3 Marketing Mistakes You Don't Know You're Making

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What Abercrombie & Fitch Can Teach Us About Brand Positioning Strategy

 
Abercrombie and Fitch uses polarization to create a great brand positioning strategy.

Abercrombie and Fitch uses polarization to create a great brand positioning strategy. Here’s why they’re right, and what we can learn from it.

Abercrombie and Fitch, the popular tween fashion brand, was in the news recently for all the wrong reasons.

Critics began rehashing an old 2006 quote, where CEO Mike Jeffries told a Salon interviewer:

“That’s why we hire good-looking people in our stores. Because good-looking people attract other good-looking people, and we want to market to cool, good-looking people. We don’t market to anyone other than that.” …

“In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids. Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.”

He also said something to the effect of overweight people should not buy A&F clothes.

Predictably when this quote began to resurface, the blogosphere — complete with hack journalists and arm-chair critics — proceeded to flip a wig (pun intended).

People were furious, mad as hell, and not going to take it anymore. They demanded a formal apology. Change.org even started a petition that amassed over 68,000 signatures.

But here’s the thing…

The CEO was… absolutely right.

Here’s why.

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Why Your Strategic Marketing Plan Will Fail Without This One Thing

 
The simple element between success and failure for your strategic marketing plan.

Here is the simple, yet commonly overlooked element that ultimately dictates success or failure.

On May 25th 2012, SpaceX became the first private company in history to dock with the International Space Station.

Since then, it has successfully sent 5 rockets into orbit, become a multi-billion dollar company, and is profitable — which is unheard of for a start-up with such high capital costs.

But they don’t plan on stopping there.

The motivation behind SpaceX is to colonize Mars and make multi-planetary life a reality. (Yes, this is serious.)

That’s a bold vision. And co-founder and CEO Elon Musk already has enough on his plate.

He’s also the co-founder and CEO of another revolutionary company — Tesla Motors — which is paving the way for fast, beautiful, high performance electric cars.

Tesla recently released the Model S, which has won every major accolade possible, including the 2013 Motor Trend Car of the Year, the 2013 World Green Car of the Year, Automobile Magazine’s 2013 Car of the Year, and Time Magazine Best 25 Inventions of the Year 2012 award.

Not bad for someone who also created one of the most disruptive and technologically advanced internet companies — PayPal, which sold to eBay for $1.5 billion in 2002. (When a billion dollars actually meant something!)

But the most amazing aspect of this story, is that it almost never happened.

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What Jon Stewart & The Daily Show Can Teach You About Branding

 
Here are a some branding tips from John Stewart & The Daily Show.

Find out why John Stewart & The Daily Show are so successful and memorable.

Every company talks about a mission statement. But most are worthless and forgettable.

Every company talks about their branding and positioning. But few actually live it.

They may understand the theory behind it, and what good examples look like (i.e. Coca-Cola, Apple, etc.). But when it comes to executing on a daily basis, they fall short.

Mainly because it’s not easy. You must have a singular vision and purpose. Most organizations can’t get everyone on the same page.

But it’s incredibly important. Because if you don’t brand yourself, then people will do it for you — and you may not like what they come up with (i.e. Dell Hell). Or worse, they’ll completely forget you existed.

And here’s the thing…

It doesn’t have to be rocket science. There’s one easy way that always works. And it can help you carve out your own unique positioning so customers remember you.

Here’s the easiest way to stick out in customer’s minds, and build a brand that stands for something.

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3 Easy Ways to Find Out if Your Marketing is Working (Or if You’re Wasting Your Time)

 
Here are a few business performance metrics to find out if your marketing is working.

Use these business performance metrics to find out if your marketing is working.

Months before showing up on a major stage or television event, comedian Chris Rock will turn up at tiny comedy clubs to test out hundreds, even thousands of jokes.

Instead of “performing”, he’ll just pull up a stool and go through a huge list of possible joke variations or ideas. Many flop and fail. The audience might become annoyed or irritated. And some leave.

But that’s not important.

Chris is looking for clues and insight. He’s looking for those few gems. Like a person’s body language or chuckle that let him know he may be on to something. He’ll continue to rework these jokes until he has 9 or 10 to create a show around.

Then he hits the big stage.

Rock’s approach is unconventional. But you can’t argue with his success — as the once high school dropout is among the most successful (and highest paid) comedians of all time.

And interestingly, it’s the same way a major animation studio prepares for it’s next big blockbuster.

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Why You Should Steal Content Marketing Ideas to Build Your Business

 
Find out how to steal content marketing ideas from popular movies and TV shows.

Palm Springs, CA

Palm Springs is a desert resort town located 111 miles east of Los Angeles.

It grew to fame as Hollywood’s elite flocked in the mid 1900s, and has been a popular tourist destination ever since — pulling in a million and half visitors each year.

And I’ve been vacationing there for as long as I can remember.

My parents used to take our family all the time, and it was common to have timeshares or extended stays. My wife and I have continued to go there frequently over the 8 years we’ve been together.

In Downtown Palm Springs, right on Palm Canyon Drive, there used to be a small, independent bookstore called Latino Books Y Mas.

Each trip we would try to stop in at least once, to get a new book to read by the pool. It was owned by a friendly husband-and-wife team, who would always be there to help or make recommendations. He was a retired school teacher, who started the bookstore as a way to stay busy during their retirement.

However on a recent visit, we walked over to the bookstore and discovered it was sealed shut with locks. Not only that, but there was an eviction notice on the door.

I felt really bad. These were nice people and the shop seemed to do reasonably well with a good location. So I jumped on Google and tried to see if there were any stories or updates about what happened.

And I was quickly surprised.

Turns out, it wasn’t money problems after all. They were being kicked out. But it’s because the landlord is planning on a $100 million redevelopment project. So they terminated their lease 2½ years early with only 30 days notice.

And I read all about this in the Los Angeles Times.

Wait a second… doesn’t that seem odd?

Real estate problems and lease issues like this happen everyday.

Why would the Los Angeles Times be covering this story — when it’s located 111 miles outside of Los Angeles and not even in the same county?

Why is this little story getting all this time and attention?

And why is it so important that I’m bringing it up again?

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