Investment in Marketing
I recently attended Business in Vancouver's BLUE breakfast panel at SFU's Beedie School of Business. Panelists included the likes of Lawrie Ferguson, chief marketing office, Coast Capital Savings and Steve Mossop, president Ipsos Reid West, both of whom were very...
Why You Need a Marketing Strategy
If you have a company that is in the business of making money, then you need a marketing strategy, because the marketing strategy is your roadmap to guide you in your efforts to get the maximum impact for the marketing dollars, time and resources you invest to reach...
You Are Leaving Money on the Table. The Only Question is How Much?
Small changes to your website could result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in incremental revenue. I recently took part in a webinar sponsored by the American Marketing Association entitled: Keys to Website Success. I was curious to learn what Lance Loveday, CEO...
Driving Customer Acquisition by Looking Beyond AIDA
All consumers follow a buying process, whether they know it or not. We all do it – probably a dozen times a week if not more. When we are presented with an opportunity to make a purchase we subconsciously ask ourselves a series of questions, and depending on our...
5 Fatal Marketing Mistakes that CEOs Make
Working with small and midsize companies over the past decade, I’ve noticed some patterns and similarities in how CEOs (usually also the founder of the business) approach the marketing function within the organization. I’d like to highlight what I believe are 5 common...
Community as a Marketing Strategy
According to Wikipedia, a “community” is a group of interacting people that share some common values. In human communities, intent, belief, resources, preferences, needs, risks, and a number of other conditions may be present and common, affecting the identity of the...
Deliver Your Value Proposition to Your Audience by Telling a Good Story
New York Times journalist Rob Walker hypothesized that value comes from the story behind a product, and not the product itself. If this is true, then communicating the value of your offering is not only wise but also necessary. In today’s cluttered marketplace where...
Risks of Business Silos and Tips for Breaking Down Barriers to Success
Organizational silos are when individual people, departments, or companies, conduct business in a vacuum, without taking into consideration the impact their actions have on the entire organization. The term silo literally means a ‘storage tower’ – a tall, cylindrical...
Job Sites: Key Business & Marketing Drivers
I was approached by a group of investors to provide marketing consulting services for their new job site venture. They have plans to develop an online portal in which job seekers and employers connect for mutual benefit, targeting a niche industry in a limitless...
A Brand Ambassador is Your Best Sales and Marketing Asset
Whatever you want to call them, whether advocates, influencers, ambassadors or evangelists, they all share common qualities that are priceless to your business. Ambassadors are emotionally engaged with your company’s brand promise – the value you promise to deliver to...