The Two Questions At The Heart Of Great Marketing

The kind of marketing we practice is a result of what we’re most curious to know about our customers. Many marketing campaigns are created by asking the following questions: A. What will they buy? B. How can we get them to buy? The resulting tactics become about near-term targets, buying more attention and competing on…

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What Do The Best Salespeople Do?

A young couple spent a while ‘just looking’ in the furniture store before approaching a salesperson to ask about fabric choices on a particular sofa. She showed them the swatches and said nothing. The guy asked if they had anything like it—a large squashy four-seater in leather. They didn’t. “What size exactly are you looking…

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The Value Of What We Don’t Know

Six years. That’s how long it took IKEA to research the South Korean culture before they were ready to open the first store there. Six years of understanding what they didn’t know about the story Korean customers lived and wanted to believe—so that they could tell a story that resonated. The goal wasn’t to reinvent…

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10 Brand Storytelling Lessons In 2 Minutes

Take two minutes to watch this advert from IKEA. Those two minutes are guaranteed to change how you think about marketing your business. This video is more than just advertising designed to sell something—it’s a home run in brand storytelling. Ten things IKEA did to make their story great 1. Understood their customer’s worldview. They…

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The Art Of The Offer

When we offer something, by definition we are putting it forward for consideration. And that’s often where we get stuck, selling our offerings, or ourselves short, because we become fixated on ‘the what’ of the offer. IKEA doesn’t sell you those six glasses and that red cushion you didn’t really need by honing in on…

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Selling The Facts

Front row seats. That ring in a certain ‘blue box’. 70% dark chocolate. Business class flights. Pumpkins at Halloween. Botox. iPad mini. Frappuccino. 12 months gym membership in January. Free range chicken. The bestseller everyone is talking about. That black BMW. Vitamins. The honeymoon suite. Gluten free bread. Wrinkle cream. Overnight shipping. Black stockings. $50…

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How Will I Know You?

The 1915 design brief for the original Coke bottle was simple. The criteria were that it must be recognisable in the dark and if it was broken. The result; a timeless, elegant solution which plays a huge part in creating a memorable brand story. Think about how you could apply criteria like these to make…

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Framing Your Brand The Ikea Way

You don’t need to be a multi-million dollar corporation to do what IKEA does really well. In fact it’s probably easier to implement some IKEA-think into your business if you don’t own a huge factory. Sure IKEA might be an iconic brand but it’s not their size, their logo or their buying power that keeps…

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