Tuesday, April 17th, 2012
What are your customers doing when your marketing or sales messages show up in their lives? Sitting there waiting, minds clear, all prepared to devote their full attention to what you have to say?
Of course not!
Any time your customers encounter your marketing or sales messages, you can be sure that they already have a deep, rich, personal narrative happening in their minds. Your challenge: Become part of that story without interrupting it. Have a look at today’s newsletter, Don’t Knock Her Story Out Of Her Hands.
Posted in Brand Harmony, Conversation, Customer Encounters, Ditch the Pitch, Marketing | 1 Comment »
Monday, April 2nd, 2012
My first newsletter of April, Brand Entropy vs. Brand Harmony, encourages companies to do a little “spring cleaning” to keep their brand from becoming disorganized, confusing and unappealing to customers.
Entropy is the tendency for systems to move progressively from states of organization to states of disorganization– and your brand is not exempt from this powerful force.
Read the newsletter: Brand Entropy vs. Brand Harmony
Posted in Brand Harmony, Invent Your Future, Observations | No Comments »
Monday, November 14th, 2011
Do your customers love you?
Do you know why they would love you?
Can you think of a more important question you need to ask related to your brand?
Have a look at today’s newsletter, Why would they love you, and then ask yourself this question. Do you know why your customers would love you?
Read the newsletter: Why would they love you?
Posted in Brand Harmony, Marketing | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011
Yes. I am telling you to ignore your mission statement! You read it correctly.
I have an alternative for you … read today’s newsletter, Ignore Your Mission Statement, and see how you can ignore your mission statement and feel good about it!
Posted in Brand Harmony | 4 Comments »
Tuesday, May 31st, 2011
In 1997 my mentor/guru/client Tom Peters published a ground-breaking article in Fast Company titled The Brand Called You. Let’s take a new look at the concept of personal branding with today’s newsletter, Your Powerful Personal Brand.
What are you doing to reinvent, reinvigorate and renew your personal brand?
Posted in Brand Harmony, Invent Your Future | 2 Comments »
Monday, January 31st, 2011
How do I answer the question, “So Steve, what is marketing?”
Read today’s newsletter, “Definition of Marketing,” to find out … and then please share your comments here.
Posted in Brand Harmony, Marketing | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
Why is there such a wide gap between what people say they believe about marketing, and the actual marketing they do?
Why do companies allocate their marketing dollars in ways that they know are counterproductive?
Why do I sometimes feel like much of marketing is stuck in 1973, looking at direct marketing and the online world through an advertising-based lens?
Have a look at today’s newsletter, Do as you say, not as you do, and then please come back here to leave a comment.
And … if you see your competitors marketing in the way I’ve described above, smile. And then go after their customers.
Posted in Brand Harmony | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
As we were helping a client on a marketing plan, Amanda said, “I really don’t like the word ‘collateral’.” Collateral, as most of you know, has traditionally referred to all of those ‘other’ marketing activities, such as brochures, flyers, posters, etc. that act ‘in collateral’ to all-important advertising.
“So,” I asked, “what should it be called?” We decided, for the sake of our own amusement, to think of a word that made sense from a Brand Harmony perspective. We came up with ‘complementaral.”
I am not, of course, suggesting anyone use that term. (It really sounds silly!) The point is that the purpose of these kinds of marketing efforts is not to act as something that is collateral, or parallel, to advertising, but to act in complement of all other touchpoints the customer has with the company.
If we think of all of our marketing efforts has acting in a parallel, but non-integrated, fashion, they will fizzle into the ether. If we want our marketing efforts to be effective, they need to complement each other, and blend in Brand Harmony.
Posted in Brand Harmony | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009
In today’s newsletter, I focus on Question 3 of the 6 questions I use when I begin to evaluate a company’s marketing efforts.
Question 3 asks, “Are you clear about the rich story you want your customers to understand?“ Many companies look at their brands in a very cursory way, while their customers are willing to create rich brand stories in their minds. One step to great marketing: Create a rich brand story that encourages customers to think, “I get it, I want it and I can’t get it anywhere else.”
Posted in Brand Harmony, Marketing | No Comments »
Friday, October 30th, 2009
There is a direct connection between what your customers believe about you and how much money you make.
What your customers believe about you – consciously or sub-consciously – influences your customers’ actions. If customers’ beliefs about you are clear, compelling, powerful, motivating and differentiating, they will act in ways that improve your business results. If, on the other hand, their beliefs about you are not clear, compelling, powerful, motivating and differentiating, their actions will not improve your business results as much as is possible.
Advertising, PR, customer service, product development … everything you do … is secondary. What you do only matters if it helps customers do things. And what influences customers to do things? What they believe.
Posted in Brand Harmony | No Comments »
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