mission
288 posts
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 genera
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…
What Change Are You Making?
The sales assistant at the pop up boutique glowed. She enthusiastically pulled things one at a time from the rails to show to the customer. “These pants will change your life,” she said. I thought that was a huge claim to make about what seemed like an unremarkable pair of trousers, but when the wom
Problem/Product Fit
Before you write the code, buy the domain name, design the logo, rent the office space or print the business cards ask yourself these questions. 5 questions for every entrepreneur to answer 1. Who is your customer? 2. What does she want to do, but can’t? 3. How exactly does your product or service h
How To Avoid Getting Lost In The Crowd
It’s natural to want to create something for the most people we think we can reach. The runaway successes we aspire to emulate seem like they succeeded by appealing to everyone. But if you look a little closer you’ll find that even the big hits started at the edges. Soul Cycle, Starbucks and Secret
The Marketing Paradox
The goal of most marketing is to get people through the door, bums on seats and products sold. Because much of our marketing effort is front-loaded it’s easy to believe that once we’ve closed the sale, we’re done. And so we latch on to stories of six-figure product launches and multi-million dollar
What’s The Endgame?
As anyone who has ever played chess will tell a beginner, every move must have a purpose. You don’t move a piece unless you have a reason for doing so, or before you understand what the next move is likely to be, and the one after that (depending on how your opponent responds). One single…
The Difference Between Strategy And Tactics And Why You Need To Know
Imagine your business mission and vision as a mountain in the distance. Your strategy is the route map—the path you choose that’s going to take you to that mountain. Tactics are the steps you take on the journey to advance your way along that chosen path towards the mountain—thus realising your visi
Social Media: Just Because You Can, Does It Mean You Should?
To anyone who has ever paid for advertising social media seems like a marketers dream. As entrepreneurs and business leaders who want to attract more customers, it’s tempting to buy into the hype that social media is the answer to our lead generation problems. Now that we can access an audience in d
What’s Your Customer’s Worldview?
It was 10 am and the queue at the cafe serving coffee that’s less than 48 hours out of the roaster was ridiculously long. The line moved impossibly slowly, and yet not a single person left it to go to one of the many cafes that could serve them a forgettable drink in moments. Leaving…
The Secrets To Consistent Marketing
Consistent marketing… Demonstrates a clear understanding about who the product (and thus the marketing) is for. Focuses on the change being created for the customer rather than on what is being sold. Aligns with and reinforces the company’s purpose beyond a single bottom line. Communicates love for
The Characteristics Of Beloved Brands
Earlier this week Bob Lefsetz wrote the following line in a post about Elon Musk; “We know greatness when we see it, we clamor for it. We want to get closer to it.” We also want to emulate it—to understand the qualities and characteristics that elevate certain leaders, businesses and brands above th
The Business Of Enough
There’s a tiny cafe in Midtown with room for exactly three people to stand up inside. They open from 7 until 5 on weekdays and close at 3 on weekends. The two staff working behind the counter are always smiling and engaged. They clearly love what they do. Lucid doesn’t have a website or another…
5 Steps To Making Things People Want
Here’s the subject line ‘just curious’ email I got the other day. Maybe you got one too? The marketing consultant had gone to the trouble to know my name, but that’s where the personalisation ended. “Hi Bernadette, By any chance, are you interested in solutions for getting sales appointments and lea
The Easy Way To Create A Mission And Vision Statement
There’s something beyond skill, talent, investment and resources that powers the most successful companies, and that’s a clear sense of where they are going and why. When you have a compass it’s not only easier to get to where you want to go, it’s also possible to take people with you. I’ve written
3 Questions To Help You Find Your Niche
Look in the jewellery shop windows in any western city and you’ll notice the same trends—rings, bracelets and necklaces designed to appeal to what most people like the look of. Jewellery designer Megan Auman found her niche by marrying her talents as a metalsmith and designer, to create pieces that
How To Get The Results You Want
In work, as in life we create a sense of balance by understanding what we want and what we don’t. We prioritize by wanting less of one thing and more of something else. Less overwhelm and more progress. Fewer things to react to and more results. Less busyness and more time. Fewer restrictions and mo
How You Market Is Who You Become
“EXPOSE YOUR BUSINESS TO 40,000 CARS A DAY.” Read the big sign at a busy junction that would exposure your business to 40,000 cars a day. The way you tell your story asks people to believe something about who you are and what you stand for. It sends us (and you), a signal about what…
The Value Of Giving To Give
A supermarket loyalty card helps the company more than it does the shopper. We all know that it’s less a way of rewarding customer loyalty and more a way of collecting useful data. Much of the ‘giving’ we do in business is because some kind of return is expected down the track. This drawing that…
The Story Creates The Customer
Have you ever noticed what happens at the organic cafe? As the customer places an order he asks what’s in it. This happens almost every single time. The experience, our posture and products—the story, create the customer. When we encourage people to believe something matters, we attract the kind of
