Archive for 'marketing'
How To Beat the Wal-Marts
July 3rd, 2006 by John Herman, under marketing, operations, small business. No Comments
John Jantsch from Duct Dape Marketing talks about what he tells merchants when they freak out because a new Wal-Mart is coming to town.
To beat a giant, you’ve got to offer something they don’t (that’s the secret to competing with anyone really.) Wal-Mart does low price, what do you do. I hope it’s not low price. Rainy Day Books, an independent bookseller, hosts almost weekly author events and often sells out theaters for authors who agree to speak sign books for books sales only. If you buy a book, they drop you a note when a similar book shows up.
To beat a giant, you’ve to take advantage of their weaknesses - don’t be afraid to point them out. I saw a sign in a local hardware store that said “Our prices are higher than Wal-Mart because we take care of our employees.” Pretty bold, but perhaps an effective way to make a point.
To beat a giant, you’ve got to provide better information and community. I know a woman’s clothing retailer that puts on monthly events unrelated to clothing and packs her store with clients who come to learn and network.
Business is a tough game, but the bottom line is that there are plenty of people out there (like me) that will pay a premium for place that knows my name, caters to my needs, adds value through information sharing and community and isn’t shy about providing and then charging for value.
These are your first customers …
June 23rd, 2006 by John Herman, under marketing, products, viral marketing. No Comments
You want them in the beginning, but your product will fail if it doesn’t catch on beyond them.
Japanese researchers diagnose neophilia, the unhealthy love of the new, so says Media Life Magazine.
Tolerate Mornings
June 20th, 2006 by John Herman, under internet marketing, marketing, viral marketing. No Comments
Every self-employment article will tell you to get up at the same time every day.
Now you can.
Tolerate Mornings - A beautiful new viral campaign from Folgers. The fact that Folgers is doing it means that it really is true that EVERYONE is doing viral marketing campaigns.
Can Small Business Market Like the Big Boys?
June 19th, 2006 by John Herman, under internet marketing, marketing, small business. No Comments
The short answer: yes!
Stephanie Diamond from Digimedia Works gives you the long answer on her blog entry about the June 9th David Kirkpatrick article in Fortune Magazine. He says all websites are alike.
She says:
This is a key notion for web 2.0 marketing for small businesses— media-rich conversations. Any company with a website is capable of communicating with their audience in the same way GM or GE can. You can send newsletters, post audio, create a video and blog. Your audience can respond and comment using a variety of media. Your audience cares about the message, not who the sponsor is. The playing field is level.
Small businesses should get over the notion that it takes a huge marketing budget to get and keep customers. The currency in this new marketplace is ideas and the way in which you communicate them. We’ve all seen cheaply produced videos that have become viral hits.
Small businesses should change their attitude and make use of what Web 2.0 technology has made possible.
Are You A Link Whore?
June 15th, 2006 by John Herman, under internet marketing, marketing. No Comments
Eric Ward on the Marketing Prof blog continues our “Don’t Feed the Google” discussion.
I received an RFP from a company that ought to know better that wanted to know how much I’d charge…
…to get their site 500 one-way Pagerank 2 or better links. Another company wanted to know how long it would take me to seed 1,000 blogs with a link to their site in the blog comment field. And another wanted to know how many links I could buy for their site for $25,000.
What am I, a link whore? For the right price you think I’ll engage in sleazy link building tactics normally only used by gambling or viagra sites?
Nope. And it’s not because I think I occupy some sort of high moral ground. It’s because these tactics make the Web experience worse and simply don’t work. And the sooner everyone stops being link whores, the better, in my opinion.
Quit trying to fool Google already. They have enough problems with the Adsense spam that’s the Web equivalent of Kudzu. It’s everywhere. Combine blog spam with Adsense spam… and you have one majorly unfufilling search experience.
Read his full blog posting for “How to find out if you are a link whore.”