Archive for 2009

Don’t wait for perfection

One of the major lessons I have learned from reading great marketers like Al Ries and Jay Conrad Levinson was that if it was something worth doing, it was something that’d be worth doing NOW.

You shouldn’t wait till it was perfect.

You shouldn’t wait for the perfect debut opportunity.

You shouldn’t wait.

Perfection may never come, and you may just miss the opportunity altogether!

Allow me to illustrate. This weekend, I met a blogger. Her blog was not the money making machine she’d like it to be, and she decided to go the shelf-publishing route. She is currently in the process of writing the book, and I wish her the best of luck. She had some interesting ideas, for her book and for her marketing.

One of such interest ideas was that she would make bookmarks when her book comes out.

However, she did not have any promotional materials for her blog.

Why wait for the book?

Why not promote the blog now, and use the blog as another platform to promote the book?

A guerrilla marketer needs to get skippy in today’s economy. Don’t wait for your big idea before putting yourself out there. Think about what you could do today! Speed to market, in this and in always, is the key to success. 

photo credit:moo.com business cards, originally uploaded by bargainmoose.

Editor’s note: Finally fixed this post. Sorry for the formatting problems earlier.

Quick Lesson on Buying and Selling

Stuffs are made and then sold.

Sometime, one person / organization takes care of this entire equation. Though, more often than not, someone makes the stuff and someone else sells the stuff.

I am on the making stuff side of the equation, and sometimes I forget how hard it is to be on the selling stuff side. However, this weekend, I got a good reminder of the fact that buyers are only as finicky as their end consumers. They say no to you because their end consumers have said no to them.

If you ever want a quick lesson for yourself, go sell a piece of clothing at one of those resale shops. This weekend, I decided to sell some old clothes that are now too big (small yay me!). It was an interesting experience. You could see the buyer right there evaluating the clothes. There was no sales pitch. The buyers decided what they would take and what they wouldn’t take right then and there. Of course, they had guidelines. For example, they memorized the labels, so they could quickly tell how old that piece of clothing is. They had a length requirement on tube tops. But, in general, it was fascinating to watch.

Bear in mind, they are not Wal-Mart. They could not just shoo you away if your clothes were crappy. You could be their next customer. So, even if they did not take the clothes, they would break the news to you gently. “They were just not styles that sell well for us here.” It was not a judgment on your clothes. It was a simple statement about their shop and their consumers.

It was a lesson on buying and selling, and it was a lesson on customer service all rolled into one.

Photo Credit: clothes, originally uploaded by Sean’s Camera.

What’s In A Name

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.” – Juliet

Well, in marketing, name could make a big difference!

Names make the first impression. For example, today I read an article about the internship market for today’s college students. In the article, it mentioned an internship placement service named University of Dreams. This was a name that made an impression. This was a name that was memorable. This was a name the communicated everything you wanted to know about the organization in three simple words.

So, take the time to think about the name.

A common approach for many is to incorporate their own birth-given name into their business’ name. That is only advisable if you already have a reputation in your community or if you have a very memorable name. If your last name is Smith, Johnson, etc., do not use it for your business.

But, what if you are given a name? Or how about personal branding? Now, I have read some books that suggest that you should change your name if your name happens to be Jane Smith. However, I don’t know how many people would actually follow that advice. However, don’t worry. Borrow a lesson from the big guys, where the company name and the brand name are not necessary one and the same. Just because your name is Jane Smith, that doesn’t mean your brand name needs to be Jane Smith. You could be Jane Smith, your 10 Days Matchmaker!

Photo Credit: A Late Given Rose, originally uploaded by Kuzeytac.

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