Category View (Word of Mouth Marketing)

This photo was sent to us by a friend of a TRUMPU employee in OR.  See the license plate. If I knew who this was I would send them a Trump U. hat to wear when they drove around... more...

  I finally put up my first You Tube video. Donald Trump recorded this video when we launched Trump University.  I have a lot of friends who upload all sort of videos to help grow their business and to get themselves some publicity.  I figured it was about time for me to get in on the action so I uploaded this video to see what happens.  We are going to upload a few more over the next few weeks to see if we can use video to market our business and generate sales. One of our videos will have the goal of getting more...

I know, I know, Hannah and Miley are the same person.... For those who don’t know this weekend has two major activities happening. The Super Bowl on Sunday and the beginning of a one week run of the Hannah Montana 3D movie. Maybe Disney holds the ‘magic’ behind the genius of Hannah Montana but whoever thought of the latest marketing has done an incredible job.    The movie is basically a recording of Hannah’s concert tour with some back stage coverage. The movie is only in theaters for one week and almost all theaters have sold out of tickets in advance. What is so great about the more...

 The word free is very powerful in marketing. Free samples and trials are effectively used to get people to try something new. The theory is that if you try something and like it you will buy more of that product or service.   The other day I was in the mall and passed by a store named Teavana.   They had some tea pots with free samples in their doorway. I stopped and tasted the different flavored teas because the smell and sounds coming out of the store were welcoming (and I was a little thirsty). The tea was great so I went in to discover what more...

A month or so ago I was talking about Whole Foods and their approach to customers.  I also mentioned some of the trouble their CEO got into with a blog posting he wrote.  Well I just read Andy Sernovitz's Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That! blog and he pointed out a WSJ article indicating that the board of Whole Foods modified their code of conduct to restrict executives from posting about the company, competitors, suppliers etc unless it is a company sponsored forum (to me this sounds like it is edited, reviewed and approved).  Andy makes a great point about using more...

Did you see my post a few months ago on the Trump Blog about Green Businesses?  Well if you did then you probably can tell I care about our environment.  Today we joined a social media movement that is trying to bring awareness to the issue across the internet.  If you have your own blog join us and hundreds of other bloggers who commit to writing one post October 15th about the environment and how it impacts their normal blog topic.  Join Blog Action Day! If you don't have your own blog well then just read all about it but ask yourself more...

Yesterday in the WSJ I noticed an ad for a Sprint world phone PDA.  Normally I just fly past cell phone ads and Sprint's ads are usually pretty boring to boot, but not today.  The headline read: 'The First $10.5M Cell Phone' Now that catches your attention. The body copy was equally engaging describing how if you buy the $10.5M cell phone they will throw in your own island.  I can't do the ad justice by describing it, so visit the integrated website (explore the site there is more than just the video). You will get a better picture of the campaign and more...

The other day someone referred to some of their clients as stupid.  I couldn't believe it .  Would you insult them in person I asked?  Do they pay your bills? Buy your product or service?  Would you do business with a company that called you stupid? I was (and still am) very frustrated with the experience for a few reasons.  Is this person calling me stupid behind my back?  More importantly as a marketer I work hard to generate leads and sales and if there is someone referring to my customers that way they are also belittling what I do for 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...