From a LinkedIn promotion I recently received: Dear Joe Today’s successful marketers aren’t just good at one thing … We must be able technologists, social media experts, and savvy number crunchers … Dear LinkedIn, I couldn’t disagree with you more. Trying to be good at all the disciplines required to excel in our[…]
Differentiation is key to any strong brand position. But what do you focus on when what you offer and why its awesome sounds a lot like what your competitors are saying? This is a regular occurrence today in mature markets, including professional services, where often everyone is doing the same thing, only some do it[…]
A major computer technology company was growing its presence in the field of online security. They had recently acquired a respected innovator in security and wanted to leverage its thought leadership through a sustained, content-driven digital lead nurturing campaign. Their need: They hired us to develop the messaging strategy for this campaign that would turn[…]
We have a client whose default mode for marketing writing is overstatement. He’s very successful, very bright and very LOUD. Sometimes it works – there’s a place to pound your chest and claim kingship over all you see. It can work in our favor too — he calls me the greatest writer on Planet Earth.[…]
Marketing writing is often about compression. How quickly and succinctly can we get our message across? But these speedy, smooth sentences can some times leave out the kind of detail that specialized audiences connect with. Case studies can provide the platform to expand on your offering and show how your solutions works in real world[…]
Broad based appeal isn’t always the answer, especially for innovators. A marketing agency I’ve written for for several years started including me in their own positioning discussions to help with their messaging strategy. Their owner is a serial innovator. He loves integrating new technology into marketing. He’s got a gift for it. As a result,[…]
In this era of blogging, every one is a writer. Which is another way of saying there are a lot of frustrated people out there. Not to mention, some pretty shabby content. Because if you don’t have strong skills and focus, the results aren’t going to be great. On the other hand, for blogging and[…]
A friend recently sat down to pick my brain about an idea he’s got for a new business. He’s in the fitness sector and he’s got a truly new perspective related to training, strength and injury prevention. He spent about an hour outlining his thinking, and I enjoyed listening to him. His analysis is original[…]
Good book writing reveals that a story is never just about one thing. Ted Turner’s autobiography Call Me Ted tells a lot about Turner’s expansive business career. But the writing is personal enough to also convey the restlessness born out of aleniation from his hard-driving, alcoholic father. So while Amazon lists it as a business[…]
I heard London Calling by the Clash playing on the Muzak in the frozen food aisle of Trader Joe’s recently. I quite enjoyed hearing it, but had to chuckle: If the Clash is playing on Muzak, where is the edge these days? It’s gotten so cool to be different, that everybody claims to be different, typically[…]