The Power of Smell for Businesses
Realtors swear that baking cookies before an Open House is guaranteed to put buyers in the mood. Think you wouldn’t fall for it? Really? Have you been to a Williams Sonoma store lately? Did you stay longer than you’d anticipated? Did you buy something? They’re not cooking those tasty samples for the joy of it. […]
8 Ways to Turn a Commodity into a Must-Have and Escape the Price War
“All my customers care about is price. They window-shop here, then go buy it at Amazon/Walmart/ChainX.” When you say, “nothing matters to them except price,” what you’re really saying is, “nothing matters to them about our product/service, except price.” If your customers see your product or service as a commodity, you have no choice but […]
Italian Luxury Companies discover Global Niche Marketing
Italian luxury manufacturers are turning to global niche marketing to boost their sales. Brunello Cucinelli’s fashion house produces luxury knits, including sweaters that retail for $1280.00 each. Last year sales rose by 15%, despite Italy’s tough economic times, as a direct result of combining a niche focus —quality Italian knits— with a global market. And […]
What I Learned from Dr Seuss about Marketing
This (lithograph of a) painting by Dr Seuss hangs on the wall in my office, right above my computer. The colors and shapes and composition are wonderful, to say nothing of the fun characters, but there’s more to it than that. For me, it sums up marketing, particularly online marketing. The Influencer At first glance, […]
How to Brand your Multi-faceted Talents
We are all capable of wearing more than one hat, but people tend to get confused when you tell them you do more than one thing. Especially if they seem totally unrelated. So how do you brand your myriad facets in a coherent manner?
Simple. It’s called Umbrella Branding.
Umbrella Branding: Think of it as broadcasting from the same station (you) using multiple channels (your services). To avoid confusion, each channel has a look and feel of its own, and the station also has its own overarching signature.
Need printed business cards or postcards? Moo is for you.
I’m often asked to recommend a printer for clients. For large items (reports, manuals, packaging) I recommend a local printer with experience doing high-end stuff for local museums and arts organizations. But when it comes to small items like business cards, postcards or thank you cards, I do not hesitate to recommend the online service, […]
A New Kind of Walking Tour
Why is the new StreetMuseum app such a big deal? Using visuals (versus simply overlaying text) produces an instant, visceral experience of history, like discovering a palimpsest, guaranteed to impress even the most jaded tourist. Don’t believe me? Here’s a few screen snapshots to give you a preview.
Give me 5 mins, get a free latte.
What if Starbucks (or Borders or anyplace that sold fancy-pants coffees) offered a way to provide free lattes to their fans who may no longer be able to afford their daily fix?