The majority of marketers, especially those marketing services, refer to what they’re selling as a “solution.” You’ve heard it: “What we do is provide a solution that enables our users to blah, blah, blah, blah.” Every product, every service is attempting to be a solution. Coke solves our need for thirst-quenching and taste. Oracle (supposedly) [...]
The small print means nothing. If there’s one thing I’m sure of, it’s that no one reads the small print. But when they do, they still don’t really care what it says. Because we have grown numb to the warnings that so many government agencies have made mandatory. Think about it: when you see that [...]
David Meerman Scott has identified what he calls the top 10 “Gobbledygook” phrases used in press releases today. His entire manifesto is quite entertaining and informative, but I thought the top words would be worth a mention here. How many are using on a regular basis? “Next generation” “Flexible” “Robust” “World-class” “Scalable” “Easy to use” [...]
David Meerman Scott has identified what he calls the top 10 “Gobbledygook” phrases used in press releases today. His entire manifesto is quite entertaining and informative, but I thought the top words would be worth a mention here. How many are using on a regular basis? “Next generation” “Flexible” “Robust” “World-class” “Scalable” “Easy to use” [...]
My neighbor two doors down runs a landscaping service. He does a really good job, and he makes you pay for it, too. So while I appreciate the work he has done on my yard up this point, I did have one major problem with it: He charges me $21 every time he mows my [...]
A telling bit of news here on Steve Rubel’s blog about new bloggers and new blog readers. Seems as though 40% of the population has a least read a blog post in the last year, and it’s climbing at a staggering pace. Interestingly enough, the number of bloggers is rather steady. Here’s a quick two [...]
Seth Godin has a great post here that speaks to our nature as business people (and humans) to stick our heads in the sand and hope that if we don’t bring it up, they won’t notice it. Your customers will always, ALWAYS appreciate you being upfront. They will never, NEVER like finding out from someone [...]
Creative departments and agencies often won’t get it. In fact, you should assume they won’t. They’re wired to think abstractly, on the edge. And that’s why you hired them – to a point. Sometimes the creative team can bully you into a certain design, certain copy, certain concept. They know what’s hip, what’s cutting edge [...]
Brian brings it back to the future with this post, The David Ogilvy Playbook for Business Blogging. In a nutshell, as we’re all learning, stop shouting at people to be your customer and start a conversation with them so they want to be your customer.
If your new product, new service, new book, new blog post, new whatever can’t make someone respond with “Holy Crap!,” then don’t expect big things out of it. Does that mean you shouldn’t launch it at all? Lots of times it does. But not always. If it doesn’t ellicit a Holy Crap moment from your [...]
