Marketing is the practice of allocating resources to gain awareness and consideration from future customers for purchase of a product or service. Marketing is about creating customers. A brand is a relationship, formed and shaped by all the emotions and ideas that the customer associates with...

Not All Cults Are Created Equal For some people, the word “Cult” is enough to make the hair on the back of their neck stand up. Thoughts of Jim Jones and David Koresh spring easily to mind. These renowned cult leaders certainly had their followers, but...

An exclusive focus on the short-term bottom line is the hallmark of brands that will never be great. We call this the merchant mindset. As long as your operation is too tightly focused on generating the next transaction, from the perspective of building brand loyalty, you’re...

Cult Brands have mastered the art of building meaningful, long-term relationships with their customers. Cult Brands exist in every industry. The list of Cult Brands includes companies that have absolutely nothing to do with computers or smartphones: Harley-Davidson is a Cult Brand. They make motorcycles. ...

Many independent retailers worry about big competitors who have significantly larger marketing budgets. Unfortunately, these fears are well-founded. Studies show people purchase a higher percentage of their merchandise from big box retailers. Despite the emergence of these mega businesses, however, many small retailers continue to...

As a student of sleight-of-hand magic, I value the number 52. A full deck. Infinite combinations. The same cards, but endless outcomes depending on the hands that hold them. Marketing works like that. Here we bring you 52 types of marketing strategies and tactics you can use...

It’s all too easy for retail marketers to focus exclusively on generating the next transaction. But savvy marketers understand that there’s a more powerful way of growing market share and competing effectively in the retail jungle: build brand loyalty. Building brand loyalty doesn’t happen by accident....

Definition of ‘Word of Mouth’ 1: the passing of information from person to person by oral communication 2: an important area of marketing is called word-of-mouth marketing, which relies on the added credibility of person-to-person communication, a personal recommendation. 3: storytelling is a common form of word-of-mouth communication...