Showmanship & Transparency
Like most buzzwords “transparency” is most misunderstood by the very people mouthing it most often. The proper way requires transparency AND showmanship.
Actually, Most Things Will Be the Same
This is about the habits and motivations of the greater human condition at a macro-level. Dr. Abraham Maslow hasn’t failed us thus far, and his hierarchy of human needs isn’t likely to falter any time soon.
Bonding Not Branding
Let me tell you a cool story I think you’ll like — one that taught me the most powerful advertising lesson I’ve ever learned. See, when the radio-thon rolled around, my client put his personal money where his mouth had always been.
Four Advertising Message Options for Local Businesses
Bonding Ads don't sound like ads, which means your well-meaning family and friends will tell you not to run them.
Wizard’s Roundtable Episode 4
Why right now is probably the worst time to try old sales tricks like adding urgency and false deadlines in your advertising. And the role that social proof will play in the speed and timing of the economy reopening.
Stupid Retail Questions
“Did you find everything you were looking for?” This seems to be the new question de jour at our local grocery store when we check out.
Wizard’s Roundtable: Episode 2
The four things that need to be in every commercial, no matter what's going on in the world. And whether or not this is the time to renegotiate your media buy.
The Secret to Successful Change Initiatives
Use the power of story to temporarily fast-forward to that happy ending and have them, from that safe, happy vantage point, look back at the precipice they’re standing on now.
Wizard’s Roundtable: Episode 1
“Gosh, we don’t know what’s going to happen this afternoon. We don’t know what’s going to happen this month. We don’t know anything.” How does a business plan for the unknown?
The Greatest Business Secret in the World
Your company may sell the finest products and services in the marketplace, but it’s how customers feel about your products and services that ultimately determine how successful your business will be.
Seek a Hire Power
Powerful recruiting radiates from employee perspectives, multiple, authentic voices, implied meaning, and indirect targeting. First, start with Rule One.
How Selling is Like Courtship
If you skip steps and go for the “close” too soon, you will be perceived as salesy, creepy, or just plain awkward.
What Now? What When? Marketing Through a Pandemic
On the scale of things that are important right now…Marketing isn’t even on the board. But marketing is a rope that directly connects your business tomorrow with the realities of today.
Selling The Unsellable
Do you have any inventory that celebrated a birthday… or two? Or did you punt them out at a loss? Chalking it up to, ‘just another bad buy’.
Be Curious Like Columbo
When you come across like Columbo; a humble, curious problem solver, you rarely get branded the “typical sleazy salesman."