What kind of marketing is the most effective?

sneezr.ca Have you ever asked yourself that question? I did. In fact, many years ago I spent countless hours trying to figure it out.
The answer turned out to be quite simple: word of mouth marketing. Or as I call it: the art of cultivating recommendations.

Surprised? Probably not. With recommendations, there is no sales pressure and no credibility issues. When your friends, family members or trusted co-workers recommend something or someone to you, they are genuinely trying to help you. That means a lot, which is why you usually remember it for a long time. But here is the catch: recommendations must be earned. How do you do that? Where do you start? How do you give people a reason to talk about your products/services? How do you nudge your story into every day conversations? I launched sneezr.ca to help you answer those questions.

This just in: the future is inventible!

“When the book is finally written on how Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) found itself in this mess, it will be a story of miscalculation and continue reading

Can a great offer be summed up into a single sentence?

Shortly after I published the post titled When do you add marketing?, I received an email from a reader in continue reading

When do you add marketing?

Explaining why a product or service doesn’t get any (or very little) traction in the market place in a straightforward fashion is not easy. Nonetheless, marketing often heads the list of the usual suspects which are supposed to explain why a product/service failed in the marketplace: “Come to think of it, our marketing was kinda flat yada, yada, yada…”

This is sad.
Especially considering that often “a pinch of marketing” is the last ingredient added to the dish, right? And even then very sparingly—just a pinch.

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When does a job feel meaningful?

You.
You’re interested in fulfilment and suggestions about how to lead a better life, right? If that’s the case, continue reading

What’s the best asset a person could have?

When asked what is the best asset a person could have, Albert Lasker, the famous advertising genius, replied: “Humility in the presence of a good idea.”

My 2¢: continue reading

You are not alone out there

You.
I often provide one-off advice or referrals to people just like you without the expectation of receiving something in return. Why? Because helping people is its own reward.

For continue reading

What can Proctor and Gamble teach us about business

This is long so feel free to skip it.

Proctor and Gamble had a problem: it needed a new floor cleaner.
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What can IKEA teach us about marketing

The famous Swedish furniture manufacturer IKEA has just come up with yet another nifty marketing innovation. The company calls continue reading

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Got any sawdust for sale?

“When you make something, you always make something else.
You can’t make just one thing. Everything has a by-product.
Observant continue reading

Shoes are optional in the digital world, right?

Just wanted to give you all a heads up: I’ll be having an interview in the near future with best-selling author  continue reading