“Even in the office, there’s a growing preference for communicating solely by email so you can ignore all human contact.  That has a lot to do with the people who read Dilbert.  A lot of my people would prefer not to have any human contact…I can’t tell you how many people I’ve met recently who…

Assuming you want more customers or clients than you have today, here are three questions for you.  1. Can you name your top ten prospects (if you’re a B2B company) or accurately and narrowly describe where your best prospects are if you’re a consumer company)?  2. Can you give them a reason to do business…

You’ve got a website, and you’ve decided that maybe it makes sense to advertise with one of the major search engines.  But you’re a local or regional company, and you don’t want to pay for clicks that originate outside your market area.  That’s why both Yahoo and Google both offer localized advertising programs that allow…

Customer loyalty is a precious asset.  It means you don’t have to spend marketing dollars replacing customers who stray.  But how much effort does your company put into customer retention?  If your customers or clients are other businesses, here’s a thought.  Try looking for ways to help your customers grow by playing “matchmaker.”  This could…

If you use a tagline, does it reinforce your unique position in the marketplace, or is it just fluff?  A great tagline actually distills your brand essence into one memorable statement.  See if you know these companies or products by their taglines.  “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.”  “The quicker picker-upper.”  “Takes…

Beginning in 2002, the number of U.S. homes with traditional phone service (landlines) actually began to decline.  Last year, almost 10% of households had wireless phones as their primary phone – a number that’s estimated to quadruple by 2009.  But there’s still disparity among the online numbers.  While 63 million of us are expected to…

Sometimes the greatest advances are the ones which, in hindsight, seem incredibly obvious – so obvious, in fact, that it can seem downright silly that no one thought of it before.  Take Dutch Boy paint.  After all the years people have been wrestling with paint cans, prying them open, pounding them shut and trying to…

Ladies – start your engines.  Women already make up the majority of college undergraduates, and there’s no sign the trend will slow anytime soon.  This is already causing a shift in economic power, with the number of single female homebuyers doubling over the past two decades.  Likewise, the female market for electronics (yes, even plasma…

There’s a slowly growing consensus that image awareness alone doesn’t amount to much.  In other words, a marketing effort that increases awareness may not make a dent in sales.  This is hardly a new idea.  Two of the most popular TV commercials of all time (both for Coca-Cola), “I’d Like to Teach the World to…

Making the cook angry may not always be such a bad idea.  Back in 1853, a diner complained that his fries were cut too thick.  In a classic display of “I’ll show you!” pique, chef George Crum angrily sliced a potato ridiculously thin and fried it – inadvertently creating the potato chip, one of the…