Decision time for manufacturers of ‘disposable’ items.
I have used the term 'disposable' to mean that the consumers investment is low, so purchase risk is limited. Buy one and find it does not deliver, and little is lost. Over the weekend I had a casual conversation with an acquaintance who runs a small business selling...
Why the accepted notion of ‘Brand Loyalty’ is rubbish
Brand loyalty, and one step further, finding those few users of the brand who will use no other, and demand their networks do the same, is the holy grail of most marketing. It comes up in almost every marketing brief ever written. However, there is almost always a...
4 foundation ideas for business improvement.
Having spent many years involved in one way or another in business improvement, as you may expect, I have some thoughts. Primary amongst them is the dismay I feel when I meet another medium sized business owner who has had a bunch of expensive Lean or Six Sigma...
How SME’s can get invaluable feedback, insight and coaching, almost for free.
As kids, most of us told each other our secrets when we were in a safe place. In the tree-house, in a tent in the backyard, under the house, wherever it was, we tended to open up with our fears and dreams. It felt good to confide, to open up and get the responses...
Does ‘Know, Like, & Trust’ still hold?
The only way businesses survive is to generate revenue in excess of their costs, consistently. Common sense. One of the oldest adages in revenue generation is that people do business with those they know like and trust. It was correct, and to an extent it still is,...
How to send a great brand down the crapper.
When you change your business model, make sure you take your customers with you. Just assuming loyalty and the power of incumbency can be terminal. The evidence to this is long: Kodak, Blockbuster, and more recently, Blackberry, amongst a very long list. A few...
What does ‘Priority’ mean to you?
Most of us would say in answer to that question "the one most important thing". The thing that we just have to do first, in preference to all others. Priority is singular. However, in most cases I see the word used as a plural, 'Priorities'. It seems this is a new...
What leaders must do to enable organisational change.
Through processes of organisational change, there is a lot to do, a lot that can go wrong, and something always does. The only way to handle it is to just keep going, making the necessary adjustments as you proceed. However, there are some ways I have seen that smooth...
Case study: The pros and cons of PR in a B2B market.
PR can be a remarkably effective tool in the marketing arsenal, but most of it is just wasted, simply because it is not delivering any message of value to anyone who cares. What can you expect when you have a combination of PR agencies who get paid by the word,...
To cut through the digital clutter: Tell stories.
Stories are personal, they resonate, you see the real people behind the business, not some nameless corporation, the people who do the work, and are accountable for the decisions and outcomes. Facts never change anything, but stories can. Martin Luther King did not...