Table of Contents

A. The Truth About What Customers Want

TRUTH 1 Your customers want a relationship, not a one-night stand

TRUTH 2 Design it, and they will come

TRUTH 3 Sensory marketing–smells like profits

TRUTH 4 Pardon me, is that a breast in your Coke?

TRUTH 5 One man’s goose…

TRUTH 6 Throw ‘em a bone, and they’ll no longer roam

TRUTH 7 Stay in their minds–if you can

TRUTH 8 These are the good old days

TRUTH 9 Why ask why?

TRUTH 10 He who dies with the most toys wins

TRUTH 11 Your customers are looking for greener pastures

TRUTH 12 “Because I’m worth it”

TRUTH 13 Love me, love my avatar

TRUTH 14 You really are what you wear

TRUTH 15 Real men don’t eat quiche (but they do moisturize)

TRUTH 16 Girls just want to have fun

TRUTH 17 Queer eye for the spending guy

TRUTH 18 Yesterday’s chubby is today’s voluptuous

TRUTH 19 Men want to sleep with their cars

TRUTH 20 Your PC is trying to kill you

TRUTH 21 Birds of a feather buy together

TRUTH 22 Sell wine spritzers to squash players

TRUTH 23 They think your product sucks–but that’s not a bad thing

TRUTH 24 When to sell the steak, when to sell the sizzle

TRUTH 25 People are dumber than robots (lazier, too)

TRUTH 26 Your customers have your brand on the brain

TRUTH 27 Let their mouseclicks do the walking

TRUTH 28 Nothing shouts quality like leather from Poland

TRUTH 29 Consider investing in a drive-thru mortuary

TRUTH 30 Go to the Gemba.

TRUTH 31 Your customers want to be like Mike (or someone like him)

TRUTH 32 Go tribal

TRUTH 33 People like to do their own thing–so long as it’s everyone else’s thing too

TRUTH 34 Catch a buzz

TRUTH 35 Go with the flow–get shopmobbed today

TRUTH 36 Find the market maven, and the rest is gravy

TRUTH 37 Hundreds of housewives can predict your company’s future

TRUTH 38 Know who wears the pants in the family

TRUTH 39 Youth is wasted on the young

TRUTH 40 Make millions on Millennials

TRUTH 41 Grownups don’t grow up anymore

TRUTH 42 Dollar stores make good cents

TRUTH 43 The rich are different

TRUTH 44 Out with the ketchup, in with the salsa

TRUTH 45 Look for fly-fishing born-again environmentalist jazz-loving Harry Potter freaks

TRUTH 46 Ronald McDonald is related to Luke Skywalker

TRUTH 47 Sign a caveman to endorse your product

TRUTH 48 Make your brand a fortress brand–and make mine a Guinness

TRUTH 49 Turn a (pet) rock into gold

TRUTH 50 Think globally, act locally

 

B. The Truth About Creating Brands People Love

TRUTH 1 Managing brands is not common sense

TRUTH 2 No one loves your brand as much as you love it

TRUTH 3 The brand is not owned by marketing; everyone owns it

TRUTH 4 Making more by doing less

TRUTH 5 Does your brand keep its promise?

TRUTH 6 Price is the communication of the value of your brand

TRUTH 7 Brand personality is the emotional connection with your brand

TRUTH 8 Does your sales force know the difference between a product and a brand?

TRUTH 9 Beware of the discounting minefield

TRUTH 10 Packaging protects your product; great packaging protects your brand

TRUTH 11 Brand management is association management

TRUTH 12 The retail experience is the brand experience

TRUTH 13 Corporate ego: Danger ahead

TRUTH 14 Brand metrics: Best measure of success?

TRUTH 15 Customer complaints are a treasure

TRUTH 16 Brand stewardship begins at home

TRUTH 17 Market share doesn’t matter

TRUTH 18 Avoid the most common segmentation mistake

TRUTH 19 Public relations and damage control: The defining moment

TRUTH 20 Focus equals simplicity

TRUTH 21 Marketing is courtship, not combat

TRUTH 22 Don’t sacrifice brand focus for sales

TRUTH 23 The medium is not the message; the message is the message

TRUTH 24 Brand development and the small business

TRUTH 25 Imitation is an ineffective form of flattery

TRUTH 26 Positioning lives in the mind of your target customer

TRUTH 27 The value of brand loyalty

TRUTH 28 Quality is not an effective branding message

TRUTH 29 Effective use of celebrity endorsers: The fit’s the thing

TRUTH 30 Brand-building consumer promotion

TRUTH 31 Advertising built for the long run

TRUTH 32 A service brand is a personal brand

TRUTH 33 Is your brand the best at something? If so, be satisfied

TRUTH 34 Great positionings are enduring

TRUTH 35 Effective branding begins with the name

TRUTH 36 Your brand makes your company powerful, not the other way around

TRUTH 37 Be consistent but not complacent

TRUTH 38 Is your brand different? If not, why will someone buy it?

TRUTH 39 The three M’s of taglines: Meaningful, motivating, and memorable

TRUTH 40 Customer service is the touch point of your brand

TRUTH 41 Smaller targets are easier to hit

TRUTH 42 Beware of the allure of brand extensions

TRUTH 43 Keep advertising simple, but not simplistic

TRUTH 44 It’s a long walk from the focus group room to the cash register

TRUTH 45 Repositioning can be a fool’s chase

TRUTH 46 With advertising, don’t expect too much

TRUTH 47 Don’t let testing override judgment

TRUTH 48 Effective advertising is 90% what you say, 10% how you say it

TRUTH 49 Compromise can destroy a brand

TRUTH 50 Don’t let the pizazz outshine the brand

TRUTH 51 There are no commodity products, only commodity

 

C. The Truth About Starting a Business

Part I The Truth About What It Takes to Be a Business Owner

TRUTH 1 Why people start businesses

TRUTH 2 The right business for you

TRUTH 3 Questions to ask before you quit your job

TRUTH 4 Key characteristics of successful business owners

TRUTH 5 You may not need “prior business experience”

Part II The Truth About Generating and Testing Business Ideas

TRUTH 6 The most common sources of new business ideas . . . . . . . . . 21

TRUTH 7 Want several alternatives? Techniques for generating new business ideas

TRUTH 8 A make-it or break-it issue: Selecting an idea that can be sold into a niche market

TRUTH 9 Screening and testing business ideas

TRUTH 10 Writing a business plan: Still as important as ever

Part III The Truth About Entry Strategies

TRUTH 11 Starting from scratch: Developing your own product or service

TRUTH 12 Franchising: Buying into someone else’s formula for success

TRUTH 13 Believe it or not: There are legitimate opportunities in direct sales

TRUTH 14 Buying a business

TRUTH 15 Internet businesses: The sky does seem to be the limit

Part IV The Truth About Getting Up and Running

TRUTH 16 Choosing a location for your business

TRUTH 17 Something you’ll say a million times: Your business’s name

TRUTH 18 The paper chase: Obtaining business licenses and permits

TRUTH 19 Choosing a form of business ownership

TRUTH 20 Creating a Web site: An absolute necessity

Part V The Truth About Raising Money

TRUTH 21 How to think about money as it relates to starting a business

TRUTH 22 Calculating your initial start-up costs

TRUTH 23 Personal funds, loans from friends and family, and bootstrapping

TRUTH 24 Debt financing

TRUTH 25 Equity funding

TRUTH 26 Grants: It takes the right fit

TRUTH 27 Persistence pays off: Finding alternative sources of start-up funds

Part VI The Truth About Building a New Business Team

TRUTH 28 How to approach the task of building a “new business” team

TRUTH 29 Starting a business as a team rather than an individual

TRUTH 30 Recruiting and hiring employees

TRUTH 31 Board of directors

TRUTH 32 Board of advisors

Part VII The Truth About Intellectual Property

TRUTH 33 Intellectual property: What is it, and how is it protected?

TRUTH 34 To patent or not to patent?

TRUTH 35 Trademarks: An essential form of protection

TRUTH 36 Copyright laws: A surprising breadth of protection

TRUTH 37 Trade secrets: Guard them carefully

Part VIII The Truth About Marketing

TRUTH 38 How to approach marketing in a new business

TRUTH 39 Segmenting the market and selecting a target market

TRUTH 40 Establishing a brand

TRUTH 41 Selling benefits rather than features

TRUTH 42 Pricing: The most dicey element of the marketing mix

TRUTH 43 It’s okay to advertise, but think through your choices carefully

TRUTH 44 Public relations: More important than ever

TRUTH 45 Distribution and sales: More choices than ever

Part IX The Truth About Financial Management

TRUTH 46 Managing a business’s finances

TRUTH 47 Financial objectives of a business

TRUTH 48 The nitty-gritty: Forecasts, budgets, and financial statements

Part X The Truth About Growing a Business

TRUTH 49 Preparing for growth

TRUTH 50 Stages of growth: More opportunities, more challenges

TRUTH 51 Strategies for growth

Part XI The Truth About Starting a Business and Maintaining a Healthy Personal Life

TRUTH 52 Work life balance: Practical tips

TRUTH 53 Starting a business as a means of achieving a healthy personal life