Commando Marketing

Three Little Mistakes that will Kill your Text Marketing

Dick@DickLarkin.com (Dick Larkin, The Small Business Commando) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:45:14 +0000

The recorded video will be posted here shortly. http://www.homepagesdirectories.com/training/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/2012-01-10-14.04-Three-Fatal-Mistakes-that-will-KILL-your-text-Marketing-program.wmv

Steve Jobs’ Commencement Address

Dick@DickLarkin.com (Dick Larkin, The Small Business Commando) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 13:32:05 +0000

You might wonder what a commencement address from a college drop out has to do with marketing, but it has EVERYTHING to do with marketing. Marketing is the transference of emotion. In particular, the transference of PASSION. Follow your passion regardless of the detractors. The bad news is that you will never be the next [...]

How a Vegas stock broker outplayed the entire Yellow Pages Industry

Dick@DickLarkin.com (Dick Larkin, The Small Business Commando) — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 12:35:47 +0000

(from the YPcommando archives. First published November 16, 2004) Our story begins in February 1996. Yahoo had just gone public. Stockbroker, Dane Madsen had just moved to Las Vegas to open an office for Sutro & Co, Inc. Dane was having trouble securing a office space lease, and was working out of a temporary space. [...]

How Facebook is Killing Jimmy’s Business

Dick@DickLarkin.com (Dick Larkin, The Small Business Commando) — Mon, 16 May 2011 21:20:54 +0000

Jimmy owns a full service car wash. He spends a lot of time on Facebook. Mostly, he’s lurking and spying on people who want to be noticed. But he’s trying to convince everyone (including his seriously suspicious wife) that he’s mastering social medial marketing. Jimmy is full of crap. I had coffee with Jimmy and [...]

The Real Future of the Yellow Pages

Dick@DickLarkin.com (Dick Larkin, The Small Business Commando) — Sun, 15 May 2011 18:29:21 +0000

The Future of Yellow Pages View more webinars from Dick Larkin

Shhh, don’t tell anyone

Dick@DickLarkin.com (Dick Larkin, The Small Business Commando) — Sun, 15 May 2011 04:31:12 +0000

Sometimes I speak with business owners who brag about not advertising or marketing their business as if it is a sign of success. Here’s the thing. If you don’t tell a prospective customer about your years of experience, premium products, warranties and guarantees, certifications, insurance, and state of the art equipment, Then you’re no different [...]

Lisa is Magic

Dick@DickLarkin.com (Dick Larkin, The Small Business Commando) — Sun, 08 May 2011 21:34:15 +0000

Lisa is one of my publisher’s representatives. Her job is to help businesses in small towns by advertising their products and services in our community directories and service guides To the uninformed, Lisa sells advertising, but don’t be deceived. She is magic. I don’t mean that she HAS phoney Harry Potter magic Lisa IS magic [...]

Don’t confuse “What Works” with “How Quickly it Works”

Dick@DickLarkin.com (Dick Larkin, The Small Business Commando) — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 16:16:22 +0000

I was speaking with Charles Laughlin, an analyst with BIA/Kelsey and he offered one of his typically brilliant insights. I was preparing for my presentation at the Association of Directory Publishers annual conference. My charge is to provide a positive sendoff to directory publishers and encourage them to aggressively move to assist their clients with [...]

Who owns the risk of advertising

Dick@DickLarkin.com (Dick Larkin, The Small Business Commando) — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 15:54:51 +0000

Advertising used to be simple. The advertiser took all the risk, and the agency and publishers and media companies focused on delivering audience. But the risk of advertising is shifting away from the advertiser buying audience. This shift began with guaranteed delivery of impressions. Web banners and other online display advertising guaranteed a certain number [...]

Listening is Overrated

Dick@DickLarkin.com (Dick Larkin, The Small Business Commando) — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 15:57:08 +0000

People don’t follow listeners. They follow leaders. Moses didn’t come down and say. “What can I do to help you?” Jesus didn’t ask people for their opinion. Steve Jobs (no relation to the two aforementioned leaders) didn’t ask people if they wanted a product they never imagined. John Wooden didn’t ask his players if they [...]