that we believe to be benign, harmless. But there are little white marketing lies we tell all the time that may be hurting our businesses: Little white marketing lie #4: “Our customers love us.” Don’t fall for this one, it’s especially dangerous. When […]

Little White Marketing Lie #2: Our Employees Set Us Apart

Little white lies are falsities we tell people (and sometimes tell ourselves) that we believe to be benign, harmless. But there are little white marketing lies we tell all the time that may be hurting our businesses: Little white marketing lie #2: “Our employees set us apart.” That – as they say – is a […]

Trick or Treat – but Don’t Scare – Your Customers

Last week when Facebook made some pretty significant changes to how its users pages appeared and functioned, it resulted in a deluge of user whines, groans and complaints played out not only in status feeds but in articles and blogs across the internet. That – and the pumpkin on my mantel – served as the […]

The little white marketing lie that’s hurting your business

Little white lies are falsities we tell people (and sometimes tell ourselves) that we believe to be benign, harmless. But there are little white marketing lies we tell all the time that may be hurting our businesses. Little White Marketing Lie #1: “We provide extraordinary (exceptional, excellent, etc.) customer service.” It’s a lie when you […]