Posted on June 29, 2009
Last week I gave a speech for a few hundred franchise owners of the nation's leading home restoration brand. I connected with the brand's guiding philosophy that the customer wants more than service, they want/need a great experience. You can imagine that having your home restored after a disaster can either be a terrible experience, …
Posted on June 9, 2009
Here's an old clip I loved to show when making online marketing presentations back in 2000-2001. The clip includes a silly promotion for a juice. You use the bottle to make a lamp! The ad buy on TV was guess-work at best, there were hardly any metrics in place to measure incremental sales — …
Posted on May 15, 2009
Purple Cow is one of the best marketing books EVER. There are three reasons the book sold well, and continues to sell briskly today: 1. The idea — To be a successful brand, you must be remarkable. 2. Seth's writing style — He's direct, helpful and illustrates his ideas well. 3. His metaphorical imagery …
Posted on February 2, 2009
Super Bowl ads are a great study in effective marketing. If successful, they drive incremental sales or website traffic. Over time, they also feed brand power. During these tough economic time, though, driving sales NOW is the key to a good ad. At the grocery store last night, stopping in to get some milk, I …
Posted on August 29, 2008
More ideas from my recent trip to Bogota Columbia: Idea #2 — Start a street buzz before you run expensive advertising. When I was walking around Bogota, I noticed what I thought were Green Bay Cheese heads. I introduced myself to them, and took a picture to send to my friends in Wisconsin. It turns …
Posted on August 21, 2008
Here’s a great example of a product paradox: This is a set of packaging cutters that are designed to “open anything”. In this world of hard plastic packaging, this tool can save you from cutting yourself with a knife or underpowered scissors. Here’s the flaw in this company’s strategery: You need a pair to open …
Posted on June 5, 2008
One of the best experiences you create is through customization. One of the worst ones is created through generalization. When we tailor our information, services and products to someone’s individual situation, we make a real connection. I have learned this recently in both my blogging and speaking life. Often, it is easy to generalize a …
Posted on May 28, 2008
Do you have a current head shot that shows you off? If not, how can you build a personal brand? Your picture is more memorable than your bio. Maybe that’s what people mean when they say that “a picture is worth a thousand words.” I remember in 1998, while working at broadcast.com, when I got …
Posted on April 22, 2008
On a personal and professional level, you will never be successful if you don’t stand for something bigger than yourself or your company. What do you stand for? What are you willing to fight for? What are you doing to make the world a better place? All of is need a personal mission that helps …
Posted on March 28, 2008
I was at CNBC’s headquarters in New Jersey on Weds and here’s a picture of the broadcast center. I was invited to meet with development executives about an opportunity to be on one of their shows in May. They found me because I had posted a series of videos on YouTube. By watching my videos, …
