strategy Tag

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Planner of Marketing… A friend who runs an ad agency told me he just declined a prospective client. Even though that prospect was a great guy with a great business, he refused to pay for a campaign plan, and would only pay for the production work. I told my friend that I, too, would have passed. I see a marketing plan as the blueprint, the screenplay, the treasure map, so it’s undervalued at even $10,000 or $20,000. A plan also drawsRead More

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Guy Who Sure Likes To Talk… I had the chance to sit (actually, Skype) with Joshua Smith, a dynamic and popular podcaster, realtor, personal coach, and fitness expert (see his site, GSD Mode). As you can see, I’m not a video person — I prefer to lecture live or write — but speaking to someone as informed and energetic as Josh made it easy. The chat was scheduled for 30-45 minutes, but an entire hour and a half flew by. PleaseRead More

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Marketing Professor… Do marketing plans come from factory assembly lines these days? The advice is so generic and commodified, someone on AliExpress must be selling it for 40-cents a piece as long as you buy 100 of them. Take this article about marketing the L.A. Rams NFL franchise. It contains two words that would make most experienced marketers groan in weariness: The S-Word: Social Media The M-Word: Millennials Those two words were a running gag in my Marketing Strategy course. IfRead More

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Marketing Professor; photo by Manuel Cacciatore via Wikimedia Commons… So you’d like to learn more about business but can’t take a class right now. Or maybe the idea of school gives you nightmares about forgetting class until the final exam. (Been there, dreamed that.) No problem. While I teach university courses, I understand the need to learn on your own. So I compiled this business reading list to enlighten, inspire, even entertain. Academic vs Commercial Most of these books are lightRead More

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Craft Beer Lover Before He Was A Drinker… How should you feel when one of your favorite local brands gets snapped up by a giant multinational corporation? Shouldn’t you just feel giddy that a small-business owner hit the jackpot? Well, try to remember when your favorite radio station got devoured by the zombies at Clear Channel. Or perhaps your charming regional bank got snorted up by a soulless Wall Street behemoth. Or imagine your favorite local restaurant or coffee shop gettingRead More

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC + Avid Inc. Reader If you’re an entrepreneur or run a small company, you should read Inc. magazine. One issue contains more insightful, practical advice than some of the semester-long classes I endured in business school. And a subscription to Inc. will put you back a whopping $13 – or less than the price of a movie ticket. (Should you invest in advice from business experts or Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter? You decide…) But no one is infallible. Not even me.Read More

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + A Guy Who Loves His Customers (well, most of ’em)… Q: What consumer and market research guided the iPad development? Steve Jobs: “None. It isn’t the consumers’ job to know what they want.” – from the New York Times Customer centricity argues that companies should restructure their strategies and operations to put customers in the center. What’s wrong with that?Read More

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Crabcake Junkie; photo by Stu Spivack via Wikimedia Commons… In my ongoing quest to find anything of value on Twitter, I started following Umair Haque, a strategy advisor who writes for Harvard Business Publishing. Haque recently blasted someone else’s article: “i strongly rec everyone read https://bit.ly/GdroN and reflect on why its 1) bad business 2) ethically questionable + 3) lame.” That micro-rant sounded like something I’d write, so I checked the offending article out…Read More

by Freddy J. Nager, Founder & Fusion Director of Atomic Tango LLC So you finally found that gadget you’ve been dreaming about — you know, the one with the 60″ screen, built-in WiFi, and ability to make a perfect crème brulee at the touch of a button. Better yet, you found it advertised at just the right price… but you didn’t notice the fine print. Only after getting to the store do you notice the word that causes blistering steam to blast out of your ears and nostrils…Read More

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango + Price Pacifist; photo by Artem Beliaikin on Unsplash… Imagine you’re selling lemonade from your friendly neighborhood stand when — BAM! — you’re torpedoed by a rival who cuts his price in half. That inglorious bastard! Here you two had settled upon a comfy price point — legally, of course, with no collusion — and he had to upset the balance…Read More