Why Brands are Planned

The biggest bite-back I received from my presentation at the Small Town 140 Characters Conference on Monday was my declaration that “Brands are planned.” Granted, it was small group that disagreed, but I feel it needs some explanation. First, take a look at the video of my presentation below: “Your Tweet is Your Brand.” Each

Marketing Across the Digital Media Divide

You really can’t market to everyone using one medium or one tactic. And while the new, digital marketing media gets most of the favorable press, that doesn’t mean the old, traditional media doesn’t work, despite premature reports of its demise. So the big question is: How do you market to whom? Or, more appropriately, where

The Search for The Best Marketing Tools

Guest Post by Jason Acidre Marketing today is not your father’s marketing. It’s much broader, thanks to the internet, and has a vocabulary that didn’t exist 15 years ago; Blogging, Google Adwords, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Marketing, and so on. These are confusing for the entrepreneur who is hard-pressed to find the most suitable

Nonprofit Marketing: It’s not an event

Let’s get rid of this notion that nonprofit organizations should market differently than for-profit businesses. While nonprofits may not be selling goods and services they are selling something; donations, passion, or an idea. The primary flaw in nonprofit marketing is micromarketing, focusing on short-term, one-time events. Nonprofit organizations tend to focus on marketing for donations,

Want a fresh start? Reframe your business.

Businesses get stale. Entrepreneurs running businesses get stale. Customers lose interest. It’s time to reframe the business. It’s not unusual for businesses to get to the point where they’re running on cruise control. Just selling stuff and facilitating transactions. The business owner starts running out of ideas and feels like he is just re-hashing the

The Marketing Conference for Small-Town, Small Businesses

Really it’s for small or local businesses in any size town, but this edition of Jeff Pulver’s amazing 140 Characters Conference takes center stage on November 1st in Hutchinson, Kansas, population: 40,767. Usually the stage is an exotic location like San Francisco, Tel Aviv or Barcelona. What is the 140 Characters Conference? It’s a one-day