Marketing
920 posts
The Secret Power Of Promises
Have you noticed that about a month out from Christmas people begin not to be able to promise you anything? “We’ll try to fit you in, but…you know how it is at this time of year. We can’t promise you anything.” Promises are the reason we trust the brands that we trust. Promises are the…
The Question Your Competitors Forgot To Ask
The foundation of many businesses is a simple what. What do we serve and sell, for how much, at what profit margin? Getting stuck in ‘the what’ puts you squarely in the commodities business. If the value you create is purely tangible then you’re not giving people a reason to care about your brand, o
The Real Reason The Microsoft Store Is Empty
Clues about what matters to people and how their emotions drive their choices are all around us and there’s no better time to see evidence of this in action than during the festive season. Slate recently posted two images that tell two very different brand stories. Both photos were taken on what sho
Price Is A Story We Tell Ourselves
I’m worth it. It might be gone tomorrow. You could make it at home for half that. This is a one off. People pay for intangible value all the time. Consider Uber, “the app that connects you with a driver at the tap of a button” on your smartphone. If you simply need to get…
Seth Godin Is Coming To Australia
Seth’s never made it to Australia before, but he’s finally coming next year. Yes, those were cartwheels you imagined! Anyone who has been following Seth’s work for a while knows that this is a big deal. I’ve got no idea if he’ll make it back ever again, but I’m thrilled that he’s coming this time.…
Ditch The Business Plan And Write A Letter To Your Future Customer
This might sound like a pointless and obvious exercise that’s easy to do…..so why would anyone bother? I guarantee you, that if more of the forgettable businesses you’ve visited and never been back to, had written this letter (or their own version of it), they’d be one step closer to remarkable. Tim
The Biggest Problem Facing Entrepreneurs…
…is love. People with great ideas (and average ones too) are in love with the idea itself. Because we’re human, we become irrationally seduced by the potential of our own solutions. This blinds us to what matters most, to the thing that gives the idea the best chance to fly. Being in love with the…
Why Is The Next Time Never Like The First Time?
Twelve years ago we took our boys on a family holiday to Tuscany. We spent a whole magical day just wandering the beautiful walled city of Lucca. It was there that we had our first taste of real Italian gelato. It turns out that Lucca is the perfect place for circling back on yourself, which…
What Customers Believe Is Your Competitive Advantage
Ask any business owner about how they stand apart from the competition and they’ll probably begin with the tangible, the things they can easily explain. “We offer a more competitive interest rate.” “Our products have more features. “We have better distribution.” In 2008 Windows accounted for 84% of
What If Your Customers Could Talk?
When was that last time you couldn’t wait to click on a banner ad? Marketers will spend $500 billion on advertising this year. Someone clearly believes advertising is working, even if it’s not. We still think that marketing is how we talk to people about ourselves. Marketing is giving people somethi
How To Write A Mission Statement
By definition a mission statement is the official line on the aims and objectives of your organisation. Academic papers have been written about how mission statements must be cogent (possibly one of the ugliest words in the history of the English language in my opinion). Your mission statement shoul
What Are You Promising?
I loved Ryan’s corner shop when I was a little girl. The smells of freshly delivered bread mingled with newsprint from the Evening Herald. It was a relief that Mr Ryan knew exactly what kind of ham your mother would want, without you having to explain in detail the part about making sure it was…
5 Better Ways To Tell The Story Of Your Products And Services
I once heard a tea taster who tasted 1,000 cups of tea a day, explain that the secret to the perfect cup of tea was the water. He said that “water is the mother of tea”. That one phrase was enough to hold me still for a second longer. That’s something we all need to…
Digital Empathy And The Secret To Writing Better Emails
We have a problem. One that the Internet and an ‘always on’ world has magnified. I call it ‘Iitis’. We’re all guilty of it, both online and offline. Spend some time today just listening to the exchanges that happen all around you. Conversations between friends at the café. An exchange between the ba
How Do I Sell My Idea?
This is probably the question I get asked the most. The truth is it’s the wrong place to start. You actually begin with a different question altogether, and that is. How am I going to help people to care about this? If you understand that you’re more than halfway there. Image by Pimpthida.
The 11 Whys Of Product Development
In my work with companies, entrepreneurs and businesses of all stripes, here’s what I’ve found. We mostly get stuck not because we don’t know the right answer, but because we haven’t begun to ask the right questions. Here’s a handy list of questions to ask before you bring your product, service or i
The Difference Between A Good Idea And A Great Idea Is Just One Thing
Actually, the difference between a good and a great anything, (business, movie, hotel, product, blog, book, packaging, design, app, talk, school, song, art…..keep going), is that the great stuff, the things we give a damn about have the heart left in them. Heart the verb, not the hollow muscular org
Your Work Is A Gift. Talking With James Victore
Your work is a gift. Doesn’t this stop you in your tracks for a second? That’s what it did to me when I saw James’s Victore’s talk on the subject (well worth bookmarking to watch later). James runs an independent design studio in Brooklyn, he is known for his original thinking and unforgettable work
Being Undervalued Vs. Being ‘The One’
Design is undervalued. So is journalism, and songwriting, and the guy who wrote the code that made the balls in the app bounce. I can have a logo designed for $249 using one of many crowd sourced design platforms. I’ll get 30 designs to choose from and although many will dispute this, it will probab
Attention Is A Two Way Street
Do you know what’s really ironic? Businesses spend thousands of dollars, manpower, head space and creative energy trying to get the attention of potential customers, and when they get it they waste it. The question for all of us, (not just in business but also in life) is how can we expect what we’r
