relevance

The Bottom Line

There’s an irony about entrepreneurship or starting a business and it’s this. When you begin you’re obsessed with the starting part. Just starting it seems is enough. You may have a vision for what could be, but there is not so much pressure to get there in the beginning. Once you’ve succeeded a lit

How To Scratch Your Customer’s Itch

Speak to the few, the ones who really ‘get it’. Empower them to do what they want to do. Find ways to help them do the things they don’t even know they want to do yet. Tell them the reason you exist. Remember what problem you are solving and spell out how you solve it.…

Selling The Benefits

Tell stories, don’t write descriptions. Speak to hearts, not minds. Paint a picture of the effect. Tap into the senses. Illustrate the impact. Describe the joy, the relief, the pleasure. Give people a reason to care. Show them how you’re different. Then let them know why it matters. Image by Cliff R

The Best

The best teacher isn’t always the one who has a class full of students that get the best results. The best designer isn’t always the one who knows the exact amount of white space to leave. The best brand isn’t always the one that makes the most money. The best athlete doesn’t always win. And…

20 Questions To Answer Before Asking How Much Money Can I Make?

1. Why do I want to do this? 2. What do I care about? 3. What brings me joy? 4. What am I good at? 5. What’s scarce? 6. What problem can I solve? 7. Who needs me? 8. How can I make a difference? 9. How can I deliver value? 10.What can I change?…

Attention Is Not The Problem

You’ve may have access to a hundred and one new channels that allow you to broadcast a message, but there are only a handful of ways to get attention for your idea. 1. Advertising The old and expensive way to buy attention. You might be able to buy eyeballs, but you can’t guarantee you’re changing…

If Only You Could Write Like Malcolm Gladwell

WANTED “A professional writer talented in non-fiction storytelling with a passion for the topics of startups, social entrepreneurship, cutting-edge science and technology, and the psychology of the crowd, capable of crafting non-fiction pieces that are captivating and massively popular (think Freako

Being The Best

When I was a kid growing up in Dublin we always sat on the top deck of the bus on a Saturday evening coming home from a day in the city. As we passed Christchurch Cathedral we pressed our noses to the window and looked out at the long queue which snaked half way down…

The Art Of Giving People What They Really Want

The group fitness instructor at our local gym is exceptionally good at giving people what they really want. During a tough early morning Pump® session he doesn’t talk about resting heart rate or thermogenisis. Duane punctuates those last thirty seconds of effort by telling us that this is how we’ll

The Last Thing You Should Rely On Is Your Resume

Your resume is not so much a testament to what you’ve done, it’s a timeline of where you’ve done it. The world doesn’t need to take your resume’s word for anything, it can find out more about you in three clicks of a mouse than you can tell in twenty perfect bound pages. When I…

Reframing How You Think About Customers

How many business books have you read where you are urged to think about how to capture the attention of your ‘prospects’? Quite a few I reckon, I’ve read them too, and something about the use of that word in particular always makes me squirm. A ‘prospect’ by definition is either a potential source

Why You Need To Change How You Think About Success

From the outside looking in success looks so easy. Successful people make it all look a bit like falling off a log. It’s easy to think that success happens in the moment, or is catalysed by one major event. Like being stranded while travelling, deciding to charter a flight and then selling tickets t

What’s The Purpose Of A Brand Story?

If you’ve got a great product or a killer service why do you need a brand story? You only have to look as far as your local cafe or boutique fashion labels to see that all brands are not created equal, and what usually separates the successes from the failures is a good story. The…

The World Is Calling You. Be Ready

Turn Up The Volume On Your Mission

Whatever your idea, whatever you market, sell or promote, whether it’s a cause, art, products or services, the way you differentiate from your competitors is by turning up the volume on your mission. Products can be similar, but missions are unique You don’t want people to buy your stuff, you want t

9 Elements Of The Perfect Pitch

This image was captured in Marrakech at the largest open air market in Africa. On the day the photo was taken the market was apparently in full swing, complete with everything from average snake charmers, to exceptional orange juicers and trinket traders. The photographer captures how many of the to

When What You Sell Isn’t What You’re Selling

Yesterday I skipped the early gym session, packed up my mac book and headed out to the hair salon. This particular salon runs a no appointment system, it’s first-come first-served. So I got there almost an hour before they opened, sat on the floor outside and worked. Ten minutes later another lady a

The Secret To Creating Products People Buy

The secret to the success of Facebook, Pampers, Innocent drinks, Instagram, Basecamp, Little Miss Match, Marie Forleo.com and on and on, comes down to one thing. The ability to stand in the customer’s shoes and see the world from where they are at. Have you questioned what you client’s worldview is

You Are Whoever You Believe You Are

While working with people on crafting stories about their brands, businesses, products and services I’ve stumbled across this under-acknowledged fact. Yes it is a fact, with a capital ‘F’ not simply a theory. You are whoever you believe you are Some of the most important stories you tell are the one

Take People Where They Want To Go

The products that sell, made by the companies that succeed wildly have one thing in common. They take people to where they want to go. It’s an elegant business philosophy. The ultimate brand strategy. Neither push nor pull. Just pure magnetism. Understand where your customers want to go, then find w