relevance
546 posts
10 Questions To Consider Before Embarking On A Social Media Strategy
We’re coming unstuck with the gift that is social media and here’s why. We often forget that social media is not the same as advertising, that it’s not just a collective of platforms we use to blast messages at people. Then there is our obsession about the tactics. The question I hear asked of socia
The Truth About Vanilla
Almost one in five people who order an ice cream in the U.S. today will order vanilla. Vanilla then is an easy flavour to make because we know that most people won’t have an objection to it and 17% of people are likely to order it. It feels more risky to be the company that…
Why A Good Idea Is Not Enough
It took at least 40 years for the computer to go from being a series of ideas and advances to a commercial success. The difference between a good idea and a commercial success is context—the understanding about where that idea fits, how it will be useful in the world and who will care about it.…
Lessons In Brand Storytelling From The Airbnb Rebrand
I have to be honest, as an Airbnb evangelist and user I felt a little disappointed as I watched the company’s relaunch unfold. Of course I wasn’t viewing the whole thing through the eyes of an impartial observer. Anyone who is an early adopter of something that begins on the fringes wants that thing
What Gap Is Your Business Closing?
Business is all about closing gaps. Closing the gap between aspirations and attainment, intention and achievement, between wants and experiences. Products and services can also close gaps between needs and functionality, innovation and utility, feelings and facts. But perhaps most importantly, what
Are You Using Soft Data To Create Value?
It seems like a no brainer to suppose that local businesses like a cafes, dry cleaners or dental surgeries—the kinds of businesses that serve the same customers week in week out, where the staff have the opportunity to look their customers in the eye, would take advantage of the fact that they look
Intention Is A Competitive Advantage
Having a competitive advantage is not just about being better in ways that can be measured, it’s about understanding your difference and about knowing how that difference will impact the lives of your customers. Great business leaders know what they want to do well and also importantly what they won
What Are Your Customer’s Triggers?
We mostly think of buying as an isolated act, something our customers do in the moment. But it’s probably more useful to think of buying as a behaviour. A behaviour is an action or reaction which is triggered and conditioned. We look in the fridge at 8pm and notice that we’re running low on milk,…
The Marketing Shortcut
The fare on sale at the coffee window of our local cafe changes each morning. On Monday homemade protein power balls and muesli bars are strategically laid out to fend off the regret of the weekend’s indulgences. On Tuesday it’s fruit filled muffins and by Friday we’re splashing out with a chocolate
The Business Case For Creating Great Customer Experiences
Saren Indah is a tiny fifteen room hotel in Ubud. It’s hard to stand out from the crowd in a market where amazing seven star resorts line up alongside cheaper than cheap backpacker accommodation. How do you differentiate when you are not the biggest, flashest or cheapest? Saren Indah should be lost
Why This And Not That?
Why do some shoppers choose to pay $3.48 for a 500g bag of Quaker oats when they can buy a kilo of supermarket own brand oats for $3.29, which works out at less than half the price? Why do we feel better as soon as the doctor, armed with nothing more than a lolly stick…
Shifting The Focus From Results To Relationships
There’s a problem with how performance is measured by both ourselves and in our organisations. Typically you have a budget and targets to achieve. The purpose of the budget is to make sales go up, or waiting times go down. Our systems are designed to judge and reward us on results. If the campaign y
There’s More Than One Way To Tell Your Story
In 2004 Chanel paid $33 million for the production of a two minute film which became the most expensive advert ever made. In a post GFC economy that figure seems shocking, but Chanel is one of the most valuable global brands. They have the marketing budget and they’re not afraid to use it. Dropbox w
Pick One Thing
When you think of Apple you immediately think about great design. You are reminded that Apple chooses to lead with design even in the moments between the moments that matter to you as a customer. It’s hard not to be in awe of a company that cares so much about your experience that they make…
Who Is Your Customer?
Joan works as a personal trainer at the local gym. She looks old enough to be someone’s grandma, but I don’t think she is. Unlike most women her age who live around here Joan doesn’t wear a wedding ring. She visits the same cafe for breakfast every day, but not at the same time because…
How To Be Great
Dr Dre and Jimmy Iovine don’t make great headphones because they know the most about headphones. They make great headphones because they understand how music should sound and more importantly, they know that people want to feel, not just hear when they listen to it. “The right song at the right time
No Business Is In A Market Of One
When dance partners compete they know the other couples are there on the dance floor with them, but they never focus on what the competition is doing. Instead they relentlessly hone each move and perform it for the audience as if it were their only chance to dance the dance. They don’t allow the fac
The First And Last Question Your Customers Subconsciously Ask
And the one you must spend a great deal of your time answering…. Why should I care? Why should I care about your new app? Why should I care that your innovation pioneers the latest technology? Why should I care about your fundraising campaign and not that one? Why should I care about the time…
Stop Selling Stuff, Start Selling Stories
David is a genius who happens to sell for a living. I watched him sell a $150 pair of Ugg boots to a woman who had been killing time wandering through his souvenir shop with no big agenda one wet Friday afternoon. He began, not as many salespeople would, by asking what she was looking…
The Value Of Asking What If
Have you ever been stuck waiting outside your hotel room while it was given the daily once over? It turns out that for some guests housekeeping can feel like more of an intrusion than a service. On average it costs a hotel $22 a day to deliver housekeeping services for each room. That figure probabl
