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Blog Archive


The Power of Negative Thinking

Show ’em the down side — and sell more WE DON’T LIKE CHANGE Most humans avoid change. We only change when we must. When we do change, we change as little as possible.For example, let’s say you love pizza and wings. But every pair of pants you own is so …

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Which Dog Catches the Rabbit?

FOCUS can be your most effective marketing tool Former head coach Sam Rutigliano was asked why his Kardiac Kids were one of the most successful Browns teams ever — even though they didn’t have the most skilled players. I heard him tell this story at the Valley Impact Awards. BLUE …

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Zen and the Art of Lawn Maintenance

TO FIND ANSWERS, SEEK ACTION In the past few weeks, we’ve worked on some challenging projects at Farris — helping people make tough decisions and get their messages out.An Austintown healthcare pioneer retired from a business he had built and loved. In doing so, six beloved employees had to be …

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Can a Community Create a New Brand?

BOARDMAN RESIDENTS AND BUSINESSES ARE GOING TO TRY“A Nice Place to Call Home” proclaim the signs entering Boardman Township. “A traffic nightmare,” proclaim some holiday shoppers. “You must have a location there,” say most retailers. “The Valley’s new center of healthcare,” say medical experts. So which is it? What captures …

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Marketing During the Meltdown

It’s quiet. Chilly. And still kind of dark. Most of the Valley is still asleep. But I’m at Mill Creek Park sipping the last of my wonderful hot coffee and getting ready to run one of the trails around the lake. I know the next 10 or 12 hours will …

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Accelerate Your Business with Ultimate eMarketing

YOU NEED SOMETHING NEW Let’s face it, we all do. You have the same website for years and even if you update it, so what? If you want people coming back and buying pro-ducts or services from you, you have to give them a reason to come back. You also …

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Partnership Marketing Minimizes Risk, Maximizes Reward

MARKETING TO SIMILAR MARKETS? Go to a home and garden show, and you’ll see landscaping firms right next to window replacement companies. Go to a church festival and you’ll see sausage sandwich trailers next to ice cream trailers. Go to the mall and…well, you get the idea. These are examples …

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Should You “Go Green” With Your Marketing?

Green, like hope, is not a good marketing strategy (yet).Joe Bananas and I were staying at a hotel near Chicago. We’d just come back from a golf outing reunion with our high school football team. Neither of us golf, so we played demolition derby with the golf carts while our …

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How to Sell Snowballs to Eskimos

It was 1985. My sales territory was the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta in western Alaska, along the Kuskokwim River. The Yupik people — commonly referred to as Eskimos — were my prospects. For centuries, they had built igloos with square blocks of ice, formed with crude wooden boxes. I was selling a …

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100 Million Idol Votes = 1 Marketing Champion

American Idol uses the proven strategy of getting customers.Me and Joe Bananas were sitting in a booth at the MVR restaurant, eating some stuffed hot peppers and waiting for our pasta dinners. The TVs on the walls usually carry sports only, but this night, American Idol was on about half …

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Marketing: What Works for You

OUR CUSTOMERS ARE DIFFERENT “They don’t respond to the same things other people do,” said my new client Henry. Henry’s firm sells maintenance services to malls and industrial plants. “How are they different?” I asked. “They’re a different breed,” he replied, as if mall managers were misunderstood loners. To be …

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The Best Media for Your Message: You

I was in the office on a cold February afternoon. My mind was mush. That’s worse than the oatmeal consistency it usually has. I needed inspiration and motivation. So as usual, I made popcorn. No, not that microwave bag crap. REAL popcorn, MAN-style popcorn with oil and salt (but no …

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Marketing for Non-Profit Organizations

…and what can businesses learn from them.Marketing is the art and science of selling. So why does a non-profit organization need marketing? After all, in many cases a non-profit is giving away its services, not charging for them.Non-profits use marketing to:…INFORM THE USER of their services. Many times the target …

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Letter to a First-Time Business Owner

FOREWORD: Recently, my eldest son, George Phillip Farris went into business for himself. George and his new bride Jennifer returned from their honeymoon and used their wedding gift funds to buy a used septic tank truck and start an environmentally-friendly portable bathroom business. I’m sure that my wife and Jennifer’s …

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If Trump Blogs, You Can Blog

Yes, the Donald Blogs. So how hard can it be? One of my guilty pleasures is watching Celebrity Apprentice. During the first show this season, Trump’s blog (aka web log) was promoted. One entry was titled “Trump’s Economic Survival Tips.” Some of The Donald’s “valuable” tips: Pay attention to…news and …

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THE CUSTOMER DOESN’T "UNDERSTAND"

Business owners and sales managers often use one or more of the following phrases to explain poor sales:“They customers don’t understand what we offer.”” They don’t get it.”” They don’t see how much we can help them.”I ask the owners and sales managers: “Do you truly offer a distinct VALUE …

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POSTIONING FOR DOLLARS

THE CARPENTER GETS PAIDI know a homeowner that had a persistent squeak in a floorboard. No matter what he tried — glue, nails — nothing worked. After months of aggravation, he called a carpenter who friends said was a true craftsman. The craftsman walked into the room and heard the squeak. …

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ACCOMPLISH WHAT SEEMED IMPOSSIBLE

ONE GIANT STEPMany thought putting a man on the moon was impossible. But nearly 40 years ago, on July 16, 1969, we did it. “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” are words we all remember.Today, we’re facing a global economic crisis, and many businesses think that …

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Satire: The Instant Cure for Our Sick Economy

AND ITS A MARKETER’S DREAM COME TRUEI have the cure for this sick, sick economy. And it’s surprisingly simple. This solution will have our economy so strong that in 30 days, every U.S. citizen who wants a job will have one. Demand for consumer goods will be off the charts. …

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