Kern Marketing

  Hello, Levinson writes that the only definition of creativity in the realm of marketing is that of something that makes money (Levinson, 2007). Let us not forget that the purpose of a business is to make money. It is eerie how similar both concepts are, but they must be similar as the guerilla conducting marketing is conducting business. The life force of a business is money. If a business has no money, the business is drained of its life force, and will die. That is why it is important for the guerilla marketer, on the mission to sell a product or service, not forget that the best advertisement is useless if it does not generate any money. To have a successful marketing campaign to sell the product or service in order to generate money, the guerilla must be concise in their advertising message. To be concise, Levinson give seven guidelines. Find the product’s drama, equate the drama to benefit, be believable in the explanation of benefits, get the audience’s attention, motivate ...

Hello, Information saved digitally for prosperity has two elements. First, the need to preserve the information, and second, the ability to understand the information at a future time. What good is collecting and storing all the data that mankind can muster if no one is able to make use of the information? Think of all the ancient Greek and Roman texts, that even if they were not lost in the Library of Alexandria, or the sacking of Baghdad by the Mongols, would be unreadable due to the general lack of knowledge on how to read ancient Greek or Latin. Storage is one thing, but to be able to pull the information out of storage, blow the dust off, and make use of the information is quite another. For one to retrieve the needed information is a start, but knowledge of the information is required to bring about anything of use. The answer is then education and continuous learning for mankind. Let the instructions be stowed away, but the knowledge of how to use must flow through communi...

Hello,   Price is derived from supply and demand, but a firm has some wiggle room on what they charge based on what they want to communicate through the price. For example, a firm that charges the most amongst its competitors wants to convey the message of a premium product, versus the lowest priced product conveying a bargain message. The start-up needs to determine where they fit into the market and price accordingly. Nevertheless, all pricing is not equal. A start-up can maximize their revenue through their price structure. This is the focus in Chapter 4 of Ascend your Start-Up .   Hopefully the start-up will have customers in many regions. With a diverse customer base comes the question of how to charge them for product or services provided? The book outlines two options. The first is extension pricing in which the same price is applied to all customers regardless of location, or second, competitive pricing which negotiates different prices for different customers (Y...

  Hello, Sun Tzu writes that “if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles” (Sun, 1983). One must know their capabilities, their strengths, and most importantly their own weaknesses. You must know this for when you compare your adversary’s capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses against your own. By doing so, you know the limits of what you can do and what your adversary can do. From there a plan can be formulated that maximizes your strengths, minimizes your weakness, and exploits your adversary’s weakness while avoiding their strengths. For a company, this method of assessment can be applied to understanding the customer and their needs.     The echoes of Sun Tzu can be heard on Jay Conrad Levinson’s advice to the budding marketing guerilla, “when you fully understand the true nature of your business, your goals, your strengths and weaknesses, your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, and the needs of your target m...

  Hello, Is AI good or bad? Instead, the argument should be that AI is neutral, with the outcome dependent on the human using it. AI is simply a tool to be used to accomplish the desired goal. Without the necessary tools, the time required for mankind to progress is extended. Notre Dame Cathedral took about two hundred years to complete using the tools available at the time (Notre Dame Cathedral Paris, 2022). How long would it take to build a new skyscraper in New York if the same tools that built Notre Dame, had to be used today? If we continue to use the same tools of yesterday, no traction can be gained to move us towards tomorrow.   What can AI be used for? The answer, both bad and good. AI built into facial recognition software in China is used for surveillance of its population (Davies, 2021). The tool that is AI does not change, only how it is used. On the opposite end of the AI spectrum, AI is utilized to produce medicines faster and doing so at lower cost (IMB, ...

  Hello, In Chapter 2 of Helen Yu’s book, Ascend Your Start-Up , when preparing to build the Minimal Viable Product, an action item is to establish the necessary team. Picking the right person for the right job to carry the Minimal Viable Product forward in the evolution of the start-up. The focus then shifts from the product to the team, and the right team at that. The complexity of a start-up requires a team to specialize in different areas. Finding the right people for the job in order to gain market visibility of the start-up’s product, is the focus of Chapter 3. There are key roles that need to be filled within the leadership of a start-up. Helen describes these roles as the thought leader, challenger, collaborator, and operator (Yu, 2021). Each plays a unique but important role. Who should staff these roles? The warning from Helen is to stay away from friends and family (Yu, 2021). Instead, look for industry experts who will share their knowledge to add value to the fledg...

  Hello, One could argue that there are many means to successful marketing. How many books are available on the subject, eager to teach their own variation of the standard methods? But, for a small firm who must elbow their way into a market full of established heavy weights, Jay Levison has the guerilla marketer focus on sixteen simple words. The words are commitment, investment, consistent, confident, patient, assortment, subsequent, convenient, amazement, measurement, involvement, dependent, armament, consent, content, and augment (Levison, 2007). A few words that cover a wide swath of necessary guerrilla marketing activities.     For this blog, there will be a focus on only a couple of these words and their corresponding impact. Be warned, Levinson does caution that for a successful guerilla, all sixteen words must be utilized. Commitment, investment, and armament are linked together. First, the marketer must be willing to make the commitment of resources an...