July 2006

The sign of a strong brand

by Michael Cage · 0 comments

in Uncategorized

Emphasis mine… Whole Foods has received about 500 e-mails from people in Columbia Heights. Some bear messages as simple as “We beg you!” Others contain sophisticated references to the company’s stock price, corporate strategy and the neighborhood’s demographics. Many of the writers said they admired the company’s social conscience and employment practices. Whole Foods gets ...

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Blogging to differentiate? … BS!!!

by Michael Cage · 16 comments

in Uncategorized

B.L. Ochman reports on a few of the key conclusions in eMarketer’s 15-page, $695 2006 Business of Blogging report. One, in particular, I want to comment on: Blogs are a great way to avoid seeming interchangeable with competitors. With apologies to Marshall McLuhan, here’s the glaring flaw with this thinking… Blogs are media. A method ...

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Why businesses really fear blogging

July 15

Terrific post from Christopher Kenton at Marketonomy (emphasis mine): Not primarily because of the lack of control—that only scares those who were good at controlling their image in the first place, an elite few who are now engaged in tactics to control their image in the new paradigm. What far more businesses fear is the ...

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Are you in a business you don’t enjoy?

July 13

Are you in a business that you don’t enjoy and feel passionate about? If so, I’d love to know a) why you got into it in the first place and b) whether you plan on staying in it longer. Feel free to E-mail the to michael DOT cage AT gmail DOT com if you don’t ...

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Small Consulting Practices: An educated client is a more profitable client

July 13

A mistake I see happening in many small consulting practices is assuming the client knows as much about what you can do as you do. Consider… Your clients do not know all of the solutions you provide. I’m endlessly amazed at the number of consultants who believe their clients will ask them about all of ...

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Patton could have been talking to entrepreneurs…

July 11 On Entrepreneurship

“A good plan violently executed today, is far and away better than a perfect plan next week.” – General George S. Patton I think more and more people understand this from watching the “Web 2.0″ boom. (And many other examples before it.) It’s a shame more people who understand it don’t violently execute on that ...

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White papers, podcasts and the tech market

July 11 On Marketing To Small Businesses

If you sell to the tech market, you have surely crossed paths with a white paper or fifty-thousand. A new study says that 60% of B2B technology buyers would rather have that content delivered as podcasts, not white papers. What does it all mean? … part of the answer after the quote. Nearly 60% of ...

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Experiential marketing for small businesses, part 1

July 11

Part one of an article I published earlier this year. It’s relevant to all small and midsize businesses who a) mistakenly think they should compete on price or b) have begun to differentiate themselves as a premium, worthwhile experience. Crafting Profitable Client Experiences “There is no way I can compete with [name of big company ...

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Can half-assed marketing be worse than none at all?

July 5

Every once in a while I indulge a guilty pleasure and trek to Taco Bell. Someone “at corporate” decided it would be a great idea to have the order taker, instead of belting our “how can I help you”, start with … “Hi, this is Mary, how are you tonight?” So far, so good. At ...

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Independence and Entrepreneurship

July 5

It’s Independence Day in the US, my best wishes to everyone celebrating. Many entrepreneurs started their first businesses in a fit of independence-seeking … they wanted to be free of petty bosses, financial worries, earnings ceiling or structured hours. Surely, a business is a way to get away from those things and have something different. ...

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