intention
258 posts
How Will You Get To Where You Want To Go?
There are always things we know we’d like to change or improve about our businesses. Often we’re just not sure what’s missing, how to begin or even where to start. To make change happen you need to have the vision to know where you’re going, the skills and resources that enable you to get there…
Who Is This Not For?
When we spend time thinking about growing our businesses we tend to focus on our ideal customers—the people we know we want to matter to. A great way to get really specific about who you are creating your products and services for is to think about who they are not for. The temptation in the…
A New Book To Help You Create Ideas That Fly
I’ve spent the last two years writing, speaking and consulting about how to succeed by making your ideas resonate with the people you want to serve. My new book Meaningful: The Story Of Ideas That Fly is the culmination of that work. Our new digital landscape has spawned an entrepreneurial culture a
Before You Pitch
At the end of the event a small group gathered around the presenter. He had flown in from Europe the day before and was bound to be jet lagged. Despite that he had delivered an informative and inspiring keynote about how his company—one of the most powerful brands in the world, used customer insight
The Most Powerful Thing You Didn’t Do Today
Have you ever been footsteps away from a window and yet found yourself opening an app or doing a Google search to check the weather, instead of simply going over to the window and opening the curtains? Me too! Why is that? We are now in the habit of outsourcing our thinking and second guessing…
The New Rules Of Winning
Just three months ago Volkswagen surpassed Toyota to become the world’s largest automaker. It’s clear that selling more cars in order to beat that competition had been the company’s goal for some time. As we’ve seen in the past week biggest doesn’t necessarily mean best. When we use shallow metrics
The Generous Marketer
Implements long-term strategies, rather than relying on short-term tactics. Puts the desires of the customer before the urgency of his business goals. Knows that mattering to his customers is the key to success. Cares about affinity, more than awareness. Notices, before asking to be noticed. Listens
The Question To Ask Before Doing What You’re Planning To Do Next
Before you schedule that meeting. Before you contact that supplier. Before you attend that conference. Before you pay for that marketing. Before you hire that guy. Ask yourself this simple question: What’s the number one outcome I want to achieve by doing this? When you get clear (and honest with yo
In Praise Of Intangible Value
What did they do to create value? Design a new portable music player or give you 1,000 songs in your pocket? Serve coffee at $4 a cup or become ‘the third place’? Create a platform where people can rent a room or make them feel like they belong anywhere? Start a photo printing service or…
What’s The Endgame?
As anyone who has ever played chess will tell a beginner, every move must have a purpose. You don’t move a piece unless you have a reason for doing so, or before you understand what the next move is likely to be, and the one after that (depending on how your opponent responds). One single…
What Marketing Is Not: 5 Common Misconceptions
When we think and talk about, teach and practice marketing we are often working on the assumption that marketing is one or all of the following: 1. How we make people want things. 2. Tactics, communications or activities designed to get people do what we want them to do. 3. The way we sell something
The Marketing Disconnect
Potential customers have unlimited choices and are in no rush to make a decision. You on the other hand, need customers to choose your product or service, and to do it in the quickest time frame possible. It would be easy to believe that because you need more people to choose your product today, you
The Most Important Lens We Have
As business owners and team leaders we view our businesses through various lenses. We have a financial lens, a success lens, a marketing lens, a service lens and on and on depending on how complex our organisation is. We measure our performance in a hundred different ways, often neglecting the most
Questioning The Questions—The Truth About Your Data
You’ve probably been on one of those calls to a service provider where having pressed, one, then two, then one again and being on hold for fifteen minutes you finally get to speak to a human being. Sadly, the undervalued team member at the call centre is charged with doing his best to troubleshoot h
The Secrets To Consistent Marketing
Consistent marketing… Demonstrates a clear understanding about who the product (and thus the marketing) is for. Focuses on the change being created for the customer rather than on what is being sold. Aligns with and reinforces the company’s purpose beyond a single bottom line. Communicates love for
The Characteristics Of Beloved Brands
Earlier this week Bob Lefsetz wrote the following line in a post about Elon Musk; “We know greatness when we see it, we clamor for it. We want to get closer to it.” We also want to emulate it—to understand the qualities and characteristics that elevate certain leaders, businesses and brands above th
The Business Of Enough
There’s a tiny cafe in Midtown with room for exactly three people to stand up inside. They open from 7 until 5 on weekdays and close at 3 on weekends. The two staff working behind the counter are always smiling and engaged. They clearly love what they do. Lucid doesn’t have a website or another…
How To Be Valued In Any Marketplace
Mike is ‘in sales’. He takes care to dress well, to tone down his tie and give a firm handshake. He begins every conversation with a prospective client by first introducing himself and then sharing his perspective about why he’s there. It’s no surprise that Mike is met with hundreds of rejections ea
The Easy Way To Create A Mission And Vision Statement
There’s something beyond skill, talent, investment and resources that powers the most successful companies, and that’s a clear sense of where they are going and why. When you have a compass it’s not only easier to get to where you want to go, it’s also possible to take people with you. I’ve written
The Gap Between Saying And Doing
You will have seen this image of a goldfish making a courageous leap from his bowl on countless websites. It’s meant to convey a message about a company that’s not afraid to challenge the status quo, of course it’s now so ubiquitous, it does exactly the opposite. Nobody in the marketing department g
