As I stood outside the auditorium after my recent speech in Toronto, a striking grey-haired man beelined toward me and made a comment that made me twing. “I need a word with you. Stay here.” I immediately began worrying. Had my speech offended him? He returned from the rest room and began his apparent complaint. [...]
What makes a blog engaging? Or your presentation? Or conversation? Consider three engaging communicators: Malcolm Gladwell, Seth Godin, Derek Sivers. When they speak, people listen. There’s one obvious reason: they say interesting things. But there’s a second reason. They don’t talk to us. They talk with us. Look at these examples: Godin (yesterday’s blog): “You’ve [...]
View Post blogging best practices, blogs, content marketing, Dale Carnegie, Derek Siver, Malcolm Gladwell, Medicine Hat, Outliers, Seth Godin, TED (conference), TwitterEach day I try to scan LinkedIn and Twitter, but feel overwhelmed. I search for useful information on Google. I read the first three entries on my topic and decide that it’s the crap and not the cream that’s rising to the top. It’s the search engine-optimized. Years ago, I read about the bright [...]
View Post content marketing, LinkedIn, social media, TwitterYou don’t make things for your living. Instead, you make it providing something: a service. You are in service marketing. How do you sell that? To understand how, first compare your task to your car salesperson’s. The person didn’t have to do much, no? You felt the smooth finish and the soothing comfort of the [...]
View Post Geek Squad, marketing a service, marketing intangibles, Prudential Financial, selling intangibles, Selling the Invisible, TwitterWhether you are marketing a service or product, consider this about what clients and customers love. Let’s start with the phone that changed the mobile device business, Apple’s IPhone, and study its screen for five seconds. Now ask: Where have I seen those colors before? It’s hard to miss. They’re the bright primary colors [...]
View Post consumer insights, design best practices, Fisher-Price, homo ludens, iPhone, packaging best practices, Toy, understanding your prospects, what clients loveIf you have not seen it, go see it as soon as you’ve finished this. http://bit.ly/xcBdXl On the video, you see the photo of polar bear approaching a Siberian Husky in Manitoba, Canada. The 1200-pound bear’s predatory stare makes it clear: the husky is lunch. Then you notice the Husky’s body language, which tells you [...]
View Post Buyer Behavior, marketing, marketing best practices, motivationUnwittingly perhaps, Kurt Vonnegutt once offered some excellent career and marketing advice. In Vonnegutt’s God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, Mr. Rosewater Sr. realized early that his grandson Eliot lacked all the skills necessary to succeed in business. Fortunately, he saw one ray of hope for Eliot. There was one way that his hapless grandson might [...]
View Post saA musician plays notes, but listen carefully. You realize that music comes not just from the notes, but from the silences. Silence works. Sometimes, it sings. A friend comes to you seeking consolation. You help her not with your words, but without them; you just listen. Your silence works. Your group convenes [...]
View Post blogging tips, effective marketing communication, effective sellingWho shall I be? How do I want to be perceived? What’s my personal brand? In truth, you have no options. We decide. And we’re smart. Yes, you can fool us once. But that’s your problem, because people who has been fooled feel foolish and resent the person who outed them. They lose all trust [...]
View Post Academy Award, Brand, IronLady, marketing yourself, MerylStreep, New Year, personal branding, self-promotion, the brand called you, Truth, Twitter, Viola DavisJust watch everyone and anyone all day long. Before work each day, most men read the news about play: the sports page. (Most younger men read it online the night before.) Well before lunch, over 20 million people recheck the performance of their fantasy teams–an obsession which has has transformed fantasy football into a billion [...]
View Post