We’ve reviewed a lot of Mission Statements over the years—it’s one of the ingredients we consider when we’re developing a Positioning Statement. Most Mission Statements I’ve seen have been filled with big words but left me asking “where’s the mission?” Dan Heath, co-author of Made to Stick, offers up why bad Mission Statements happen to [...]
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RSS feed for this sectionChannel strategy: What you need to know now
By Herman Kwik, Ph.D. When I work with entrepreneurs or inventors who are excited about their new products and eager to get busy “marketing,” I often have to urge caution – for two reasons: Because when they say “marketing” they really mean “selling,” and that’s a different operation altogether. Because entrepreneurs don’t always consider the [...]
What’s your mindset amid the economic crisis?
In the last few months we’ve seen one client see a 75% decrease in their monthly revenue. A start up’s development and marketing funding source dried up when an adviser failed to move the money quick enough. Other clients have had their marketing budgets frozen or slashed. In their own words, these folks have told [...]
Lose your job? Return your car.
As retailer desperation reaches a fever pitch and discount signs pop up everywhere, here’s something a little different: With Hyundai’s Assurance Program, if you lose your job, you can return your car to the dealership. Any automaker could have done this, but they haven’t—yet. And Hyundai did it first. Not only will this drive word [...]
Coke v. Pepsi: Refreshingly irresponsible
Coke and Pepsi are at it again. They battled it out on New Year’s Eve in Times Square with Pepsi revealing it’s new Refresh Everything campaign while Coke introduced it’s Refresh. Recycle. Repeat. green campaign, wind-powered billboards and all. Here’s Pepsi’s New Year Eve video: Both campaigns are refreshing, but that’s the problem. By using [...]
One resolution to keep: A marketing plan in 2009
I often ask audiences “Are you happy with your marketing results?” Regardless of the number of people in the audience, nary a hand will go up. Later, when I ask “How many people are working from a marketing plan?” about the same number of people raise their hands. It’s no coincidence that of those that [...]
To print or not to print. That is the question.
At least, that’s the question I’ve been asking myself a lot lately. We printed and mailed holiday cards to key clients and sent digital versions to friends of the firm and the folks we communicate with regularly in social media circles. But I wasn’t sure if should send printed holiday cards. Every card we sent [...]
The evolution of church marketing
Believe in evolution? That’s your business. Let’s talk marketing—the evolution of church marketing. For obvious reasons, a lot more people will go to church today and tomorrow than usual. But religious institutions aren’t just looking for members in December. More and more churches are realizing that a good location and word-of-mouth alone won’t always fill [...]
Marketing, advertising and PR are not equals
I love and hate this: I love it because of it’s simple, it’s funny and it’s true. But I hate it because it perpetuates the myth that marketing, advertising and PR are all in some way equals. They aren’t. Let me explain: You meet two people at a holiday party: Beth works in the marketing [...]
Time to focus on the top of the pyramid
The pyramid above represents all of your audiences—from the entire universe of prospective customers to the people that love everything you do and refer you to everyone they know. In good economic times or bad, the goal is simple: Move each audience up the pyramid as far as you can. The proportions, of course, aren’t [...]
Will the economy kill creativity?
Breaking through the clutter amid consumer cynicism and information overload requires creativity. Creativity comes in all forms. It can be beautiful, disturbing, fascinating, shocking, heartwarming, awe-inspiring, scary, fun—you get the point. We all know that creativity isn’t always easy to sell. Sometimes it’s the budget. Other times it’s inertia. But whatever it is, experiencing something [...]
Good to Great: On hedgehogs and BHAGS
I’m a fan of Jim Collins, author of business classics Built to Last and Good to Great. One of the key concepts in Good to Great is the Hedgehog Concept: Those who built the good-to-great companies were, to one degree or another, hedgehogs. They used their hedgehog nature to drive toward what we came to [...]
Don’t roll the dice with your marketing in 2009
It’s hard to believe the holidays are a mere six to eight weeks from now, depending upon how you celebrate. Girding for what may be one of the poorest holiday seasons in recent memory, retailers have the decorations out and their holiday ads are starting to appear. While the time to complete planning for the [...]
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God is in the details
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Your name + your picture = LinkedIn ad
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