There is a difference between branding and being a brand. Branding focuses on the grand gesture. The big ad campaign with major media impressions. The breakthrough product innovation. The viral marketing event. Those things capture top-of-mind awareness for a short period of time. But in today’s noisy marketplace that awareness is quickly displaced by the […]
The helpful brand wins the heart
June 15, 2016 by Leave a Comment
One way to disrupt your market is to disrupt your marketing. What if you set aside the hard-sell persuasion techniques and the broadcasted interruptions, and instead served up a generous portion of radical helpfulness? What if helping people actually became your marketing strategy? Do you think you could still compete and win? Some brands are doing […]
A suspect is not a prospect
June 8, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Prospects are people who are able, ready and willing to buy. Suspects are merely eligible to do so. – Lester Wunderman Far too much time and money is wasted on marketing to suspects. Misusing data and technology enables marketers to waste time and money at scale. Prospecting with email is one example. Recently I got an […]
Telling the story versus being the story
June 1, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The story you tell in advertising might make the things you sell sound better. But what really matters to people is how the things you sell make life better for them. It’s that experience that makes your story meaningful and authentic. Here is an example. MidModMen+friends is a Saint Paul, Minnesota retailer of restored mid-century […]
