spreading ideas
846 posts
Tina Roth Eisenberg On Trusting Your Gut And Following Your Passion
Have you ever had an idea you thought might work that still hasn’t seen the light of day? If you’ve longed to bring something you’re passionate about to life it might be time to watch the video chat I had with Tina Roth Eisenberg. Tina is a Swiss designer based in New York who runs…
The Third Secret Of Great Marketing
It’s the reason Dropbox’s revenue hit $240 million in 2011 despite giving away their product for free and how Instagram has grown to 100 million users. Stand in your customers’ shoes. Start with their story. Image by Trey Ratcliff.
Brand Vs. Branding
Branding is….. “The process involved in creating a unique name and image for a product in the consumers’ mind, mainly through advertising campaigns with a consistent theme.” —The Business Directory Branding in the traditional sense was designed to create recognition and awareness of commodities. It
The Most Important Question You’re Forgetting To Ask
From the outside looking in The Lego Group had a hugely successful business a decade ago. It was a beloved brand that seemed to be surviving the digital age. The balance sheet told a different story though and Lego had more years in the red than in the black between 1998 and 2004. Part of…
What’s The Point?
Business isn’t about transactions and giving people the thing they want. That box of chocolates, an upgraded phone or the business class flight. And marketing isn’t about selling them your facts. It’s about giving people a story to believe in and one that they want to tell. Just like Evan’s. (Take t
The Second Secret Of Great Marketing
I signed up to an email list of a brilliant and famous author over a year ago and hadn’t hear anything since. No blog posts. No regular email. Nothing interesting or relevant to me. Nothing to look forward to. No connection to each other. The author had my permission but it wasn’t much of a…
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…
Why You Don’t Want To Be The Impulse Buy
Have you ever watched people shopping at the airport? They amble distractedly fingering this, picking up that. Nine times out of ten they put things back. Sometimes the packaging, or maybe the boredom gets the better of them and the buy something they had no intention of buying. It’s a win for the m
This Time Next Year
“This time next year we’ll be millionaires!” —Derek Trotter CEO of Trotters Independent Traders You probably spend a great deal of time setting business goals, working on strategy and planning for growth. It’s the sensible thing to do. After all how can you get to where you want to go if you don’t k
Building A Brand Versus Selling A Commodity
Ideas spread, products become irreplaceable, and businesses grow when they stop being mere commodities and have meaning attached to them. It’s not possible to be a brand and a commodity all at once. Customers don’t demonstrate loyalty to commodities but they can fall in love with a brand. PRODUCT-ME
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…
What Business Are You In?
More on those $5 roses that you paid $8 for last week….. On the Saturday before Valentine’s day I went shopping for single white rose. The florist had none on display, but when I asked she went into the fridge and pulled out two dozen. “Oh, these are not at their best. You can see…
The Difference Between Value And Valuable
On Saturday a single rose would have cost you $5. Today and tomorrow it’s $8. While you clearly got better value for your dollar on Saturday, the roses are more valuable to you today. Who decides then where the value lies and what’s valuable? The value of your product isn’t just in the price you…
2 Questions To Answer Before Bringing An Idea To Market
1. How does your customer want to feel after she’s bought your product or experienced your service? 2. How are you going to get her there? Image by Renato Targa.
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
Something To Lose
The solitary guy who sets up shop in his garage or carves out a space at the local cafe to use as an office has nothing to lose. He can tell his friends that he’s following his passion, that it might not work but he’s giving it a go anyway. Not so easy to be…
Loved
I finally fell out of love with my favourite little cafe. 18 months ago I went there almost every day, not just for the coffee but because of how it made me feel to be there in amongst the noise, the life and the friendly faces with the smell of the ocean wafting through the…
Different, Because
We are different because ———————. We are the only one that does ———————. How are you different and why does that matter to your customers? Image by Evive.
10 Questions To Help You With Your Pricing Strategy
When my family and I were in Venice recently we decided to take a seat in a tiny Cafe in St Marks Square and ordered four hot drinks (anyone who has holidayed in Italy knows what’s coming next!). There was nothing remarkable about the coffee but we walked out half an hour later having paid…
Better Stories Versus Better Stuff
Most things that you can buy are good enough. The companies that succeed now, Tattly, Apple, Zappos and Amazon don’t find ways to make and sell better stuff. They work out how to tell a better story AND how to give their customers a story they want to tell too. The story is baked into…
