Posts Tagged ‘relevance’
The Imperfect Plan
In our imaginations, we plan for perfect. Perfect products bought and loved by perfect customers—who only show up on our best days. The days when we are perfect. Of course, the reality can’t always live up to the imagination. So we need to have a plan for when we’re far from perfect. The companies that…
Read MoreWhat Could You Leave Unsaid?
When I was in high school, the geography syllabus required us to study South America for a whole year. One of our teachers who had a special interest in South America decided to make it her business to teach us everything she knew about the continent. Everything. No stone was left unturned, no river basin…
Read MoreA Matter Of Marketing
We live in an age when it’s easier than ever to get your message in front of people. Many businesses have a strategy for getting their message seen and heard—far fewer have a plan for being believed and understood. It’s one thing to get in front of people, and another for them to choose to…
Read MoreReadiness Is Underrated
Even though traditional advertising is becoming less effective, it can still teach us about timing. The best marketing messages remind the right people about something they already want to do at the right time. So the millinery advert in the fashion magazine reminds women that it’s spring racing season in November. In December we’ll see…
Read MoreThe Obvious Advantage
The owner of our local organic store has built a thriving business. It’s the go-to place for people from the suburb who are happy to invest in a story about the benefits of eating well. He’s recently opened a new store in another suburb but hasn’t been able to replicate the success of the first.…
Read MoreJust Because You Can
The role of the hotel concierge can be a challenging one. The concierge has to think on his feet. He must immediately earn each new guest’s trust, give people what they don’t always know they want and solve problems on the fly. Some people are better at this than others. The good concierge knows the…
Read MoreThe Story Of Successful Ideas
Every product or service that becomes the backbone of a thriving business succeeds because it enables someone to do something they want to do, but can’t do. Before Keep Cup, millions more disposable coffee cups ended up in landfill. Before Stripe, it was more difficult for people and businesses to receive payments over the internet.…
Read MoreKeep Your Eye On The Ball
It was hard not to get swept up by the Serena Williams, US Open final story this week. It was difficult to avoid joining the debate about how it could all have played out differently if only this had been said or that had been done. That time spent thinking about what should have been…
Read MoreThe Art Of Differentiation
One day you will find a design you laboured over, taken and copied or several lines of copy you crafted, used and unattributed. And you will rant and rave until you realise, that there are things you can say and do that can’t be copied because those things are only true for you. We spend…
Read MoreIs The Consumer The Customer?
When the Old Spice ‘Smell Like a Man’ advertising campaign launched eight years ago, it called out an often unspoken truth about sales and marketing. The consumer and the user are not necessarily one and the same. This insight inevitably alters how you tell the story of the products you sell and the change you’re…
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