Follow the leaders

A website is probably your greatest marketing tool. Here are a few marketing gurus to help you plan your marketing strategy.

Simon Sinek

The Golden Circle

“People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe”

Simon Sinek has a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership all starting with a golden circle and the question "Why?" His examples include Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers -- and as a counterpoint Tivo, which (until a recent court victory that tripled its stock price) appeared to be struggling.

Summary

Why

Purpose, cause or belief. The Why is your driving motivation for action.

How

Guiding principles. The Hows are the specific actions that are taken to realize your Why.

What

Tangible proof, results. The Whats are the tangible ways in which you bring your Why to life.

Watch Simon speak at TED.com : How great leaders inspire action

Alexis Ohanian

How to make a splash in social media

In a funny, rapid-fire 4 minutes, Alexis Ohanian of Reddit tells the real-life fable of one humpback whale's rise to Web stardom. The lesson of Mister Splashy Pants is a shoo-in classic for meme-makers and marketers in the Facebook age.

Elevator Pitch - Do you have one?

The single best thing you can do to make your pitch is to deliver what Horn calls a 5C pitch:

1. Clear

2. Compelling

3. Current

4. Competitive Edge

5. Commercially -- viable

In this 90 second video Sam Horn explains how to POP an elevator speech about what you do.

Seth Godin

How to get your ideas to spread

In a world of too many options and too little time, our obvious choice is to just ignore the ordinary stuff. Marketing guru Seth Godin spells out why, when it comes to getting our attention, bad or bizarre ideas are more successful than boring ones.

More Inspiration