Marketing
920 posts
Narrow And Deep Vs. The Market Of Everyone
When you were ten years old all any marketer needed to know about you, or the people in your street was that you owned a TV. In a world of limited choices big companies could afford to cast the net wide across the masses. No depth required. This tactic doesn’t work so well now that…
The Secret Of Disruptive Innovations
When the online eyewear retailer Warby Parker began selling boutique-quality glasses at a $95 price point they weren’t just trying to undercut the bigger players in the industry. Of course they did that and more, growing the company by 500% in just a year and mostly by word of mouth. The average cus
5 Ways To Tell A Better Brand Story Today
It turns out telling your brand story is more about doing than telling. Here are five things you can do today to begin telling a better brand story. 1. Review and rewrite your about page. A great about page isn’t all about you. It should communicate how you can help or delight the reader. That’s…
What’s Your Plan For The Other 364 Days?
It’s interesting to watch businesses of all stripes trying to attach a layer of Mother’s Day meaning to their brands. I’m not sure how you surprise your Mum with running shoes from the “40% off women’s sports shoe sale”. Finding a way to jump on the bandwagon of the day doesn’t take a lot of…
If You Don’t Like The Story Tell A Different One
The manager at Muffin Break is frustrated. Yet again she’s discovered a customer from the jam-packed sushi bar opposite sitting at one of her tables eating lunch. Of course she wastes no time asking the sushi-eater to leave. I wonder what would happen if instead of angrily telling people to move on,
The Real Job Of A Marketer
When a mother of two stands browsing the birthday cake supplies at the local Cook & Dine store she’s not imagining how well the piping bags will work. She’s imagining how she will feel when her little girl’s face lights up at the party on Sunday afternoon. We think our job is to change how…
Paying Attention To The Clues Your Customers Leave
“People tell us who they are, but we ignore it because we want them to be who we want them to be.” — Donald Draper Have you ever watched someone shopping? People touch things that catch their eye. They buy things that are not on their list because something changed how they feel in the…
It’s Business. It’s Personal
When did business stop being personal and become an activity we engage in? It wasn’t always this way. In 12000 BC when Obsidian was used for trades, business was about making fair exchanges of value based on trust. When pioneer farmers traded labour with their neighbours to make harvesting more effi
10 Ways To Make People Fall In Love With Your Brand Without Having Donald Draper On The Payroll
In the 60s there was no distinction between advertising and marketing. Everything has changed. 1. Create something that’s not for everyone. If you’re speaking to everyone you’re getting through to no one. Sanuk, shoes that are not shoes. Dollar Shave Club, shave tech for the enlightened. 2. Make a b
What People Want Then And Now
In the 70s and 80s you didn’t download music you owned it. If you cared enough about an artist or a song you had to wait for the vinyl to be pressed. Sometimes you waited in line hoping that EMI or Sony had sent enough copies to your local store. There you met other fans,…
The Real Job Of The Genius
On a recent trip to the Genius Bar at the Apple Store I discovered the real job of the Genius. While you might think that the role of the Genius is to fix things, it’s not. The first job of the Genius is to acknowledge your problem and to change how you feel. Chad told…
What’s Wrong With Business Communication And How To Fix It
Business has got a problem. It’s pervasive, eats away at human connection and strips meaning from our interactions. While trying to be professional and sound more knowledgeable we’re sanitising and jargonising our conversations. This is killing our ability to communicate. So how do we transition fro
10 Things That Work Better Than SEO In The Connection Economy
A decade ago if you owned the URL wineseller.com and stuffed your website full of keywords you’d won. You can’t earn loyalty in a category today simply by gaming Google because your customers are searching for relevance not just keywords. Ten things to think about beyond SEO. 1. Build a brand not ju
The Cycle Of Persuasion Vs The Cycle Of Loyalty
Shout. Your agenda. Short term gain. 50% off. Buy now pay later. Big funnel gathering the most prospects. Or…. Talk in whispers. Your customer’s agenda. Building trust over time. Products and services people can’t help talking about. “A few people loving you up close and about those people being eno
10 Reasons People Buy Your Product Or Share Your Idea
People buy your product or share your idea because….. 1. It makes them feel…better, smarter, more beautiful, healthier, safe, loved and on and on. Online courses, Jimmy Choo shoes, perfume, gym membership, life insurance, organic fruit. 2. They are looking for a shortcut. Information, more time, eas
Your Biggest Obstacle
“Here’s what I’ve got.” Joe said, as he held out his product to me. It wasn’t just a product though. This was something that had consumed him and five figures of his hard earned cash for months. The market research he’d taken as a green light to get going a year earlier hadn’t paid off.…
Sales Is…..
sales noun 1. The exchange of a commodity for money; the action of selling something. 2. A quantity or amount sold. Actually sales is understanding how your customer wants to feel, not what she wants to buy and doing everything you can to get her there. Image by Ed Yourdon.
Winning In The Story Economy
Back to my hair salon. Sally shows up on time. She gets through two colours and three trims buy lunch, then waits impatiently for the hands on the clock to turn the next four hours until closing. Carmel makes five minutes to chat to the pensioner who took two buses to get there. She remembers…
The Third Secret Of Great Marketing
It’s the reason Dropbox’s revenue hit $240 million in 2011 despite giving away their product for free and how Instagram has grown to 100 million users. Stand in your customers’ shoes. Start with their story. Image by Trey Ratcliff.
The Death Of Retail. The Symptom Is Not The Problem
Georgina owns and operates a speciality gluten free food store in Brisbane and like many retailers she’s experiencing a problem. Increasingly people are coming to browse but not to buy. The perception is that if I can get it cheaper or faster online why would I make the trip to your store? So Georgi
