The 5 Building Blocks Of A Brand

A brand used to be an identifier, over the past seventy years it’s become so much more. Seth’s 2009 definition says it best. “A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.” We can agree then that…

Read More

The New Rules Of Winning

Just three months ago Volkswagen surpassed Toyota to become the world’s largest automaker. It’s clear that selling more cars in order to beat that competition had been the company’s goal for some time. As we’ve seen in the past week biggest doesn’t necessarily mean best. When we use shallow metrics to judge our performance we…

Read More

How To Make People Care About Your Product

The maître d’ had worked at the same restaurant for thirteen years and was ready for a change. He wanted to do work he was passionate about and decided to start a dog walking business—knowing that in order to succeed he needed to send a signal to prospective customers about how much their pets mattered.…

Read More

The Generous Marketer

Implements long-term strategies, rather than relying on short-term tactics. Puts the desires of the customer before the urgency of his business goals. Knows that mattering to his customers is the key to success. Cares about affinity, more than awareness. Notices, before asking to be noticed. Listens twice as much as he talks. Does not interrupt…

Read More

Two Kinds Of Feedback

A common way to get feedback is to describe what you’re creating in detail and then to ask a prospective customer if they would use it. This is equivalent to asking someone for an honest answer to the question, “Does my bum look big in this?” Sometimes the answers we seek out are not the…

Read More

Different Kinds Of Doing

You have probably sent a few important emails today. Maybe you blasted through a list of to-dos before morning coffee, or followed up on tasks you have outsourced? There’s no denying that ‘doing’ feels good. But there are different kinds of ‘doing’. There’s the ‘doing’ that makes us feel like we are getting somewhere and…

Read More

A Brand Of Magic

The chairs were out of stock. A delivery was expected some time in December, it might clear customs by January. The sales assistant described the import logistics and company policy. She detailed the 55% deposit terms on all orders placed and made sure to add her name to the written quotation the customer had not…

Read More

The Downside Of Adopting An Umbrella Marketing Mindset

The fledgling entrepreneur is embarking on a career in travel. She has just completed her training and is aiming to abandon the 9 to 5 and earn a great living selling discounted flights and cheap hotel rooms. Today though she is working her day job at the beauty salon so she can pay the rent.…

Read More

Your Secret Weapon

The following email landed in my inbox a few weeks back. You won’t have any trouble picking holes in this approach and avoiding them in your business. ——— Hi Bernadette, I was thinking if you need assistance with your cold calling efforts. We have a team focused on setting up appointments and generating leads to…

Read More

In Praise Of Intangible Value

What did they do to create value? Design a new portable music player or give you 1,000 songs in your pocket? Serve coffee at $4 a cup or become ‘the third place’? Create a platform where people can rent a room or make them feel like they belong anywhere? Start a photo printing service or…

Read More