brand awareness
253 posts
The Two Questions Behind Every Successful Product And Service
There’s a subtle difference between a product or service that stems from an idea and one that’s born from recognising an opportunity. Ideas are solutions in search of problems. Opportunities are problems begging for a solution. The magic of solving problems for a specific customer is that the market
The Number One Way To Create Brand Awareness
There was something peculiar about the SoHo hotel where I stayed on my recent overseas trip. I didn’t see a single child for the length of my stay. Nowhere in their marketing does the management specify their property is unsuitable for children and yet because they are uncompromising about going all
Bridging The Scarcity Gap
The man riding in the lift with me hit the button for the highest, and arguably the best floor in the hotel. I remarked that he must have great views from there. He shrugged his shoulders, then started to complain about his inability to open the windows to let the fresh air in. The scarcity…
Ten Things Your Competitors Don’t Do
YOUR COMPETITORS DON’T… 1. Obsess about how their products and services make customers feel. 2. Help people to ‘buy in’ and belong (not just to buy). 3. Make something that’s not for everyone. 4. Question how they could do it better. 5. Listen twice as much as they talk. 6. Do what they say they…
Why How We Buy Matters
Forty years ago when Mr Ryan the greengrocer was thinking about his marketing strategy he didn’t have as much to consider as we do today. His customers were locals. They arrived on foot, only bought what they could carry and shopped every day. It was important to have fresh produce, a ready smile an
The Patient Marketer
The couple are examining winter jackets on a rail in the department store when the sales assistant makes a beeline for them. ‘What size are we looking for?’ he says, helpfully. They explain that they’re just looking, but he continues to follow them around offering assistance. So they excuse themselv
What Are Your Customers Looking For?
We are sometimes in the dark about what our customers want, so we make assumptions or ask them in the hope of happening upon the truth. There is a third way to get closer to our customers—one we regularly overlook. People’s actions and reactions can reveal more about their internal dialogue than the
What Standout Brands Do
Have you ever noticed how a crowd exits a packed venue? Even when there are three exits most people take the middle one. You see this play out in business too. Take a walk through the running shoe department in any sports store, and you’ll find little to differentiate one shoe from another. When one
The Listening Marketer
When I was young, Maeve Binchy was one of my favourite writers. She had this knack of creating characters who came alive. You somehow felt the people who owned the shops and arrived late for mass were real, and you knew them. I learned later from listening to interviews with Binchy that they were—at
Where Does Your Story Start?
The easiest part of telling your story is writing it down. The hardest part is knowing what to say and why it’s important for your audience to hear. You must begin by wondering why someone (not everyone), will care about what you’re creating. That very act of questioning forces you to dig deeper and
The Value Question
What’s the one unanswered question you believe would unlock the most value in your business? Why does it matter? How would knowing the answer change your strategy? Where can you find the information you need? What’s stopping you? Image by Derrick Story.
Where Do Most Brand Stories Come Unstuck?
We spend a lot of time finding the right words—the ones that will differentiate us from our competitors and compel the right people to covet and click. And yet even though we’ve assembled the perfect words customers can still sense a disconnect. It isn’t our words in isolation, but the intention beh
What Makes Or Breaks A Business?
When we think about business successes or failures we focus on the highs and lows—the news-worthy triumphs or missteps. These are the moments in which we believe businesses are made or broken. Our theory couldn’t be further from the truth. Businesses succeed or fail on an ordinary Friday afternoon w
The Brand Awareness Checklist
In a competitive, commercial environment the logic is the more people who know about your business the more successful it will be. So we prioritise making more people aware. But if ‘awareness’ is your problem then asking how to get more of it is the wrong question to begin with. The better place to
The Easy Part Of Marketing
The easy part of marketing is working out what to say, when and where, to whom, in order to sell what we make. We expend most of our energy on the easy part. The hard part is understanding why it’s important to say what we’re about to say and who will care enough to listen.…
The Simple (Not Easy) Strategy For Business Growth
When we think about business development opportunities, we mostly begin by knowing exactly where we are today and what goals we want to reach next. From there we set out to widen our net and acquire more customers or users for our existing products and services. Our growth strategy starts with the n
More Vs. Deeper
On the surface of it, the all-you-can-eat buffet seems like a generous bargain. Why is it then that we walk away having had our fill without feeling satisfied? The truth is we know that far from being generous the offer of ‘more’ is a tactic to get the most people through the door. We understand…
Why You Need To Build A Story-Driven Business
What drives our desire to get better at telling the story of our products, services and companies? We’re used to thinking of story as a way to create and communicate value. We know the running shoe with a tick on the side is more valuable than the one without because of the expectations and meaning…
A Question Of Priorities
A priority is defined as something worthy of special attention. We get better at prioritising the things that are most important when we stop to question if our actions align with this definition. Consider the things that unintentionally become a priority in your day, that then go on to form and aff
Shouting To Be Heard
If we want our ideas to be embraced, we have two choices. We can shout to be heard, or we can listen to understand. When we shout, we’re not even sure who is listening. When we understand we know what the listener is ready to hear next. We all know which strategy has the best…
