The single best sales tip I ever got.
Shut up!!. I have been spending a bit of time recently helping develop and implement strategy in a very interesting start-up with an innovative, and potentially extremely valuable piece of Intellectual Capital. Even after doing this stuff for so long, there is always...
A niche in the market, a market in the niche?
There may be a niche in the market, but is there a market in the niche? This question was posed to me many years ago as I pondered a new product business plan. There was pretty clearly a niche in the market that was not well inhabited by competitors, but I was asked:...
The 4 secrets of small business marketing
Albert Einstein would have made a great marketer. He made a number of statements that are highly applicable, but one that sticks in mind is: "Everything should be made as simple as possible, no simpler" Marketing is simple in concept, but becoming ever more...
The eleven things I see small business doing wrong in social media
Small businesses are all aware of the power of Social Media, usually want to play, and mostly get it wrong. Following are the 11 Mistakes I have most often seen over the last few years. This is despite facebook being around since 2004, Twitter since...
Does the mere promise of product provenance add value?
"True Aussie" meat products have been around for 12 months or so in export markets, and we are told of its great success, Japan is particularly pointed out, where "That True Aussie beef logo can be found on more than half of retail packs in Japan now, and...
The problem with a sales funnel.
Unlike a funnel for petrol into your tank, sugar into your cake, or production ingredient into your ribbon mixer, in a sales funnel there is no bloody gravity! You have to create the gravity! You have to create the customer energy, commitment, interest, whatever it...
How do small businesses collaborate for scale in FMCG?
Small businesses have 10 strategies I have previously summarised, that they can deploy in various ways to build success with the retail gorillas. Collaboration is the 7th, and often the most challenging, as the other parties to the collaboration are not by definition,...
The value of knowledge is relative.
It is interesting to consider the notion of 'knowledge' and how experts are given that label. Often it just means that someone who is seen as an 'expert' may have just a little bit more knowledge that those who are listening. Consider the primary school teacher,...
The two axes of innovation.
The first axis of innovation is the product. French born and educated artist, mathematician, philosopher, free thinker Marcel Duchamp who took American citizenship in 1915 submitted a piece to the prestigious Exhibition of independent artists in New...
The meaning of Easter is hidden in cartoons
Marketing is all about engaging with people, real people, one at a time, and giving them something of value. In the process, often you have to change their minds, give them a sense of what could be, and reflect their lives back to them in ways they had not seen...