Antonio Vazquez is a guide for Spain’s Sevilla Bike Tour Company. While “guide” may be his title, he’s really a master marketer. Lesson #1 from Antonio: PASSION MATTERS You don’t have to be passionate about your product, service or company to market it, but it helps a lot. Just like you don’t have to love the game of basketball to be a good player, it is almost impossible to be a superstar without passion. Passion is the…
Got $5 million? That’s what it took to buy a 30-second Super Bowl ad this year. That’s double the 2010 tab and 119 times the cost of an ad for the first Super Bowl in 1967. Careers can be defined by a Super Bowl performance, not just for players or halftime entertainers, but for actors, directors and brand managers responsible for the game’s much-anticipated commercials. Is it worth it? Marketers selling everything from water to websites attempt…
Viva’s Blog: 8 Marketing Mistakes to Avoid in 2017 ‘Tis the season for resolutions. Which of these 8 marketing mistakes do you resolve to avoid in 2017? Mistake #1: Focusing on your product. It’s not about what you’re selling but rather the job you’re doing for your customers. Clayton M. Christensen, Harvard Business School Professor extraordinaire and author of multiple business best-sellers, believes that the secret to winning the innovation game is for executives to ask:…
It’s not just for kids. More than 100 million people view over 10 billion videos a day on Snap, known as “Snapchat” until a few weeks ago. Ad revenues are projected to reach $2 billion in 2018, up from $60 million in 2015. Why is Snap now valued at $25 billion and the most popular app among millennials? What can you learn from its success? 1. Focus on a narrow audience. You can learn a lot…
Savvy marketers understand that it’s not about what they’re selling, it’s about what their customers are buying. It’s about solving a customer’s problem and then clearly and succinctly explaining why your solution is different and better than any other. Today Amazon alone sells over 200 million products in the USA. Some are winners; plenty are losers. Consumers have more choices than ever before, so it’s imperative that it’s easy to buy from you. This concept applies to…
The world is still reeling from the death of Prince Rogers Nelson, the multi-platinum-selling music producer, songwriter, musician, business mogul, and marketer who achieved wide fame for ‘1991’ and ‘Purple Rain’. Savvy marketers can learn a lot from Prince. Lesson #1: Be true to your brand. Prince didn’t just luck into a net worth of $300M and an iconic, highly emotional brand. He knew that everything from the people he surrounded himself with to his ruffled attire, bright colors, and…
Meditation hammocks. Sensory deprivation pods. These are the latest meditation practices gaining traction from coast to coast. Why are yoga studios and five-star spas like Miraval Resort in Arizona adding meditation hammocks and wellness centers offering sensory deprivation pods? What can marketers learn from them? Learning #1: Listen. Fitness studios converted yoga rooms into meditation centers because they listened to their members quip about stress and lack of “me time”. Their members didn’t ask, “Where are your hammocks?”…
Q: What costs $166,000 per second and can either catapult results or ruin you? A: A thirty-second commercial during this year’s Super Bowl. You’d think business executives who spend that much on airtime would nail making a winner ad. It’s not that easy. What does it take to make an effective ad? Below are some tips. Rate this year’s ads and pick the real game winner. #1: Don’t say it. Show it. Wix.com, the web-site company, launched its first Super…
It’s been a wild year for marketers. 100 million people use Snapchat daily, Google sprang a major rebrand with the reveal of a holding company called Alphabet, adblocking technology hit mobile, and the ROI for direct mail campaigns is on par with social media ads. Digital marketing has undergone a substantial transformation. The technology that enabled the changes is advancing at a pace few brands can keep up with. So, what does this mean for marketers?…
Why does emotion matter? Herman Muschamp, the boisterous New York Times architecture critic wrote “…in the last 50 years, the economic base has shifted from production to consumption. It has gravitated from the sphere of rationality to the realm of desire, from the objective to the subjective, to the realm of psychology.” His message? In a post-industrial society, material satisfaction is so easily attained that emotional fulfillment is now the real challenge for business. The key subconscious…
