Because apparently, customers have opinions, and now they have Wi-Fi. There was a time when businesses had rather more control over their reputation. You created the advertising. You wrote the brochure. You chose the photographs of suspiciously happy people shaking hands in meeting rooms. Then you told everyone how wonderful you were. Today, things are…
Which is slightly inconvenient if you work in marketing. Marketing departments are very good at telling stories. We write campaigns. Create videos. Develop case studies. Carefully craft brand messages and spend unreasonable amounts of time deciding whether “transform” sounds more impressive than “improve.” But some of the best marketing stories aren’t created by marketers at…
There is a wonderfully comforting moment in marketing when somebody becomes a customer. The lead converts. The CRM changes status. A dashboard turns slightly greener. Someone in Sales says, “Got them.” And Marketing quietly wanders off to find another unsuspecting prospect. Job done. Except, of course, it isn’t, because getting someone to buy from you…
Book Review : Hegarty on Advertising – Turning Intelligence into Magic by Sir John Hegarty. Advertising has spent much of the last twenty years enthusiastically announcing its own death. Television was dead. Print was dead. Agencies were dead. Then social media arrived, and apparently everything changed. Then AI arrived, and apparently everything changed again. And…
Because eventually someone actually has to deal with you. There’s a comforting idea in marketing that almost any business problem can be solved with more marketing. Sales slowing down? Advertise. Competitor getting noisy? Advertise. Customers unhappy? Advertise harder. Unfortunately, there comes a point where another campaign is rather like putting a fresh coat of paint…
Because “we provide excellent customer service” has never caused anyone to phone a friend. Businesses spend an extraordinary amount of time trying to get people talking about them. We advertise. Post on LinkedIn. Send emails. Produce videos. Attend events. Occasionally invent a new acronym and hope everyone looks impressed. But perhaps we’re asking the wrong…
Why customers refuse to behave properly. Marketers love funnels. They’re neat. Logical. Comforting. Someone becomes aware of your business, develops interest, considers their options, makes a decision and eventually becomes a customer. Lovely. This model has only one significant flaw. Actual human beings. Customers have an irritating habit of behaving like people rather than obedient…