Nandos: Rock Star Marketing Skills, Dinky Judgment

Posted on May 16, 2012 | In Guest Appearances

One of the funniest commercials in the history of the world was discontinued on television due to death threats issued by an angry militant youth groups in Zimbabwe against Nandos execs and customers.

The South African based fast food chicken franchise, Nandos, produced a commercial of marketing genius that makes fun of just the wrong person.  The commercial is a hilarious portrayal of the Zimbabwe despot Robert Mugabe, and his sentimental feelings towards his fellow despots who have passed on.

The ad uses the Mary Hopkins song “Those Were the Days My Friend,” to display Mugabe gleefully romping around with his fellow dictators.  But hence, the glee is short lived for Mugabe, as he comes to terms with the reality that his friends are all six feet under.  The commercial features such bloodstained dictators as Muammar Gaddafi, Mao Zedong, Saddam Hussein, and Idi Amin (well, the people in the commercial are just actors).  At the end of the tragic commercial Mugabe is left to eat his meal alone.

I can’t stop laughing at this genius of marketing, but don’t take my word for it, check out the commercial…

Read more…

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Time To Put The “P” Back Into Your Marketing – It’s All About People

Posted on May 14, 2012 | In Guest Appearances

Zig Zielgar once said “If people like you they’ll listen to you, but if they trust you they’ll do business with you.”

Well trust is built on strong relationships and relationships are all about people.

Many large companies have built solid business models on this idea.

Starbucks built its success on good coffee. However the inspiration for the company’s coffee-bar format came in the early 1980s when their marketing director Howard Schultz, who had recently come on board, visited coffee bars in Italy and noticed the close rapport between customers and the baristas who made their coffee every day. Howard reasoned that if he could transplant that one-on-one relationship to America, Starbucks would thrive. And of course, he was right. It’s one of my favorite coffee houses to this day.

Why do we bother marketing? To tell the world about a great product or service we believe can and will help their business. What makes them listen and then want to buy? They’ve heard about you through someone they trust or they themselves trust you because you have taken the time to build a relationship with them.

We live in a super speed crazed age. Fast cars, fast food, fast internet, fast correspondence, fast websites and fast deals. Sometimes in the flurry of all things “fast” the personal touch just spins right out the window…

Read more…

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Tools, List Posts, Videos, and More – Best of the Web!

Posted on May 12, 2012 | In Best of the Web

Another month, and another Best of the Web round-up!

The last month has been really intense – between all the content that we’ve run on the blog (which is a lot), the webinars that I’ve been doing for our wonderful partners (over a dozen of them), and the interviews that I’ve been asked to participate in, it’s been crazy.

And on top of that, there’s my super-secret new project that I’ll be releasing to you (for free!) at the end of the month! ;-)

So yeah, it’s been busy, and it’s been hard to keep up with the rest of the blogosphere.

But just because I’m busy doesn’t mean that the blogosphere has shut down – not by a long shot!

So here are some of my favorite posts, articles and exciting other pieces of content from the last few weeks…

Read more…

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The ‘Slow Drip’ Method for Building a Massive Following

Posted on May 10, 2012 | In Guest Appearances

Facebook grew from around 1 million users to over 845 million in 7 years.

Amazon.com grew in five years to 10 times the annual sales of Walmart, Target, and Buy.com combined (not to mention that Walmart and Target – together, have had about 150 years of growth to get there).

When it comes to growth and results, we tend to be drawn toward those that are eye-opening, astonishing, and “off the charts.” We don’t care about companies like Walmart or IBM, or websites like Yahoo (at least not anymore), because their growth was the kind of slow and steady kind that doesn’t seem to impress us much.

Instead, we get excited about the businesses and websites that explode onto the scene, blowing their competition out of the water.

They seem to descend upon us like wraiths; from out of nowhere…

Read more…

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Mastering Differentiation: Become an Oyster of Your Industry

Posted on May 8, 2012 | In Guest Appearances

We all want our businesses to be successful. All of our hard work, sleepless nights, truly caring about customers, demanding high standards from the team…

People say “If you build it, they will come.”  Well they did, they came. But once the novelty wore off, what keeps customers from coming again? Coming often?

You do all the right things – great customer service, high quality products/services, friendly environment, decent location… But there are only a handful of customers who would really miss you if you go out of business tomorrow.

How did this happen?

You Need To Standout from Others!

If you haven’t heard of the hotel searching site Oyster.com, you need to check it out. Unlike many other sites in the industry, Oyster does not promote sales. The goal of the site is to help you pick the best hotel for your needs, unbiased by “limited time only” sales or other gimmicks…

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10 Ways to Motivate Your Community: Reward & Recognize

Posted on May 6, 2012 | In Guest Appearances

For 13 years something has hung on top of my desk, right where I can see it. It’s a certificate recognizing my contributions as part of the Microsoft Regional Director Program, an honorary position was conferred to me based on my contributions to the geek community. Do you have something like this? Maybe it’s a [...]

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Millions Of Peaches (How To Grow Market Size)

Posted on May 4, 2012 | In Four Questions of Marketing

Hi! :)

What a fantastic day to read a post that opens some ‘profit doors’, don’t you agree?

I gotta tell you, I’ve had an absolute blast with Firepole Marketing’s Profit Month. Like I’ve had so much fun writing about: how you should probably charge more, how you can keep costs on the down low, and how being different is the #1 reliable way to claim your share of the market.

I know I’ve shared some cool perspectives on economic growth, and the response has been great. I appreciate it all.

Which brings us to the last post in the series.

And it’s about peaches.

Sorta.

Imagine this:

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Google, Apple, Amazon and Google: How Businesses Become Platforms (Interview with @PhilSimon, author of Age of the Platform)

Posted on May 3, 2012 | In Expert Interviews

What’s the secret of the success of Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook?

Platforms.

They took a single business model and evolved it in dozens of different directions. Rather than fighting for market *share*, they all did a fantastic job of *exploding* their market *size*.

And you don’t have to be a 50 billion dollar company to do the same.

I caught up with Phil Simon, author of Age of the Platform, to learn from him what the most important lessons are for *you* to learn from these four giants.

Over the course of 45 minutes, he shared his insights into their success. Enjoy!

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Creating a Nation of Coffee Drinkers: How Starbucks Took Coffee to New Heights and New Markets! [CASE STUDY]

Posted on May 2, 2012 | In Four Questions of Marketing

Sometimes an idea is too new, and the world just isn’t ready for it yet.

But other times, the right idea at the right time can cause an industry to explode.

Well, it doesn’t explode overnight, exactly, but every new company trying out a new idea has the potential to be absolutely astounding.

Pinterest. Twitter. WordPress. Starbucks.

What all of these companies have in common was that they created new markets for themselves by giving customers the opportunity to do or have what they already loved in a new or better way.

Pinterest gave people a forum to share socially through pictures alone.

Twitter let them communicate in quick snippets, and share information incredibly fast.

WordPress made blogging and sharing stories, information and pictures easy for the non-technical.

Today, we’re going to look at how Starbucks created a market for an old product in a very new way…

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Old Spice, New Market: Surviving the Death of a Customer Base [CASE STUDY]

Posted on May 1, 2012 | In Four Questions of Marketing

Old Spice had a problem.

Their customers weren’t leaving them for a competitor, cutting back on luxuries, or trying home-made alternatives to aftershave.

They were, quite literally, dying off.

Yep, that’s right.

Old Spice had such extreme customer loyalty and branding power that their customers used their aftershaves – and other products – right into the grave.

Unfortunately, not too many new customers were taking their place.

Younger potential consumers associated the brand with retirement homes and high-waisted pants.

Old Spice needed to find a new market!

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How to Grow Market Size (4 Questions of Marketing)

Posted on April 30, 2012 | In Four Questions of Marketing

Today’s post is a video, but with a very special treat!

Peter was home taking care of his family, so Danny asked his lovely wife to step in.

So for the first time on video on Firepole Marketing, Danny and his wife will teach you how to grow your market size with your marketing.

Click on the link to watch it:

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“Magnetic Market Share Mauls Man!” (How to Grow Market Share)

Posted on April 27, 2012 | In Four Questions of Marketing

Can you imagine a newspaper headline like that?

Might be a bit tricky.

Because, it’s not really possible for market share to maul someone, is it?

People sometimes act like it is though. They act like ‘market-share’ is some haunting thing that can destroy your company or brutalize your competition.

Well… it can and it can’t, what matters is, it’s kind of important.

When people think of market share, they usually think of having their business out-do the competition. They think of ‘claiming’ more of the market.

How?

Well, it often seems mysterious, it seems ‘big’. Woooo, how do we claim more “market share?”

It can feel like a huge burden.

It can be a lot of work to ‘market’ yourself.

But it doesn’t have to be.

There are ‘wise ways’ to claim more market share, do you know them? I mean really know them? Don’t worry…

By the end of this article… you will, and you’ll start to…

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