Have you ever taken a “staycation?” It is when you take a vacation, but then just stay home. The worst part of a staycation is daytime television and the worst part about daytime television is the commercials. To me, these advertisements represent a part of what I call a de-evolution in marketing. A de-evolution and proliferation towards mindless and meaningless marketing.

Let me caveat that all not all advertising is mindless or meaningless. Let me caveat again that these principles are not my ideas, but the centerpieces of the marketing masterpiece, Meaningful Marketing by Doug Hall and Jeffery Stamp.

What is mindless marketing?

Mindless marketing uses gimmicks, tricks, novelty, and deception to cast a spell on the prospective costumer in order to get that prospect to buy based on a false sense of need, emotion, or pressure. Mindless marketing are tactics used by producers that do not have faith in the benefit of their own product. This type of marketing has short-term gains but long-term depreciation. Continue reading →

6K9PP788PZ2K

November 22, 2009, SALT LAKE CITY — Badlands Golf Club in Las Vegas, Nevada has engaged Serfwerks to overhaul their marketing collateral. The overhaul will involve the creation of all new marketing collateral at all customer points of contact, from the web site to menus used in the clubhouse’s gille. Continue reading →

November 19, 2009, SALT LAKE CITY –  Par 3 Landscape and Maintenance has selected Serfwerks for its corporate branding campaign. The branding initiative will involve the creation of marketing collateral for all customer touch points including a new website.

Serfwerks co-founder, Nate Gibby said, “We are happy to be on board with Par 3. They are one of the premier landscape and maintenance companies in the western United States. ” Continue reading →

Now that we have made the distinction between branding and positioning abundantly clear – what are the best branded and positioned American companies in our opinion?

Keep in mind that magazines like Fortune, Business Week, and Forbes have scads of lists that tell you how good or successful businesses are at all kinds of things. This list is different in that it comes from the collective experience and perspective of marketing people. Who better to dissect a brand or position?

We chose companies that stand for something. Not the kind of stand for something that means they donate lots of money to charity (though several of these companies do a good job at that). We are talking about standing for something in the minds of their customers and prospects.

These businesses are worth looking at if you are looking for case studies about proper branding and positioning strategy.

Here is our 2009 List: Continue reading →

Do you know the difference between the branding and positioning? Perhaps you use them interchangeably. Perhaps you use them instead of the word marketing. Let me posit that the two words mean different things.

First of all, why does it seem like I care so much about semantics? It seems like I care because I do care. For this reason: where there is a lack of common language progress cannot be achieved. Continue reading →

Choosing an appropriate design, marketing or ad agency is important – more important than what drapes to hang in your living room and more important than many things that might keep you from putting in the proper amount of research and thought.

These days price is definitely a factor, however, the adage “you get what you pay for” most times applies. The standard has been to find an agency that either touts itself, has big clients, or has been given some fancy award – but there are some small boutique gems who really know their stuff. They offer big agency services and expertise at boutique shop rates. The point here is that picking an agency should be about picking the best agency for you, not just the best, biggest, or most decorated agency. Continue reading →

Social Networking has become quite the thing, and it has happened quickly. I can still recall that when I was in college Facebook was just starting to become popular, it now has over 300 million members. Every eight days Facebook grows a Twitter worth of people (about 10M people).

Why does social networking matter for you, the business person? These things are for kids, right? Sort of.  Some social networking sites are for “kids,” but others work like extensions of your “in-person” business network. Is networking important to your business? If it isn’t, it should be. Social media is a way for you to take your business network to the next level by providing you with millions of prospective customers to engage while developing your value perception.

Many social networking sites are for connecting friends and family, like Facebook, but there are several sites set up to help you network with worldwide and local business communities. These are sites that encourage business networking, so you need not be afraid of promoting yourself and making connections for business sake. Continue reading →

Data are the solution.

As good as creativity is, and believe me it is good, there is an easy solution for keeping it in check. The solution is appropriate data, both competitive and consumer or constituent, to drive the creative process. Michael Behe said, “The conclusion of design flows naturally from the data; we should not shrink from it; we should embrace it and build on it.” Data are the first step toward making marketing accountable as well as making it perform significantly better. Continue reading →

Serfwerks co-founder, Nate Gibby, has been invited to present to Westminster College’s Institute for New Enterprise on November 11, 2009. The presentation will focus on some of the problems with the traditional marketing problems such as lack of data in decision making, tactics before strategy and unbounded creativity, including solutions to those problems.