Have you ever encountered a business and wondered how in the world did it ever become so successful? I find myself driving around and wondering how some of these businesses have even managed to just pay rent for so long. Meanwhile, businesses that are truly unique and innovative with seemingly tons of potential don’t go anywhere. Why do you think this is? Oftentimes, it really comes down to…
If you’re an entrepreneur you’ve undoubtedly watched movies and wondered to yourself: how awesome would it be if he was using my product, my service? Is product replacement only available for companies with unlimited marketing budgets? Or can an ordinary small business or startup make a splash on the silver screen? In order to help finance a movie, movie producers will sign $100 thousand contracts with companies such…
Peanut butter and jelly. Bacon and eggs. Burt and Ernie. Some things just go together. One helps the other. 1+1=3. But what about less obvious complimentary pairs? The other day, I was driving through L.A. and something unusual caught my eye: a sushi restaurant with an attached medicinal marijuana dispensary. Immediately it struck me as genius (for obvious reasons), but I never would have thought to combine the…
6 Steps for a Successful Marketing Campaign
by / ⠀Finding Customers• Startup Advice / October 31, 2011Whether large or small, a successful marketing campaign follows the same path. Don’t always think of a campaign as something huge and daunting; a group of emails that you send out to your contact list over a month should also be considered an email campaign. The biggest difference in the size of the campaign will be the resources expended—time and/or money—on each step. The lifecycle of a marketing…
Helping Your Customers BEFORE They Become Your Customers
by / ⠀Finding Customers• Startup Advice / October 30, 2011As a business owner in a somewhat commoditized industry, it may be very easy to get lost in the mix when it comes to your customers being able to: 1.) Find you 2.) Actually purchase from you Luckily for you, we are entering the Information Age, a period in history that is different from any other point in time as far as business and commerce are concerned. In…
To Be A Great Entrepreneur You MUST Focus on Sales
by / ⠀Finding Customers• Startup Advice / October 9, 2011As a young entrepreneur currently running two businesses as well as several blogs, I often find myself wrapped up in and involved with tasks that may or may not directly contribute to my companies’ bottom lines; checking whether payroll is running on time, ensuring that my staff is properly trained and up to date on current laws and regulations, recruiting new employees to help my companies grow, marketing, etc…
3 Reasons Facebook Has Changed Business Forever
by / ⠀Finding Customers• Startup Advice / September 12, 2011I know I know. You are sick and tired of hearing people talk about Facebook, or seeing ridiculous status updates hour after hour. I mean, let’s be real, do people really have to update us that they just had a piece of chicken or are about to go to the bathroom? People on this site seem to need more attention than the cast of the Jersey Shore. With…
Your customer’s buying patterns have changed. With the advent of DVR, online radio, and ad blockers, traditional “outbound” marketing tactics like commercials and paid advertising just aren’t working as well anymore. With this crazy upheaval in marketing, what’s a business owner to do? Say hello to the social internet. If you’re not a full time web developer or marketing guru, bringing your business to the internet, social networks,…
Why Aligning Online and Offline Marketing Efforts is More Important than Ever
by / ⠀Finding Customers• Startup Advice / August 29, 2011Whether you own an offline or online business, it is undeniable that the internet has grown to become a sprawling wealth of information for your potential customers. 10 years ago, if you wanted to find information on an up-and-coming product; a drive to the shop stocking the merchandise would have been your best option. Now, you can find it and buy it in seconds on a computer or…
Every company, association and organization is trying to increase business or membership these days. One of the fastest and most effective ways to increase business is by honing your marketing efforts to better reach a niche customer or prospect. This is where “marketing to people who are not like you” comes in. Niche marketing is the new norm, and “niche” comes in many forms: gender, race, age, lifestage,…