Like average Americans, you’re exposed to thousands of marketing messages each day, from TV commercials to billboards to slogans on fast-food drink cups. How many of the ones you saw yesterday do you remember? Probably just a couple – maybe a few if you really strain your memory. So why do so many companies and organizations … Read more
Companies have many reasons for trying to handle their marketing communications needs in-house. Sometimes, budget is the main reason, but a more common justification is the belief that nobody in the outside world could ever understand the company as well as its employees. Hard to disagree — but it’s the very reason working with an … Read more
Back in high school, I learned a valuable lesson about marketing materials while working as a dishwasher for a chain steakhouse. Washing dishes may be the grimiest job in most eateries, but I didn’t mind it. There were clear objectives and performance measures, the work was predictable, my co-workers left me alone, the radio made … Read more
Wondering what you’ll do if you can’t come up with a decent topic for a particular day’s blog post? Prepare in advance by developing some “evergreen” posts. What do I mean by an evergreen post? It’s simply a post that provides general information, will always be appropriate for the audience, and isn’t time-sensitive. If you’re … Read more
You launched that new marketing campaign three months ago, and you’ve had it. Sales just haven’t increased. So you’ve decided to toss it aside and come up with something new. Bad idea. And I say “bad idea” as someone who benefits financially when companies need brand-new marketing approaches, because it usually means that they need … Read more
Some companies are constantly focused upon staying at the forefront of their industries. But when you take on the mantle of “innovator,” you also assume the responsibility of an educator. That’s because when you stake out new territory, it’s new to everyone else, too. The advantages and superiority of your new approach may be obvious … Read more
I spent a few years working for an advertising agency at which every logo design and brochure had to pass a painstaking critical analysis. At the end of the day, one of the partners put whatever had been created in his briefcase, brought it home, and showed it to his wife. Not surprisingly, new members … Read more
I’ll be the first to admit that the ampersand (that familiar little “&” mark) can be handy now and then. But it’s one of the most-misused tools in the punctuation toolbox. The ampersand is a graphic replacement for the word “and.” Used properly in graphic design, it can even be a thing of beauty — … Read more
Companies and organizations devote an amazing amount of time to agonizing over what their websites should look like. They review a host of different design approaches and spend hours trying to determine exactly how each page should function. Then they slap some content in place. What kind of content? “Take that stuff from our last … Read more
Did you know that public speaking is a bigger source of fear for most people than the idea of dying? Fortunately, most people die only once, but you may face multiple occasions in your career or civic life in which you’re forced to share important information in front of a crowd. There’s a lot of … Read more