Marketing Wisdom Archives - Page 37 of 38

CHEAP PAINT JOBS

February 9, 2010 by Scott Flood

I suspect that anyone who has ever lived in an apartment or a college dorm knows that toothpaste offers a fast way to hide nail holes and other small injuries to the walls. And anyone who has ever tried to sell a house has probably heard that slapping a quick coat of paint on the walls can make the house look newer and fresher. Nearly everyone who visits a dentist subjects his or her teeth to the most vigorous brushing an hour before the appointment. We also seem to have a growing percentage of the population who thinks a body spray can replace a good-old-fashioned shower.

Those are all quick cover-ups, and we all know that they don’t really fool anyone. Oh, they might divert our attention, but when we look (or sniff) more closely, we see the truth very clearly.

FISH WHERE YOU KNOW THERE’S FISH

February 4, 2010 by Scott Flood

Imagine that your family is starving. You live an equal distance from three lakes, and you have one fishing pole, two hooks, and two worms.

You’ve fished in only one of lakes, and have caught plenty of palm-sized bluegills and decent catfish there. You’ve heard that the second lake contains some big bass, but you’ve never been there. And you think the third lake is really attractive, and you’ve had a nibble or two while fishing there, but you’ve never landed anything. So with your family starving, where should you fish?

GET FIRED OR FIRED UP?

January 21, 2010 by Scott Flood

One of the most effective business-to-business ad campaigns of a generation ago was built around the concept that nobody ever got fired for recommending IBM. At the time, new computer companies were springing up left and right, offering promising but unproven technology. IBM may not have been exciting, but it was considered to be the safe choice.

What made the campaign effective was not what it said, but what it implied. IT managers and other corporate executives read the ads and thought, “They’re right. If I recommend one of those other companies and the technology doesn’t work, I’m going to get the blame. IBM may cost more, but everybody knows and trusts them.”

CONNECTIONS MATTER MORE THAN COOLNESS

January 19, 2010 by Scott Flood

“The main thing we want is for this new website to have a cool design.” No, you don’t. “Yes, we do!” Maybe you do, but that’s the wrong place to start. “What do you mean?”

Why do you have the website? “Excuse me?” Why are you investing money in having and redesigning a website? “Oh. Well, we want to get business.” I see, and a cool design is what will get business? “Won’t it?” I don’t know, I’m asking you. After all, you know your customers and prospects better than I do. So they normally do business with people because of cool websites? Since your current website isn’t so cool, why are your current customers doing business with you?”

VESTED INTERESTS

January 14, 2010 by Scott Flood

Most business owners and managers are eager to find good advice – and that makes sense. If someone else has expertise, why not borrow it (or at least consider it) when you’re making an important decision?

But when you ask for that advice (or when it’s handed to you without a request), stop to ask yourself whether the source has a stake in the advice.

THE POWERPOINT COMEDIAN

January 12, 2010 by Scott Flood

Most people whose jobs require that they sit through many presentations are well-acquainted with the concept (if not the term) of “death by PowerPoint.” It’s a reference to any number of excruciating presentation types. Perhaps the worst offender is the presenter who subjects you to copy-heavy slide after copy-heavy slide, and makes it worse by assuming that you’re illiterate, so he reads every word to you.

PENNY-WISE AND WEB FOOLISH?

December 3, 2009 by Scott Flood

I sat in a room full of freelance writers at a recent conference when the subject of websites came up. One of the writers asked if there was any way to develop a website for next to nothing, and she was nearly overwhelmed with suggestions.

My fellow attendees mentioned a host of templates, free sites, and other places where websites could easily be found and created for free or darned close to it. I managed to suppress my anger for a few moments, but eventually had to raise my hand. The moderator nodded my way.

THE MUSTARD STAIN

November 19, 2009 by Scott Flood

Are typos a big deal? True typographical errors, misspellings, incorrect homonyms and the like all get lumped together under the rubric of “typos” these days. Many people seem to accept them the way we’ve come to accept a certain percentage of rodent parts in the processed food we buy. (You do realize that the government allows a certain amount of pest contamination in food, don’t you? There are actually acceptable levels of rodent “excreta” and insect parts in what you’ll have for lunch. Bon appétit!)

Those pesky typos have a more insidious side. While we might brush them off at a conscious level, they send a message to the subconscious that controls our beliefs and attitudes.

CAN YOU #&^@%$ SEE IT?

November 17, 2009 by Scott Flood

As a writer, I tend to become involved in logo design only peripherally, but I still manage to learn useful lessons from the process. I’ve heard a variety of interesting logo requests from clients, but the most instructive came from the president of a tow-truck manufacturer.

“I don’t give a !@#$@# what the !$@$@ logo looks like,” he said. “All I care is that someone going the other way on the @^#^#%# Interstate at 70 miles an hour can see the @#@% thing and know it’s my @#@%#$ truck.” Folksy? Perhaps. Crude? Probably. But sound? Absolutely. He knew that it was critical that other two-truck operators knew who made that good-looking truck.