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Aggressive Small Business Marketing & Advertising
Showing archives from 03/2005.
Word of Mouth Marketing
Posted by Michael Cage on Tuesday, March 29, 2005Todd from A Penny For is posting his notes from WOMMA Summit, which I can only guess stands for Word of Mouth Marketing A-something Summit?
Anyway, there are a few gems in his notes.
But don't just read them and nod your head. Like much worth having, you've got to put a little thought into just how profound a few simple insights can be.
Why do people share things via WOM?
- Helping/Educating
- Proving Knowledge
- Find Common Ground
- Validating Our Opinion
- Pride
Read the rest here.
There are 0 comments, add your own!Car Sharing Companies in Major Metro Areas
Posted by Michael Cage on Tuesday, March 29, 2005People in major cities with horrible parking situations and good public transportation can have a car available without owning or traditional rentals. The idea has been popular in European cities for some time, now it's caught in on Washington DC and two other US cities.
From the Washington Post:
So he ditched the clunker and put his trust in Zipcar, one of two car-sharing companies in the Washington region that offer a range of vehicles for rent in increments as short as a half-hour. Unlike traditional car rental outfits, car-sharing companies station small numbers of vehicles in neighborhoods across the region that users reserve online or by phone. They use electronic cards to get into cars and must return them to the reserved spots where they picked them up. Both companies in the Washington area, Zipcar and Flexcar, include gas, insurance and maintenance in their rates.
Read the rest of the article.
There are 2 comments, add your own!QOTD: Labels and People
Posted by Michael Cage on Tuesday, March 29, 2005"If you please, Mr. Jarrett, no labels. Labels are for things men make, not for men. The most primitive man is too complex to be labeled."
- Nero Wolfe in "the Father Hunt."
Michael: I've been rewatching the entire Nero Wolfe series on DVD (The 1st Season & The 2nd Season) this week. What a tragedy A&E cut the project short at only two seasons. Twas brilliant while it lasted.
There are 0 comments, add your own!Clarity about business leads to better local marketing
Posted by Michael Cage on Monday, March 21, 2005Here's a story from the Washington Post about local businesses cashing in on the Texas Holdem poker craze.
Before you get there, three points...
- First, the bar profiled "gets it." They understand that they are NOT in the "liquor and bar" business. They aren't even in the entertainment business, though that is a better description. The business they are really in is the "marketing of an entertainment business" business. This is no small shift in thinking.
- Second, I've been teaching a process to leverage top-of-mind awareness in my Business Breakthroughs seminar for years. It's been used to transform everything from sports events to natural disasters into marketing successes. In a nutshell, you take something that "everyone is talking about" and translate it, through creative marketing, into a reason to do business with you. This poker story is an example, and it is translatable to dozens of different business types, including the all-too-stuffy B2B environment.
- Third, ain't capitalism grand? A couple of years ago the businesses that are providing these poker events were NOT in business. But markets change. Awareness shifts. And entrepreneurs have picked up on the trend and are now crafting entire businesses around it that did not exist before. Cool.
Anyway, here's the excerpt...
Tom Brzoska had only a pair of eights among his cards, but he was pushing every last one of his $1,175 worth of poker chips into the pot. Of course, he wasn't really throwing away all that cash because the money in this game at T.T. Reynolds in Fairfax City was fake. Still, there was a quiver of excitement in his voice when Brzoska said those magical words that all Texas Hold 'Em players love to hear: "I'm all in." Brzoska, 52, of Fairfax City promptly lost his chips. But the bar was definitely cashing in. More than 60 players showed up on a recent Sunday evening for a free Texas Hold 'Em tournament on what is normally a slow night. Sales of food and drinks tripled. "As far as a Sunday night in Fairfax, it was phenomenal," Josh Porter, a manager at T.T. Reynolds, said later. "We are definitely going to be holding [the tournament] every Sunday night. We are in this for the long haul."
Go read the rest of the story...
There are 0 comments, add your own!Fast Company: Businesses Should Be Accountable For NOT Having Unions
Posted by Michael Cage on Monday, March 21, 2005This entry caught my eye, make up your own mind...
Why aren't more consumers boycotting them? Businesses should be accountable for not having unions. Wal-Mart was in the wrong for not using unionized cleaners. And they are not the only ones guilty. McDonalds is notorious (read Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser) for opposing unions. How is this possible today? Why aren't more media outlets complaining? Where is the public outrage? ...snippage... The AFL-CIO has helped everyone. Why can't we finish the job? In the year 2005, this is inexcusable. Save your dollars for businesses that don't neglect their workers.
Should businesses, as this guy suggests, be held "accountable" for not having unions or using suppliers who have unions?
There are 3 comments, add your own!