Tag Archives: marketing

Lost and Found

Let’s take the people who make up your marketplace and divide them into two categories: Lost and Found.
By lost I mean the ones that have never done business with you. We don’t mean lost in the sense that they don’t have “it” all together. They may know you and/or your brand, but they’ve never experienced it. Simply put, they’re not found in your database – therefore, to your business – they’re lost (not present).
And by found I mean those current, referred, and past clients, customers, or users. These guys use your websites, services, products, facilities, brands, etc. They’ve paid you or are going to be paying you.
It can be very tempting to go all in on trying to convert the lost. Proceed with caution. In a loud world that is shrinking in size daily, most of what you tweet and tell them will fall upon deaf ears. They probably aren’t looking for a new/better ____________.
On the flip slide, in a word of mouth economy, your R.O.I. on communicating often and well with the founds will not only be more affordable in the short run, but will disperse dividends a thousand times greater in the long run.
Quick musical/business thought – Dance with the one that brought you.
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Music Sharing

Google search “Chicago Hotels” and you will receive about 162,000,000 results  in 0.34 seconds.

Google search “Dallas Realtors” and you will receive about 22,400,000 results  in 0.21 seconds.

Google search “Las Vegas Restaurants” and you will receive about 130,000,000 results  in 0.29 seconds.

Google” search “Music” and you will receive 1,730,000,000 results in 0.33 seconds.

Options for a lifetime.

This is why word of mouth will forever outweigh pay-per-click, television, radio, billboard, and print advertising.

We simply don’t have the time to sift through the millions, and sometimes billions, of options that are now at our disposal.

If we’re serious about building brands and services that shake things up, change things, “dent the world”, and get talked about – then we must bend over backwards to be the answer to –

  • Where should we stay?
  • Who should sell my home?
  • Where should we eat?
  • What new music are you listening to?

We will always give more weight to the guy on our right that we ask these questions to than we will the Google search in our hands.

I cannot recall a time where I, personally, found a new band or musician to listen to. Someone has always introduced us.

Put another way – the music, if it’s good, will find us. There’s something in us that can’t hold back sharing good things.

Are your followers sharing your music?

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The Vacuum Battle Royal

It probably should not be classified as battle, but I eavesdropped on three wives (one of which was mine) having a “who knows the best vacuum” debate this weekend.

It went like this…

Wife 2: “I really want a __________ (brand name) vacuum.”

Wife 1: “Oh, I was going to ask for that brand for Christmas, but was told by soooo many people not to.”

Wife 3: “Well, if my vacuum didn’t have a chord, I would vacuum everyday!”

Wife 1: “You should see my chord. Press a button, and the chord winds itself back into the vacuum.”

Wife 3: “No way.”

Wife 1: “Way.”

And for five more minutes they had their vacuum debate…

Welcome to our new business ecosystem.

The goal in this new ecosystem is to be the last brand standing or Best In Class for your product or service when three wives strike up their battle royal.

The three wives care more about each other’s opinions than any direct mailer, infomercial, tweet, or even a Super Bowl ad. Said another way, it’s all about the social boat we sail on, and we hate to rock the boat.

This should make us all question our marketing dollars.

Never once did they mention how well the vacuum sucked. That’s the reason for a vacuum debate, right? Not so much. Best In Class, here, was all about functionality, noise levels, and chord winder-uppers.

This proves the Simon Sinek belief when he says, “people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”

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Creativity = Buzz

It’s more about doing what you think, not doing what you’re told.
It’s more about exposing what your mind has seen, not repeating what your eyes have seen or ears have heard.

True creativity creates “have you heard about???” vs. “been there done that”.
Music, art, and business that lead with creativity always own the market buzz.

So give the eyes and ears of the world something to hear and look at that your mind created – the Muse has flashed it there for that reason.

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