“The task of marketing is a never-ending exercise in reduction,” said Terry O’Reilly, the author of a new marketing book titled This I Know: Marketing Lessons from Under the Influence. From my 4 years of running a marketing company and working with over 50 clients, I can say that this is the truth. When it comes to a business, it’s about communicating the core of a business in one simple sentence. When it comes to the company’s advertising, it’s about simplifying the message or idea down to its essence.

I just finished reading High-Hanging Fruit, the story of how Mark Rampolla started ZICO Cocunut Water and turned it into a multi-million dollar company and eventually sold it to Coca-Cola. The story that fascinated me was how Mark and his wife went through a process of reflecting about and clarifying their calling before coming up with this business idea, and that proved to be foundational in their tumultuous 10-year journey to making millions of dollars. 

Our team is currently working with a private school on redesigning their website. “Is your website’s home page primarily for potential parents and students, or is it for current parents and students?” I asked them. This is an important question that every business should answer before designing or redesigning their website. The school’s website will be used by both potential families and current families of the school, but who is the primary audience?

Every business has the challenge of standing out from their competitors. For your customers to enjoy the benefits of your product, they need to know about it. For them to know about it, you need to get their attention. To get their attention, you need to stand out.

My daughter started kindergarten a few months ago, and I usually take her to school in the morning. Most mornings we make it school just in time. I feel like I have to constantly keep my daughter focused and moving in the morning so we can make it. I started saying, “Put your hurry pants on,” which seems to work in getting my daughter to go faster. But upon reflection, I decided I didn’t want my daughter to hurry, but I did want her to move quickly. There’s a difference, but it’s a fine line between the two. My approach to my work is the same: I want to work quickly but I do not want to hurry.

Many businesses are aware of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) as a marketing strategy. I regularly get asked about SEO: how much it costs and whether it will work. Yes, SEO works. But overall, it is becoming less effective of a strategy. Here are 3 reasons why. (Note: in this blog post I focus on Google because it is by far the most used search engine, but there are other search engines out there).

I have a fascination with millionaires. Part of it is probably learned from our culture’s interest of rich people. Part of it is a curiosity of what it would be like to have more money than I needed. Part of it is realizing how difficult it is to succeed at business. So when I get a chance to interact with millionaires, I pay special attention. Here’s the story of what I learned about gratitude from one rich person, who I will call Mark.

As you might know, I’m a big fan of Facebook. It’s the social media platform I use the most and am the most comfortable with. One of the features Facebook has been quietly developing is their search function. I’m starting to use it more and it’s shown me helpful results. In some cases, it is more useful than Google’s search engine.

There’s a new car washing business that will be opening up soon across the street. In front of the building is a big sign that says $7.62 + GST Car Wash – 4 minutes or less. Except that the “$7” is very very large and the “.62+GST” is very very small. Is this marketing manipulative?