The terms Marketing and Advertising are NOT interchangeable terms.  They aren’t even close to describing the same thing.  This is perfectly illustrated by Businessdictionary.com. The term marketing yields a large paragraph of definitions; it’s basically everything from concept to consumer, including all the touchy-feely stuff like values, creating need, satisfaction levels, and the lovely-yet-elusive notion called branding.  Advertising is defined in just five words — continue reading »

There are horrendous marketing mistakes made all the time, but a spectacularly botched experiment happened right here in Utah.  On December 7th, at the season opener of the local NBA Development League team, the Utah Flash, and their owner Brandt Andersen, decided to spread the word that Michael Jordan would be appearing in a charity one-on-one game with rival Bryon Russell(with a $100,000 purse, no less, for the winner’s charity of choice).  Andersen even went so far as to post this YouTube video with a look-alike who was paraded all over town the day of big game.  Well, game time shows up…no Jordan (duh!)…and thousands of angry fans in attendance (and the thousands more who found this stunt appalling) vow to stop their support of the team, based on the heinous promotional hoax at the hands of their controversial owner.

Well, who could have seen this coming??

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So let’s say that you are a business owner.  You are male, 40-something, addicted to SportsCenter and the Simpsons.  Oh, and you own a women’s shoe store.  You decide to advertise on television and figure ESPN and Fox News are can’t-miss, so that’s the best place to advertise.  You’ll see your store’s commercials on air all the time!

Just one problem.  You don’t shop at your women’s shoe store.  You are a guy, remember?

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I bet you never realized the indoctrination power of ads….it’s the unconscious side of the marketing force. We refer to tissue as “Kleenex” and any type of digital video recording as “TiVo”.  How about “Coke”, “ChapStick”, “Scotch Tape” or a “Band-Aid”?  continue reading »

Think you have a good handle on your marketing plan?  Think you are an expert on every customer?  Think you can manage it all, even without training or experience?  Think you can handle the truth?

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