Time after time, I’ve watched owners of reputable, high-quality businesses walk away from their hard-earned reputations and present themselves as something other than what they are. I’m not talking about deliberate deception with intent to defraud. At the risk of sounding like an amateur psychologist, it really sounds more like a problem with self-esteem. It’s … Read more
Do you think it’s wrong to ask questions in the headlines of your ads and other marketing materials? Years back, I had a boss who loathed questions. Bring him an ad headline with a question, and he’d reject it instantly, sputtering, “But what if the reader says no?” I’ve encountered many people like him who … Read more
It might surprise you to learn you have an emotional response to numbers. What might surprise you even more is learning your reaction is probably rooted in ancient attempts to understand and predict the universe. Numerology is the study of the characteristics of numbers. Numerologists believe everything in the universe can be reduced to or … Read more
Most companies constantly seek new market segments as potential customers for their products or services. Rarely do they consider one that can be surprisingly cost-effective: those who stopped doing business with you. Focusing on the customers who used to do business with you offers a great opportunity to grow your business and can improve your … Read more
Business owners and managers often suffer from a common allergy. When they review copy for a website, blog post, or newsletter and see wording they perceive as negative, they break out in hives. That could be understandable. We’ve long been urged to accentuate the positive and emphasize the good things. Mentioning something that’s negative is … Read more
It was a great radio commercial that brought a smile to everyone who heard it. The message was on-target, reassuring, and powerful. And after it had aired for a week, a panicked bank president pulled it. You see, he had received angry phone calls about it. Two of them. During the commercial, a toddler refused … Read more
While the last national election was chaotic, something about it offered an important lesson to companies and organizations with messages to share. Whenever either side took up an issue, they used common language and a common voice. Even more remarkable, they achieved that unanimity almost immediately. It wasn’t magic, nor were the politicos mind readers. … Read more
It’s a concept so simple most marketers and companies don’t even think about it. When humans want to know something, we ask questions. Paying attention to common questions and sharing the answers is a remarkably powerful form of communication. The FAQ (frequently asked questions) document or web page is one of the most important messaging … Read more
He stared at me through steel-blue eyes, lower lip quivering in some weird kind of suppressed rage or unbridled contempt. I had just broken Rule Number One: I had suggested he might be wrong. “Think I don’t know who my customers are?” he seethed. “We did twelve million in sales last year. You really think … Read more
I’m often hired to write biographies of top execs for company websites, proposals, and other uses. Then I’m asked to rewrite them because one of those executives insists they be drier than a mouthful of rice cakes in mid-August somewhere just west of Tucson. You know, bios can be pretty important. You might dismiss them … Read more
