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Posts tagged marketing
Losing the Biff Tannen Approach to Marketing
Oct 16th
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Reading time: 2 – 2 minutes
Please tell me you’ve seen the “Back To the Future” movie trilogy. If you haven’t, you have missed out! That is some seriously classic filmmaking right there. (I recommend watching at least part 1 for your next Netflix night.)
One of my favorite characters was the bully Biff Tannen. Biff to me encapsulates many of us as we scamper down the road to online marketing mastery. We may come off as big, bad and confident but we are scarcely able to hide the fact that we are actually hopelessly clueless. And when someone does approach us with some tips that can greatly improve our businesses we can sometimes be less than enthusiastic.
There is a scene from Back to the Future part 2 where Old Biff goes back in time and meets up with a younger version of himself, Young Biff. For those of you who have not seen the movie, I will set the scene. Old Biff has gone back in time to give Young Biff a sports almanac from the future so that he will be able to place bets on nothing but More >
Marketing Lessons Straight From the Dead Sea
Jul 28th
Reading time: 3 – 4 minutes
Yep, I had to go all the way to Israel for today’s marketing lesson. Let me explain. I traveled to a Tweetup of Silicon Valley’s finest social media enthusiasts the other day. (I didn’t go in but that’s another story…and a sad one at that)
Whilst I was out in the San Jose area, I decided that I wasn’t ready to go home just quite yet and figured that I would kill time at the mall for an hour or two. (its interesting that the mall used to be THE place to hang out for me…when I was like 12-14. Now it’s mainly an energy sapping experience)
I wanted to spend most of my time playing with the ipad in the Apple store. (still not ready for one yet, but the time IS coming) On my way to gadget heaven, I was stopped by an attractive young lady who made it her place to stand DIRECTLY in the path of my forward progress. And then she asked the question that I’m sure many of you all have been asked in malls across the nation: “Hey. Have you heard of the Dead Sea in Israel?” She was an employee More >
If You’re Not Blogging For Your Business Now, You’ll Hate Yourself Later (part 1)
Jun 7th
Reading time: 2 – 2 minutes
Ok, ok. Hate is a strong word but seriously folks, you need to get a move on. The train is leaving the station and you don’t want to be left behind. You need to start blogging for your business TODAY!
I know what you are asking yourself right now. (I hope) Is a blog really THAT important for my biz? The short answer is yes. Yes it is. And now you’re probably asking yourself, “WHY?” Great question. There are a few answers but it really boils down human psychology and search engine optimization.
To make my point let me take you through a little example. Let’s say that you just got yourself a brand spanking new website designed. Now, were not talking about just any website here. This is the mother of all websites with all the bells and whistles. Pretty cool right? You are pretty excited about the whole thing.
The designer of your website, a smart and thoughtful young man, tells you to add a blog to the site and you agree BUT you think to yourself “who needs a blog? Just LOOK at this new website.” Your site goes live and you blog one time More >
SEO as a Marketing Strategy
May 27th
Reading time: 2 – 2 minutes
I’m going to let you in on a little secret about myself. Here goes: I used to consult for an SEO firm. What does that mean? Well, it means that I used to cold call and try to get business owners to see how SEO could benefit their businesses.
It was a brutal, BRUTAL gig but I learned lots from doing it. The main thing that I learned was just how hopelessly clueless most people were when it came to marketing their business online. People I talked to usually landed in one of three categories:
1) WTF is SEO? (I don’t get it) 2) We tried SEO once and we got ripped off! You guys are all some slimy snake oil salesmen and I hope you DIE! 3) I want to get on the first page of Google TODAY!
I want to address each one of these because SEO is indeed important to your business. It should absolutely be incorporated to your online marketing mix. Over the long term it is one of the best ways to drive targeted traffic to you site.
Number 1 is funny because that response is more common than you think. Almost every business More >
The 6 Stimuli That Affect Decision Making
May 26th
Reading time: 2 – 2 minutes
The say that wisdom is the application of knowledge. I don’t know who the hell “they” are and I am not usually the type to trust “them” but they hit it out of the park with this one. Let me explain. I was reading today. Well honestly, I was re-reading a GREAT BOOK called “Neuromarketing: Understanding the “Buy Buttons” in Your Customer’s Brain. (seriously, read this book) and it came across some knowledge that not many people think about when it comes to their online marketing.
Some Background:
The premise of the entire book is that the human brain is broken into 3 distinct parts each with specialized functionality:
1) new brain – thinks and processes rational data (ex. if I have $2 and I give you $1 the new brain lets me know how much money I have left)
2) middle brain – feels and processes emotions and “gut” feelings (ex. intuition that lets you know that I am a great guy)
3) old brain – makes decisions (ex. I must have that new Porsche. NOW!)
Because the old brain makes the decisions it makes sense that you learn how to structure you marketing messages so that they hit your targeted audience More >
