While being very successful reaching the top of your heap, it can be a very deceptive trap to “relax and enjoy” that status. No matter where you are in your market position, it is never guaranteed.
Bloomberg Businessweek points out, “Popularity is not a state of grace. In business, it is treasure hard-won on the battlefields of product development [...]

[Read more →]

The Shreveport Convention Center was the location for the ninth annual Ark-La-Tex Boat Sport and RV Show and Fishing Tournament this weekend. The event had a moderate attendance in spite of the very cold weather for this area. The weather certainly did not intimidate the vendors who filled the floor with boats, RVs, and other wheeled [...]

[Read more →]

Yes, as we discussed in the last issue, the marketplace has undergone a rather radical change in the past thirty years. With the numerous options available to today’s consumer, he or she behaves differently than in years – and centuries – past. With the rapid changes in the marketplace a person in business can become [...]

[Read more →]

Your List is . . . Everything?

Your mailing list (or e-mail list) is everything! 
 I know this sounds like an overstatement, but consider this.
Your list is your customer database.  The names on this list are the record, so to speak, of your business.  They are certainly the most valuable asset of your business.  “But,” you may argue, [...]

[Read more →]

I deal with a great many business in a variety of fields and find that a distressing number of the people consider many things and miss one of the most critical elements in that decision.
Businesses in trouble often run hither and thither trying solutions again ignoring this critical element.
That critical element?  Market Research!
Anyone, at the [...]

[Read more →]

I’m sure most of us have one or more favorite blogs we like to read for business, politics, religion, or hobbies.  Some are good and easy to read and some are not.
One of my The 88 Marketing That Will Change Your Life is, “If it is difficult to read, it won’t be … read, that [...]

[Read more →]

As a business owner you likely think of all the features your product/s or services offer.  Too often businesses will focus on the features of their product or service.  Perhaps they even extol them in great detail … only to have the listener’s eyes glaze over.  The business person may KNOW that the potential customer [...]

[Read more →]

Is marketing everything?
If we think of marketing as the sum of all efforts to inform our customers or potential customers of every aspect of our business–products and/or services–then it is “everything!”
Without adequate information about our products or services, how can we logically expect our customers to make a decision favorable to us.   Of course, all [...]

[Read more →]

Success in business does not simply “happen,” nor does hard work on or in a business, alone, guarantee success.  Several of the foundational building blocks are of vital importance for a business’s success.  One of the most important is the “business mindset” of the founders, owners, and managers.  It is an essential part of branding.
Of [...]

[Read more →]

Customer psychology continued –
The sooner and more effectively you answer these two questions, the
sooner your listener will “hear” anything else you have to say.  Of
course there is a reason for this.  When your customer has an
overriding question in his or her mind, that person is
subconsciously “filtering” everything you have to say looking to
see if you [...]

[Read more →]