Say you’re doing a website for the local aquarium. Say you’re targeting families. The banner on the home page may say something like, “Bring your family to enjoy all the sea-life exhibits.” That headline is okay. But just okay. How about: “Imagine your child’s eyes as...
Don’t feel bad. It happens all the time. But for heaven’s sake, don’t forget to ask it next time. Okay, here it is: are we selling competitively, i.e., against similar companies, to people who know they need our product? Or are we selling the category–in other...
Almost from the moment we’re born, humans have a visceral attraction to faces. It takes us only a split second to assess someone else’s mood or nature by subtle changes in their facial expression. That’s why it’s important to get our business profile photo right. The...
Time: Mid-April, 317 BC Place: Royal Greek Academy of Macedon, under a shady tree, after class Student: Teacher, listen, I’ve got this great idea for an online business. It’s an app called Gossip of the Gods, and I’ll bet I can get a thousand subscribers for five...
Marketing strategy–now that’s my idea of an interesting challenge. Fishing, not so much. Sure, I could have told you I’m a prolific fisherman, and probably get away with the lie. But I did learn a thing or two as a boy, watching my dad fish, as I occasionally glanced...
Oh yes, I’ve seen marketing initiatives dissolve into tedious, gut-wrenching, time-sucking exercises for all involved. There are all kinds of factors that might send a new project down that rocky path. But I’ve spent decades watching company behavior from an agency...
If I were an Army strategist, I’d figure that the surest way to capture my target is to approach them from all angles. So that, well, there’s less chance of their escape, and my looking foolish. Although our country is probably lucky that I’m not in charge of...
Why would any company sabotage their own marketing efforts? Man, over the years, I’ve seen lots of good reasons. Well, they weren’t good reasons in the end. But when managers consistently put their internal considerations before customers’ buying considerations, then...
I’ve heard it said that we choose with our hearts, and then justify with our heads. Except for engineers, maybe, who I’m sure do have hearts, but, well, I won’t get into that. The point is, we’re rarely aware of the bubbling brew of internal and external forces that...
Okay, your recent email or ad said what you wanted to say, and when you showed the layout around the office, everyone signed off on it. So, um, why aren’t buyers lined up at the door? Didn’t they see it? Well…yes and no. Let’s approach this from another angle. Have...
