spreading ideas
846 posts
The Importance Of Happy Endings
When we’re serving customers we tend to front-load our effort. Hotel reception staff are well-versed in making a great impression when the guest checks in. Good waiters quickly seat new diners and take orders promptly. Retailers station greeters at the store entrance to welcome and orient new custom
The Facts Are Overrated
Since the new Model 3 Tesla was unveiled just over two weeks ago 400,000 people (who have never test driven or sat in one) have paid $1000 to place an order. And while the price of this latest model makes it accessible to more people it’s clearly not what’s driving these organic sales. Think about…
From Awareness To Loyalty
The purpose of your brand story and of every piece of marketing material is to move a prospective customer from awareness to loyalty. When we imagine the customer decision journey as a timeline it’s clear that we need to treat customers differently according to where they are on that journey. THE CU
Grow Your Business By Watching What People Do
I once walked the length for Bourke Street behind a young man in a hurry heading towards Southern Cross Station. His backpack was slung over one shoulder and a designer shopping bag in the other hand bumped his knee as he walked revealing the Christian Louboutin logo. When we both stopped at the lig
What Do Your Customers Really Want?
There’s an Italian Cafe in our neighbourhood serving good coffee and speciality cakes. It’s jam-packed every single evening—not because people are hungry for cake, but because they are hungry for the feeling of being connected. They seek out the place that makes them feel that way. Howard Schultz re
The Cost Of Interruption
The web design firm can access thousands of contact details for newly registered domains each day. It’s easy from there to hire a bunch of poorly trained phone operatives (who are overqualified to do soulless work but need the money) to interrupt people. It’s possible to scrape, buy, trawl and inter
The Importance Of A Responsive Business Mindset
The beauty salon owner has a limited number of available appointments. Every day she encounters the same problem—zero availability and several last minute cancellations or no-shows. This situation is frustrating and it’s losing her money. She thinks she might solve the problem by implementing a canc
The Importance Of Customer Cues
Ira’s cafe is tucked away at the bottom of a narrow city centre laneway. Without regulars who live close by Ira’s place is dependent on converting tourists and weekend shoppers into diners. Every neighbouring cafe stations a host in the small doorway waiting for passers-by to make a decision. Ira ta
The Power Of Relevance
I recently got an email about an online service I’d once signed up for. The email detailed new product features. There was also a call to action. “It’s been 3.2 Years since you updated your profile.” This was the first time I’d heard from the company in over three years. I’d never once engaged with…
Being Found Vs. Standing Apart
Jim is a painter and decorator. He’s been in business for twenty-five years, long enough to see the world of marketing turned upside down. Fifteen years ago Jim took out a three line advert in the local newspaper every week. He finally cancelled that three years ago when it was yielding two calls a
The Essence Of Meaningful Ideas
Victoria Parade is the road that separates north Melbourne’s suburbs from the city. It’s a busy spot. The road is dotted at intervals with pedestrian crossings and used by cars, commuters and pedestrians alike. But the widest pedestrian path across the dual carriageway isn’t a planned pavement. It’s
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 Unspoken Problem With Traditional Marketing Campaigns And Product Launches
It’s not unheard of for an entrepreneur or organisation to send 10-20 emails during an online product launch. We all understand that part of the job of our marketing is as McKinsey puts it; “…is to reach consumers at the moments that most influence their decisions.” This is why you have no choice bu
Who Is The Story For?
Jane runs an upmarket souvenir shop in the heart of the city. It’s in the perfect spot, close to the four and five-star hotels, and full of tasteful gifts—reminders of good times had, and a little something that says ‘we were thinking of you’. In a digital world, her biggest problem is finding inter
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
The Forgotten Purpose Of Brand Stories
Most of what we describe as marketing and brand storytelling—what we do in order to grow our businesses, is designed to help us to find more customers. What if we flipped that thinking on its head and thought about our stories as the way we help people to find us? There’s a subtle difference. When…
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
Uncommon And Unmistakable
A colleague in the university sector was attending a marketing event. The presenter’s first slide showed a university’s promotional materials—complete with the typical ‘DREAM LARGE’ and ‘DESIGN THE FUTURE’ type tagline. He then polled the audience, asking if they knew which university it was. A ten
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
