How to create a persona that will deliver sales
Three key questions all marketers (should) ask themselves at some early point in marketing program development, and obviously have a great answer, are: Who are we talking to? Why should they listen to us? What do we want them to do now? These are the exact questions...
When template business plans are useless
In Australia, only around 5% of new businesses survive past the 5 year mark, and make money in excess of the cost of capital. Scary, because most of them had a business plan, certainly if they ever borrowed any money from a bank, they had one that probably doubled as...
Is the net killing marketing creativity?
There is just so much stuff around on the net, everything and anything you ever wanted to know, or could think of to ask, is there somewhere. The availability is removing the necessity to think, to capture the essence of a problem, and then develop creative solutions...
How do you reduce customer churn?
Pretty simple answer really; you increase customer retention. It costs way more to find a new costumer than it does to keep a current one, we all know that, but somehow do little about it. Almost every business I interact with fails to get an optimum balance between...
7 things business leaders can learn from this election campaign
Over the weekend I was talking to my 32 year old son about the coming election. I thought I was the quintessential cynical old buggar, while being politically engaged, but I had nothing on my formerly optimistic son. He is not just a cynical young buggar, he is so...
5 things to avoid to do better consumer research
I sat through a qualitative research (focus) group a few weeks ago, recruited over the phone against a specific demographic list. On the odd occasion I receive these calls, my stated occupation is never associated in any way with marketing, as that always disqualifies...
Do we still need books?
In a world of abundance, we are desperately in need of depth. Skating across the surface of the ice is fine for a while, but at some point you need to be able to recognise the weak spots, and figure out how to avoid them before you drop through and drown, just after...
How to calculate a Return on Marketing Investment
Marketers being belted around the ears to produce a marketing budget before June 30 is disturbingly common. It is a clear sign that the marketing group is acting as a co-ordinator of ad hoc activities, rather than being a disciplined, repeatable, and...
The 2 faces of a brand
Marketing and management generally, regularly find themselves actively promoting their branding credentials. Often they would appear to have no idea beyond the mouthing of clichés why they are bothering. The costs of building, maintaining and updating a brand is often...
How to make a workshop work for you.
Last week I ran a workshop that was designed to wrinkle out the options facing a community organisation. It has been successful for many years, but now faces the challenge of significantly changed competitive and social environments since its formation, and the loss...