Nothing you can say for yourself is as valuable as what customers have to say about you. That's because people find the endorsements of actual customers more persuasive than the hype of faceless copywriters.

Every marketer has the same problem: overcoming a prospect's fear of making a mistake. Faced with a buying decision prospects will often sit on their hands. They need to "think about it". It's safer to do nothing than risk making the wrong choice. In this situation smart marketers use psychology to overcome the prospect's inertia.

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You'll win much more business if you show your target audience how you can solve their problems.

What is the one thing every person is interested in? The weather? Politics? Health? Sport? Religion? Shopping? Sex? Money? While many people are interested in some of these things, not one of these topics holds universal interest.

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"Marketing is everything you do to promote your business, from
the moment you conceive of it to the point at which customers
buy your product or service and begin to patronize your business
on a regular basis. The key words to remember are everything and
regular basis."

My favourite marketing guru Jay Conrad Levinson from Guerrilla Marketing.

NB: I believe every marketer and business owner should have a well thumbed copy of this book in their office.

"My definition of 'marketing' is putting your product or service in its best light so that it persuades others to investigate and hopefully buy it. I think that marketing is basically a replacement for door-to-door selling. If we could all afford to knock on everyone's door and put forward the best case for our product then we would because one-on-one conversation is pretty hard to beat. But because that's not possible, we come up with marketing that will, at the end of the day, be a replacement for what we would have said if we were having a chat."

Australian advertising savant Siimon Reynolds from Secrets of Male Entrepreneurs Exposed!

This morning I was listening to an interview with Robert Middleton of InfoGuru fame about the law of attraction marketing.

During the interview he said his definition of marketing is: "Marketing is sharing with authenticity about the value that you offer to the world".

"Branding" is the most overused marketing buzzword these days. Everyone keeps rabbiting on and on about their brand. But there doesn't seem to be any consensus about what branding actually is or entails.

I firmly believe that if you position your business properly, promote yourself consistently and well, keep your promises and deliver excellent products and customer service, you will be rewarded with a well regarded brand. But isn't this simply the essence of marketing?

It never ceases to amaze me the number of marketing managers I meet that know next to nothing about marketing.

Having completed a marketing degree I know how poorly university prepares students for the realities of marketing products and businesses. I've learnt a lot more about marketing from reading books by the gurus than three years of tutorials and lectures.

One person who knows a hell of a lot about marketing and is not afraid to share his wisdom is Seth Godin. Check out his one-page list of powerful marketing truths.