Personality Prescription, Part 6 – Uniqueness
The pursuit of uniqueness is a huge source of frustration. Of wasted money. Of non-persuasive advertising.
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.
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?
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.
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?
Personality Prescription, Part 3 – You’re Choosing Cheap Ones
You’re probably attracting Price Sensitive Homeowners without even knowing it.
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.
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.”
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.
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.