How to get your products into large retail store chains

If you have invented a product that would be perfect for mass retail, a good friend of mine, Bill Feaster, can help you get your product into national retail chains like CVS, Target, Wal-Mart, etc. For more information, visit Sellion.com.

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group, Inc.
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate"
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
Fax: (920) 491-9090

Microsoft's Bing.com Commercials

Over the past few weeks I have seen many TV commercials for the new Bing.com search engine. I must say these commercials are doing nothing to excite me into wanting to use bing.com instead of google.

The bing commercials talk about information "search overload" and suggests we are not finding the information we really want when we use a search engine, and we are instead being offered too much information. True.

However, the big problem I see with the bing commercials is they do not not show how bing solves the too much information problem. Maybe they are hoping the element of curiosity will make us want to try bing to see how it is better. Rather expensive gamble.

A better campaign would be to show people doing different searches and being thrilled with the information they find - exactly the information they were looking for. That would get my interest. Show me the benefit. Prove Bing is a better search engine. Show me why I cannot live without bing!

Another statement that was made in the bing commercial is that it's not just a search engine, it's a decision engine. What the heck is a decision engine? Is it going to make decisions for me? Not sure if I want that. What if it makes wrong decisions?

Once again, I hope you see the mistakes large companies are making in their advertising. Too much focus on being cool and branding and not enough focus on proving benefits and showing why you cannot live without their product.

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group, Inc.
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate"
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
Fax: (920) 491-9090

Get rid of duplicate content on your website ASAP

I just learned the hard way that having pages with similar content can get you removed from search results. I kept wondering why I could not get indexed by Yahoo so I finally contacted them and asked what was they problem. They responded saying it appears I have duplicate content so my website was completely removed from Yahoo's search results. I just spent the morning going through every page on the website to make sure no content was overlapping with other pages and asked Yahoo if my site is acceptable to them now. I'm keeping my fingers crossed as I do not know what more I can do. Every single page is completely original content now.

So, the moral of this story is, if you have a website, make sure you do not have any duplicate content with other pages on your website or you may find your website removed from all search engine search results by Yahoo, Google, and MSN (now "Bing").

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group, Inc.
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate"
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
Fax: (920) 491-9090

Marketing for law firms

I just added a brief outline for media marketing for personal injury and medical malpractice attorneys. You can read it at:

http://www.geisheker.com/marketing-for-law-firms.htm

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group, Inc.
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate"
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
Fax: (920) 491-9090

How to create catchy slogans

Every business should have a great slogan. Sadly, most slogans are awful and completely meaningless. I would say that maybe 5-10% of slogans are good. The rest are total garbage. If you want to create great catchy slogans, I have created a simple formula that I use to create slogans for my clients.

First of all, a great slogan should in 3-10 words explain the number one most valuable benefit of doing business with your company, and you should try to have your benefit be unique instead of saying exactly the same thing your competition says.

So here is my formula: My business promises you: "your companies #1 most valuable benefit in the eyes of your customers".

If that is as clear as mud, here are some examples:

My business promises you: "Widgets that last 20 years, guaranteed or free replacement".

My business promises you: "Shipping packaging so safe we'll double the cost of your item if it breaks".

My business promises you: "The home of the unbelievable 101 ice cream flavors".

See a pattern here? To make a great catchy slogan, use your #1 most valuable and unique benefit as your slogan. And remember to focus on the benefit that is most valuable to your customers--not what you assume or guess it is. If you do not know what your #1 benefit is in the eyes of your customers, ask them and they will tell you.

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group, Inc.
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate"
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
Fax: (920) 491-9090

Volkswagen Commercial and facebook

I just saw a Volkswagen commercial where instead of showing their website URL, they showed their Facebook URL - facebook.com/vw.

I find it interesting that they chose to send people to their Facebook page instead of to their corporate website. I guess they are giving social networking a try although not doing the best job of it.

This was a fairly good commercial because it was focusing on a major benefit - free scheduled maintenance on all 2009 models. Very smart marketing.

But here is where they fell short. They should have given people a reason to go to the VW corporate website to get more information on the free maintenance program, to see virtual tours of the cars, to enter a contest to win a 2009 VW, etc. If you are going to spend all of that money on TV advertising, at least excite your potential customers into taking action so you can get their contact info (sign up for an email newsletter) to do more personal direct response marketing to them via email and direct mail.

In regard to them social networking on facebook, instead of just showing the URL for a very brief second, they should have told viewers to come and be their friend on facebook and enter a contest to win a 2009 VW. Give people a reason to do something and to interact with your company. By just showing their URL, they missed out on so many great opportunities to create relationships with people who viewed their TV commercial.

Large companies must do a far better job of using direct response marketing tactics to excite prospects into taking action so the company can get their contact information in order to do one-on-one personal marketing via email and snail mail.

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group, Inc.
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate"
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
Fax: (920) 491-9090

guerilla marketing definition

Business owners always ask me about the definition of guerilla marketing and what the heck is it.

First of all, Guerrilla Marketing is a term coined by the brilliant marketing strategist Jay Conrad Levinson. Jay has written many books on Guerrilla marketing that you can purchase at bookstores and online. I have read most of Jay's books and they are outstanding. If you want to improve the results you get from marketing, reading Jay's books is mandatory.

Okay, so what is Guerrilla Marketing? I consider it to be using intelligent direct response advertising. Instead of throwing zillions of dollars at broad ad campaigns like many large companies do, Guerrilla marketing is smart laser focused niche marketing using direct response tactics to increase sales and the return in investment you get from the money you invest in marketing your business.

To learn more about Guerrilla Marketing, I recommend you visit Jay Conrad Levinson's website at http://www.gmarketing.com/

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group, Inc.
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate"
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
Fax: (920) 491-9090

Free Marketing Plan Ebook

Hello Everyone,

I have updated my free marketing plan ebook titled "How to Write a Marketing Plan & 100+ Marketing Strategies to Successfully Market Your Business."

Download it for free at http://geisheker.com/marketingplan.pdf

You can also give it to friends and colleagues. Just do not sell it.

Click here to Tweet this article.

To your business success!

Peter Geisheker, CEO
The Geisheker Group, Inc.
"We don't help you compete, we help you dominate"
http://www.geisheker.com
(920) 471-1638
Fax: (920) 491-9090

Good joke by Warren Buffet

I was just reading FORTUNE magazine and read a good joke by Warren Buffett about climate change (page 22 of FORTUNE June 22, 2009 issue).

Warren is talking to Bill Gates about global warming and the fact the we all end up six feet under. "Given that I'm 78, I'm likely to be subject to climate change soon--I hope not too soon."

Click here to tweet this joke

An investment opp and a new way to help non profit organizations

If you are seeking an investment opportunity and a way to help non profit orgs, check out http://www.communityfundingpartners.com/

Peter