Posts Tagged ‘brand strategy’
Why Learning To Say No Matters
When you started out you were so glad to get email enquiries, calls and visitors. Getting people through the door, even a virtual one was the best feeling! Someone was interested in what you were doing. Your idea wasn’t going to flop, your services were needed and more importantly wanted. You weren’t going to fail…
Read MoreBuilding A Currency Of Trust
It’s tempting when selling your product, service or idea just to focus on what it takes to make a particular transaction happen. That transaction might make a dent in the balance sheet in the short term, but it’s important not to lose sight of what will make a long term difference to your business and…
Read MoreThe Idea Manifesto
You will often hear it said that creating a manifesto is a great way to spread an idea. A few months ago I wrote this post about ideas and realised that what we really needed was a manifesto, to illustrate the messy truths and blurred edges of ideas themselves. One of my wonderful clients, graphic…
Read MoreWhy Knowing What To Leave Out Matters
The secret of any great book, movie, business, product, or service is in the editing. As an entrepreneur or creative, your understanding of what to leave out is just as important as what you decide to leave in. Christopher Nolan will no doubt leave hours and hours of carefully crafted shots and scenes from The…
Read MoreWhat Should Your Website Do?
What you want your website to do is probably very different from what your customer wants it to do. The trick (as with most elements of your business), is to build for customers and community first to realise the benefits for you later. “A website turns a stranger into a friend, and a friend into…
Read MorePick Yourself
Do you remember the feeling of helplessness in a junior team line up at school, as one by one the captains and team leaders of the moment chose who was ‘in’? Remember the fear of being last, of not being picked and the feeling of having no control over your destiny. As economies tank, and…
Read MoreHow Do You Differentiate Yourself?
Life’s too short to sell things you don’t believe in. ~ Patrick Dixon Often the real value of the work you do isn’t what gets delivered in the package, during the session or in the ebook. In order to differentiate you need to really understand the effect of what you do, sell, offer or deliver…
Read MoreHow Virgin Wins With A Better Story
Good Story means something worth telling that the world wants to hear. ~ Robert McKee Every time a customer encounters your marketing they are filling in the blanks. Their perceptions about your business are being etched in their minds and if you’re doing a great job, in their hearts too over time. All marketing beings…
Read MoreWhat Story Can People Tell Themselves About You?
This is the story of two businesses. I tell it often. Two cafes, that are literally side by side on the same street. One has a shaded elevated outdoor seating area with a view of the ocean. It is bigger and has a couple of comfy couches inside, where customers can relax over a light…
Read MoreAdvertising Is Not Real Marketing
Think about the people you do business with and the brands you care about. Are you drawn in by their advertising or their marketing story? That full colour advert in the Sunday supplement is a tactic. So is the expensive, shiny new website you’re having built and those letterpress business cards you spent a fortune…
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