Mark Maupin: Getting Started in a Service-Related Business

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Mark Maupin of Right Now Marketing Group provided some an important marketing tip for businesses that service clients at their locations within a service area.  Mark has given talks about online marketing, led workshops, and has been a sponsored speaker at national conventions.

He also created and sold a business using the techniques he suggests here within this video.

Goal: Discuss where you (or other service companies) should start marketing your business:

Mark’s Recent Internet Marketing Success Story

Business Feature: DnV Jamaican Seasonings - Delphine Drake

I am trying to take part of an idea I got from Jeremy Miller’s blog format where he puts a business in the spotlight.  Jeremy Miller of Sticky Branding tends to target larger companies than I do, but I think it’s a great idea.

This Week’s Featured Business: Delphine Drake of DnV Jamaican Seasonings

Delphine Drake is from Jamaica, and she owns DnV Jamaican Seasonings.

If you like to get an authentic taste of Jamaica, you might be interested in how she got started and some business and marketing tips from her perspective.

If you would rather read than watch a video, below I provide some of her background and summarize the notes I took from that interview at her booth at Detroit’s Eastern Market.  (She even has that cool Jamaican accent!)

An Introduction to Delphine of DnV Jamaican Seasonings

How a Great Marketing Campaign Worked for the Wrong Company

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Burger King is a great company, but they might be making a mistake.

Most of the time, companies want to use an advertising campaign to drive traffic to their store.

Let it be known that I like plenty of things at Burger King, and I am not trying to start any debate about which fast food tastes the best.  Let’s face it; we’re not really picking ANY of them as our choice for our “Last Supper.”

Burger King is running a great ad campaign that could backfire.

Burger King is doing a lot of things right with one of its current marketing campaigns, but the company’s marketers overlooked one of the basic principles of business.

Currently, they have a really good deal: $1.49 for 10 chicken nuggets.

While I don’t work for Burger King’s headquarters or even at one of its many franchise locations, I’m pretty sure they are not selling their nuggets for a profit with this deal.

So why are they doing this?

I don’t know, for sure, but I speculate that this is a loss leader for them.

Burger King is really good at making its chicken nuggets look really tasty in its commercials, and they are running several different ads to promote this.  Plus, they are running this ad all of the time.

See Also: A Lesson about Managing Social Media from Burger King

So they make something that looks really good for a really good price, and they’re making sure that people know about it.

Yeah, I agree.  That is definitely going to bring people into their stores.  Yes, they might not make a profit on selling THOSE nuggets (and might even lose a little, hence the term “loss leader”), but many people coming into Burger King stores to buy those nuggets will order other things that tend to generate much higher profit margins for them, like soda pop and fries.

So what’s wrong with this campaign?

1 Ironic Thing about SEO Marketing Companies

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SEO marketing companies play a strong role, but I noticed something really ironic about them…or I mean “us.”

It’s not my only business, but for years, I touted online marketing SEO service as a main part of my business.  After all, Google provides so much traffic for many businesses, and truthfully, while it has plenty of flaws, it’s a great model.

How many of us turn to the Internet to find someone who can do certain types of stuff for us?

It’s a great system, and it’s always a good idea to get in places where there is a lot of traffic.

See Also: Debunking a Marketing Myth: People buy what you're selling

So what’s the ironic part of SEO businesses?

Directory Site Listings: A Recent Trend in Google for Services (Ignore at Your Own Risk!)

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I spend a lot of time online paying attention to things people search, but I spend even more time checking out things that are ranking on Google.

See Also: Internet Marketing Tip: 1 Method to Write for Google SEO and for Human Readers

NOTE: At the time I’m writing this, more people use Google to search than any other search engine, and #2 isn’t even close.  So I only really pay attention to Google.

I’m noticing a new trend.  When I use Google to search for services, I’m noticing a new business model.  Well, actually it’s an old business model with a modernized approach.

What is that trend?