Posts Tagged ‘brand strategy’
Create What People Want
When Ken and Nick lamented the passing of old-style pastrami and then decided to do something about it, they probably had a hunch that there were people who felt just like they did. Once they set to work tasting and testing and re-inventing the ultimate American comfort food they knew they were onto something. Their…
Read MoreWhy Startups Stall
It’s easy to start something today. Now that the gatekeepers are leaving their gates and the barrier to entry is lower than ever, anyone with an idea and an Internet connection can start a business. You don’t need a big staff on payroll or a factory to get the work done. So more people are…
Read MoreWhy The Price Doesn’t Always Matter
At the start of the last school year as I stood in a queue I overheard a mother asking an assistant if the $200 calculator she was holding would be coming down in price. The assistant replied that this had been the price for a while, pointing out that the calculator was only required for…
Read MoreMarketing Is All About Values
In 1997 Steve Jobs was unhappy about how much Apple was spending on marketing and about the message the company was communicating. He realised that in an increasingly noisy world the chances for any company to be remembered were diminishing and that Apple needed to get really clear about what it was they wanted people…
Read MoreStory Is The Universal Marketing Tool
Story doesn’t discriminate. It’s not dependent on a big advertising department or celebrity endorsement. It’s the universal marketing tool available to anyone. That includes you. When Target had a store in every suburb. Zappos had a story about delivering ‘wow through service’. When Borders had floor upon floor of books you could touch. Amazon had…
Read MoreA Reason To Decide
She spotted the black dress just as she was about to give up. It was perfect. She imagined how it would cling in all the right places at the party on Friday night. And how she would feel when he spotted her across the crowded room. The reason you buy the dress isn’t the same…
Read MoreWhy Bother?
Why bother having a customer care line that informs of a thirty minute wait and asks people to call back later? Why bother selling an awards based credit card, then capping the points your customers can earn? Why bother creating cheap for the masses, when you can deliver quality to the few? Why bother saying…
Read MoreDon’t Worry So Much About Awareness
Just the thought of the kind of marketing dollars the big brands will have invested in advertising for the Olympics is enough to make my eyes water. The result, millions of dollars worth of beautifully shot, feel good commercials that probably won’t sell many more phone plans or gold cards. Awareness, not sales is their…
Read MoreHow To Attract More Of The Right Customers
How can you attract more of the customers you want to work with? Easy. Tell people who you want to work with. Tell them with your pricing and your website copy. Talk about your values. Frame your scarcity. Don’t be afraid to spell it out. When Tiffany & Co (who position themselves as the world’s…
Read MoreApple’s Not-So-Secret Marketing Secret
Why would anyone buy a 13 inch MacBook Air? Why not buy the Pro? It’s faster, has more memory, it’s actually only 700 grams heavier and .7cm thicker (or 2.4cm ‘thin’ in Applespeak) and it costs exactly the same. Why pay a chunk of cash for less of something? When I asked my Twitter friends…
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