Category View (Trump University insights)

One of the neat things about managing a web site is that you can see where people go and what resonates. Visitors come to the Trump University site for many different reasons. Most want the best real estate investment education available. Others want to become entrepreneurs and start their own business. Many simply want to improve themselves and their lives. Here are four articles by Mr. Trump that have proven particularly popular over the life of Trump University: Think Like a Champion - Focus on the Top and You'll Get There  How to Think on Your Feet - Pressure Breeds Success The Bottom Line--Your Guideline more...

Most marketers would agree that testimonials are a very powerful way to sell.  At Trump U we collect our client's stories both for our marketing needs but also to showcase our clients. They are the stars (not us). These are real ‘everyday’ people who have had great success using the information they learned at Trump University.  Well, starting this month we have created a new initiative. Each month we will select one client who has done remarkably well. They will be our Client Of The Month. OK, so this may not be an earth shattering marketing idea. Hopefully our execution of this idea will be different more...

Today I was named Brand Champion of the Day by Rex Whisman.  It is an honor to be recognized by a peer and I encourage you to read Rex's blog.  He covers branding with some interesting angles.  While it is great to be the Brand Champion of the Day the job of brand champion is an ongoing role.   This is also not a job for just one person and I share the responsibility with everyone at TrumpU.  When you are building a brand make sure every employee in your company feels as if they are brand champions. Do you think it is easier more...

Do you test everything you can to increase your marketing conversion or response rates? Are you using control groups? If not, you aren't testing effectively.  You might be guessing, assuming or just throwing caution in the wind.  I know many people who have said "we are testing X,Y or Z"  but when you ask about a control group they answer, "we are going to see how it performs to what we did last year".  What!?  You are comparing what you did to something that happened a year ago.  Did nothing change?  Obviously this doesn't make sense and is a bit of an exaggeration but more...

Trump U's tag line is 'We Teach Success'.  I have been very critical about this line since I started in my role.  To me this is all about TrumpU and not about our clients.  Well, we are doing two things to correct this situation. First, we are reevaluating this copy.  One idea we are playing around with is: Invest in Your Success.  If you have other ideas let me know in the comments section. Second and more importantly we are spending money and using our resources to promote our client's successes.  We are working with our clients and the press to share their stories more...

Over the last few months I have picked up a number of SEO tips and tactics that we have tried to use to help grow the Trump U business.  However once in a while a good (dare I say great) idea fails due to poor execution.  The 'big' idea this time was to utilize the popularity of reality tv and discuss the many shows that focus on real estate investing and development to drive a conversation on our site.  If done properly the effort would have created: links back to the site, some buzz and discussion on our blog and if you searched for more...

Yesterday I discussed marketing yourself on an interview.  Well, today I got lucky.  I met with someone who did just that.  Not only did this person market themselves and their skills they added value to my day by directing me to a blog I didn't know about.  The Whats Next blog looks like it is right up my alley.  If you are interested in online marketing or social media this should be on your reading list or RSS feed. Are you adding value to your business or marketing programs? If not, find a way to add value.  People around you will take more...

The last few weeks we have been running free real estate seminars in different cities across the country.   To generate awareness and drive registrations we have been using print advertising in the local newspapers for each market we visit.  Throughout these weeks we have been discussing the effectiveness of the ads and whether or not they were 'old school' direct response enough for what we need the ads to do.  Part of the reason for these discussions is that Michael wants us to test different messages and harder hitting variations of the ads.  Nothing to disagree with here and great more...

A few years ago I read Good to Great.  The main point I took away from the book was that your success is dependent on the people on your team.  Well, we are trying to build out a great team and nurture the members on our existing team.  Do you think you have what it takes to work for Trump U (Apprentice audition not required) then check out our openings and tell us why you should be a member of the marketing team. In conducting interviews over the last few days I remembered that a job interview is basically marketing and branding.  more...

You are probably aware that Mr. Trump has two new books out, Trump University Wealth Building 101 and another b0ok titled Think Big and Kick Ass in Business and Life.  Here at TU we refer to the Think Big book written by Donald Trump and Bill Zanker as the 'other book'.  I find it interesting that their book which has been heavily promoted on TV, Print, PR, Online etc. is currently ranked lower then the Wealth Building 101 book on both Amazon and BN.com.  The interesting marketing lesson here is that because the Learning Annex book and the Trump University book more...

We launched the new Trump Book and we are off to a great start in driving sales.  The book is in the top 20 on Amazon (of course this will change by the hour), number two in business books and number one in personal finance.  We are making waves on the Barnes and Noble's site too.  Our publisher has even reported increased sales for some of our other titles.  I guess marketing works... This was a real team effort to make sure all our marketing was executed just right.  The effort included online banners, email marketing, public relations, blogging, paid search and more...

... needs to keep learning. Here is a quick tip I picked up last week which might help you as you work on optimizing your company's website: This past week Jack Spirko and I had a long talk about SEO and the value of an inbound link.  In case you didn't know this, all links are not created equal.  If you are working on ranking your site for specific keywords or terms try to create inbound links that use the keyword(s) in the anchor text (the words you click).  Other links to your site are helpful but they don't carry the same weight more...

For the last few weeks I have been working on the launch of a new Trump University Book.  Wealth Building 101 is hitting the stores next week and we are planning all sorts of activities to try to make this our best selling book yet.   We have a very aggressive sales goal  so if you or anyone you know has helped launch a new book drop me a line since we can still use some help getting the word out. If you want to help out you can order a book in advance - hey every order counts... more...

If you are interested in social media and the role it plays in marketing you might want to attend this conference and as an added bonus you get to see me on a panel if you attend... The "SOCIAL MEDIA SUMMIT: How To Use Blogging, Podcasting & The Latest Web 2.0 Technologies To Engage Your Employees, Reach Your Customers & Build Your Brand," October 22-25, 2007 in New York, NY This conference will focus on practical solutions you can apply immediately to help integrate social media technology into your communication and marketing programs to build customer and employee relationships and drive bottom-line results.  more...

You always hear people say the customer is always right, but how often do companies stand by this policy?  Stew Leonards gets it.  They even carved this message into a large rock in front of their stores to make sure it was clear to their customers and employees.  If you are responsible for marketing, sales or service you should take a good look at your service policy.  It has been my experience that more often then not, companies try to prove to their customers that they are right, even if it means loosing a customer. It happened to me today with more...

Michael Sexton, Cybelle and I were recently working on a new mission statement for TrumpU. We went back and forth a few times drafting the statement. When we thought we had a final product I sent it to a friend and marketing associate for some feedback. Jeff Simons pointed out that what we had created was plain vanilla and could have been used at any company. It didn't scream Trump. It feel flat and did not accomplish what we had hoped. Here is one of Jeff's comments everyone should think about when writing a mission statement: "Like so many mission statements, this more...

It is always great to see that people believe we have done something unique with Trump University.  Lena West did a guest post on the lipsticking blog and she gets what Trump University is all about.   Before you launch a new product, create a new campaign, build a new business etc. , ask yourself is this something that has been done before or has this never been done.  If you can answer never you are probably on to something interesting and noteworthy.  Don't let anyone convince you that you have to stick with what has 'always' worked.  If you do, then more...

Google recently announced they acquired Feedburner.  I have been watching Feedburner's growth for about two years and I am a big fan of their services.  We use them at Trump University (see the link on the right).  In addition to all the metrics and services they can provide they created a new medium for marketers.  If you read RSS feeds you might see an ad from time to time and in many cases you will see a little note that says powered by Feedburner.  If you are marketing your business or if you have a blog you might want to check out their services.  more...

If you are an expert then you should create a Squidoo page.  These are basically one page websites that showcase your business or skills. Take a look at our Squidoo page and let us know what you think.  We are donating all profits generated from this page to the Squidoo charity fund.  We could use some extra traffic, feedback and votes to make the page better which will eventually help some worthy causes.   If you are marketing a business, product or service then you are an expert in that area.  If you are an entrepreneur or real estate investor then you more...

Bob Bly recently did a survey about email marketing and he asked us to participate.  Bob was kind enough to quote us in his regular column in DMNews.   Enjoy a small view under the Trump University Marketing hood. more...