December 8
WHEN DEVELOPING THE MARKETING MIX FOR A SERVICE
1) Eliminate wide fluctuations in demand
2) Ensuring quality with minimal variation
3) Developing a unique pricing and promotion strategy
— from Barron's Business Library - Marketing

December 1
"MARKETING is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably. DIRECT MARKETING is any advertising activity which creates and exploits a direct relationship between you and your prospect or customer as an individual." — Drayton Bird, Commonsense Direct Marketing

November 24
“There is no better test of an advertisement than whether or not it actually sells the product! In fact, it is the only true way of determining if your advertisement works.” — Author Unknown

November 17
“Direct Marketing is evolving every day; in some cases, it seems that we have come full circle. A few years ago, there was the rush to telemarketing, and then came the rush to the internet. Now marketers are starting to understand that all of these -- telephone, mail, internet, e-mail, so-called 'new media' -- are simply alternative channels that enable direct contact with a customer.” — Audrey Price-Dix, Assegai Awards ChairmanNovember 10
“A synonym is a word you use when you can’t spell the other one.” — Baltasar Gracian, 1601-1658

November 3
“Happy customers are your best advertising. Make people happy.” — Andy Sernovitz, Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking

October 29
“Marketing is everything you do to make sure your customers find out about, and buy, your products and services.” — Bob Serling, the Stratford Marketing Group.

October 20
Methods of Promoting a Service (Part 3): “Develop as tangible a representation of the service as possible.” — From Barron's Business Library.

October 13
Methods of Promoting a Service (Part 2): “Associate the intangible service with a tangible object that is more easily perceived by the customer. For example, ‘You're in good hands with Allstate.’” From Barron’s Business Library — From Barron’s Business Library

October 6
Methods of Promoting a Service (Part 1): “Focus on the relationship between the seller of the service and the user of the service and avoid the intangible aspects of the service itself. Promote the competence, skill, and concern of the tangible agent or service employee to facilitate the sale and to start developing a client relationship.” — From Barron’s Business Library

September 29
"Rather than seeing digital marketing as an 'add on', marketers need to view it as a discipline that complements the communication mix and should be used to generate leads, get registrations or drive sales, rather than simply generating awareness." Methods of Promoting a Service (Part 1): “Focus on the relationship between the seller of the service and the user of the service and avoid the intangible aspects of the service itself. Promote the competence, skill, and concern of the tangible agent or service employee to facilitate the sale and to start developing a client relationship.” — From Barron’s Business Library Charisse Tabak of Acceleration Media, 2002.

September 22
"Consistency is a critical key to your success in sales. Whether you are making telephone calls, visiting clients, or direct marketing you have to hit your numbers everyday. A consistent sales work ethic will make you more successful than the sporadic every third day over-achiever hands down." — Dennis R. Kyle, International Speaker

September 15
"Marketing guy: This is brilliant and completely unmarketable.
Dilbert: Thanks, I'm technology-driven." — Quote from comic column Dilbert

September 9
On Direct Marketing: "Your own customer list is the best in the world - but only if it bulges with information about each customer." — From: Guerrilla Marketing's Golden Rule # 5

September 1
'Peace of mind has become the ultimate consumer good — which means that marketers and service providers must become healers.' — Melinda Davis

August 25
"The future is purchased by the present."— Dr. Samuel Johnson, 1709—1784

August 18
“More than anything else, I think prospects, customers and citizens watch what you do more than they listen to what you say.” — Seth Godin, author of Watching and Listening.

August 10
"How can you squander even one more day not taking advantage of the greatest shifts of our generation? How dare you settle for less when the world has made it so easy for your to be remarkable?" — Seth Godin, author of Meatball Sundae and Small is the new big

August 4
"If you’re not proud of where you work, go work somewhere else." — Seth Godin, author of Meatball Sundae and Small is the new big

July 28
"The best time to do great customer service is when a customer is upset." — Seth Godin, author of Meatball Sundae and Small is the new big

July 21
"The future is purchased by the present." — Dr. Samuel Johnson, 1709—1784

July 14
 "As marketers, we know the old stuff isn't working.  And we know why: because as consumers, we're too busy to pay attention to advertising, but we're desperate to find good stuff that solves our problems." - Seth Godin, Inspirational speaker and author of Purple Cow

July 7
"The first sign that we don't know what we're doing is obsession with numbers." — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

June 30
"Consistency is a critical key to your success in sales. Whether you are making telephone calls, visiting clients, or direct marketing, you have to hit your numbers every day. A consistent sales work ethic will make you more successful than the sporadic every third day over-achiever hands down." — Dennis R. Kyle, Inspirational International Speaker

June 23
"Users don't read on the Web: They scan the text" - Jakob Nielsen, author of Web Usability

June 16
"Instead of trying to use your technology and expertise to make a better product for your users' standard behavior, experiment with inviting the users to change their behavior to make the product work dramatically better." - Seth Godin, Inspirational speaker and author of 'Purple Cow'.

 June 9
“Headlines of ten words sell more merchandise than short headlines." - David Ogilvy, author of Ogilvy on Advertising

 June 1
“…the critical dimensions of the company – including all of the attributes that together define how the company does business – are ultimately the functions of marketing. That is why marketing is everyone’s job, why marketing is everything and everything is marketing.” – Regis McKenna, author of Relationship Marketing.

May 27
"In 1912, Otto Frederick Rohdwedder invented sliced bread.  ...The machine was a complete failure. This was the beginning of the advertising age, and that meant that a good product with lousy marketing had very little chance of success." - Seth Godin, Inspirational speaker and author of 'Purple Cow'.

May 19
"Marketing has one purpose, to sell more stuff to more people more often for more money more efficiently.” - Sergio Zyman, a marketing executive with tenures at Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Procter & Gamble, who launched the marketing firm Zyman Group. He has written several books including The End of Marketing as We Know It, The End of Advertising as We Know It, and Renovate Before You Innovate, and many others.

May 12
“Marketing must invent complete products and drive them to commanding positions in defensible market segments. ” – William H. Davidow,  a founding partner at Mohr, Davidow Ventures and author of Marketing High Technology. He has been a high-technology industry executive and venture investor for more than 30 years.

May 5
“Magic ingredients don’t have to be explained, because they are magic.” – Jack Trout, a marketing strategist, speaker and author of Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, Marketing Warfare, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, Differentiate or Die, Big Brands, Big Trouble, A Genie’s Wisdom, and his latest, Trout on Strategy.

April 29
“In the final analysis, either you face an international competitor in its domestic market or in your own.  So the game is to maximize worldwide market share.” – William H. Davidow,  a founding partner at Mohr, Davidow Ventures and author of Marketing High Technology. He has been a high-technology industry executive and venture investor for more than 30 years.

April 21
“To be a good marketing person you have to know all these tactics, and then you've got to select the right tactic to win your particular battle. –Al Ries, marketing consultant, co-founder of Ries & Ries, and author of War in the Boardroom (released in March 2009), Immutable Laws of Branding, The 11 Immutable Laws of Internet Branding, The Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR, and The Origin of Brands.

April 14
“Winning, beating the odds, converting defeat to victory – that’s the point of marketing.” William H. Davidow,  a founding partner at Mohr, Davidow Ventures and author of Marketing High Technology. He has been a high-technology industry executive and venture investor for more than 30 years.

April 7
“. . . the business enterprise has two - and only two - basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs.”  Peter Drucker in The Practice of Management

March 31
"If you believe in consumer research,  the only thing worse than no research is cheap research." Shelly Palmer, host of MediaBytes with Shelly Palmer, a daily show featuring news about technology, media & entertainment, author of Television Disrupted: The Transition from Network to Networked TV, and the president of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

March 24
“The most expensive marketing is marketing that doesn't work. We approach our client relationships with this idea in mind and produce marketing campaigns that drive consumers from apathy to action."  Nick Nelson, author of Liquid Soul Media.

March 17 
Marketing’s job is to design intangibles into the product and then to use them to make products unique. ” – William H. Davidow,  a founding partner at Mohr,Davidow Ventures and author of Marketing High Technology. He has been a high-technology industry executive and venture investor for more than 30 years.

March 10
“Strategy should be developed from the bottom up, not from the top down.  In other words, strategy should be developed from a deep knowledge of and involvement in the actual tactics of the business itself.” – Jack Trout, a marketing strategist, speaker and author of Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, Marketing Warfare, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, Differentiate or Die, Big Brands, Big Trouble, A Genie’s Wisdom, and his latest, Trout on Strategy.

March 17 
"Marketing’s job is to design intangibles into the product and then to use them to make products unique. ” – William H. Davidow,  a founding partner at Mohr,Davidow Ventures and author of Marketing High Technology. He has been a high-technology industry executive and venture investor for more than 30 years.