Newspapers and content providers are getting tired of giving their content away for free it seems. Rupert Murdoch’s response to free content clearly indicates the changing fortunes of the mass media - so ably predicted by the late great Michael Crichton over 16 years ago.
Survive or thrive? No matter, whether your business is experiencing good times or bad - you need to be smarter about your marketing. The rules are very simple - but will pay you dividends in the long run. Read the rest of this entry »
How do you price your goods or services? I’ve often had this discussion with clients … who say: “Ah, we can’t charge so-and-so, because X-company have set the ceiling price!” or “We couldn’t possibly charge more because it only costs so much to make!” Read the rest of this entry »
There is so much noise out there - unless you make it easy for customers - they won’t take action. As simple as that. But what is the thing that will motivate people to take action. From experience - there isn’t a magic bullet that will work every time.
But there are six things that will help you cut through the clutter…
Case studies have long been seen as an effective way for companies to tell their story. To let people know what work they do, who they do that work for, and importantly, what their customers think about the end-result! There are three crucial things which all communications should do. Communications material should be relevant to an audience, provide evidence of work and provide credibility for your organisation. Case studies tick all the boxes. Read the rest of this entry »
So you think you are the fastest, the smartest, the smallest, the brightest, the best … so what! What does that mean to your customer? He or she probably isn’t interested. They’re only really interested in WIIFM … “What’s In It For Me?” Read the rest of this entry »
For decades, innovators have researched what questions to ask to get the right answers. US-based innovator, Gerald Haman has spend 16 years researching and perfecting a number of these questions. Applying these questions can have profound results. Particularly for marketers and communicators. No matter, whether you are creating a new product, a brochure, website, product launch event, business partner programme or customer communication - these questions will help. Read the rest of this entry »
Getting people to buy isn’t a simple process. You sell but your customers buy. You have a sales process and your customers have a buying process. The fact is - your customer doesn’t give a hoot about your selling process. They’re only interested in the buying process. But, if you can marry these two things you’ll be onto a winner. Read the rest of this entry »
This is the one thing companies really struggle with. But without it - you could be missing out on loads of business. Creating a USP need not be difficult. Here is a fairly quick three step approach you can try for yourself. Discover your USP is three (fairly easy) steps: Read the rest of this entry »
Many years ago Peter Day of the BBC tracked down Scott Adams, creator of the Dilbert cartoon strip, for an interview. Scott made one serious point that successful companies consistently made the best products and services that people wanted to buy and also concentrated on the means of getting the product to the customer. He went on to comment how amazed he always was at the amount of resources companies would put into initiatives that had absolutely nothing to do with those basic objectives. Read the rest of this entry »