The Definition of Marketing
A couple of decades ago I found a good working definition of the difference between advertising and marketing: Advertising is an attempt to find someone to buy your stuff. Marketing is finding out what people want, and helping them to get it.By that definition,...
Monday Night Blues
Confession: I’m a blues fan.I like nearly all permutations of blues. In my office, when I need to decompress I’m fond of Muddy Waters, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and T Bone Walker. When I’m alone in the truck, it always cruises better to the heavily blues-influenced rock of...
Would You Like Fishing For Customers In Your E-Mail?
A few times in the last couple of weeks I've received comments that it would be nice if people knew when there was to be a new post on Fishing For Customers. Unfortunately, I don't write on that tight a schedule.So, here's my solution: sign up in the new "subscribe"...
Missing the Obvious
Radio programmers have had an expression for decades: “You can’t bore people into longer time spent listening.”Know how to tell when a radio program is boring? You’ll recognize the unmistakable sound of radio receivers being switched off across the whole community....
The Big Lie
The Big Lie. A simple concept. Make a statement. Repeat it. Repeat it until people accept it as true.Only one thing wrong with The Big Lie. It doesn’t work.Its been tried by governments, and advertisers, and employers, and spouses. The Big Lie doesn’t make people...
Love And Indifference, Part 3
In Love And Indifference, Part 1 we learned that there are actually three groups of customers that do business with you, and they can be sorted by their personal experience with your company. You'll find those whom you've thrilled with your customer service are...
Love And Indifference, Part 2
I had just posted Love And Indifference, when two oddly-related things happened. First, my copy of Mike Dandridge’s book, Thinking Outside The Bulb, The Art of Creating an Amazing Customer Experience, arrived in the mail. In chapter 48 of Thinking Outside The Bulb,...
When You Lie To Prospects
We all carry around fragments of things we almost remember. For instance, I can just about recall a statement David Ogilvy made in the late 70's. I've been a fan of Ogilvy since I happened across a copy of Confessions Of An Advertising Man in Bismarck, North Dakota's...
Love And Indifference, Part 1
You've heard it said that when you please a customer she'll tell an average of three other people, but when you disappoint her she'll tell twenty. It's not true. You may have even heard me say it. Sorry. It wasn't true then, either. Oh, you can bank on the part about...
Somebody Tell Lord Leverhulme
There is an optimum number of exposures to an advertising message for each listening audience.