I recently read an article about the importance of brands being true to their values and staying aligned with their customer base. At first glance, that’s so obvious, yet businesses repeatedly go off the rails and their brand and profits take a hit. Let’s examine an example of a well-known business that ran a campaign misaligned with its brand values and ways that small businesses can learn from historical flops and instead promote themselves in keeping with their values. The Bud Light Debacle You may remember the Bud Light advertising debacle from April 2023. Bud Light aimed to course [...]

With summer vacations wrapping up and students returning to school, professionals should take this opportunity to refocus marketing efforts to engage customers. Think of it as another time to re-establish New Year’s resolutions for business. After all, we’ve got about 4.5 months until the end of the year. For retailers, the next few months are more critical as we approach Black Friday sales and holiday shopping. Other businesses can strengthen marketing execution for a strong finish to the year and, depending on your lead time and sales cycles, generate solid leads for 2025. Let’s discuss some key activities to [...]

COVID-19 has left its mark on likely every business nationwide. Still, restaurants and retail establishments have especially struggled to comply with the government-issued regulations, practice safety measures and keep their businesses profitable. Houston Community College (HCC) recently invited me to deliver a virtual presentation on "Marketing Best Practices to Drive Foot Traffic to Your Business" with a special focus on restaurants and retail businesses.  While this post isn't an exact replica of that presentation, it's a good recap and offers loads of marketing tips for businesses that are dependent on walk-in buyers. 1). First, double down on your marketing during [...]

Four months into the COVID-19 pandemic and business owners nationwide are searching for ways to market  your business in creative ways that will produce more sales. It’s time to think differently… to no longer stand back hesitantly. It’s time to be bold with your marketing. So, let’s get started. 1). Break it down. Since so much is changing & changing quickly, you don’t want to use your 2020 marketing plan that was assembled before COVID-19 hit the United States. You also don’t want to plan now for the rest of the year because we expect – even hope -- the [...]

With so many people distracted with new work and life scenarios due to COVID-19, we're finding marketers need to work smarter (& likely harder too) to engage with prospective buyers. I delivered a presentation recently to the Greater Heights Area Chamber of Commerce on "Marketing during the COVID-19 Pandemic", which in many ways translates to "Where can your marketing have the biggest impact with limited time and budget?" Here are the 7 steps that I shared with the Heights Chamber, plus a number of others. I hope you'll add your own feedback to #commentform, so I can see which marketing [...]