Let’s face it, we all look to our friends for tips on restaurants, hotels, clothes, and cars. 92% of people trust recommendations from friends and family above all other forms of advertising when making a purchase decision. Nielsen’s April 2012 Global Trust in Advertising Report It’s one thing to rely on a friend’s recommendation when it comes to picking a vacation spot or a doctor. However, it’s entirely different when you’re looking for an expert…
There are many catchphrases popular in marketing today. “Engagement”, “influencers”, and “relevance”, just to name a few. Brand Ambassador isn’t one of them, and it should be. Sure, it’s important to engage your customers, we all appreciate the power of influencers, and relevant content is key. But finding and creating Brand Ambassadors is one of the most important activities you can do to catapult your brand. What is a Brand Ambassador? There are many ways…
We all know that the most important part of any business is its customers. Without them, there wouldn’t be a business. So why do so many companies spend most of their marketing budget chasing new customers instead of nurturing the ones they already have? Customer retention, not acquisition, is the key to growing your business. You’ve seen the data. 5 to 1. That’s the cost of acquiring a new customer versus keeping an existing one….
The Olympics were a big winner for NBC and their viewers. There’s a lot to learn from their success. A sample of 50 random people provided these reasons for loving the ultimate contest between athletes. Reason #1: They were fresh. Nielsen reports a decline in overall TV viewing. Viewers are bored with reality TV, spin-offs of dramas, and 24-hour news shows, and are shifting their attention to the Internet. Enter the Olympics. Viewership records were…
It’s not hard and the benefits are enormous. Just think how we “smart” business people make lives miserable for our customers… Ever need to find a serial number for a broken printer and have to just about stand on your head to read the minuscule 10-digit code that’s under the printer? How about trying to read the recommended inflation level that’s oh so subtly etched on your tires? Or, my new favorite is about the…
That’s right. Why you? Why should anyone fork over their hard earned cash for what you have to offer when it’s pretty likely they can find a similar thing elsewhere for less. That’s the million dollar question savvy marketers answer early on in their business. A category of one. It’s all about creating a category of one. When you differentiate your brand in a manner that’s meaningful and relevant to your target audience, then you’re…
Most of us are familiar with the English proverb, “Measure twice, cut once,” which applied to double checking measurements before cutting something to prevent wasting material. Once you’ve cut a piece of wood and you find that it’s too short, it’s pretty hard to fix. The same principle applies to hiring marketing resources. In the past year, we’ve worked with three companies that have hired marketing resources that they later discovered were “professionals” incapable of…
Happen to see the pink and green CHOC on car bumpers, airplane banners, tweets, and everywhere these past few weeks leading up to Easter? Malley’s, the Cleveland chocolate company, understands the importance of presenting their brand frequently and consistently, particularly when their target audience is in the market for their products. Successfully building a brand requires both creativity and consistency of message. It’s all about differentiating your product or service from all others in a…
I can’t do it. I can’t sit through another PowerPoint presentation where the speaker attempts to share 4 hours of information on 30 slides in 20 minutes. And that’s after he starts by apologizing for the hard to read slides. Can you relate? Stop the insanity. Follow these tips and leave your audience wanting to continue the dialog rather than having them leave shaking their head wondering what you were rambling about. Tip #1: Tell…
Forget Madonna, Eli and Tom. Forget the ads. The big winner of the night was the avocado. That’s right, the avocado. Did you know that Americans were on pace to eat 71.4 million pounds of avocados on Super Bowl Sunday? How did I know that? It was cited this week in the Wall Street Journal, on ABC’s Good Morning America, on FOX News, on local CBS stations, and on plenty more media outlets. Avocados received…
