You could have the best product in the world and it wouldn’t help… You could have the best advertising agency in the world to create the best marketing campaign for the best product in the world and it wouldn’t help… You could have the most famous celebrity in the world as a spokesperson for your [...]

Advertisers spend millions of dollars each year trying to convince consumers that if things aren’t going right in their life, all they need to do is make a physical change. From a new hair style to wardrobe upgrade to luxurious car, the change is promoted as a way to improve a person’s mental outlook. Ah, [...]

On the same day “Words, Bad Words and Euphemisms” was published, highlighting the folly of using words to misdirect the true meaning of a message, the Associated Press (AP) announced that its Stylebook would omit the terms illegal immigrants and illegal aliens. Instead, acceptable variations include living in or entering a country illegally or without [...]

As a child, I frequently sprinkled my language with colorful adjectives that would make a sea-weary sailor blush. My parents did not know what to do with me. More likely they didn’t know how to explain my behavior to neighbors. Growing up in Bell Park Gardens, a cooperative in Bayside, New York, that was built [...]

Are you the victim of FUD? If you read newspapers, watch television, visit websites or listen to the radio, there’s a chance you’ve been a frequent FUD victim. Not only are you a victim, but you probably don’t even know you’re being victimized. Here are some examples: You’re informed that if you use a competing [...]

The featured photo for this article shows me reading a marketing email message for a product that caught my attention only to find that the company did everything except include a call to action to close the sale. Email marketing is extremely important and if you’re not including it as part of your overall marketing [...]

Businesses large and small have marketing campaigns that highlight how they strive to satisfy their customers with outstanding products and/or services. Yet, even an award-winning marketing campaign can become an albatross when something goes utterly wrong. Whether or not it’s the company’s fault, the business should have a contingency plan for handling both the emergency [...]

Love is in the air with Valentine’s Day fast approaching. In the featured photo for this article, I am holding the heart I sewed for Larry in 1973 to celebrate our first Valentine’s Day. We had met the previous July, but didn’t marry until 1976. He thought the awkwardly sewn heart was worthy of being [...]

Every day a new business opens its doors where cynics have told the proprietor there are already too many stores offering the same product. Every day someone goes into a career where naysayers have told the professional that there are already too many selling the same service. Every day someone decides to run for political [...]

The New Year is just a few days old and I am still “celebrating” a 2012 failure that I believe will guide me to a successful 2013. It began in September 2011, when I held an introductory meeting for a new Toastmasters club. Having been a member of another club since 2009, I thought a [...]

Several years ago I upgraded my bathroom to include an enlarged shower stall. I told the contractor I needed two shelves: one to hold the soap and the other for the shampoos. He found it amusing that I had so many shampoos when a person only needs one to wash their hair. However, many people, [...]

Robin Itzler usually writes The Marketing Maven for our online news, and Pet Tails for our monthly print edition. However, the recent adventures of three exotic Serval cats in Los Alamitos inspired this article for oc-breeze.com. Editor’s note: we updated this article to correct the address of Pups and Pals. On Saturday night, Dec. 15, [...]