matter
444 posts
Why More Is The Wrong Place To Start
The end goal of all marketing is more. More customers or subscribers. More sales and increased profits. This is the reason business strategy questions and answers often begin, (and end) with the ‘how to’ of getting more. But more is the wrong place to start for two reasons. When you begin by asking,
7 Marketing Strategies That Work Better Than Advertising
Marketing used to mean advertising. If you wanted to sell something awareness on a mass scale was the shortcut. Remarkability or transparency didn’t have to be baked into your product. But we’ve come a long way from the days of Mad Men and the blurred line between getting noticed and being believed.
Why Your Brand Doesn’t Need A Unique Selling Proposition
In the 90s Pampers’ ‘unique selling proposition’ (USP) claimed it was driest nappy on the market. Procter & Gamble prided itself on this benefit, investing heavily in research and development to maintain its USP. In the end that singular focus blinkered the company’s understanding about what mothers
Why I’m Doing This. Questioning What’s Important
It’s rumoured that Tumblr founder David Karp will get $250 million from the deal his company signed with Yahoo earlier this week. Do you think that’s what really matters to him? Was this the prize he had his eye on six years ago when he started? Could money have been the answer that was top…
What Does Disney Do?
Only one thing. They set out to make people happy. The Mickey Mouse balloon sales are a pleasant side effect of that. A souvenir of that time when the visitor felt the way she wanted to feel. In business we often set out to sell the cause, forgetting that what’s really valuable is the effect.…
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…
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…
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
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…
Credentials And The Fraud Police
If I had a dollar for every person I know who is making a difference doing something they care about yet feels insecure about their right to be doing it, I would be funding a very nice round the world trip. There’s the interior decorator who longed to be a stylist but doubted that she…
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
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
Worrying About The Competition
Rachael showed up for her trial as a part-time dishwasher in a local cafe, donned her apron and was sent into battle alongside Lolita. Lolita who was a fairly recent addition to the staff was worried, the manager had already had a word with her about picking up the pace at busy times. As she…
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
Could Your Customers Find You Blindfolded?
When I first watched the video below about Silver Moon Bakery I shed a tear. I love the line where (spoiler alert) Judith the owner says; “You have to love what you do, or at least enjoy it. Unless you have no choice in life and you have to do this because it’s the only…
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
The Secret To Spreading Ideas
I recently had the opportunity to share an idea I care about thanks to the team at TEDx Perth. The talk went live online two days ago. I hope it helps you to spread the ideas that you care about. Image by Sally Jarvis at TEDxPerth
Buy Versus Buy Into
Don’t be the brand that people buy. Be the one they ‘buy into’. Image by Peter Morgan.
