The landscaping contractor had a nice-looking pickup truck and well-kept trailer. He had invested some money in an attractive door sign. But a little detail probably cost him more business than he ever realized. Squarely in the middle of his front bumper was a license plate displaying the Confederate flag. (Before Civil War buffs jump … Read more
You messed up. You handled something the wrong way. Could be you just failed to handle it when you should have. So what are you going to do about it? Are you a big company? Then you’re probably going to mess up even more. Sure, you’ll spit out some kind of public apology, but it … Read more
What many call “fight or flight” is a quick way to describe the brain’s innate responses to stimuli. It might come as a surprise that it also offers some valuable advice related to websites and other marketing communications materials. Humans like to think we’re rational animals who don’t give in to automatic judgments about people … Read more
You’ve spent six months getting your company’s new website put together, and now you’re ready to tell the world about it. What a waste of your time. I understand you and your team have worked hard, and you’ve invested more money into the process than you wanted. Your new site is truly a humdinger, and … Read more
Companies that make the extra effort to survey customers of their products and services usually gain my admiration — except when their approach to that survey makes me never want to do business with them again. There’s a lot of sense behind taking the time to follow up with the people who use your products … Read more
Most people have an inherent distaste for conflict. So somewhere along the way, society concluded that disagreement is an inherently bad thing. Unfortunately, when it comes to business advice and decisions, that can be a deadly conclusion. Despite that aversion, conflict appears to have become the norm these days. I see two factors behind that … Read more
This week’s mail brought a pastel greeting-card envelope with no return address or stamp. Was it a surprise confession from a secret admirer? A warm thought from a dear friend? I rushed to slit it open. And there I found an internet provider’s latest pitch, ingeniously disguised as a greeting card. Was I amused? Touched? … Read more
You may find fault with the idea that wisdom comes with age, but there’s a tendency among many younger people in business to assume that lessons learned in the past have little value when applied to today. That’s especially true when it comes to marketing. It’s true that many social media channels have been developed … Read more
Marketers use maps on websites and other communications materials to indicate the locations of businesses and events. That’s good thing for the visual learners out there. Sometimes, though, those marketers shoot themselves in the foot by ignoring the conventions that have become common in mapmaking over the centuries. For example, professional mapmakers indicate bodies of … Read more
The successful engineer had a nagging problem that haunted him during his commute, when he was in the shower, and every time his black lab woke him at 3:00 a.m. for a quick trip outside. The problem was never far from his thoughts. It involved a process. He knew that process could be improved and … Read more