The purpose of this post is to see if writing about a specific trending topic will in fact drive more traffic to a blog. I’ll be updating with Google Analytics to see how it goes. As you know there are many theories about when (if?) the end or Judgement Day will...

My small business clients have a lot to do and they tend to viscerally resist adding items to their plate that require ongoing maintenance.     So, Facebook pages are often not even considered because of the requirement to maintain them going forward.   It is worse to...

In spite of knowing that packaging and book covers sway the decision-maker, I sometimes think that I’m not influenced by them. The other day I had a really adverse reaction to a package and was re-awakened to their influence. Passover starts tonight and last Friday I...

Pricing is one of the more fascinating areas of consumer psychology and behavior. Marketing academics have devoted much of their research to understanding perceptions of value and price and how framing the offer can make a big difference in consumer choices. For...

Google Alerts ( http://www.google.com/alerts ) are a tool that is underutilized by most small business owners. Here are some ways to use them to monitor and grow your online presence: 1. Create a Google Alert for your name, your business name, etc. Use this to find...

There’s a lot of buzz about Groupon in the small, local business community as some have heard that it’s great and others have heard that it was terrible for small business. Let’s start with the way that it works.   If you decide to run a Groupon, you’ll work with a...

A prospective client told me that she went to try and understand how Google Adwords worked and got overwhelmed and confused with the information on the Google site. And, I can’t say that I blame her. Here’s a brief overview and introduction to how it works! Google...

I’m getting ready to teach Marketing Strategy to MBA students at the Graduate School of Business at Mills College next week. I’ve been reviewing an updated version of the simulation I use (and have used for 15 years!) called MarkStrat. The basic premise behind success...

I often encourage students to do a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis for their organization or project.    The basic construct of a SWOT is to outline the internal and external pros and cons to a project.   Strengths and Weaknesses are...

Your email signature is the home to some valuable marketing real estate. Are you using your signature effectively? Below is my current signature file. Some things that are working really well include: Using a p.s. (incredibly effective!) at getting people’s attention...