business
512 posts
Most Brand Stories
Most brand stories… Start with what the marketer needs to say, not with what the customer wants to hear. Describe product features and benefits, instead of customer problems and desired outcomes. Prioritise conversion above emotional connection. Seek to build brand awareness rather than create brand
The Sustainable Marketing Strategy
The fast food restaurant’s latest advertising campaign announces the return of it’s famous $1 chips. Of course, the lure of the bargain will bring back people who have forgotten that this brand exists. Foot traffic will increase and revenue along with it—for a little while. The local organic store p
Try And Test
If you are anything like many of the entrepreneurs I know and work with you have a bank of ideas waiting to be executed (or discarded). Most of these ideas (good and bad alike) never see the light of day because they are locked up in a notebook, or an app and they haven’t been…
When Rational Sales Strategies Don’t Work
A couple of years ago Mrs Jones spent $12,000 to install a hydronic heating system. She hasn’t had the boiler serviced since. She politely refuses when the guy from the service department calls her to arrange an annual service for just $164. He pushes back a little, explaining about voiding the warr
The Value Of Customer Questions
Every day our customers give us clues about what’s important to them and what they really want. Often we ignore them. Questions like the one asked of a running shoe manufacturer, which was followed up with this response: “Thank you for your email regarding shoes for a mud run. Unfortunately, we don’
The Key To A Great Product Story
As an entrepreneur or business leader, you will inevitably be asked how your product or service is different from your competitor’s. Often this question comes from someone who isn’t even a potential customer (but that’s another story). Our fallback position is to lead with features and benefits. We
Average Marketing
Average marketing….. Starts with the business’s emergency, not with the customer’s wants and needs. Focuses on short-term tactics, rather than on long-term business goals. Is designed to persuade not to connect, inspire or delight. Invites the customer to buy, instead of to belong. Speaks to everyon
The Shortcut To More
It’s probably safe to assume that at some point in the past few months you’ve wondered how to get more traffic, customers, subscribers, Facebook likes, retweets, awareness, sales, exposure and on and on. Because the job of traditional marketing is to convince and convert, we are used to beginning ou
Company Culture And The Ripple Effect
By the age of six months, a baby begins to understand that his actions can affect his environment. It’s amazing how as adults we quickly unlearn this. As business leaders when we talk about shaping or changing company culture we sometimes forget to own the fact that we are the culture. Culture is no
The Purpose Of Clever Packaging
If you love chocolate as much as I do you’ve probably heard about the Mast Brothers scandal. The artisan chocolate makers are accused of not being completely transparent about their process when they launched in 2007 and of pulling the wool over customers eyes with “clever packaging”. Transparency a
3 Things Your Product Story Must Do
When we market our products to customers we often use a persuasive tone designed to convince. We describe by leading with features and benefits. We try hard to give customers reasons to choose, forgetting that most purchasing decisions are not rational, but emotional. In short we forget why people b
The Alternative To Winning The Awareness Game
The top 200 advertisers in the U.S. spent $137.9 Billion on ads in 2014. When you’ve got those resources it’s easy to play the awareness game. What if newspaper presses came to a stop and banner ads were abolished on the grounds of inciting mindless consumption? Imagine a world where billboards were
The Power Of Posture
How is it that we can go into the same cafe two days running, order the same drink, pay the same price and yet leave feeling entirely different about the experience depending on the interaction we have with the person who is serving? Just as it’s possible for one yogi to hold a more graceful…
The Moments In Between
On a recent international flight, a colleague was upgraded from Business Class to First Class. The four cabin crew had only eight passengers to look after, so they could be extra attentive. The in-flight service was stellar. Everything happened quickly and smoothly, the menu was more varied and the
Why Getting More Hits To Your Website Is Overrated
Every day you delete messages received from faceless SEO companies who have “noticed you could have a lot more hits to your website”. We are often mistakenly led to believe that our biggest challenge is getting more people to pay attention to our products, services or work. Of course, we can game ou
7 Steps To Becoming A More Strategic Marketer
As marketers we spend much of our time and energy on tactics. We agonise over the creation of lead magnets, spend countless hours honing sales pages and perfecting social media promotions. How To Become A More Strategic Marketer 1. Take a long-term view of your business, one that doesn’t require you
The Power Of Customer Context
There’s a tiny hole-in-the-wall florist in the heart of the city, close to big office buildings and the cafes where people meet for breakfast and lunch. If it were an ordinary florist it would be the kind of place people would walk past on their way to somewhere else. The neighbouring florist’s made
What Can You Build Upon?
You have just 20 minutes. What’s the most valuable thing you can do with them? It probably isn’t checking your LinkedIn updates, responding to housekeeping emails or listening to one more podcast about productivity. Checking and updating may feel like work but they aren’t things you can build upon.
How To Optimise For Customer Delight
“You’re here for the Valium?” blurted the dental receptionist as they arrived. The young man looked blankly at her and then at his mother. He was about to have three wisdom teeth removed under local anaesthetic. He had arrived early to be prepared for the procedure and dutifully took the 20mg of Val
How To Build Brand Equity
The toilet paper manufacturer has seemingly found a new way to increase customer engagement and build brand equity. Instead of just embossing patters on the paper, the company has decided to emboss its logo on every sheet. Imagine the meetings, time, energy and a myriad of other resources (including
