brand values
582 posts
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,
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 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
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 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
The Most Important Question You’re Forgetting To Ask
From the outside looking in The Lego Group had a hugely successful business a decade ago. It was a beloved brand that seemed to be surviving the digital age. The balance sheet told a different story though and Lego had more years in the red than in the black between 1998 and 2004. Part of…
Tell The Story You Want To Tell
You are not the first person (or the last) to admit that you’ve ended up doing the wrong thing. For the wrong people. For the wrong reasons. Something that didn’t bring you the joy you thought it would. If you’ve ever wound up at the end of a path that you have chosen and wondered…
Three True Stories
To all of Arthur’s family, We were so sorry that everything ended up so badly for you all last week. It is so difficult when owners are prepared to do anything to cure their pet’s problem and it’s still not possible. Thank you for allowing us to try. He was part of your lives for…
One Trick Pony
In the 1800’s small travelling circuses without big headline acts or a menagerie of exotic animals were known as dog and pony shows. The very average acts on the programme were derided as ‘one trick ponies’. When I was growing up conventional wisdom said that you must strive never to be a ‘one trick
This Time Next Year
“This time next year we’ll be millionaires!” —Derek Trotter CEO of Trotters Independent Traders You probably spend a great deal of time setting business goals, working on strategy and planning for growth. It’s the sensible thing to do. After all how can you get to where you want to go if you don’t k
Perfect
When a Ryanair flight touches down on time a fanfare sounds over the public address system to celebrate the fact. Flights that arrive on time might be cause for celebration for the airline, but that’s no longer enough to delight most passengers. Just twenty years ago when you made an expensive long
The Difference Between Value And Valuable
On Saturday a single rose would have cost you $5. Today and tomorrow it’s $8. While you clearly got better value for your dollar on Saturday, the roses are more valuable to you today. Who decides then where the value lies and what’s valuable? The value of your product isn’t just in the price you…
How To Get The Customers You Deserve
You’ve heard a version of this story before. It goes something like this. The customer leaves the restaurant a little disgruntled after a Friday evening dinner. The service had been particularly slow, his table had waited an hour for their meal and the waitstaff hadn’t nipped his complaint in the bu
Something To Lose
The solitary guy who sets up shop in his garage or carves out a space at the local cafe to use as an office has nothing to lose. He can tell his friends that he’s following his passion, that it might not work but he’s giving it a go anyway. Not so easy to be…
Different, Because
We are different because ———————. We are the only one that does ———————. How are you different and why does that matter to your customers? Image by Evive.
Why Belief Matters
Five years ago, just before Polaroids began to make a comeback, the owner of the Dublin camera store reluctantly allowed the sales rep to create a tiny, top shelf Christmas display. She spent a whole afternoon arranging then re-arranging the cameras. At last she stood back to admire her handiwork, s
There’s Only One Way To Get A Different Outcome
We should have known as soon as we walked in. The place was empty, not a soul in sight apart from two lone waiters who pounced. Every other breakfast place in the city was teeming with life and overflowing with plates of over easy eggs. This place was dead. We stayed because we didn’t have…
