Analytics for the “Real World”

Statistics are great. They sound boring, but when it comes to making real business decisions, they're one of the most useful tools available today. That is, if you have a website. If you have a brick-and-mortar store, it's nearly impossible to identify true statistics...

read more

How do you support your product?

Whether your product is a piece of software, or a manufactured, physical product, it needs some kind of support. Rather, the people who use it need support. A good portion of companies view support as a burden, rather than a service. Fully engaging your customers and...

read more

Why price hikes really cost you business

It's old news by now that Netflix recently hiked their prices. They made the pricing decision to split their DVD and online programs into separate pricing for their customers, effectively resulting in a 60% price hike with little to no added value or reasoning for the...

read more

The 4 P’s of Marketing – Place

Today is the last of a 4-part series about the 4P’s of marketing and how they relate to local and online companies. In case you missed the last several posts, the 4 P’s are a framework that have guided marketing decisions for the last 50 years in most successful...

read more

The 4 P’s of Marketing – Promotion

The marketing community has revolved a main concept for the last 50 years. In the move from the production mindset to marketing/value mindset, Jerry McCarthy created a framework as a way for marketing managers to guide their marketing campaigns and efforts. This...

read more

How have you segmented your customers?

No two customers are alike. Even if they look exactly the same, each customer has a unique set of needs, relationships, schedule, existing assets, and pocketbooks.  To not segment these customers into different groups with different needs will result in lost sales,...

read more

How do you add value to your customers?

There are two kinds of marketers: First, the used car salesman. The used car salesman wants cars off the lot. He doesn't care if they're right for the customer or if they're the right price, he/she cares only if they are off the lot and there is a check in his pocket....

read more

The importance of measurable marketing

Marketing is a tricky thing. On one hand, the idea is to bring in more paying customers (or non-paying supporters) to your organization by spreading the word using one of a thousand methods of marketing. The problem is that most marketing methods aren't directly...

read more