authenticity
259 posts
The New Consumer Relationship
In the days before self-service shopping and before every home had a fridge, the responsibility for daily grocery shopping fell to women. The consumer was someone who came to passively buy what was on offer. While a 1955 focus group could persuade Birdseye to make fish fingers from cod rather than h
What Lens Do You Use?
I’m a huge fan of Human’s of New York. It’s the kind of generous and rare content on the Internet that makes you grateful, sad and optimistic all at once. Brandon (lying down in the photo above because he is 6’4″ and always wants to get down to the level of his subject), will happily…
Two Simple Questions Most Content Marketers Forget To Ask
For fifty years marketing was all about pushing. We used advertising to get us closer to our end goal—which was more sales. Today marketing is more about drawing people closer. We use content (amongst other things) to help us build relationships with potential customers. And yet sometimes we forget
What Will Your Verse Be?
One of my heroes died yesterday. Maybe he was one of yours too? Robin Williams wasn’t the kind of hero you are reminded of every day. You might remember him as you’re riding the train home one night and you smile when you see the words ‘Carpe Diem’ etched into a teenager’s forearm. Or when…
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
Play To Your Strengths
If you look hard enough at what’s going right (and sometimes wrong) in a business there are always lessons to be learned. Take the story of Tom the decorator who built a great business over many years, then suddenly seemed to lose his way. Part two of that story explains why Tom succeeded in the…
Don’t Change Your Pitch, Understand Their Story
Back in the days of stay-at-home Mums and morning newspaper deliveries, a memorable tagline on the box (or a coveted toy inside), was enough of a sales pitch to sell us a ton of breakfast cereal. Frosted Flakes were Grrreat because Tony the Tiger said so. And if Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Micha
What If Hype Had A Bigger Purpose?
I find it hard to believe the message that’s scrawled on the chalk board outside the deserted new cafe that still has that ‘unlived in’ feeling about it. The flustered, newly-minted barista is a dead giveaway. Every passer-by knows that it takes more than a week in business before you can make an al
Fear, Procrastination And Getting Runs On The Board
I recently met with a super-smart friend who has an important idea to share with the world, she had three questions about how best to get that idea out there. I had three answers that might help you to get your ideas out there too. Q. What’s the best process for doing xyz? A. The…
Driving Sales, The Gates Effect And Flawed Marketing Vocabulary
Over the weekend a previously out of print business book, which was unknown to many and forgotten by most shot up the Amazon bestseller list. Why when we had previously ignored John Brooks’ Business Adventures were we suddenly snapping up enough copies to make it the #1 bestselling business book on
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
Are You Ready To Tell People About You?
Have you ever come away from being asked the, ‘so, tell me about you’ question in a professional setting and felt like you nailed it—even just a little bit? How do you sum up the essence of who you are, what you stand for and what you’re capable of without sounding like an over-rehearsed egotist,…
All Of The People, All Of The Time
All around us big vanilla businesses and corporations are struggling to understand how to connect with customers and give people what they want. Businesses like McDonalds are ‘resetting’ and trying to find new ways to improve speed and affordability of their core offerings. Their strategy is to beco
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
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…
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 Economics Of Attention
Attention is either earned or paid for. Whether you pay for advertising or not you still buy your audience’s attention every day. You may not pay in dollars and cents, but either way there is a cost attached to getting people to notice or engage. The cost of paid attention (in the form of TV…
