The Second Biggest Mistake in Customer Acquisition – (the Strawberry Jam Theory)
It Wasn’t Really a Question What my new acquaintance actually said was, “I know it takes money to make money, but promoting my business doesn’t feel like investing, and I can’t afford too many more bad rolls of the dice.” The implied question was, “What should I spend...
Beer And Headaches And That Awful Cramping
Advertising makes beer taste better. It makes pain manageable, too.
Hope is Not a Strategy for Greater Return on Advertising Investment.
If you were capable of stacking those odds, wouldn’t you also be running more advertising?
Will Advertising Sell What People Don’t Want?
Its a common desire in retail to advertise the things which aren’t selling. This is frequently bad strategy. Very bad.
The Biggest Waste in Advertising (a Case Study)
Shoppers Flow Downstream Just as a river flows downhill from higher terrain, shoppers always flow from the smaller community to the larger. Advertising in the bigger community to draw customers to your smaller community is as futile as trying to make the water in a...
There Is No Word-of-Mouth "Marketing."
Pay close attention to Stephanie's story: “Roger's feet get cold easily, so I bought him a pair of sheepskin slippers. He loved them, but it wasn't long before the wool lining started wearing off. So I called Lands' End to see if I could get them replaced under...
Should an Upwardly Mobile Zebra Shed Its Stripes?
Successful marketing, getting your company noticed, requires behavior that’s not only risky, it runs counter to instinct.
Zen and the Art of Persuasion. Part 3 of 3
The manufacturer invests roughly 57₵ to acquire a new consumable product customer, who will spend roughly $90 per year purchasing it.
How Does One Educate a Customer? Part 1 of 3
Bob has two problems. He offers a solution to skeptical people who don’t recognize their problem.
Second, if he chooses to educate potential customers they may well buy from some other company.
How to Steal Your Competitor’s Customers. Part 2 of 3
Without a demonstrable difference people tend to buy the more familiar over the less familiar. John’s ad may well encourage a shopper to pick up a can of tomato juice. Odds are, though, it will be a can of Del Monte’s, or Hunt’s, or Campbell’s.