Customers prefer images of rich or weighty products on the bottom or right of the packaging, while light and healthful products do better when the image is toward the top or on the left. Though the rules are not part of marketing’s conventional wisdom, marketers appear to follow the rules subconsciously.
Archive for category Marketing
It’s a good time to remind ourselves of the innovative practices that win the hearts and minds of customers.
New truths have emerged from the information revolution we are all navigating. But the fundamental answers haven’t changed.
Death spiral!
Jun 30
Right this minute, you still have some cash, some customers, some momentum… Instead of squandering it in a long, slow, death spiral, do something else. Buy a new platform. Move. Find new products for the customers that still trust you.
Change is a bear, but it’s better than death.
The social media movement has expanded the number of people we can reach and connect with on a personal level. The new relationships and connections we create with people all over the world can have a profound effect on our personal and business growth. We learn about cultures and nations that we were, perhaps, previously ignorant of. None of this is a new concept, but what may be is how quickly you can destroy your business by using social media incorrectly.
If your business website doesn’t have a blog, get one. A blog, if done right, can act as a direct and indirect mechanism that brings large amounts of qualified visitors to your site, many of whom may become customers.
This is mostly related to the way blogs interact with search engines and the traffic I am speaking of will come from search engines, mostly Google.
Writing for the Web
Jun 10
Content is one of the most valuable things you can focus on during development of your website. Consider each page of your website an opportunity to capture or lose your audience. If a web page has paragraph after paragraph of text, many visitors won’t bother to begin reading. There are various other things to be leery of when writing for the web. This article covers eight tips to help you succeed when writing content for your website.
Why Serve a Niche Market?
Jan 25
Entrepreneurs who see a direct correlation between the size of a target market and the probability of success miss the opportunity to serve healthy niche markets. Niche marketing not only provides startups with an opportunity to launch the business successfully, but can also help them grow into major players in a larger market. Healthy, profitable businesses such as Traulsen, Aman Resorts, Zamboni and Peet’s Coffee and Tea all serve thriving niches.
It has been nearly sixty years since organizations began to understand the real importance of marketing strategy and planning. Prior to the 1950s most companies did not have marketing departments, but instead marketing activities were scattered among many departments such as advertising and sales. Things began to change as scholars and consultants pushed for companies to adopt strategies designed to unify a variety of marketing activities carried out in different parts of the company. By the 1960s most major college and university business programs were preaching the importance of marketing and an avalanche of books and magazines supported this cause.
Video used to be the domain of only the largest companies with the biggest marketing budgets. But the explosion of online video sharing sites has given companies of all sizes the opportunity to create and disseminate videos.
As small businesses assess those PR tactics that will yield the greatest ROI, online video has grown in popularity as a way to generate buzz without breaking the bank. However, simply shooting a video and posting it online will not guarantee results. The key to a successful video campaign is compelling content–if you aren’t distributing something that people will want to watch your campaign will fall flat.
You could write the most eloquent copy in the world, but even the best writing doesn’t always drive consumer responses. In other words, it takes more than an ability to write coherently to craft compelling, actionable and meaningful marketing copy that delivers a return on investment that small-business owners need.
Just as there are steps you can follow to ensure you write effective copy, there are also reasons why the copy you produce isn’t working.