Look at the curriculum for most Marketing MBA programs, and they’re loaded with math classes.  Which is interesting, because a failure to grow market share is almost never a math problem.  It’s almost always a branding issue — a failure to convince prospects that you’re the best choice, or to compel them to make the…

On the TV series House, Dr. Greg House excels at two things: intentionally offending everyone in sight, and solving medical puzzles that are beyond everyone else.  He gets away with the former because of the latter.  Customers will overlook a lot if you’re ridiculously good at what you do — and if they can only…

You may not think of it this way, but your website is the perfect vehicle for weeding out prospects, either intentionally or accidentally.  If you’re targeting a very narrow audience — very high income consumers with specific interests, or corporations above a certain size — say so on your site, and steer those who wouldn’t…

Ford’s TV campaign for the F-150, voiced to perfection by actor Denis Leary, has always seemed perfectly in tune with its target audience.  But one of the latest spots hits a high note with this intro: “If you have the kind of job where you shower after work…”  That audience instantly recognizes itself.  When your…

Quick Response (QR) codes are widely employed by marketers, and rightly so.  Those square, squiggly barcodes can be scanned with a smartphone to take the prospect directly to your website, provide contact information, send a text message and more.  So what’s the myth?  That they’re a great way to track response to your ad.  They’re…

Here’s an exercise.  Sit down with your website, brochure or other marketing material.  Look at every sentence and trim the unnecessary words and phrases — the ones that truly don’t add anything but length to the copy.  (If it’s your website, does your copy include the words and phrases people actually use to search for…

“Product” is one of the old “Five P’s” of marketing, meaning that what you choose to sell is a marketing decision as important as how you promote it.  Yet many marketing decisions are made not on the basis of what consumers want, but on the basis of what the company needs to sell.  As odd…

It seems to be the most ignored rule in marketing: you have to get someone’s attention before you can sell them anything.  If your ad, your TV spot, your digital ad, your direct mail piece or your billboard look like everyone else’s — and most of them do — it becomes invisible.  That means it’s…

In the 1960s and 70s, record companies were run by enthusiasts, music aficionados who were constantly listening for something new and unique.  The profits rolled in — and coincidentally, much of the music that was created during those years is considered classic today.  But then, business types began to assume the reins, and the music…

Here’s one sure way to make your business and your marketing more robust – leave the office.  Go watch customers.  Sample the competition.  Attend a conference — maybe even from a different industry than yours. Move board and committee meetings around to different locations.  Change your surroundings, and you amplify the stimuli you receive –…