2009
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Multi-faceted Marketing
Jul 22
We think of two-sided markets as marketplaces like eBay. But Apple sells the iPhone to consumers and to AT&T, and sells its brand to the manufacturers that build its computers — the middle man between two sides that never meet.
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What is your Google score?
May 27
Have you ever Googled yourself? A simple method for calculating your ‘Google score’: mine is 0.60, Coke’s is about 1.73, and anything below 0.5 barely counts as being online.
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Marketing on a Shoe-string
Apr 20
When budgets get cut, marketing is usually the first thing on the chopping block. You can’t afford Times Square, but you can still market. Five ways to do it on a shoe-string, starting with ‘who do you know…’
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Using Psychographics
Apr 17
Demographics are easy to collect: ask a question and count the answers. Psychographic data lives in everything else (tone, posture, hesitation), and gathering it means doing less talking and taking more notes.
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The Importance of Psychographics
Apr 15
Marketers tell clients to gather psychographic data without telling them why. A case study (a widget maker stuck at break-even until an intern starts profiling how customers actually live) shows how psychographics find your perfect customers.
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Pyschographics Redefined
Apr 13
Demographics tell you who your customer is; psychographics tell you why they buy. The four stages of a customer-centric marketing plan (identification, demographics, psychographics, communication) and why the third is the secret sauce.
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Secret Sauce
Mar 6
As a Boy Scout, I spent three fruitless hours trying to light a fire until an expert showed me char cloth. Every industry has a cool guy with a secret sauce. What’s yours?
2008
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Branding Habits
Dec 24
Neale Martin argues we have two minds, executive and habitual. Branding speaks to both: the story wins the first purchase, consistency turns it into habit. That’s why Starbucks sued a Japanese look-alike, Excelsior Coffee.
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Habits
Dec 19
I load three web comics every morning, even on days I know they won’t update. Neale Martin’s book Habit explains why, and turns traditional marketing strategy on its head.
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How to execute a brand
Sept 19
A six-step plan for running your brand into the ground: dominate the market, stop advertising, ignore the upstart, then cancel your comeback campaign. Microsoft has followed it perfectly.
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Push Me, Pull You
Jul 25
Push marketing puts a hand behind a prospect with a direct call to action; pull marketing places something in the market and waits for customers to come asking. Blogging is a pull strategy: effective, but measured in months.
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Apple – Psystar
Jul 16
I’ve argued the only difference between a Mac and a PC is smart branding. Now Apple is suing Psystar, a small Florida company selling Mac clones, and putting that argument on a national stage.