Weird Marketing Lessons
Marketing is partly art and partly science. Sometimes things go really right. Sometimes they go fantastically awry.
So how do you succeed? A spirit of experimentation! In this series, we take a look at the weird so we can understand how marketing works in practice, and not just in theory.
Start to Finish: Market Your Small Business for the First Time
Does the idea of marketing a business make you feel like a little kid wearing a big lab coat?
In these articles, we walk you through everything you need to know to market your products and services with confidence!
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Stop Blaming The Algorithm When Your Content Doesn’t Rank
You know what drives me nuts? People who blame “the algorithm” when their content doesn’t take off. Now I know that sounds like a personal attack, but I don’t mean it that way. Content creators who blame the algorithm are, for the most part, not lazy or even bad content […]
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How To Navigate The Labyrinth Of The YouTube Algorithm
The YouTube algorithm. Never before has there been such a complicated labyrinth for content creators to navigate. It doesn’t help that there’s no exit. Every social media platform uses an algorithm to decide what to show users. There’s too much content not to. As much as I’d love to write […]
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This Is How The Vlogbrothers Built A Super-Friendly Empire
On the first day of 2007, John and Hank Green started Brotherhood 2.0. The idea was simple – send each other video blogs back and forth every day for a year. The mission was simple but heartfelt: deepen their bond through the power of new media. When the year ended, […]
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How Unus Annus Succeeded On YouTube By Being Deleted
What would you do if you had one year left to live? What would you leave behind in memory? These are the questions that Mark Fischbach (Markiplier) and Ethan Nestor-Darling (CrankGameplays) asked their viewers when they created the channel, Unus Annus. The idea was simple: every day they would post […]
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How IKEA Makes $43.6 Billion While You Build Furniture
If you’ve been to IKEA, then you have a strong opinion on it. It’s impossible not to. IKEA stores are five times the size of a football field, arranged like dense mazes with thousands of furniture items all available for reasonable prices. Everything from the quirky Swedish names of the […]
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8 Reasons Why Willy Wonka’s Golden Tickets Are Amazing Marketing
Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory is a chaotic, absurd movie. The 1971 version seemed to run all the time on TV in the 1990s and 2000s, becoming – against all odds – a staple of Millenial culture, even getting turned into a popular meme. Because we’ve all seen it […]
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This is How Critical Role Made Dungeons & Dragons Cool
What happens when you gather a bunch of nerdy voice actors and one badass Dungeon Master, then have them all roll a natural 20 in showmanship? You get Critical Role, the show that has made over $9 million dollars playing Dungeons & Dragons on Twitch alone. (A shocking statistic, since […]
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How To Prepare Your Business for AI (GPT-3 & Midjourney)
The machines are taking over! AI is going to replace us all! If I only had a dollar for every time I heard some version of that. Even in its early stages, artificial intelligence, or AI, feels like an imminent threat. After all, intelligence is what has truly set human […]
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Why People Are Adding REDDIT To Their Google Searches
Have Google searches felt…off to you lately? A lot of people think so, and you likely know someone who adds the word “Reddit” to the end of Google searches to get better results. Just look at some of these recent headlines: Fast Company: Is Reddit a better search engine than […]
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Join over 1,000 other mad scientists. Download our FREE Experimental Marketing Guide.
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How Gaming Supplements Like GamerSupps & G FUEL Make Millions
Gam·ers | ˈgā-mərs (noun): a subcategory of the species Homo sapiens that sits upon gaming chairs of varying colors and sizes. They are known for playing games for hours on end, often into the dead of night. Due to this, gamers are often deficient in vital vitamins and minerals needed so desperately […]
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What Middle Class Fancy Tells Us About Consumer Behavior
“It’s not the heat that’ll get you, it’s the humidity.” Such are the words of wisdom spoken by Rand, an American suburban white man in his 50s, and a recurring character on the Middle Class Fancy Instagram account. In addition to being an accurate statement about how we perceive temperature, […]
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6 Reasons to Treat Your Business Like Wikipedia
Reasons for hope seem to be in short supply these days. Politics are a mess, everything is getting expensive, and the modern internet built on social media seems to only inflame these tensions. Yet there is a website where people put aside their differences and work toward a common goal […]
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Marketing Alignment Chart: Lawful Good to Chaotic Evil
In 1977, Dungeons & Dragons created the alignment chart – a simple two-axis where characters could be classified as good or evil, lawful or chaotic. Sometime in the 2010s, the idea of the alignment chart went far beyond its gaming origins, and became a piece of pop culture in its […]
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How RollerCoaster Tycoon Made $19.6 Million in 1999
In 1999, Scottish video game developer, Chris Sawyer, chased a pipe dream. He was fascinated by amusement parks, and he wanted to create a game that captured the joy of being in one. Despite the fact that there wasn’t clear market demand for it, he went on to create RollerCoaster […]
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How Karen’s Diner Serves Up Awful Customer Service & Makes Millions
Do you dream of being a massive jerk to people around you? Well, of course, you do. We have all had moments where you want to speak your mind or simply get stuff off your chest because you had a crap day. Thankfully, there is a magical place where you […]
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How on Earth is SpongeBob SquarePants Still Relevant in 2022?
If you spend any amount of time on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Reddit, odds are, you’re going to run into at least one of these SpongeBob memes. These memes along with the fact that search engine traffic for SpongeBob SquarePants has slowly but steadily increased for the last few years […]
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5 Practical Lessons from the Absurd Career of Sam Raimi
Ever try to get away to a quiet cabin in the country, only to have to fight with your demon-possessed hand as the house itself laughs at you? Well, I hope you brought along a double-barrelled shotgun and a chainsaw, buddy, because you – unfortunately – are in a Sam […]
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Ya Boy Kongming: A Crash Course in Social Media Marketing
What do ancient military tactics and social media marketing have in common? Apparently a lot, according to anime Ya Boy Kongming. You might be surprised to know how much, in fact, as both have been refined and honed over years (or millennia) for maximum effectiveness. Ya Boy Kongming is a […]
Does the idea of marketing a business make you feel like a little kid wearing a big lab coat?
Join over 1,000 other mad scientists. Download our FREE Experimental Marketing Guide.
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Daft Punk, or: Building a Massive Brand by Anti-Marketing
Imagine building one of the most culturally significant bands of the 21st century. Now imagine doing that while experimenting radically in a genre where copying others is a proven path to success. While never showing your face. Daft Punk did just that, and their success has been remarkable. Their sophomore […]
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How Fortnite Weaves Brands Into The Game & Makes Billions
Fancy vacationing on a cartoon island dressed as John Wick? What if I told you that you’d have to fight with Spiderman with a lightsaber and Ariana Grande with a grenade launcher? Well, you are in luck, because Fortnite is the getaway you’ve been looking for. Fortnite is packed with […]
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Why Formula 1 is So Popular Right Now
Every nation has its great past-time. For the USA, it’s baseball. For the UK, it’s football (soccer). Getting people to pay attention to a new sport is a tall order – and that’s why Formula 1’s recent success is so stunning. On ESPN, 548,000 people tuned in to watch Formula […]
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This is the Difference Between Marketing, Advertising, & PR
A few years ago I was filling out some paperwork and it asked for my job title. I remember asking, “do you want my actual job title? Or just my field of work?” At the time I worked in insurance and my job title was unnecessarily complex. Fast forward a […]
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How The Room Made $30 Million by Being a Terrible Movie
Released in 2003, The Room is widely considered to be one of the worst films ever made. It holds a score of 3.7 out of 10 on IMDb and an astounding 9 out of 100 on Metacritic. Film critic, Marg Mohan, claimed that the film “oozes sincerity, which is then […]
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How Coffee Transformed From Common Commodity To Weird Hobby
Of all the meetings, I have, my morning meeting with Mr. Cup Of Joe is the one I never miss. It’s a warm welcome to the morning and has always been a delicious and dopamine-inducing way to start the day. I am talking about coffee – a staple of modern […]
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How Costco Manages to Be Both Classy & Cheap
In a logical world, Costco would suck. Low prices, spartan settings, and immense crowds. That’s an unholy trinity that should ruin just about any shopping experience. But it doesn’t, and I think that’s remarkable. Costco is a freakishly well-run business. Over the last weekend, I slipped into the store by […]
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The Twisted Reasons for Freight Shipping Delays & Shortages
Have you seen the images of empty store shelves lately? They’re all over social media and the news. You might think that it’s the result of people panic buying, but the problems run deeper than that. Maybe you’ve seen some terms like “supply chain disruption” or even “supply chain collapse” […]
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Why Arcane is The Perfect Brand Expansion
You have probably heard of the popular video game, League of Legends. At a minimum, you’ve heard the distant screams of someone losing a match. It’s unavoidable because League It is an insanely popular game with a mountain of dedicated players willing to buy figurines and other merchandise. But have […]
Does the idea of marketing a business make you feel like a little kid wearing a big lab coat?
Join over 1,000 other mad scientists. Download our FREE Experimental Marketing Guide.
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To Understand the Metaverse, Look at Minecraft & Fortnite
Metaverse. Web3. NFT. The year 2021 introduced the world to a lot of really complicated new technological ideas. In February and March 2021, people started talking about NFTs. Then chatter about the “metaverse” started to really take off in October, right around when Facebook changed its name to Meta. A […]
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How to Sell the Bubble Bots from Ron’s Gone Wrong
Ron’s Gone Wrong is a film about the friendship between socially awkward middle-schooler, Barney, and his friend Ron. But there’s a twist: Ron is a Bubble Bot, produced by the Bubble Company, which is basically Apple. Bubble Bots, B Bots for short, are designed to be your best friend. Your […]
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Coming Soon – We’re Rebranding Ourselves as Weird Marketing
Exciting news! Having seen the success of the Weird Marketing blog posts, we are going to be rebranding our entire website within a month. New title. New URL. Complete commitment to the article style that the vast majority of readers are coming to the website for. Why change? When we […]
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How to Be a Wrestler, According to a Marketer
Wrestlers put their life on the line in the ring, day in, day out to make their audiences happy. They live larger-than-life lifestyles because they want to make captivating TV with their stunning wrestling moves. They’re experts at self-promotion because they want to make you buy into the kayfabe of […]
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How James Bond Has Evolved & Stayed Relevant for 60 Years
Few movie characters are as iconic, controversial, contradictory, and enduring as James Bond. It doesn’t matter who’s playing him because you recognize the character immediately. Handsome man, sharp suit, smoking gun, vodka martini in hand, and an attractive woman on his arm. James Bond has been the poster child for […]
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How Taylor Swift Took on the Music Industry & Won
Taylor Swift might not have a college degree, but she has been working on her Master’s in Marketing since she was nine. And when I say “you could argue” I mean “that is what I’m going to spend the next 5,000 words pointing out.” Swift has been the driving force […]
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See How A Rambling Redhead Went From Instagram to HGTV
Redheads only make up 2% of the world’s population. And the recessive gene jackpot of a redhead with blue eyes is even smaller, at 0.17%. So what would you call someone with red hair, blue eyes, and a hilarious heart of gold? You might call her a Unicorn, but we […]
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WWE vs. AEW: The Wrestling Brand Smackdown of a Lifetime
John Cena. The Rock. Hulk Hogan. The world of wrestling has cemented these names into the minds of kids and adults alike. Their names are known worldwide as are their spider webs of wrestling moments, movies, and controversies. If you pay attention, the wrestling world will teach you a masterclass […]
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4 Marketing Lessons from Jingle All The Way
What do Christmas, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and action figures have in common? If you guessed Star-Lord (or even The Terminator for us older peeps), you are only half wrong. The real answer is the “classic” Christmas Movie Jingle All The Way. Totally recommend watching it if you haven’t already. But for […]
Does the idea of marketing a business make you feel like a little kid wearing a big lab coat?
Join over 1,000 other mad scientists. Download our FREE Experimental Marketing Guide.
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How Old Spice Came Back from the Grave with One Commercial
Hello, ladies. Look at your man, now back to me, now back at your man, now back to me. Sadly, he isn’t me, but if he stopped using ladies scented body wash and switched to Old Spice, he could smell like he’s me. With just 43 words, Old Spice did […]
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Millennials Spend $33 Billion On Their Own Toys. Why?
We all have fond memories of playing with toys when we were young. Whether it’s trading Pokemon cards or snuggling a favorite stuffed animal, it’s hard not to have at least one happy childhood toy story. Toys have been in the hearts and homes of kids for decades, centuries, even! […]
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This is How Buc-ee’s Turned Gas Stations into Tourist Traps
“If you know you know.” So said the billboard in yellow block capitals on a stark black background as I was passing through my hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was advertising Buc-ee’s, a gas station about an hour away. Weird marketing move, I thought, but only briefly. I’m no stranger […]
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This Is Why People Find Super Mario 64 Conspiracies Scary
Did you know every copy of Super Mario 64 is personalized? Well, at least that’s the theory. It’s said that even back in 1996, Nintendo was able to create an AI that adapted to a player’s skill level, playstyle, and even desires. It’s so subtle you’d never notice it, until […]
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See How Cult Classic Movies Teach Us About Branding
Do you have a favorite movie that not many people have heard of? Or do you go to a coffee shop that you wouldn’t substitute for anything else? Or, perhaps, do you have a favorite product your rave about to everyone you meet? Well, you might be in a cult […]
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See How Peter Thiel Destroyed Gawker with Hulk Hogan
Facing a $140 million legal judgment, the leaders of Gawker had to face their sins. Perhaps it wasn’t a good idea to out billionaire Peter Thiel as gay in 2007. And maybe the world would have been a better place if they hadn’t released Hulk Hogan’s…private film in 2012. But […]
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How Anime Won the West & Why You Should Care
Anime. You know it in one form or another. Maybe you watched it when you were young, or your kids watch it, or you’re watching it now. It’s a universal and ageless media that caters to everyone, and due to that immortality, it has expanded and evolved into every corner […]
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How American Girl Built a Multigenerational Business Empire with Dolls
It was 21 years ago when I got my first American Girl Doll. As any typical 10 year old does on a July summer day, I was curled up behind my bed doing some summer reading (The Secret of Nimh, in case you were wondering). The doorbell rang, and my […]
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Outreach: 9 Proven Ways You Can Grow Your Business
Drawing attention to your business is tough! Or at least it can seem that way if you’re not well-versed in the art of outreach. We talk a lot about customer retention, customer experience, and consumer behavior. But none of that means anything if you can’t acquire customers in the first […]
Does the idea of marketing a business make you feel like a little kid wearing a big lab coat?
Join over 1,000 other mad scientists. Download our FREE Experimental Marketing Guide.
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This is How Cat Cafés Took Over the World
Imagine you walk into the bar and you order a beer. Something brushes up against your leg. You hear a meow. No, it’s not Mardi Gras and you’re not in New Orleans. You are in one of many cat cafés around the world. Yes, this is a real thing. Cat […]
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Podcast: Wrapping Up Season Two
Business is picking up, and we need a minute to catch our breath! We’re wrapping up season two of the Marketing is the Product Podcast, and we’ll be back in a few months with season 3! See you soon! ———————————————- Like what you hear? You can read more from us […]
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How Delta Air Lines Has Survived 96 Years of Aviation
The airline industry is an unspeakably difficult one. As of 2021, there are 18 major passenger airlines in the United States. The list of airlines that have died is so long that it takes up four separate Wikipedia articles for the US alone. Yet Delta Air Lines has been operating […]
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Podcast: Eric Seropyan on Getting Your Small Business Ranked Higher in Google
SEO and SEM expert, Eric Seropyan, is the founder of This Is My South Bay. Eric’s expertise is unique in that he specializes in international hyperlocal SEO helping founders, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and small business owners make sense of searchability and marketing on the web. Join us this week as […]
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15 Easy Ways To Improve SEO & Rank Higher in Google
The marketing world is full of strange jargon and acronyms. One of the most common acronyms you’ll see people use is SEO. The internet is full of articles telling you that you should improve your SEO to grow your business. There’s good reason for that. Search engine optimization – SEO […]
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Podcast: Maureen Mwangi on Building Brands & Helping Others
Maureen Mwangi grew up in Kenya where entrepreneurship was not the norm. In fact, her mom and dad were the only entrepreneurs she knew. As a little girl, Maureen listened with fascination as they discussed their product strategies around the dinner table almost every night. Today, Maureen is one of […]
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How Minecraft Made $2.5 Billion From Scratch
Minecraft was created by a solo developer with a day job in 2009. The graphics are 8-bit and servers will boot you for no reason sometimes. By all accounts, Minecraft should have crashed and burned early. It is the best-selling video game of all time. Over 200 million copies have […]
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Podcast: Parker Stevenson on Keeping Small Businesses Profitable & Healthy
Parker Stevenson is a Partner and the Chief Business Officer at Evolved Finance. Evolved Finance is a bookkeeping and business education company dedicated to helping online entrepreneurs create profitable and healthy businesses. Join us this week as we talk to Parker on the ways that you can keep your business healthy […]
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Training New Pangea Teammate – Will Have Fresh Content Next Week!
If you’ve been following the podcast lately, you know that Pierson and I are seeing an unprecedented amount of work with Pangea Marketing. This is a great problem to have, to be sure, but it means that we need to grow our team! I’ll cut to the chase: we’re going […]
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Podcast: Homestead Phil and Homestead Jenn on Renting Chickens
Ever heard of renting chickens? This isn’t just some far-fetched idea, it’s a business – and a very successful one at that. Homestead Phil and Homestead Jenn are the founders of Rent the Chicken. They specialize in renting egg-laying chickens to people looking to bring one food source closer to […]
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The Unusual Rise & Fall & Rise of Aeropostale
I was shopping with my wife at the gardening store, looking – in true millennial fashion – for plants we can’t kill. Suddenly, apropos of nothing, I wondered “what the hell happened to Aeropostale?” Aeropostale was everywhere when I was in high school from 2006 to 2010. You couldn’t go […]
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Interview with Brandon Rollins on the Formation of Pangea Marketing Agency
We’re slammed with client work this week, so here’s an episode from the vault. Join us this week as Pierson interviews Brandon on the formation of Pangea Marketing Agency. Find out how we, as a company, got started, as well as a bit of Brandon’s backstory.
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How to Use Product Distribution To Grow Your Business
If you build it, they won’t just come. Your small business needs a product distribution strategy if you want to make sales. This is so important, in fact, that one of the 4 P’s of marketing is “place” as in “the place where people can buy your products.” But how […]
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James Breakwell on How to Be a Man
James Breakwell is a comedy writer and self-described amateur father. Coming June 8, he will be releasing, or perhaps unleashing, his new book: How to Be a Man (Whatever That Means): Lessons in Modern Masculinity from a Questionable Source. In this podcast, we chat with James about his new book, […]
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Aaron Franklin on Finding Meaning through Family, Baseball, and Insurance
Aaron Franklin is an Insurance Broker at State Farm in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Insurance is a tough industry to understand, and tougher still to make exciting. Yet Aaron finds meaning helping people through his work. In this episode, Aaron talks about how he became an insurance agent, why he loves what […]
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14 Easy Ways Your Small Business Can Handle Public Relations
Public relations! The phrase conjures up images of spin doctors working for evil megacorporations or politicians conspicuously pretending to be folksy in an effort to win voters. That first impression is definitely not wrong, but it’s for sure not the whole picture either! At its heart, public relations (PR, for […]
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Kyle Orth on Paragliding, Aviation, and Mitigating Risk
Kyle Orth came straight from the sky and onto our show – literally. While meditating at a local park, I opened my eyes to Kyle paragliding down right next to me. After chatting for a few minutes, Kyle agreed to come onto the show. Join us as we talk to […]
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The Incredible Downfall of Rax Roast Beef in 1991 (A Ghost Story)
“We had access to too much money, too much equipment, and little by little, we went insane.” Originally spoken by Francis Ford Coppola about the filming of Apocalypse Now, I think this statement applies just as well to the marketing misadventures of Rax Roast Beef circa 1991. I’ve been fascinated […]
Does the idea of marketing a business make you feel like a little kid wearing a big lab coat?
Join over 1,000 other mad scientists. Download our FREE Experimental Marketing Guide.
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Podcast: Shelli Tripp-Norvell on Mental Health, Identity, and Mindfulness
Shelli Tripp-Norvell is a Psychotherapist in Nashville, Tennessee. In this episode, Shelli walks us through her journey to becoming a therapist, as well as detailing various aspects of the journey that we go through to get “un-stuck”. The year 2020 left so many of us realizing the importance of our […]
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Why Supply Chain Management Is Important To Marketing
Leaders win through logistics. Vision, sure. Strategy, yes. But when you go to war, you need to have both toilet paper and bullets at the right place at the right time. In other words, you must win through superior logistics. Tom Peters, Quotes from Universal Cargo I find this quote […]
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Chari Buckner on Running a Pet Crematory and Finding Meaning
Getting things started with the first episode of season two, we are joined by Chari from Faithful Friends Pet Crematory. Chari Buckner is the owner of Faithful Friends, working with countless pet owners to make sure that their pets are given a proper send-off. In this episode, we talk with […]
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Use Influencer Marketing to Quickly Grow Your Small Business
Influencer marketing is a relatively new way for companies of all sizes to market their products. Today, we are going to dive into all things influencer marketing. We’ll answer questions like: What is influencer marketing? How to find and hire influencers? What influencers can do to help you sell your […]
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How Your Small Business Win Big With Online Reviews
How do people find your business? Vague question, I know. But take a moment and really ask yourself the question. Is it through outbound marketing? Do you have a steady stream of organic traffic coming to you? Or, are you taking a more “old-fashioned” approach and marketing specific client opportunities […]
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This is How Instagram Revolutionized the Tattoo Industry Forever
Tattoos are just about everywhere you look these days. Whether you are in a hospital, library, or even on a college campus, odds are, you can find someone who has a tattoo. A recent Ipsos poll showed that 30% of Americans had at least one tattoo in 2019, up from […]
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Wrapping Up Season One
As we wrap up our first season of the Marketing is the Product Podcast, a few changes are in order to help make the show that much better for you guys. In this episode, we go over some of the changes that will be made heading into season 2 of […]
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How To Use Small Business Advertising To Grow Quickly
When you’re marketing your small business for the first time, advertising is just plain intimidating. Effective advertising requires you to understand both complex marketing ideas and the ins and outs of software like Facebook and Google Ads. Figuring out where to start with small business advertising is a difficult task […]
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Kenny Goodman on 2020, Mindfulness, and Growing Your Business
Kicking off our first interview of the new year, we are joined again by our friend Kenny Goodman from Overboard Games. Kenny owns and runs Overboard Games. He is now running a successful business that revolves around creating digital versions of games for board game publishers. If you are a long […]
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Fight Island: The Weird Way UFC Thrived in a Pandemic
I’m glad 2020 is over, and I’m not alone. We’ve all been tested in every aspect of life in the last year, right down to the cancellation of sports. There was only one shining exception: the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). They took the drastic step of moving the ring all […]
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Celebrating the New Year and Our Resolutions for 2021
We did it – we made it through 2020! As we close the door on one of the most chaotic years in history, it is important to take the time to reflect on the good that 2020 did bring to us. This week, as we get started with our first […]
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How To Grow Your Business with Relationship Marketing
Relationships matter. There are a million ways to say this simple fact, and a million ways to prove it too. Good relationships lead to customer retention, partnerships, referrals, and – ultimately – a big payday. That’s why well-run companies put so much emphasis on relationship marketing. Deep down, successful small […]
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Small Business & The World’s Weirdest Holiday Season
As 2020 comes to a close, we wanted to offer up this last podcast as one final reflection of this year. The year 2020 has been one of the most challenging years for all of us to date. Through the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been faced with challenge after challenge, […]
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How Coronavirus Will Affect the Convention Industry
This is the final post in the Coronavirus Case Studies series. Every post in this series has talked about how the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 will affect different businesses for years to come. We’re all still processing this massive, life-changing event. This week, in this last post, we talk about […]
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Jamison Colston on Car Detailing, Philosophy & Taekwondo
Without hyperbole, Pierson and I can say that Jamison Colston is one of the most well-rounded people we have ever met. Jamison owns and runs Scenic City Mobile Detailing. He’s a real estate investor, fitness model, men’s counselor, a taekwondo black belt, and a student of philosophy. He’s a Renaissance […]
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This is How You Provide a Great Customer Experience
Have you ever walked into a restaurant and waited forever to be seated, only to be treated rudely and have your food served cold? If so, it’s safe to say that you’ve had a bad customer experience. Odds are, you probably told others about it too. Maybe you even left […]
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How Coronavirus Will Affect the Retail Industry
This is the Coronavirus Case Studies series. Each post in this series will talk about how the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 will affect different businesses for years to come. We’re all still processing this massive, life-changing event. This week, we talk about how coronavirus will affect the retail industry. Retail […]
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Podcast: Introducing Weird Marketing Lessons
As we approach the end of the year, it is time to phase out two of our blog series in lieu of a new one: Weird Marketing Lessons. Over the last year, we have published tons of posts for the Quick Questions and Coronavirus Case Studies series. In this episode, […]
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3 Simple Ways to Set Up A Website for Your Business
Every week, we answer a common question about marketing or an aspect of business. This week, our question comes from a fan who entered our giveaway contest for an Echo Dot. Today, we will answer the following question: “how do I set up a website?” The Basics of Setting Up […]
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How Coronavirus Will Affect the Auto Industry
This is the Coronavirus Case Studies series. Every post in this series will talk about how the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 will affect different businesses for years to come. We’re all still processing this massive, life-changing event. This week, we talk about how coronavirus will affect the auto industry. In […]
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Podcast: The Ups and Downs of Starting a Business
Are you thinking about starting a business, but want to know what you’re getting into? If so, this podcast is for you! This week, we talk extensively about the ups and downs of running a business. Brandon Rollins, the founder and CEO of Pangea Marketing walks us through the high […]
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Is it hard to start your own business?
Every week, we answer a common question about marketing or an aspect of business. This week, our question comes from a fan who entered our giveaway contest for a smartwatch. Today, we will answer the following question: “is it hard to start your own business?” Yes. Yes, it is. End […]
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Spotify: A Love Letter to Great User Experience
Up until June of 2017, I had always used iTunes / Apple Music. It was all I knew. I went through various iPod models, transferring music from my laptop to my iPod, making new playlists as I went along. I knew what Spotify was but never paid much attention to […]
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How Coronavirus Will Affect the Live Music Industry
This is the Coronavirus Case Studies series. Each post in this series will talk about how the coronavirus will affect different businesses for years to come. We’re all still processing this massive, life-changing event. This week, we talk about how coronavirus will affect the live music industry. There is not […]
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Podcast: Don’t Quit Your Day Job
Are you thinking of starting your own business, but still working a day job? If so, you are in luck. This week, we talk extensively about the pros and cons of quitting or not quitting your day job. Brandon Rollins, Pangea Marketing Agency’s founder and CEO, walks us through his journey […]
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How do I get more likes, followers, and comments on social media?
Every week, we answer a common question about marketing or an aspect of business. This week, our question comes from a fan who entered our giveaway contest for a Fire Stick and Echo Dot. Today, we will answer the following question: “how do I get more likes, followers, and comments […]
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Trending Products Your Small Business Can Sell Online in 2020
Hi there! I’m Maria and I want to help give you some ideas for trending items to sell during the upcoming holiday season. What are my qualifications, might you ask? I. Love. To. Shop. Plain and simple. I have separate “present bins” for each family set that I add gifts […]
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How Coronavirus Will Affect the Cruise Industry
This is the Coronavirus Case Studies series. Each post in this series will talk about how the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 will affect different businesses for years to come. We’re all still processing this massive, life-changing event. This week, we talk about how coronavirus will affect the cruise industry. The […]
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Podcast: Interview with John D’Angelo from Red Djinn Productions
John is preparing to launch his game, The Runelords, on Kickstarter, but is in a very interesting position. With a launch planned for earlier this year, due to the global pandemic, they were forced to postpone the launch date. John took this in stride and used this time to polish […]
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Why is there so much unclear information in marketing?
Every week, we answer a common question about marketing or an aspect of business. This week, our question comes from a fan who entered our giveaway contest for a smartwatch. Today, we will answer the following question: “why is there so much unclear information in marketing?” Let’s face it: when […]
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This Is Why User Experience Makes & Breaks Businesses
As technology continues to improve, people will spend more and more time with products, systems, and services. This can be very good, too, since technology removes irritation and inconvenience from day-to-day life. But ultimately, systems need to feel like they’re made by humans for humans. In other words, it’s really […]
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How Coronavirus Will Affect the Sports Industry
This is the Coronavirus Case Studies series. Every post in this series will talk about how the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 will affect different businesses for years to come. We’re all still processing this massive, life-changing event. This week, we talk about how coronavirus will affect sports. At the time […]
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20 More Real Marketing Questions, Answered
Marketing can be incredibly confusing. That’s why we ask people to send us their hard questions when entering our biweekly giveaways. In this podcast, we answer 20 real marketing questions! Listen in as we answer questions like: Who do you target with your marketing? How do you market internationally? Why […]
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How to stay productive while working from home
Every week, we answer a common question about marketing or an aspect of business. This week, our question comes from a fan who entered our giveaway for an Amazon Firestick and Echo Dot bundle. Today, we are going to be answering a different type of question: “how do I stay […]
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How Your Small Business Can Provide Excellent Customer Service
Hundreds of millions of businesses exist. At any given moment, hundreds are vying for your attention in subtle ways. Yet as we’ve adjusted to the ubiquity of logos and branding in our everyday life, it’s all become background noise. The one thing that really stands out – genuine human connection, […]
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How Coronavirus Will Affect the Film and Television Industry
This is the Coronavirus Case Studies series. Every post in this series will talk about how the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 will affect different businesses for years to come. We’re all still processing this massive, life-changing event. This week, we talk about how coronavirus will affect the film and television […]
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Podcast: Ryan Lowthian on Starting an Original Apparel Brand on Shopify
Starting your first business is brutally difficult. Even though Pangea was founded in 2019, I can hardly imagine how much harder it would be to launch a business in 2020! Yet some brave souls are doing that, and Ryan Lowthian is one of them. Ryan runs and owns Leviathan Clothing. […]
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What are some effective marketing strategies?
Every week, we answer a common question about marketing or an aspect of business. This week, our question comes from a fan who entered our giveaway contest for a smartwatch. Today, we will answer the following question: “what are some effective marketing strategies?” If you have followed the Quick Questions […]
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How to Streamline Product Returns and Generate Revenue
The title of this post may seem contradictory at a first glance. How can product returns become a source of revenue? The very act of handling returns means not only giving up revenue, but also incurring additional expenses in labor, supplies, and – for eCommerce companies – postage. Yet good […]
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How Coronavirus Will Affect the Order Fulfillment Industry
This is the Coronavirus Case Studies series. Every post in this series will talk about how the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 will affect different businesses for years to come. We’re all still processing this massive, life-changing event. This week, we talk about how coronavirus will affect the order fulfillment industry. […]
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Podcast: Overboard Games on Making Digital Versions of Board Games
Imagine that you’re creating a board game right now. Unfortunately, you can’t gather a crowd of people at your house to test it out, and all the conventions are cancelled. But there is still one way you can play with your friends: Tabletop Simulator. Kenny owns and runs Overboard Games. […]
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What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
Every week, we answer a common question about marketing or an aspect of business. This week, our question comes from a fan who entered our giveaway for an Amazon Firestick and Echo Dot bundle. Today, we will answer the following question: “what is SEO?” When you are thinking of ways […]
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How to Give Your Customer a Great Post-Purchase Experience
Think about the companies you most admire. Odds are, when you do that, you don’t just think about the products or services themselves, though they may be very good. You probably think of all the pleasant interactions and little acts of generosity that define your business relationship. In other words, […]
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How Coronavirus Will Affect the Gambling Industry
This is the Coronavirus Case Studies series. Every post in this series will talk about how the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 will affect different businesses for years to come. We’re all still processing this massive, life-changing event. This week, we talk about how coronavirus will affect the gambling industry. What […]
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Podcast: 20 Real Marketing Questions, Answered
Marketing can be incredibly confusing. That’s why we ask people to send us their hard questions when entering our biweekly giveaways. In this podcast, we answer 20 real marketing questions! Listen in as we answer questions like: How do mobile ads gain players? How do you make marketing less salesy […]
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How can I get sponsors for my small business?
Every week, we answer a common question about marketing or an aspect of business. This week, our question comes from a fan who entered our giveaway for an Amazon Firestick and Echo Dot bundle. Today, we will answer the following question: “how can I get sponsors for my small business?” […]
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16 Ways to Make Your Small Business Look Professional
The world is a big and noisy place. As a small business, it’s easy to get lost in a sea of megacorporations, left unable to make a real impression. Many businesses need help looking professional in a competitive market. Fortunately, it’s not hard to look professional! The modern internet is […]
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How Coronavirus Will Affect the Fitness Industry
This is the Coronavirus Case Studies series. Every post in this series will talk about how the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 will affect different businesses for years to come. We’re all still processing this massive, life-changing event. This week, we talk about how coronavirus will affect the fitness industry. What […]
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Podcast: Christopher and English on Tattoos, Art, Business, and Marriage
When you think of a small business you probably have images of the diner down the road or the coffee shop around the corner. But what about your local tattoo parlor? English and Christopher Cousins run Safe House Tattoo in Nashville, Tennessee. In this podcast, we talk about many subjects: […]
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How do I capture leads for my small business?
Every week, we answer a common question about marketing or an aspect of business. This week, our question comes from a fan who entered our giveaway for an Amazon Fire Stick and Echo Dot bundle. Today, we will answer the following question: “how do I capture leads for my small […]
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Product Mix: How to Boost Your Sales and Keep Your Business Fresh
Products come and products go, but businesses stay around for much longer. That’s because most businesses that succeed in the long-run don’t sell a single product or service. Indeed, successful businesses often rely on a unique product mix that keeps their business lively and fresh as the years go on. […]
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How Coronavirus Will Affect the eCommerce Industry
This is the Coronavirus Case Studies series. Every post in this series will talk about how the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 will affect different businesses for years to come. We’re all still processing this massive, life-changing event. This week, we talk about how coronavirus will affect the eCommerce industry. What […]
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Marketing is the Product Podcast: On CBD, the Emerging Industry
Here’s a riddle for you: imagine you’re starting up a shop selling a brand new kind of product. It’s poorly understood and a lot of people mistakenly associate it with illegal drugs. Yet every day, new research shows up touting the benefits of what you’re selling. That’s the situation that […]
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Can I pursue a career in marketing after working in another field?
Every week, we answer a common question about marketing or an aspect of business. This week, our question comes from a fan who entered our giveaway for an Amazon Firestick and Echo Dot bundle. Today, we will answer the following: “can I pursue a career in marketing after working in […]
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How to Design Packaging for Your Small Business
People judge books by their covers. They judge products by their covers, too. It’s no secret that packaging affects whether people will purchase your small business’s products. That’s why we’ll be talking about how to design packaging for your small business’s products. Basics of Branding for Small Business Before we […]
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How Coronavirus Will Affect the Aviation Industry
This is the Coronavirus Case Studies series. Every post in this series will talk about how the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 will affect different businesses for years to come. We’re all still processing this massive, life-changing event. This week, we talk about how coronavirus will affect the aviation industry. What […]
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Marketing is the Product Podcast: Tabletop Game Design & UX
Good marketing comes down to creating great experiences for your customers. This is known as UX, or user experience. In this week’s episode, we’ve brought on Sean Fallon, longtime UX consultant and owner of Smunchy Games. Sean’s passion is to create amazing tabletop games based on rich, complex worlds. Tune […]
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What resources should I use when starting a business?
Every week, we answer a common question about marketing or an aspect of business. This week, our question comes from a fan who entered our giveaway for an Amazon Firestick and Echo Dot bundle. Today, we will answer the following question: “what resources should I use when starting a business?” […]
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How to Brand Your Small Business
When asked to define marketing, many people think of advertising. They talk about how marketers use different tools to make money. Yet the job doesn’t stop there – marketing isn’t just about making money. It’s about spreading ideas. That’s why we’re going to teach you how to brand your small […]
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How Coronavirus Will Affect the Hospitality Industry
This is the Coronavirus Case Studies series. Every post in this series will talk about how the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 will affect different businesses for years to come. We’re all still processing this massive, life-changing event. This week, we talk about how coronavirus will affect the hospitality industry. What […]
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Marketing is the Product Podcast: What is Marketing?
Marketing is one of the most misunderstood disciplines. A lot of people think that it’s about pushiness, hard selling, and sleazy ads. In reality, though, it’s all about figuring out what people want and finding ways to give it to them. We’ll start featuring business owners as early as July. […]
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How to Register a Business in 6 Steps
Every week, we answer a common question about marketing or an aspect of business. This week, our question comes from a fan who entered our giveaway for an Amazon Firestick and Echo Dot bundle. Today, we will answer the following question: “how do I register a business?” When starting your […]
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Why It Takes So Long to Build a Great Business
To succeed in business is the dream of many people around the world. Becoming competent and making a lot of money is deeply satisfying on a number of different levels, so it’s no wonder that people pursue success with such motivation and vigor. Few really “make it,” though, and a […]
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How Coronavirus Will Affect the Restaurant Industry
Welcome to the first post in our Coronavirus Case Studies series. In each post, will we talk about how the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 will affect different businesses for years to come. We’re all still processing this massive, life-changing event. This week, we talk about how coronavirus will affect the […]
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Marketing is the Product Podcast: Who We Are & What We’re Doing
We have exciting news at Pangea! Starting today, we have launched a brand new podcast. The goal is simple: find small business owners and ask them how they built their businesses. By sharing others’ stories, we hope to inspire and encourage you, especially in this strange time. We’ll start featuring […]
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What are some underrated ways to advertise?
Every week, we answer a common question about marketing or an aspect of business. This week, our question comes from a fan who entered our giveaway contest for a Fire 7 Tablet. Today, we will answer the following question: “what are some underrated ways to advertise?” Advertising looks different for […]
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How to Avoid Burnout as a Small Business Owner
Sometimes you wake up in the morning and you don’t want to do anything. It happens to everyone. If you wake up every morning and don’t want to do anything, then something more sinister could be going on: burnout. It feels awful. That’s why we’re going to talking about how […]
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Why is everybody buying toilet paper?
Every week, we answer a common question about marketing or business. This week, we want to address one of the craziest things going on in our post-pandemic world. This week, we are going to answer that burning question on your mind: “why are people buying toilet paper in bulk?” Yes, […]
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How to Recover from Failure as a Small Business Owner
Fifty percent of small businesses fail. Or maybe it’s 66% or 70% – depends on who you ask. Failure – on a small scale or a grand scale – is a part of doing business. When you run a business, you need a plan not only to succeed but also […]
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The 3 Best Things About Working In Marketing
Every week, we answer a common question about marketing or business. This week, we are changing things up a bit. Many of you have asked some version of “what are the best things about working in marketing?” Today, we’re going to answer! 1. You get to help other people. One […]
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7 Important Factors to Consider When Pricing Your Products
When creating the perfect product for your customers, you have to ask yourself a lot of questions. What do they need the most? How can you best meet those needs? For whom is this product designed? One of the biggest questions, though, comes up when pricing products and services: how […]
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5 Ways to Increase Online Engagement
Every week, we answer a common question about marketing or business. This week, our question comes from a fan who entered our giveaway contest for a Fire Stick. Today, we will answer the following question: “what are five ways to increase online engagement?” Having an actively engaged online community is […]
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How to Find a Market Position for Your Small Business
It’s difficult to find your place in a noisy world. This is even truer for small business, where competition abounds. As if crafting the perfect product or service wasn’t hard enough, you have to craft great messages as well. In other words, you have to find your market position. Don’t […]
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How can giveaways help my small business?
Every week, we answer a common question about marketing or business. This week, our question comes from a fan who entered our giveaway contest for a Firestick and Echo Dot. Today, we will answer the following question: “how can giveaways help my small business?” You have been running your small […]
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Why the 4 P’s of Marketing Remain So Important
For a small business owner, wise use of marketing can tremendously improve the odds of meeting big goals. After all, the main goals of marketing are to improve customer satisfaction, generate profit, find or create demand, and craft a brand with a specific public image. All of these benefits and […]
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Should I outsource social media management?
Every week, we answer a common question about marketing or business. This week, our question comes from a fan who entered our giveaway contest for a smartwatch. Today, we will answer the following question: “should I outsource social media management?” We have talked in-depth in the past about social media […]
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Here Are 35 Factors That Control Your Consumer Buying Decisions
When you walk into a store, you are surrounded by different products. As you traipse down the aisle, you make thousands of tiny decisions. You purchase some items and pass on others. Sometimes you stick to your list, and other times you don’t. Do you ever wonder what’s behind your […]
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How can I reach more people?
Every week, we answer a common question about marketing or business. This week, our question comes from a fan who entered our giveaway for an Amazon Firestick and Echo Dot bundle. Today, we will answer the following question: “how can I reach more people?” In business, reaching your target audience […]
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This is Why Product-Market Fit is So Important in Business
If you want to make money, you need to sell something with good product-market fit. There is no way around this. It is an essential truth of business. If you searched through our entire blog for the phrase “product-market fit”, you’d find it in at least 70% of our articles. […]
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How do you stand out in a crowded market?
Every week, we answer a common question about marketing or business. This week, our question comes from a fan who entered our giveaway contest for a smartwatch. Today, we will answer the following question: “how do you stand out in a crowded market?” In an increasingly globalized world, it can […]
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Why You Should Segment Your Market and How to do it
Last week, we took a closer look at the importance of finding your target market. This is the first step in being able to execute marketing plans effectively. Now we are going to take this concept one step further and talk about market segmentation: what it is, how to do […]
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What are some easy ways to market your products?
Every week, we answer a common question about marketing or business. This week, our question comes from a fan who entered our giveaway contest for a smartwatch. Today, we will answer the following question: “what are some easy ways to market your products?” There are a thousand different ways to […]
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How to Find a Target Market for Your Small Business
Finding a target market is critical to success in business. Focusing on a specific group of people helps you pursue clear goals and make excellent products or services. This week, we are going to talk about target markets at length. In this post, we’ll talk about: What a target market […]
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7 Funny Marketing Moments
Every week, we answer a common question about marketing or an aspect of business. In one of our contests, someone simply sent us the phrase “funny marketing moments” when we asked “what confuses you about marketing?” They misunderstood the question, but we’ll run with it! This week, we’re going to […]
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Services vs. Products: What You Need to Know
Every small business owner asks themselves the same question at some point. “Should I sell services or should I sell products?” The battle of services vs. products has no clear victor. In this article, we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both options so that you can make an […]
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How do I start a blog?
Every week, we answer a common question about marketing or an aspect of business. This week, our question comes from a fan who entered our giveaway for an Amazon Fire Stick and Echo Dot bundle. Today, we answer: “how do I start a blog?” Blogging is a great way to […]
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Why Product Lifecycle is So Important in Business
Pet Rocks. Tamagotchis. Fidget spinners. Some products become very successful very quickly, only to fade in prominence after a short period of time. Fads are remarkable because of how quickly this happens, but the simple fact is that all products have a product lifecycle. Understanding this simple truth and all […]
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Should I use cold calling to grow my business?
Every week, we answer a common question about marketing or business. This week, our question comes from a fan who entered our giveaway contest for a Fire 7 Tablet. Today, we will answer the following question: “should I use cold calling to grow my business?” Cold calling is a very […]
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How to Develop New Products: A Guide for Small Business Owners
Businesses develop new products to grow and thrive. That means developing new products well is one of the most important things a business can do. Fortunately, no matter what business you’re in, the process of creating new products is pretty similar, even if the outcomes are different. Wikipedia even has […]
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How do I analyze marketing data?
Every week, we answer a common question about marketing or business. This week, our question comes from a fan who entered our giveaway contest for a Fire 7 Tablet. Today, we will answer the following question: “how do I analyze marketing data?” Finding Your Marketing Data Analyzing your data is […]
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Why Do New Products Matter for Small Businesses Anyway?
Ah, the bliss of creating new products. Many small businesses live and die on their ability to make new products and services to delight their customers and meet unmet needs. Yet when we see other more established firms like Spanx and Roku lean on a single product, we can find […]
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