By Norton E. Warner

A practical, dynamic, creative entrepreneurial vision is rare. Vision begets innovation and is a prerequisite to leadership. If you have a precise vision for your business, it can be your greatest competitive advantage.

Your competitors who have no vision will find themselves chasing yours. Running after your vision, your imagination, your innovations and your leadership, they will forever be in your dust, months, maybe years, behind you. They may imitate what they see as your success strategy, not because it is right for them, but because they're trying to catch and then overtake you. However, no one can copy your heartfelt commitment to serve your customers.

No one can occupy your mind, duplicate your thinking processes or experience your desire to win. No competitor can usurp your goal of customer satisfaction. Your competitor cannot be you. You are the competitive advantage. Only from your vision as the leader of your enterprise can a winning strategy emerge.

Author and corporate consultant Peter Drucker claims that business, "because its purpose is to create customers," has only two functions: "marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results. All the rest are costs."

The first function, marketing, was the subject of Chapter II, "The Battlefield" from my book, David Can Still Beat Goliath. The second, innovation, is the key to your strategy. Be innovative in ways that set you apart from your competition. Use innovation to establish a proprietary enterprise. If yours is perceived as a commodity enterprise, you could be fighting Goliath with an empty slingshot.

To create a winning strategy, you must learn everything you can about your competition, your own enterprise, and your most profitable customer. In marketing and advertising, the proper analysis of this knowledge is a source of power.

Norton is the author and creator of Marketing Firepower. Five decades helping businesses develop strategies, create campaigns, identify and target the most profitable customer and proper budgeting advice have all contributed to the Marketing Firepower information. Norton created Marketing Firepower to make his experience and success strategies available to businesses around the world.

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Tags: entrepreneur, marketing, advertising, small business

You’ve heard of the 80-20 rule, right? Ask a business owner what the 80-20 rule is and he or she will tell you 80% of the sales come from 20% of the customers. The opposite side of that equation is also true, 80% of your customers account for only 20% of your sales.
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Tags: statistics, 80-20 Rule, marketing, advertising, small business

Longtime professor of advertising at Harvard University, Neil H. Borden, defined advertising as, “the chief means by which businesses communicate with the customers about their products or services to bring about an exchange.”

Professor Borden did not define advertising as “building store traffic” or “selling” merchandise or services. The keyword in the definition is “communicate.” “The chief means by which businesses communicate with customers about their products or services to bring about an exchange.” Read More...

Tags: advertising, marketing, small business, sales

By Norton E. Warner

If a prospective customer enters your business and is greeted like royalty and made to feel important, and if she leaves having been treated as she feels she deserves, you are on your way to creating a lifelong customer and a positive center of influence. Clearly, the advertising that brought her to you was an investment.

If, on the other hand, she was attracted by your advertising but is met with... Read More...

Tags: marketing, advertising, small business, investment, expense

Have you ever seen or heard advertisements that proudly proclaim they are the “best kept secret?" Not something that should be a source of pride. The same can be said for businesses who don’t want to “toot their own horn."

Is there a reason consumers should spend money with your business? Read More...

Tags: advertising, marketing, small business

If you knew how little others thought about you…you wouldn’t worry so much about what others think about you.

Related to our daily lives, the title is a good lesson in life. However, in relationship to your small business it should read…”If you knew how little others thought about you…you should worry.”
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Tags: perception, advertising, marketing, small business

Why is it most business owners do all the wrong things when tough times hit? It’s almost like they have a death wish.

Think about it. What’s the one thing you must have enough of…plenty of…even more of during a recession? I’m not talking about money. I’m not talking about time. Read More...

Tags: advertising, marketing, small business, mistakes, recession

A friend of mine passes along inspirational thoughts to me each day. What he sent today jumped right off of the page and has stayed with me all day. I want to share it with you... Read More...

Tags: football, recession, small business, marketing, advertising

That magnificent 6-inch orb that rests on top of our shoulders is really an amazing contraption. It has the capability of understanding, analyzing, predicting, and improving the most complex, abstract, and intricate of concepts. Read More...

Tags: small business, marketing, advertising

By Jeff Dostal

Many advertisers have been asking us if they should spend less money on their advertising with the recession in full bloom. What do you think? Let me offer an analogy for you. Read More...

Tags: small business, marketing, advertising, investment

It’s absolutely amazing how business owners tend to blame poor sales figures on the back of advertising.

“Weekend traffic was down…must be the advertising.”

“Pretty good traffic this weekend but no sales…must be the advertising.”

“We seem to be getting more and more grumpy customers…we must be talking to the wrong people with our advertising.”

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Tags: advertising, marketing, small business

How many times do we say this when looking at a problem we believe has a complex solution and when a simple one is presented…”Well, that makes sense!” Your advertising is one of those problems that many feel needs to have a complex solution. You have the answers to effectively communicate your story. You just need to understand how simple the process is. Read More...

Tags: advertising, marketing, small business

Have you ever made a decision that turned out to be a bad decision? Maybe it cost you a lot of money. Perhaps it cost you a friendship or your marriage. We all make decisions, even very important life-altering decisions, based on information we have gathered or our personally held attitudes and beliefs. Read More...

Tags: decisions, direction, mistakes, small business, marketing, advertising

Never rely on the memory of your customer for the success of your business. I could and probably should stop right there because that says it all. But I won’t. Let’s explore this thought. My experience with too many businesses is that once they make contact with a consumer or once they get that customer in the door or on the phone, they feel they can move on to the next one. STOP! You can’t leave them hanging there, blowing in the wind of the unknown. Read More...

Tags: customer, marketing, memory, small business

If you are reading this blog entry, there is a good chance you own a small business and you make decisions about how you will advertise your business. Chances are good you are bombarded on a daily basis with one or more media sales people wanting to “show you the way”.

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Tags: advertising, marketing, small business, trust

Entrepreneurship has been defined as “the art of finding profitable solutions to problems.” It’s the successful entrepreneur who studies a problem…researches possible solutions…implements change…and stays the course while the solution is given proper time to work.

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Tags: advertising, marketing, small business, success, problems

Over the past 30-plus years of working closely with small businesses of all sizes, from “Mom-and-Pops” (some were so small they were just “Pops”) to businesses with several locations, one of the proclamations I fielded with great frequency was, “Word-of-mouth is the best form of advertising.” Read More...

Tags: advertising, marketing, small business, word of mouth

The other day I went to a website of a company I was interested in doing business with to get some contact information. I “Googled” the name of the company and found their site. I was instantly disappointed. Read More...

Tags: website, small business

As we head into the New Year I wanted to share a thought on an article I read. A gentleman named Keith Cameron Smith is writing something called The Top 10 Distinctions between Entrepreneurs and Employees. Read More...

Tags: time, small business, entrepreneur, time management

Every employee…every manager….and, most likely, every business owner gets extremely frustrated with customers from time to time. You know the kind. There’s the customer who asks for a “little extra.” The customer who can’t make the buying decision as quickly as you would like when you’re busy. The customer you spend hours with only to see them actually buy from your competitor. What a great business this would be if it weren’t for the customers. Read More...

Tags: small business, marketing, service, customer service

Let’s face it. It can be lonely at the top. You have to make decisions daily that impact your employees, your company and ultimately you! At times you most likely feel the weight of the world and you aren’t sure where to turn next. Read More...

Tags: small business, board of directors, direction, guidance

A friend of mine was telling me about a new diet he started a few weeks back. He was pretty excited that he had lost a few pounds already and that he “didn’t have to do anything to lose the weight”. The magical pills worked overnight melting his extra pounds away. Read More...

Tags: advertising, recession, small business, marketing

Ask almost any small business owner what the best form of advertising is, and you’re likely to hear, “Word of mouth.” “It’s the cheapest form of advertising” they’ll say, “And the most effective.” And they’re right. Sort of. Read More...

Tags: word of mouth, advertising, small business, marketing

I’m blessed with four kids, ages 13 to 5. When they ask a question or complain about a request made of them, they get to participate in the “You always have a choice” conversation. The oldest knows it pretty well. The nine year old just rolls his eyes when he sees it coming. Read More...

Tags: recession, advertising, small business, marketing