Scared of a Little Competition? True story: I never played sports as a kid because I despised competition. I wanted to be the star and dominate whatever I was doing. If I were to compete, I needed to win or I wasn’t even going to try out. My most powerful competitor throughout my career and […]

Traditional advertising doesn’t work “Print is dead” “Social media is the best form of advertising” “We get our customers through word of mouth” If you are thinking that any of the above statements are true, you are likely hurting your business. The reality is, marketing has certainly changed over the years and nothing we do

More Creating, Less Consuming Let me describe a scene to you, and I’m calling myself out on this one. It’s 5 a.m. My feet are propped up on the couch, where I’m drinking my (first cup of) coffee and scrolling through my phone. I read the news but then switch over to apps like TikTok,

Please click here to listen to the podcast. Have you tried posting to your social media accounts or dancing to the latest TikTok craze and it didn’t lead to more sales? It’s true that social media is a powerful way to reach your target audience. But if we think it is easy or quick, we

Why Should They Care? “Serving all your (fill in the blank) needs” This is not an effective marketing message and I wish it would frankly just go away. When you are initially trying to attract a potential customer, it is important to tell them what is in it for them and why they should care

Every time you swipe your card, you feel the pinch of inflation. Everything costs more, including doing business. It can be scary, downright terrifying running a business with economic hardships looming and consumers obsessing over inflation. It is tempting to begin cutting back and potentially cutting the very things that will help your business survive

When I started my marketing firm, I was coming off a rollercoaster corporate-type position where I was running on high gear 24/7. Much of my days were spent fighting proverbial fires, managing employee drama all while serving customer needs. I didn’t have much time to think about the goals of my organization and how we

How do you know whether all that marketing and advertising you’ve done is working? Use these strategies. Many businesses don’t really know if their advertising is working and become pessimistic about doing more. They’ve been burned. I get it. They are hesitant because they don’t know how to measure it, they don’t have the time

Please…don’t spend money on any marketing or advertising until you do this one thing. Marketing. Many business owners are overwhelmed by the thousands of tactics out there to promote our businesses. Social media, website, email, print, TV, and the list goes on. Still other businesses think marketing is easy. Just hang a sign out front,

By Dr. Jan Southern, J. DelSUR Marketing Group Have you noticed how quickly technology is moving these days? It seems like last week I was using a Blackberry device and browsing a bookstore when I needed to learn how to do something. Now, I just pull out my iPhone and the answer is at my