Your Best Marketing Move

7 Reasons to Never Give Up

Geoff — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:17:53 +0000

At the height of World War II, with bombs raining down on London, prime minister Winston Churchill was called upon to make a speech which would be broadcast to the people of Great Britain. Churchill stood up, and here is what he said, in its entirety: “Never, never, never, never, never, never give up!” Then he [...]

The One-Word Marketing Plan, Part 2

Geoff — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 17:34:28 +0000

One of the things that inspired me to go into advertising was David Ogilvy’s book, “Confessions of an Advertising Man.” So I was thrilled when I landed my first copywriting job at Ogilvy & Mather, the agency he started—although, by the time I got there, Ogilvy himself was semi-retired and living in a castle [...]

The One-Word Marketing Plan

Geoff — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 16:05:35 +0000

Do you have a marketing plan? I know, I know, you’re too busy to work on one. That’s like the woodcutter who was wearing himself out chopping wood with a dull ax. A friend came along, watched him working, and finally said, “Why don’t you sharpen your ax?” Exasperated, the woodcutter said, “I [...]

The Three Most Important Marketing Secrets

Geoff — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:00:22 +0000

There’s a good lesson for small business marketers in the corn field I can see from my office. (The neighbors have been growing corn in that field for over half a century.) Imagine a nervous farmer who plants his seed and—when he doesn’t see any plants growing after a couple of weeks—starts digging up plants [...]

How to Change Your Business by Changing Your Point of View

Geoff — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 20:50:51 +0000

You can start putting yourself in the top 20% of small businesses right now—right this moment—by simply adopting a marketing point of view. Let me explain. Very often, the most critical factor determining the success or failure of a small business is the marketing factor. This should not be surprising. If ten companies are selling [...]

Website Marketing: 7 Ways to Get More Return Visits to Your Website

Geoff — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 14:00:31 +0000

“Markets are conversations.” –Christopher Locke, The Cluetrain Manifesto I’ve said this before, but it can’t be emphasized too much: marketing is a conversation. And this applies especially to your website. The more you treat your website as a personal, one-on-one conversation, the more effective you’ll be at getting people to stay on your site and return to [...]

“How Much Should I Spend on Marketing?”

Geoff — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 13:52:34 +0000

Ask a small business owner any question about his or her business and he or she can usually talk for a long time. But ask, “What’s your marketing budget?” and some owners freeze up like a school boy with his tongue stuck to a frozen flag pole. I’ve been asking business owners this question for [...]

The Brass Tacks Approach: Another Key Insight from My Favorite Book on Selling and Marketing

Geoff — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 12:59:34 +0000

Last week I mentioned my favorite marketing book, Selling to VITO (Very Important Top Officer) by Anthony Parinello. Parinello has a unique and highly effective method for selling to top decision makers in businesses and organizations. His ideas can be applied in many different ways and situations. I especially like his concept for using a [...]

Buzz Marketing: Putting the Magic of Giving to Work

Geoff — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 21:09:23 +0000

If you happened to be in the small, out-of-the-way town of Bradford, Vermont on a Sunday evening, and you went to the Colatina restaurant on Main Street, you would enjoy a good meal but you might not realize that you were participating in a highly successful buzz marketing campaign. Every Sunday evening, Marko the Magician goes [...]

Buzz Marketing: Give Your Target Audience Something to Talk About

Geoff — Thu, 20 May 2010 12:54:22 +0000

“Let’s give them something to talk about” was a song by Bonnie Raitt in the ‘90s. Today, it’s a smart marketing strategy for your business. (See Creating a buzz is about using marketing to trigger conversations. You do that by giving people something to talk about. You start a conversation that relates [...]