Andrew GriffithsHIV is a serious problem in the DR Congo, and aid agencies have flooded the country with free and cheap condoms. But few people are using them. Why? “Reformed marketer” Amy Lockwood offers a surprising answer that upends a traditional model of philanthropy but reinforces one of the most important aspects of marketing – think about the customer.
Archive for the ‘Marketing’ Category
Marketing condoms in the Republic of Congo.
Thursday, November 17th, 2011Don’t be a BEIGE business….
Friday, October 7th, 2011I was watching the Anthony Bourdain show “No Reservations” recently and I had to laugh when I saw small business innovation at its very best. Anthony and his team were sailing up the Hudson River on a classic old timber yacht, with the perfect mountain backdrop and a postcard moment clearly emerging from the mist, when a little pontoon boat appeared out of nowhere, tooting its ridiculously loud horn and shattering the tranquility of the moment.
Now this little boat was a floating hot dog stand. How funny is this and how clever is it? Don’t wait for the customer to come to you, get out on the water and sell those hot dogs. I love it and so did Anthony Bourdain and his crew.
At the moment there is so much negativity regarding the financial state of various global markets and its potential impact on business everywhere, it is easy to get paralysed with fear. But this leads to even more problems for the average business. Now is not the time to be hiding out the back, worried about the state of affairs, now is the time to be bold, to be looking for new markets, to be giving new ideas a try and to be putting as much energy as you can into generating new business.
I fully understand that it is not that easy to leap out from behind your counter and start running down the street knocking on doors, but believe me, the days of waiting for business to come to us are long gone, and I honestly don’t think they will be back. The world has changed.
My advice is simple.
- It’s time to accept that the world has changed. There is no one single thing that is going to suddenly make your business overflow with new customers.
- The days of waiting for business to come to us are over. We need to be creative, bold and energised enough to go and chase new customers, to find new markets and to drive our business success actively.
- It’s time to brush up on those networking skills. Now more than ever we need to be working with others who can refer business to us.
- We need to get really good at talking about our business. It’s time to brush off the “I LOVE MY BUSINESS” t-shirt and get excited about what you are doing. If you aren’t passionate about your business don’t expect your customers to be.
- If your business doesn’t get noticed, it’s what I call a beige business. No one buys from a beige business. Beige businesses are lack luster, they don’t stand out from the crowd, they blend in to the background on every level, they have little to no relevance and no one talks about them. Beige is bad.
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Need some clarity on marketing in the modern world? Check this out.
Thursday, September 1st, 2011 Marketing fact vs Marketing fantasy
View more presentations from HubSpot Internet Marketing
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Are you struggling to come up with some marketing ideas for your business?
Sunday, November 7th, 2010Get other people to help give you some marketing ideas.
Many people struggle with actually coming up with ideas for marketing and I really understand that. But don’t worry, there may be more ideas out there than you realize, you simply have to be prepared to put up your hand and ask for help.
If you want an influx of ideas about what you need to do to increase your business have a brainstorming session. A friend of mine rang me recently inviting me to lunch. She mentioned that there were a few people coming along and she was hoping to generate a few ideas regarding a Lifestyle Expo she was in the midst of planning. As it was a free lunch, how could I say no?
I turned up to a tasteful and quiet restaurant. There were ten people there; most of them I knew but some I did not. There were salespeople, managers, consultants and a few other mixed professions. My friend began the lunch explaining why she had invited everyone there, explaining some of the problems she was experiencing and asking for ideas that would help her Expo to be a success.
The lunch lasted for two hours. My friend left with a list of 44 excellent ideas that would help make the Expo a success. Lunch cost about $300 so for a few hundred dollars and two hours of her time she had a business plan full of fresh ideas donated by professional, intelligent business people.
Perhaps you could do the same thing. A slight variation to this theme is to get ten people together every month and take it in turns brainstorming one business per month. Your turn will come up and, in exchange for giving your time and energy to helping other people solve their business problems, you may solve yours. Every brainstorming session will provide great ideas that can generally be applied to any business, so even if it isn’t your turn you may well pick up a few ideas that will help.
By the way, the Expo was held and it was a success.
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Standing out from the crowd…can take a mighty brain.
Tuesday, October 12th, 2010A coaching client of mine, Helen Joy from Right Brain Genius, wanted to really stand out from the crowd – so she figured the best way to do it was driving down the road. The picture below shows her freshly painted and signed Right Brain Mobeele – and clearly it stands out. To me this is the key to marketing in such a cluttered and congested world – stand out or get out. Anyway, perhaps this will inspire you to get your car sign written in a wild way. Believe me – people will talk about it.
For more information about Right Brain Genius – CLICK HERE.
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