Beyond Attention

The black-gloved sales assistant in the jeweller’s window is busy polishing the stones in every ring. Totally absorbed in her task, she starts with the rubies, moves on to the emeralds and finishes with the diamonds. She carefully places them exactly two centimetres apart on velvet lining. The stones sparkle under perfect lighting as the…

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5 Ways To Be A More Resourceful Marketer

The problem with most marketing is that it not only feels inauthentic to the customer, it also relies on tired old tactics that do the opposite of what the marketer intended. It interrupts instead of inspiring, disconnects instead of delighting. We can do better. How To Be A More Resourceful Marketer 1. Pretend you have…

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The First Step To Mastering The Art Of Brand Storytelling

There are more than a dozen places to buy coffee in the commuter belt adjacent to Southern Cross Station. You can choose from artisan roasters, international cafe franchises or convenience stores and pay as little as $1 or as much as $5 for a takeaway coffee—all within 30 metres of the station. So how do…

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When Does Your Marketing Start?

The conventional definition of marketing describes it as the activities we do to promote sales of products or services. If we accept this definition, then the bulk of our marketing is done once we’re ready to sell our product. Tactics like list building, data collection, content creation, social media outreach, networking events and leaflet drops…

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What You Want To Say Vs. What People Need To Hear

Every one of us has a story to tell—something we want someone to hear. So we begin crafting our messages by prioritising our need to be heard. The irony is the best way to make an idea resonate is not to start with all the things you need to get off your chest, but instead…

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How Are Your Customers Convinced?

Real estate agents get more new listings from the refferrals made by satisfied sellers, than they do from letterbox dropping flyers. Hotel rooms are increasingly booked on the strength of previous guest reviews on Trip Advisor, not because of the room sizes and facilities published on their website. New gym members are often persuaded to…

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Getting The Story Formula Right

I often get emails asking about the right and the wrong way to tell a brand story. Questions like: How long should the story be? Should we start this way or that? What’s the best medium to use? The more important point to consider is not the length of the story or where to begin…

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The Unchanging Nature Of Business

It’s a cool November day in 2014, and a young couple pause on a suburban street to snap a selfie with an iPhone 5C. 90 years earlier in a garden in Warwickshire, England (circa 1925), Arnold and Helen Hogg attach a Box Brownie camera to a long stick and take their selfie. When we think…

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How To Build A 21st Century Brand

Forty years ago a brand was an identifier. Branding was what we did to the outside of a product or service after it was conceived and created. Brands became tales woven to increase visibility and memorability using design, clever copy, print and TV advertising to make sure the product was known by the majority of…

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The Good Marketer’s Dilemma

People (including you and me) often convince themselves that they make logical decisions about what to buy based on things like quality and price. If this were true, then there would be no need for businesses to invest in packaging, design or user experience. Packaging, design and copy tell a story that reinforces a worldview—enabling…

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