Inbound Marketing Blog

In 1911, newspaper publisher William Randolph Hurst made an offer of $50,000 to the first person who could fly a plane from New York to LA in under 30 consecutive days. Calbraith "Cal" Perry Rogers took up the challenge.

Of course, Cal didn't have any money. He had the plane, but in the "good ole days" an airplane required a very large support crew. So, he started talking to businesses about possible sponsorship and was able to secure a sponsorship from Amour and Company for the 1911 Wright Flyer. The company had created a new grape soft drink and wanted to get the word out.

The Vin Fiz Flyer was born. Emblazoned with the logo for Vin Fiz and messages of "Drink Vin Fiz" and "Ideal Grape Drink," Cal began his journey across North America from Sheepshead Bay, New York on September 17, 1911. Not to be outdone, all of the support train cars, paid for by Armour and Company, also sported messages of "Drink Vin Fiz."

Of course, none of this changed the fact that the grape soda advertised as the "Sparkling Grape Drink" did not even come close to living up to its purported luster.

Years ago I worked in the office equipment industry. The companies I worked for sold copiers and printers to businesses, organization, etc. During my tenure at my last copier company, HP rolled out a new copier line. They simply relabeled a line from Konica Minolta.

Our company decided to pick up this line and sell it.

It wasn't a very good copier line. Which is probably why the product line was scrapped after a short while.

I remember asking our rep, "Who is your target market?"

Back came the response, "We sell to small & medium business, departments in large businesses and large businesses."

"So," I said, "you sell to everyone?"

The technological age has really pushed products to the limit when it comes to their life cycle. With new products and software replacing older versions faster than they can even be marketed, the speed of technology is still increasing at an exponential rate. It can sometimes very difficult to stay on top of these trends as a consumer, let a lone a business operating in the industry.

What is a SWOT analysis? It is a fundamental concept in a start-up company and directly affects the marketing plan and demographics being targeted. SWOT is simply the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats to your specific business.

/The average person browsing the Internet sees links, content, and graphics. A digital marketing team sees people. Individuals who have put in the time and energy to make sure everything flows nicely, the content is of high quality, links work, and every search engine has been used to its fullest. In digital marketing, your team is crucial to your success. In order to build a successful team, several positions need to be filled.

Executing an advertising campaign using any medium can be significantly challenging. The question of whom to target, how to target them, and what message to convey can sometimes leave an advertiser with too many questions to handle. As the inherent nature of the online community is to be wary of promotions or messages on the Internet, it makes the task of delivering the communication even more challenging for the online marketer.