Hallmark – When you care enough to send the very best.
It’s rare to find a $5 billion company founded in 1910 that is still owned by the family today.
Personality Prescription, Part 13 – Finding Talent
Employees who believe in and share company values reduce turnover to as little as 4% of the typical company.
Sales Funnel Optimization: The Myths and Facts
How’s your sales funnel looking? Is it optimized for conversion? If not, what can you change to improve it?
Get the kid a Grammy
The batter flopped around on the ground like a salmon. Tyler, from shortstop, yells out, “Get the kid a Grammy. He’s acting the hell out of it.”
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Be Who You Are — A KFC Case Study
The Colonel was seen as old, outdated, and associated with the old south. Tragically unhip for a newer, younger audience.
Don’t Mess with Texas – Don’t do it.
How Texas got cleaner highways through an anti-littering campaign that never used the word litter.
Strange Limiting Beliefs
The strangest belief I see nowadays is, “I love my digital person; can I keep using them” when they don’t know what’s under the hood.
But What About the Rest of Us?
The direct response ad industry, which includes most of what you see online, is built upon hyper-targeting to those scant percentages of people shopping today.
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Brand Loyalty and the Chamber of Secrets
Measuring brand loyalty includes involvement, price worthiness, emotional value, social value, brand trust, satisfaction, commitment, and repeat purchase.
HOPE gets crushed when Despair uses a megaphone
The only advertising that gets customers immediately is through discounts. I’ve seen this picture before, and I don’t like the ending.
Metaphor Proves Crucial for Harnessing Emotions for Increasing Ad Effectiveness
When participants returned for recall testing a week later, there was a significant difference.
Personality Prescription, Part 12 – The Perils of Celebrity
It’s shocking how many reputational problems are the result of dumb decisions by the company spokesperson.
Creemore Springs Brewery and the Bavarian Purity Law of 1516
Most breweries would say, “We’ve got this great quality product brewed with this really nice spring water.” But they went a different way.
Treat Your Job Seekers Like Customers
The job market is becoming more competitive and companies are struggling to find the right talent.
To all the things you owned before
Accountants are mostly historians. They use past data to predict the future. Marketers are writers of the future and use words to create it.
Are you Brand Handicapped?
Big corporate entities have warped the definition of Brand. Why? To handicap their competition. Which is you. The little guy.
Phone Number Rant – We don’t need them anymore?
And don’t get me started on LOOOOONG domain names. Your designers and marketers should know better.
Branding “Cheat Codes” for Explosive Growth
It’s much faster for me to convince you that other people already believe X about brand Y than to change your personal perceptions.
Survival Mode And Buyer Archetypes
The answer is to get better at identifying and closing more sales of both Transactional Shoppers and Relational Buyers.
Every Day Is Election Day For Your Brand
Are you guilty of voter suppression? I’m not referring to second Tuesday in November voters.
Pizza is not like its Italian cousins
Price is the easiest to match. Competitors will drive you out of business using this strategy when they have more money than you.
Personality Prescription Part 11 – You Should Be a Celebrity
The campaign we create around your values and personality will, like all good image advertising, continue to work better the longer we use it.
Kool-Aid – Owning the customer from every angle
Edwin Perkins took inspiration from Jello to create a mail order empire. Oh Yeah! From a General Store to a major brand.
Brand it Like Bogie
Four simple-as-dirt branding lessons from Casablanca on how to become irresistible to customers & impervious to competitors.
The Secret to Changing People’s Minds With Advertising
There are at least three proven methods for changing people’s minds on even intensely personal and polarizing issues.
Chaos is a pattern
The chaos of advertising is a repeatable success formula when you know how to identify the patterns. The real issue is what is said.
Google Map Pack Essentials
The first thing to understand about the Google Map Pack is that local businesses, not chains, are given priority.
Rolls Royce – Selling just the Brand.
Bentley and Rolls Royce. You’ll be shocked when you learn what was sold, licensed, and protected. An epic story of Brand.
The sun sets at quarter past seven on the sixth day of September
My ex-business partner didn’t understand the food was secondary to the view.
The House with the Good Candy
A recent study found that a whopping 90 percent of parents get their kids’ input before buying something.
How to Calculate Your Mass Media Branding Budget
A great media buyer can make a smaller budget bark like a bigger one, but you still need to spend according to growth goals.
Personality Prescription, Part 10 – The Company Spokesperson
People don’t expect you to be a polished professional. They do expect you to be sincere and to tell them the truth as you see it.
Behavioral Retargeting: Bring The Right Folks Back In
Have you browsed a website, checked out a product then left, only to find the same item on a Facebook ad?
Character, statues, and a promise no one else will make
“Do you know what you’re selling?” “Custom-made furniture.” “God no. That’s the product. You’re selling nostalgia.”
Whole Foods – How passion became an empire
Founded in 1980 as a 10,500-foot location in Austin, TX. Thirty-seven years later Amazon bought it for $13.8B.
Making a Fortune With Magical Thinking
The prop “blaster” wielded by Harrison Ford in Star Wars just sold at auction for $1,057,500. Why? Emotional Attachment.
What Spartan Women Can Teach Us About Advertising
Chroniclers say their goodbye was a short, “with it or on it.” The “it” was the Spartan shield.
The Only 3 Things Any Buyer Actually Cares About
Your client’s satisfaction is not a function of how much they like your product.
Do Annoying Commercials Accomplish the Right Goals?
Obnoxious ads get people to know who you are, but they neither develop fondness nor instill trust in your brand.
The dark side of business is a villain
In the pursuit of money, people do terrible things. That’s not you. But the darkness that clouds the community lingers through your life.
Nespresso – 400 Nespressos drunk every second
It failed twice even though it was cheaper and produced better quality coffee. It took glamour to finally create a successful launch.
Personality Prescription, Part 9 – Using Your Culture
When the boss is spread so thin he (or she) can’t work even one more hour, the company stagnates at that level.
Accelerated Branding through Slang, Cheap Psychology, and Earworms
By tapping into the power of tribe and self-identity, GGT spiked brand awareness and sales for Toshiba.
10 Most Common Mistakes in Marketing (Home Services Edition)
With so much conflicting information, how can you avoid royally screwing up your business? Start here.
Time to do the Opposite
My first reaction was, “Who does this?” It doesn’t make sense… until you really digest what’s transpiring. This applies in business just as well as sports.
KFC – The secret 11 herbs and spices
He never gave up, put crazy miles on his car, promoted and sold Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), and worked well into his seventies.
Once upon a time…
Great stories have three principal roles: hero, victim, and villain. These roles need to be filled: Prince Charming, Stepmother, and Cinderella.
Learn These New Words and Be Ahead of the Pack
By introducing new ideas, you attract people’s attention, cementing your brand into a household name. You rise above the Sea of Sameness.
Higher Margins & Elevated Messaging
Sell to people who see you as their first and best choice, and your premium pricing will be gladly accepted as “reassuringly expensive.”
Personality Prescription, Part 8 – Your Company’s Reputation
Reputations take years to build through word of mouth but can be built in only months through consistent advertising.
Click Through Rate(CTR): Improving Your Ad Clicks
Did you know that the average click-through rate (CTR) for display ads is a measly 0.05 percent?
James Watt – The marketing story of horsepower
Cars are marketed today using the term horsepower. Find out why James Watt invented the term and how it helped.
When advertising is the LAST thing you need.
Most businesses are blind to friction points that may be holding their sales back. Here’s the solution.
Improve Sales Effectiveness & Company Culture With One Simple “Hack”
It’s important for you to seem like the same company in-person as on air.
The key to happiness
This year’s team only has two returning players from last year. One of them is my son. He thinks I’m full of crap.
Transactional vs. Relational Shoppers
Transactional shoppers illustrate lower average sales and closing ratios, and smaller profit margins.
Fox 40 – From referee to whistle entrepreneur
They all go, “Can I buy one?” Now he doesn’t say, “Oh, I haven’t made it yet.” He says, “Nope, they’re on backorder, but I can take orders.”
Personality Prescription, Part 7 – Company Culture
As each company grows, employees observe and work out the actual rules of survival for their job.
How to “Pick Up the Pace” with Your Branding Campaign
Jingles, sound effects, or just interestingly pronounced phrases stick in our brains with amazing power and longevity.
Skunky Beer is the Worst (Part the Third)
For his chocolate-coffee stout, he used pounds of Wilbur Buds dark chocolate (a local delicacy). Then the brewer made a tragic mistake.
Origin Story: How Your Story Should’ve Successfully Been Told
Most ads don’t work. Why? They’re missing the key ingredient.
The world’s most honest used car salesman
I like making people the hero in the ads. People are more interesting when they stop pretending.
The Paradox of Customer Dissatisfaction
How you can leverage it to create rabidly happy (as opposed to merely satisfied) customers.
Wrigley’s Origin – You buy the baking powder you get the gum
How the power of premiums created an empire.
Google Local Service Ads, Anyone?
For example, searching for “plumbers near me” or “lawyers in Los Angeles” will both return LSA at the top of the results page above the other listings.
Influence This! (Part the Second)
When it comes to influencers, or when it comes to chicanery in marketing, color me skeptical.
5 Hard Truths About Advertising Every Business Owner Ought to Know
Your ads are an annoyance to your future customers. Unless you make yourself otherwise.
Personality Prescription, Part 6 – Uniqueness
The pursuit of uniqueness is a huge source of frustration. Of wasted money. Of non-persuasive advertising.
Who you gonna call?
Halloween 1985 would have been forgotten if Chris hadn’t brought the Roman candles. But in business, Remarkability and Memorability are often rejected for the safe.
Factors That Affect Your Conversion Rate [+ CRO Statistics]
Businesses with more than 40 landing pages produced 12 times the number of leads as those with 1-5 landing pages.
Nike – It took them seven years to break $1M in revenue
Nike goes from distributor to shoe manufacturer to work directly with the customer.
Doubling Down on Schtick That Sticks
It’s been over 40 years — and I can still sing the lyrics. Here are my quick and dirty takeaways.
All Hat and No Cattle (Part the First)
Being an authentic leader is as simple a concept as there is: Be who you are, warts and all, at all times to all persons.
What firefighting taught me about business
Once we helped the fire department roll out their hoses, Kenny started acting like Lieutenant Dan in Forrest Gump.
How To Avoid Bad Hires – And Its High Energy Cost
Did you know that the average cost of bad hires is $18,000? And 2 in 3 newly hired people later realized they were a poor fit.
IMG – International Management Group. Who are these people?
Mark McCormack started with Arnold Palmer and was named 1990’s most powerful man in sports.
Shared Stories and Advertising Magic
Why do so few stories end up being about vulnerability, setbacks, or scars? Because it takes an uncommon level of guts and skill.
Are You A Wiener Dog? Last Chance to Commit
People say, “follow your passion, follow your passion, follow your passion.” Those people are idiots.
Personality Prescription, Part 5 – Let’s Sell Something
There’s a saying that “Business goes where it’s invited.” What should we put in our ads to get that invitation from Ms. Homeowner?
Google’s Algorithm and Modern SEO
Modern SEO combined with adherence to Google’s algorithm can ensure a significant increase in sales. Let’s dissect how it works.
Love is a game of catch.
Understand your customer, and you will never sell to them. They will buy from you over and over again because you care about them.
Wanna Be Seen as “The Best”? Don’t Brag, Do This Instead
Lead researcher, Neil G. MacLaren, set out to test the “Babble Hypothesis.” Turns out, there’s a deceptively simple answer.
Wiener Dogs Forever: The Power of Crowd Promotion
This is about a community movement where the stars are everyday people. Most businesses that attempt to do something like this do it badly.
Personality Prescription, Part 4 – Other Homeowners’ Motivations
Value Conscious Homeowners are shopping, too. But not for the best deal. They are looking for an expert they can trust.
Advertising Candy Bars – Why spend millions to gain 1% more market share?
The secret to why someone would spend millions advertising a $2 item. How to grow market share.
A childhood bribe taught me about bad marketing
Bribing a customer does not have the same effect as bribing a child. The campaign works, but the strategy fails.
“Unique” Is Overrated — And Far Less Powerful Than…
Do you care whether you get a “unique” plumber to fix your flooded house?
Best Local SEO Tools: Secrets Revealed
You’ll lose a chunk of precious prospects unless you optimize your website to appear in local listings.
The Heart of a Wiener Dog: Character Diamonds
Most business owners are hesitant to share anything remotely vulnerable through their advertising. But wiener dogs have no fear of looking ridiculous.
Personality Prescription, Part 3 – You’re Choosing Cheap Ones
You’re probably attracting Price Sensitive Homeowners without even knowing it.
What a fool believes
The gatekeeper job does not belong to Facebook or Twitter. You are the gatekeeper. Keep fools away from your airwaves.
What’s in a Name?
When I walk into my local Starbucks, I feel like Norm Peterson walking into Cheers. What do you do that makes customers feel comfortable?
Forget TL;DR — it’s TB;DC you gotta worry about!
The art of ad writing requires the creation of ads that work even for an audience that’s half-paying attention.
Once a Wiener… Repurposing the Proven
Peter: How is it that I’m going to tell people the story of the wiener dog? Roy: Ok. It’s actually, it’s called cheating.
A High-Converting Landing Page’s Anatomy
These eight essential landing page elements create the perfect recipe for success.
The Personality Prescription, Part 2 – Never Cut Price
Dropping price to be competitive means we’re only working harder to put ourselves out of business sooner.
Left turn to Albuquerque
Last year, a lawyer put up a billboard. He used the same graphics as the tv show with the headline, “Better Call Bob.”
Follow the Wiener Dog: How Employees Become Wiener Dogs
“I’m the business owner. I don’t have to believe in you. You have to believe in me.”
Amazon Style? Opening a brick-and-mortar clothing retail store?
It appears they are taking a page out of Canada Goose’s book.
Piña Coladas & Persuasion
This is what separates the heroes from schmoes in branding: The ability to use entertainment & humor to drive home the message, rather than obscure it.
The 3 Foundations Of Exponential Profitable Growth
How you motivate your employees affects everything downstream.
A smile that could clean dishes
There’s a cliché, “hire for attitude, train for skill.” Clichés don’t require us to think. Marco isn’t cliché.
Magical Wiener Dogs and Storytellers
The Power of Someone who Believes in You More than You.
Time To Get Crazy
I stand against best practices because it locks you into a way of thinking. You do not defeat the leader by following their playbook.
The Personality Prescription, Part 1 – Stalled Growth
Stalled growth is an outcome of a growing dependence of home service contractors on digital media. They’ve bought into the “wasted circulation” concept.
What’s Working Well?
Ever heard the phrase: “Don’t know what you’ve got, ‘till it’s gone”? Reinforce the right stuff, and you’ll get more of it. It’s a natural law of the universe.
Lead Generation: The Who, What, Why, and How
If the epic failure, Groupon, taught us anything, it was that there is no value in attracting a bunch of cheap customers.
Inflation is not the only silent tax.
I believe a 2-3% sales increase is a shrinking business. And a shrinking business should be in “All-in” mode to change the inevitable.