Is this 5-part framework for media choices of value to you?
There are a huge number of choices to be made when considering how to best reach and communicate with your ideal customer. None are disconnected from the others, but like anything, all have their ‘sweet spots’. Each has its place, and the better you know the habits...
How to create a ‘Sticky’ customer.
I like the word ‘Sticky’ it resonates somehow, and says, 'hard to get rid of'. As a kid, we had a 'sticky' dog in the family. I remember we once left the dog by accident at a relative’s place across Sydney after a visit. When we realised we had left the mutt,...
The hidden problem with Cost of Goods Sold
Standard accounting practice is to calculate a standard cost of goods sold, and apply it to the P&L to calculate gross margin. It is a system that has worked well, is well understood, and can be tuned by the use of variances. It does however have the...
Ten questions to ask when planning marketing with hindsight
Hindsight planning is a process of putting yourself as realistically as possible into the 'headspace' where you have achieved the goals you set, and then 'plan backwards'. It sounds like a semantic game, but it is not. It is rooted in Psychology. As Daniel...
6 simple questions to better manage your time.
Time is the most important, and only non-renewable resource we have. We all have exactly the same amount every day, week, and month. It is how we use it that counts. It seems common that almost none of us have enough of it, yet we all know we waste a lot. If you are...
Has the ‘manufacturing piper’ now been paid?
The old saying that 'he who pays the piper calls the tune' is almost always true. The piper in this case has been the orthodoxy prevailing over the past 40 years in Australian manufacturing. I have been actively observing the trend towards outsourcing for a...
The 6 most common mistakes with marketing metrics, and how to fix them.
Many if not most marketers, approach metrics that seek to increase their accountability with about the same enthusiasm they would approach a snake of unknown species in their backyard. Warily. The default has become a range of numbers that might look useful,...
Is ‘Sales’ really just a numbers game?
Contrary to much advice, sales is not just a pure numbers game, the quality of the numbers make more difference than the numbers themselves. Throw the net widely to attract prospects, the more the better, is the common mantra. It implies anyone who shows the...
The leadership quality no ‘Top 10’ list includes.
There is a huge hole in every 'top 10 characteristics of a great leader' list I have seen. They all list approximately the same things, by different names, and in different order. Honesty, integrity, transparency, vulnerability, vision, creativity,...
Where do your ‘edge’ opportunities hide?
Edges are often fuzzy, but are where the action happens, in nature and in business. At the edge, there is less homogeneity, more opportunity for the different and interesting to be seen, trialled, and if successful take hold. By contrast, in the 'middle' there is...