Best of 2008

12 months, 193 posts. So much to read. How do you choose?

If you’re a typical blog reader you subscribe to a blog because of an interesting current post. Then you may poke around the site a bit to find other useful advice. But seldom to blog readers drill down deep into a blog’s content. It just takes too much time. My objective for The Marketing Spot blog is to provide practical understanding of small business marketing tactics to entrepreneurs who actively run their own business.

During the past year, The Marketing Spot readership has grown about seven-fold. Thank you for adding this blog to your feed reader and to your email subscriptions. Because you don’t have time to scan through all 193 articles, here are the best posts of 2008. Organized, of course, within The Marketing Circle of Life and the four essential spots of small business marketing. These posts were chosen based on their popularity with readers and links received from other websites.

Branding

Branding is About Self Discovery – If you want to build a sustainable brand, stop listening to the people and start looking inward. Because branding is not about market research and what other people think, branding is about you.
Are You Breaking The Law of Focus? Learn From My Mistake. – My cautionary tale of losing focus. 2008 was both the worst and the best year of business for The Marketing Spot. It only got better when I focused my own brand.
The Brand Promise – This is the essence of your brand. Without a brand promise your business does not have a true identity. Part 1 of the eight-part Build Your Marketing Plan series.

Experience

I Spent 10 Days Without Starbucks and Lived to Tell About It. – In many ways, Starbucks has sterilized the coffee experience in America. It took a trip to Brazil for me to understand what was missing from the coffee giant. Part of the reExperience Starbucks project with Becky Carroll of Customers Rock!
The Experience Economy – Your product, price and service are not enough. To separate yourself in this commodity economy you must provide a customer experience that is engaging and memorable. This slide presentation highlights important takeaways from the book: The Experience Economy. It was authored by a former employee.
Writing Customer Stories – Your business is the intersection of two stories: The story of your business and the story of your customer’s life. What chapter will you write? An audio/visual slidecast presentation.

Conversation

Igniting Word of Mouth: Four Hot Ideas From SWOMfest – Word of Mouth is often called the most powerful form of advertising. How do you inject it into your marketing plan. Here are four ideas from some of the biggest names in marketing.
Conversation Starters: Creating your word-of-mouth message – Chance is not an option for obtaining word of mouth. Conversation doesn’t just happen. It’s part of a well-designed plan. Here’s how to get the conversation started for your business. Part 5 of the eight-part Build Your Marketing Plan series.
Social Media 101 For Small Businesses – A basic primer in social media for small business. What is it? What are the channels? How do you use them?

Promotion

Everything Will Go Mobile – By far, the most visited post of the year on The Marketing Spot blog. Hewlett Packard Chair & CEO, Mark Hurd, a Baylor University graduate, was in Waco to give a speech to the local chamber. During the speech he gave a glimpse into the future of mobile.
Local Search: Why it’s important for your business – Search engine results are very important to local, small businesses. Local search is the great size equalizer, so Small business owners should pay attention and take action. Here’s how to make local search work for you.
Traditional Advertising Is Not Dead, It’s Just Changing – Reading about marketing on the Internet can lead you to believe that advertising is dead and social media will save the world. It’s not true. But, you have to understand why.

Podcasts

Power to the Small Business is the official podcast of The Marketing Spot. I produce a periodic Internet radio show interviewing some of the brightest minds in marketing. Here are the three top shows from the past year.

A Remarkable Customer Experience Author, speaker, and former Starbucks marketer, John Moore talks about building a remarkable small business customer experience.
Word Of Mouth Tips from Jackie Huba – Jackie Huba co-authored two best-selling word-of-mouth books. In this episode she discusses how to build word of mouth into everything you do in your business.
A Great Tagline is Your Best Brand Communication Tool – Tagline specialist Jim Morris has created memorable taglines for both big and small companies. In this episodes he outlines the do’s and don’ts of tagline creation.

Thanks for a successful 2008! I’m looking forward to growing with you in 2009. To make sure you don’t miss any future articles: Receive The Marketing Spot by Email or Get The Marketing Spot in a blog reader

Coming in January: Back to the Basics – Foundational concepts of the essential spots of small business marketing.