Archive of posts from August 2019

The holy grail in client relations, beyond advocacy, is deep mutual respect born of a long, fruitful and (mostly) successful partnership.

You do good work. You almost always do. Occasionally you slip up. They’ve known you long enough to know it’s an exception to the rule, and they think nothing of it. They flag it, but everyone knows it’s no red flag, merely an observation with mutual respect.

They listen to your direction. They almost always do. Occasionally they don’t....

Last February, we talked together about investing in things that last.

I thought I’d unpack in a little more detail some differences between what does – and doesn’t – last for companies doing meaningful work:

Things that don’t.

Tactics fade. There are countless tactics across industries, and each tends to lose effectiveness with saturation. Invariably, by the time there are umpteen online courses preaching the majesty of a particular tactic, it’s too late.

Hacks/tricks fade. “Hidden secrets that will transform...

When you’re proud of something you’ve written, you sign it. When you’re proud of something you’ve drawn, you sign it.

What about the time and energy we dedicate to our daily work?

The project you’re working on maybe in your control, or it may simply be something you must follow instructions within. In either case, we have the opportunity to ask ourselves, “Were we to be permitted a signature on this piece, would we sign it?”

The business you’re building...

Let’s take a little look at who your competition really is:

If it’s your industry competitors, that’s your choice. They’re only competitors if you choose not to find complimentary ways to bring yet more value to the market, together. To work together on things to create more meaningful advantage for those in your care – events, products, systems – than you could create alone. Your choice.

If it’s your inner voice, that’s your choice. The voices that tell you that...

How can making progress…slow you down?

It sounds like it shouldn’t make sense – progress is suppose to mean things are getting better, faster, stronger, more effective, more fulfilling, more powerful. Yes?

For companies though, progress can carry with it some extra weight:

##As a company grows it slows.

Often, progress starts to really manifest after a company gets its around effective systemization. Things can start moving faster in the direction it set out on.

The risk here, is turning...

Years ago, a mentor many years my senior quipped that even great men still feel like little boys inside.

I found it to be a powerful reminder that, while the inner-talk is in our control, we all have similar default settings.

We all remember the bad grades and the bullies in school. Richard Branson got bullied for being dyslexic at school. Many moons after becoming a millionaire, he still had to have staff explain to him the difference between net...

Growth by contraction? How does that work?

Let’s paint a picture of crazy, for a moment:

“Trying to do everything you hear in blog posts, all at once, because you were told you should be doing those things.”

Sound familiar?

You were told you should be guest posting. And using Facebook Ads. And Instagram stories. And LinkedIn messaging. And pop-ups on your website. The list goes on.

Ever notice how, when you try to do everything at once, nothing ends...

Your customers don’t trust themselves, not really… and that’s a big reason for lost sales.

In this post, let’s take a look at what Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote on the matte of self-reliance:

“Yet he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his. In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts: they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty. Great works of art have no more affecting lesson for us than this.”

Translation: We...

There are lots of little things we buy online while shopping. Our customers are shopping for these things too. Do you have these in stock?

Respect: Stock tends to run low on this for customers who don’t align with a company’s ideals. Perhaps the customer doesn’t understand how to use an item, or they’re more emotional than many. You can do better: make sure you stock levels more-than-match the number of customers you have.

Discipline: Stock run down to back-order...

People don’t buy if they have trust issues. But those trust issues may not be with you. It may run deeper than that:

Do they trust us?

When we think about building trust, this is what we tend to think about. Getting folks to trust us.

And the act of earning trust is well-documented; with a good narrative structure and a powerful offer that has proven itself in the marketplace, maintaining trust is expressed as as state of mind...

“But I like using Facebook more than Twitter”, says the marketing person.

Who said we get to choose where our audience is?

If your audience is on Instagram, it doesn’t matter if you think it’s a shallow show-reel of humanity’s worst, or not. They’ll remain there independently of your feelings on the matter. You can choose to show up and use the platform fully, or you can leave those you wish to serve to be served by somebody else instead.

Happy customers need more than just your products.

HomePod

Why, when you buy an iPod, do you then buy a Mac, an iPhone, an iPad, AirPods, and a HomePod?

Hint: it’s not because you needed any of those things.

Your phone worked fine. So did your laptop. You didn’t need more headphones. Or a new home stereo.

The glue was the experience. A story you told yourself as you used one product, that you wanted to tell yourself again,...

Marketing automation has a problem. 

Picture this: you get a letter in the mail

It’s hand-written. It has a hand-written note on a special letter-head from the company. It’s signed with a real signature.

How do you feel? Having received a letter that someone took the time to write just for you, with your name on it etc?

Now let’s add a layer to the story…

On closer inspection, you realize the note wasn’t hand-written, but a font. The...

I had a coupon in the mail for some free coffees at a local coffee place this week.

And I tried to use it.

Of course, it’s limit one per visit, and only applies when you buy a particular item in their store.

“Obviously” the coupon wouldn’t be for just a free drink without strings attached. “Obviously” it would be only if you buy something.

What if it was just for free?

They would have new customers experiencing their brand...

There’s a good reason why you don’t really like marketing as a cause-driven or sustainable business.

“It makes you feel icky.”

Here’s why, and here’s what to do about it.

Icky marketing is what we see most often.

The Instagram or Facebook ads you see of the guy promising to reveal a super-secret that will change your life.

The limited-time-only webinar that will show you how to unlock untold riches so you can live a life of conspicuous spending.

What did you do as a child that influenced your direction toward the work you to today?

I liked to make and sell things from an early age, and wanted ways to contribute.

I remember programming a video game at around 13 (I made quite a few, this was one of the bad ones!), where the player would play as God. He would fly around looking for people who looked down on their luck, zap them with his cane, and...

Every member of a company with a cause eventually discovers ‘dirt’.

It’s usually before they join. Sometimes it’s after.

But all must discover it, or the company risks losing its soul.

Dirt defined

‘Dirt’ is what motivates most of them to join the company in the first place.

It’s the hard work that directly affects those they’re in business to truly serve.

For companies that do business to support those in extreme poverty, the ‘dirt’ could be going to...

Why don’t more company out-serve their competitors, instead of worrying about what the next ‘funnel’ is that they need to get more customers

For example:

Why is the material you really want people to engage with hidden behind email opt-in forms and time-access restraints?

I get it, ‘funnels’, right? Here’s a question: if your competitors are all doing that in the same way – some of which are ‘lowering the tone’ with sensationalism – would you gain a marketing...

We all got complacent in our businesses. Maybe not today or yesterday, but some time, in some parts of our work.

We got complacent and we didn’t even notice. We may still not have noticed. It’s time to take notice:

You made a product and it worked

A product that doesn’t sell gets your attention. You try things, you’re brave with the changes. Because you need to make it work, right? What is there to lose?

The problem is,...

When something is clearly articulated to meet my needs, I don’t need convincing.

When something is not clearly going to meet my needs, out comes Dog And Pony Marketing.

What is Dog And Pony Marketing

Dog And Pony Marketing is the art of creating a carefully crafted sequence of sensational nonsense designed to compel unsuspecting prospects to part with their money.

When we’re not clear on who we’re talking to and what to say to them in order to...