As I have become more involved with social media, I have found a number of people who’s posts I enjoy reading.  I recently asked some of the people I follow to share a guest blog post with me.

One of the people I follow is Scott Howard. His  blog Collective Wisdom is an eclectic mix of information.  You never know what you will find when you drop by.  he pulled to marketing articles from his archive at my  request.  The first is found below, and the second post will be shared on April 24th.

  1. Think like a customer. Too often we know all the ins and outs of our business and we have our areas of expertise, but that does not translate into what the customer wants. A long time ago someone pointed out that folks that buy a drill, really want the end result, a hole. If your drill can make it easier for me to make a hole, great. But don’t try and get me to care about all the technical stuff about the drill.
  2. Everything is a part of your marketing. Perception is reality. Cigarette butts on the ground near the front door; the gum smacking receptionist; the attitude of the head honcho; these are just as important, (or more) than your paid advertising.
  3. Dig Deep and Find Your Niche. I was in a meeting filled with business leaders and owners and they were trying to describe their niche. Words like Customer Service, and Prices, were mentioned. Look, everyone is supposed to offer that. If you don’t, then you are on the fast track to failure. Dig Deeper, and discover what makes your Customer Service different than your competitors. Discovering this is not easy. Do it anyway.

If you improve these 3 things, you will become 10 times better at marketing