Has Schrodinger’s cat invaded parliament?
The Prime Minsters performance on 'Insiders' yesterday reminded me of Erwin Schrodinger's cat thought experiment. This was an absurd illustration of wave function collapse, a characteristic of quantum mechanics. (Note: I understand absolutely nothing about quantum)....
Why Twitter should not have expanded the character limit to 280.
As regular readers would know, I write a lot. There are a number of challenges faced every day as I scribble another blog post. Using several words when one might do. Writing long sentences. Using words with a clear meaning to me that may not be as clear to others....
Five questions to transform your unique value proposition into revenue
Your unique value proposition is the reason people will consider engaging with you, and when there is a choice, you, rather than the other options. The clearer you are about the focus of your expertise, and the value it delivers, the easier it will be to...
A marketer’s explanation of Standardisation and Continuous Improvement.
Anyone who has read 'The Goal' by Eli Goldratt, the original brain behind the theory of constraints, will remember the story in the book about Herbie, the slowest walker in a scout group in a cross-country walk. Herbie was the bottleneck, in that he set the pace of...
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...