People hate weasel words. We can smell em from a mile away. So don’t use them.
Construct your claims so that they are true without them.
Delete extra words that don’t make your claim more true.
"Oldest remaining building…" is just another way to say, "Oldest building". A building that no longer remains isn’t a building any longer, right?
"Only Brand X gives you Termintops®." Well, of course that’s true, because Termintops is a registered trademark and you’d sue anyone else who used the word!
Be vivid. Tell a story. Don’t be bland.
But [most of the time] avoid using [carefully selected] weasel words that [sort of] dull your story.
October 18, 2006
Marketers and designers will be quick to tell you that marketing and design are critical to the success of any venture.
That’s why it’s so sad/disturbing/surprising/wonderful to discover that so many successful ventures were created by amateurs. Yes, they were professionals at something (coding, perhaps, or raising money or managing or even selling) but the marketing and design was not created by a ‘professional’.
The list is long, and runs from the Boy Scouts to Google, from Nike to the New York Yankees.
One possible lesson is that marketing is easy.
The other, more likely lesson is that marketing is way too important to be left to professionals. Every person is a marketer, and anyone crazy enough and passionate enough to start something is definitely a marketer. It’s not great programming that turns one Net company into a success while another flounders. More often than not, it’s about how good a job the amateur running the marketing and design did.
October 17, 2006
I never bothered to print out boarding passes in advance… after all, the machine at the airport takes about ten seconds.
Here’s the thing: at some airlines, the machine stops working 30 minutes before your flight. Leaving you at security to watch through the window as your flight takes twenty more minutes to board and leaves without you.
Tip 1: print your boarding pass out ahead of time.
Tip 2: if you forget, have them switch you to a later flight, then run to the gate of your original flight. Ignore them when they tell you that you’ll never get on. I did.
We shouldn’t need to share travel tips. "Have a good flight," he says sardonically.
Howard Yermish reports:
This evening, my 4-year old daughter came downstairs for some ice cream.
When the commercial for the Little Mermaid DVD came on, she said, "We don’t
need to see that commercial. Don’t they know we already bought that movie?"
And she was right.
Google took a bunch of apps that were already done and turned them into a "suite" for campuses: Google Apps for Education.
Sometimes roll your own isn’t as popular as the blue plate special. Thanks, Imal, for the link.
October 16, 2006
Kelly writes to let me know that every entrepreneur needs a theme song. I’ll take it a lot further… every organization needs one, especially ones where marketing matters. So does every job seeker. Theme songs are the black holes of marketing–supercondensed memes under enormous pressure, putting a whole bunch of ideas and emotion into a tiny space. Right now, there’s a lot of Sly and the Family Stone going on with the Squidteam. Do you have one?
While we’re at it, you probably need a scent as well. Kurt Anderson reports that the New York Times now has a perfume critic… and then recommends Christopher Brosius, who has even figured out how to put to the scent of snow into a bottle.
It’s more than just a few silly pictures. It’s a big insight that helps you understand why people (and businesses) buy what they buy.
They do it because it validates them.
Corporations prefer to buy from other organizations that make them feel safe and secure and important. That means a big bank has an advantage writing a loan to a company that thinks of itself as big. It means that a fashionable laptop is easier to sell to someone who sees herself as fashionable.
"Duh," you say.
Sure, it’s obvious, but it’s not easy. It’s not easy because more often than not, marketers are busy marketing things that they would want to buy, not that their customers would prefer. Simple dog example: animal shelters are run by volunteers who hate the idea of dog shelters and having to kill strays. So that’s the way they market. "Adopt this dog or it might get killed! It might happen Monday! Hurry!"
But dog buyers aren’t always motivated that way. They like the idea of cute puppies and warm, comforting, fashionable environments. When the North Shore Animal League tells someone that this pupply is a "golden retreiver mix", they are breaking the typical shelter marketing mantra and instead telling that dog buyer exactly what they want to hear. And if it’s true, it works.
October 14, 2006
If I had to pick one piece of marketing advice to give you, that would be it.
Now.
Make something happen today, before you go home, before the end of the week. Launch that idea, post that post, run that ad, call that customer. Go the edge, that edge you’ve been holding back from… and do it today. Without waiting for the committee or your boss or the market. Just go.
October 13, 2006
Nelson Hoyt reports:
16,000 fans attempting to coax Eric Clapton & Band back for an encore. In a darkened arena, perhaps 100 people holding lit cigarette lighters aloft. Several thousand holding backlit cell phones aloft!
"why do they call it dialing a phone, dad?"
I’ll be doing one of my rare all-day seminars in New York City on December 12. Here are the details:
1. You can find the complete write up, directions, fee information and more right here.
2. You can skip that and go straight to registration here.
3. Or you can read this quick summary first:
Two or three times a year, I run a seminar in New York. They always sell out, they’re always filled with amazing people (that would be you) and they create a huge wave of energy for everyone who attends. People have come from as far away as South Africa and Korea, and a few folks have even come twice.
Since I don’t do any consulting, it’s your chance to get some insight on your particular issues. Even better, though, is the insight you get from seeing your peers working their way through their issues. Which is why I’m pretty picky about who comes and why all registrations are subject to approval.
If you can’t come, I hope you’ll forward the link to some people you think might enjoy it.
NB there are a handful or two of free seats for worthy non-profits (see the lens for details) and just one or two cheap seats for nascent entrepreneurs for who can’t scrape up the full fee. I don’t confirm these to the last minute, so please don’t count on one.
I don’t do this often, and I won’t promise miracles, but so far it’s been pretty fun. I hope you can come.
October 12, 2006
