Marketing = seduction. Marketing = hunting. If you sell anything, you need great marketing.
What makes you pick one can off the shelf instead of another?
I am an opinionated, no-BS marketing executive, and I tell the truth.
If you want to really understand the marketing profession as it's run effectively in 2012, spend a few minutes reading. I'm not job-hunting; I am incredibly fortunate to have an amazing job with a kick-ass team as well as an exciting and fun family business. But I've been through the trenches, I've made mistakes, made smart decisions, and since starting my first company at age 21, I've learned, learned, learned. My mentor in marketing and a few other great people taught me early-on that you have to give away what you know. You never know who might benefit from your experience.
A marketer's job is matchmaker: getting the right audience to fall in love with your offering.
Remember, you are someone's target market, too: What fascinates you? What gets you excited, charged, amped up and ready to take action? What brands do you LOVE? What brands are part of your life? How do you define yourself? How would other people categorize you? A great brand is the sum of many parts -- and it's NOT all about marketing. A great brand delivers on its brand promise -- relentlessly, consistently.
I
A great brand has its act together:
Marketing is the art and science of locating the most likely audience for your product or service, and then wooing and winning them -- and doing everything you can to maintain their loyalty to your brand.
Since starting my first company with three comedians and a graphic designer in San Francisco when I was barely old enough to legally enter a comedy club, I've been fascinated with what it takes to woo and win over an audience. A tough crowd. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the essence of marketing. It's seduction -- it's creating such a strong connection and allegiance to your brand that your customers will ignore your competitors and stay loyal to you.
Need to hire an effective, hit-the-ground-running marketing professional? Here are some tips to help you select the right candidate.
If you want to really understand the marketing profession as it's run effectively in 2012, spend a few minutes reading. I'm not job-hunting; I am incredibly fortunate to have an amazing job with a kick-ass team as well as an exciting and fun family business. But I've been through the trenches, I've made mistakes, made smart decisions, and since starting my first company at age 21, I've learned, learned, learned. My mentor in marketing and a few other great people taught me early-on that you have to give away what you know. You never know who might benefit from your experience.
A marketer's job is matchmaker: getting the right audience to fall in love with your offering.
Remember, you are someone's target market, too: What fascinates you? What gets you excited, charged, amped up and ready to take action? What brands do you LOVE? What brands are part of your life? How do you define yourself? How would other people categorize you? A great brand is the sum of many parts -- and it's NOT all about marketing. A great brand delivers on its brand promise -- relentlessly, consistently.
I
A great brand has its act together:
- The Web site rocks; it's clean and attractive, easy to navigate, and answers your questions.
- When you phone the main number, you can accomplish what you want without hassle. Hold times near zilch. Content seems human-focused.
- If brick-and-mortar: the staff is friendly, attentive, and well-trained. And the facilities are clean and obviously well maintained.
- Customer service -- via ANY channel (Web, phone, face-to-face) completely wows you -- it's delightful and never dreadful.
- Oh, and by the way -- the goods, the actual product or service that will be received in exchange for payment? It is DICE: Deep, Indulgent, Complete and Elegant. Or it's handy and easy to use. Or it solves a problem. Or it's just plain fun. No matter what "IT" is, you want it badly, and you're thrilled when you get it.
Marketing is the art and science of locating the most likely audience for your product or service, and then wooing and winning them -- and doing everything you can to maintain their loyalty to your brand.
Since starting my first company with three comedians and a graphic designer in San Francisco when I was barely old enough to legally enter a comedy club, I've been fascinated with what it takes to woo and win over an audience. A tough crowd. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the essence of marketing. It's seduction -- it's creating such a strong connection and allegiance to your brand that your customers will ignore your competitors and stay loyal to you.
Need to hire an effective, hit-the-ground-running marketing professional? Here are some tips to help you select the right candidate.
About Laura
Laura Higgins is a Denver-based marketing and operations executive with tenacious emphasis on driving bottom-line results.
She's been called a fire-starter, a get-it-done professional with a deep understanding of traditional and new media channels -- and how to use them to maximum effect. Laura's bio and resume can be found here. More about Laura on LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/higginslaura Forbes: How to be more interesting
Jessica Hagy of Forbes draws the truth. This simple article is a perfect example of why I love online marketing so much: who knows where this will end up, who will read it? As of this writing, the piece has had almost 367,000 views on Forbes.com, and it's been shared via the mainline social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn, +1, StumbleUpon) nearly 50,000 times. Isn't that amazing? Sure, there are other more dramatic examples of viral explosion -- think of any of your favorite YouTube stars -- but nonetheless, it's SO COOL to realize the sheer audience potential of well-crafted content.
No matter what industry you work in, interesting, useful, practical, informative or surprising content -- well-written and well-presented content -- wends its way around the world. We all take this for granted today! 
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Do you vote with your wallet when you're out shopping? Do you pick one item over another because you like the packaging? The company? WHY do you do what you do as a consumer?
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