The Ten Minute Marketer's Secret Formula

Often, new entrepreneurs spend a fortune on expensive mass market advertisements expecting that word will get out about their new business and customers will line up at their front door money in hand. Unfortunately, this situation rarely occurs. More often than not, mass market advertisements simply drain the pockets of the new entrepreneur while producing very little profit in return. The 10-Minute Marketer's Secret Formula: A Shortcut to Extraordinary Profits Using Neighbourhood Marketing suggests that most new entrepreneurs have a variety of low-cost, easy to make use of promotional resources in their very own neighbourhood. The tips and information in this book are sure to be helpful to any new entrepreneur. It is refreshing to read a marketing book that reminds new business owners that good solid ideals of customer service, reliable workmanship, and use of inexpensive neighbourhood resources build stable long term business foundations long after the initial marketing blitz has lost its lustre. Often new entrepreneurs get so caught up in the glitz that they forget about the long term future of their business.

When such a marketing behemoth as McDonald's cuts their mass marketing budget by 1/3, then it is clear that mass marketing is one its way out. This example is one of many Feltenstein gives in his book to demonstrate that the age of mass marketing is over. What is in, is very targeted marketing to those nearest to your actual business-in short, your immediate neighborhood. Feltenstein is a marketing consultant who has worked for many top companies, and he brings his extensive wisdom and teaching to this book. The book is very easy to read, and from page one delivers concise, usable information. No honest reader can read this book even for ten minutes and not come away with some useful tidbits to apply immediately. There are twenty-five chapters and two appendices in this book. Each chapter is about some aspect of "neighborhood marketing," and the first appendix contains twenty-seven forms that correspond to the marketing lessons from the book. In this way, the book functions almost as a workbook, providing theory (albeit very practical theory) in the main section and praxis in the appendix. The thrust of Feltenstein's message is that local businesses must think locally. This includes not just the immediate geographic "neighborhood," but also their database and their actual, physical store. More damage can be done, Feltenstein cautions, by dirty floors and uninspired workers than by the absence of a mass marketing message. Businesses should make a plan that includes in-store merchandising and personnel training, local promotion (direct response mailings and cross-promotions with other local establishments), and data management (crunching numbers to see what works and what doesn't). I highly recommend this book for anyone in business, especially in small or home business. This book packs a punch on every page, and a marketer or business person could study this book for an entire year without exhausting its resources. My advice: Get a copy, read it once through, and then commit to reading a chapter each week. Take notes on your reading and convert those notes into goals and action steps. Follow through with your action steps, achieve your goals, and follow Feltenstein's wisdom all the way to a more successful business.

Get your resumes together because Tom Feltenstein has nailed this one. In a world where consumers are bombarded with media messages at every turn, it is refreshing to see someone who "gets it". Customers are not some statistic in a demographic survey, they are real people who live and work within the few miles from our stores. This is an absolute must-have for retailers and marketers who want to break through a transaction-based relationship with their customers and learn to build strong, emotional connections created to build loyalty. Neighborhood Marketing is the buzz word for the future!

Reading 10 Minute Marketer's Secret Formula was a terrific exercise in helping me address the marketing needs of my business. The subject matter provides an effective, economic solutions to sales challanges we all face.

I've been struggling for quite awhile to grow my small business. Finally, I found a resource that helped! The 10-Minute Marketer is an excellent resource for people interesting in growing their business on a limited budget. The book gives common-sense advice about how to think about your business and offers some really cool ideas that are easy to understand and easy to implement. I found the forms very useful --- for the first time I actually have a promotional calendar for my business and have started involving my employees on ways to grow our business. I was really surprised at how excited they were to talk about their ideas. I should have done this years ago! I emailed the company (www.tomfeltenstein.com) and extra sets of the forms were sent to me immediately. I recommend this book to anyone who needs a good kick in the pants to get excited about growing the business again.