Why You Need To Abandon The ‘Everyone’ Mindset

I recently got an email that began…. ‘Hi everyone,’ I didn’t make it past the second word and your customers won’t either. We are too busy, distracted, tired, wary, focused, selfish, savvy or [fill in your blank here], to care about something that’s for everyone. The only messages that get through are the ones that…

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Where Marketing Starts And The Marketing Ladder

For many business owners marketing begins with tactics. Someone suggests that printing flyers or making a ‘viral’ video to get the word out is a good idea. Even if the tactic works this time round it doesn’t mean you’ve got a sustainable strategy for connecting with your audience or building your brand. Think of marketing…

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If We Build It Will They Come?

This is precisely the wrong question to start any project with. A better way to begin is by asking: Who wants us to build it and why will they come? *This photo of Walt Disney showing the Disneyland plans to Orange County officials was taken in Dec 1954.* Walt knew where to start. Image from…

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A Lesson In Unlocking Value

When you book a room at the Hilton or the Hyatt you either have a pleasant conversation with someone in a call centre who you will never hear from again, or you get a polite, well-crafted email in your inbox. Your expectation about the experience is based on the photos from the website and the…

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What’s Your Customer’s Why?

It’s true that people buy from companies they like. We feel an affinity with some brands and not others and our purchasing decisions reinforce our values. The Internet has given rise to a new kind of savvy, connected customer. She seeks out purpose driven brands whose ideals resonate with hers. While it’s important to spend…

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What’s Your Email Marketing Strategy?

Digital is fast and cheap. Now we can save a dollar or two on stamps that are no longer needed, plus the time and energy spent licking them and stuffing envelopes. We don’t even need to walk to the post box to mail our messages. Because it’s easy to reach anyone with an email address…

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The Power Of The Minimum Viable Experience

I like my insurance company, or should I say I like the people who work for my insurance company. I’ve been with them almost ten years and have no intention of switching. Their call centre team is well trained and they really go out of their way to be helpful and make the customer feel…

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How Value Is Created

Value is created at the intersection of the customer’s worldview and your understanding of how your product meets that. If that’s hard to get your head around think about plugging a real world example into the model. Customer’s Worldview: Branded razors are expensive. The quality doesn’t reflect the price that I pay for them and…

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The Myth Of Differentiation

If we did a blind taste test on Starbucks coffee would the result tell us that Starbucks sells the best coffee in the world? Probably not, but the facts don’t stop Starbucks succeeding. In theory differentiation is the way we create a tangible advantage. A method for giving people something to measure and a reason…

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Why Strategy Must Come Before Tactics

What’s the best time to send a tweet? How do you develop a content strategy? What’s the easiest way to drive traffic to your website? How do you build a great landing page? If you can ‘Google’ the question and get an answer does that give you an unfair advantage over your competitors? Do you…

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