(or how to commit marketing  suicide in 7 easy steps) “He was adamant in his opinion that advertising didn’t work, up until the day he ran a ‘Going Out Of Business’ ad!” As the quote suggests, many of the marketing blunders that crash a business are ‘pilot error.’ In other words –…

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate…

“Safe advertising is the riskiest advertising you can do.” – Bill Bernbach, Co-founder, BBD Advertising Agency Creativity is what sells, and being creative means taking risks. In my book, Branding Insights for Small Business, I point out that creativity is marketing’s most underutilized tool. An ad, brochure or website is…

Where are marketers’ biggest opportunities this year? Big Data, personalization and precision targeting are trends to watch in 2015. It’s interesting to think just how far marketing has come since I began in the business more than 30 years ago. If I had tried to describe 2015 then, I don’t think…

Some argue that brand loyalty is an outdated concept. In a recent article in The New Yorker, writer James Surowiecki makes a bold assertion: There’s no such thing as brand loyalty anymore. The internet killed it, and brands are a thing of the past. Brands, his argument goes, came about…

Mobile marketing is one trend with staying power. The start of a new year is a smart time to reevaluate your marketing strategy, looking back on what proved successful, but also forward to what new trends look promising. Some marketing trends play themselves out in a matter of months, while…

When it’s time for the pitch, preparation beats PowerPoint every time. A sales pitch is an intricate dance. You want to demonstrate your value with convincing proof, but without boring your prospects to death. The clock is ticking, yet rushing will muddle your presentation and lose you the business in…

The Spirit of July 4th This July 4th as we enjoy our “beer, picnics and baseball games,” let’s not lose sight of the fact that many of the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of Independence risked and sacrificed much in support of the cause of independence. Five signers were captured…

Here are 12 Characteristics of Great Print Advertising. Be aware of size, frequency and color used in any campaign.

Is return on investment the only way to measure marketing effectiveness? In marketing, we always stress return on investment, or ROI. But I recently read an article in Forbes that argues traditional ROI is no longer sufficient for evaluating your marketing efforts. To get a more accurate view, you have…