I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard someone in our industry dismiss marketing as “fluff.” You know the tone — a little smirk, a little condescension, and the implication that “real companies” don’t need marketing. They say: “We make a great product. Our work speaks for itself.” No, it doesn’t. Not anymore. […]

Let’s talk about pricing — not the math, not the spreadsheets, not the cost-plus formula your finance guy loves — but the real game: perception. Because in the world of printed circuit boards, just like in every other business, customers don’t buy the cheapest. They buy what they can justify. That’s right — nobody brags […]

Here’s a hard truth most companies don’t want to hear: your brand isn’t struggling because of your pricing, your website, or your competitors. It’s struggling because it’s boring. You’ve blended into the beige background of your industry so perfectly that no one even notices you anymore. You’re safe. You’re polite. You’re professional. And you’re invisible. […]

And why you need to get to know him if you are serious about modern marketing techniques. When I was in the Iconnect booth at IPC APEX EXPO 24 a few weeks back I was tremendously pleased to see a photo of my marketing hero Seth Godin flashing on their large screens. To me that […]

Let’s have some fun! We’ve been pretty serious lately, delving into ways to be better and make our companies better and our customers love us. It’s time to loosen that proverbial tie (when is the last time you saw someone wear one of those?) and talk about some fun marketing stuff. I did my homework […]

For a great long-term synergistic relationship – actually partnership – with your customers, it is much better to sell the company than just the product. Selling your company’s culture, getting your customers in love with doing business with you, is the very best way to develop relationships. We have all heard about companies that have […]

Please, please do not believe that website “experts” can tell your story…they cannot. Yes they know how to put web sites together, they know all about sitemaps and what you should have first and second and if they are very good they can develop and design very good, very comprehensive web sites that are easy […]

A famous (and telling) story: a number of years ago in the deep past when the fast food giants were having the great burger war and wanting to prove that size matters, both Burger King and McDonald’s were bragging about who had the biggest hamburger with a quarter pound of beef. Mc-D had the famous […]

I have to laugh when one of my customers says that his marketing doesn’t work. Does this sound familiar? “I placed an ad in 007 for three months and got nothing”, not even a phone call. Or this, “Yeah, yeah we did a newsletter once and I did not get a single order.” Or my […]

Do you know exactly what you do? Do you know exactly what your capabilities are? Most importantly do you have a good handle on what you cannot do? This is key to your success. You have to be real, and you have to be authentic. You cannot sell what you cannot do. Sounds pretty simple […]