For the past 10 years, American car companies have been the poster children for boring, run-of-the-mill marketing. Most car advertising looks and sounds exactly the same – shimmering visuals of shiny cars, swaying along a roadway through mountains and forests. Close-ups and slow pans of the vehicle itself, with the price highlighted below. One of…

Everyone knows that McDonald’s is the world’s largest fast food chain – the Golden Arches are everywhere. Burger King is #2, but it’s nowhere near catching up with McDonald’s – and now that Burger King has been bought by a private equity firm, many industry analysts are predicting a major strategic shakeup in Burger King’s marketing….

Now That you got Their Attention – Make Sure to Close the Sale The “D+” campaign was successful in getting a lot of attention from prospective students – but now Drake University needs to take the next step – dazzling the prospective students with their competitive advantages to explain, “Why Choose Drake University?” Here are some good examples of…

Drake University’s D+ Campaign Gets Them Noticed Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa recently unveiled a new marketing campaign, based around a visual of a “D+.” The campaign intended to focus on the perceived advantages of a Drake University education, but some critics have argued that it puts the school in a bad light. Drake University administrators…

When Chasing New Customers, Don’t Forget your “Bread and Butter” Magazines are always offering special deals to new subscribers – “Save 80% off the cover price! Special offer for new subscribers!” But what about the “old” subscribers who have been loyal customers for year after year? Why do so many magazines make an effort to…

Say it Before Your Competitor Does One of the best ways to stake out a competitive advantage is to take credit for what everyone else in your industry is already doing. State “it” before your competitor does. This doesn’t mean you’re being dishonest – it means that you’re helping to educate customers about how your business works,…

Know What Your Customers Truly Value Success in business is all about focusing on the customers, right? We hear it all the time – “we value our customers.” “Customer service is our top priority.” So why do so many companies fail to pay attention to their customers’ wishes, goals and concerns when they’re doing their…

How to Start Strategizing for Your Marketing Message and Campaign There are many components to successful advertising and marketing messages, but the most important is strategy. With all the clutter and noise in the marketing landscape, it’s more important than ever for companies to have a keen strategic focus behind every marketing message they send. You need to…

Top Reasons Why Good Customer Service has Vanished I’m not the first person – and I won’t be the last – to comment about how lousy customer service has become. At far too many companies, customer service is suffering – whether it’s due to bad hiring, bad training, overworking and underpaying their people, or just the…

Why You Need to Develop Your “Elevator Pitch” We’ve all heard the concept of the “elevator pitch.” If you had 30 seconds riding in an elevator with someone who was crucial to the success of your business, and you had one chance to sell yourself, what would you say? How can you succinctly encapsulate the best attributes…