Benchmarks are better than resolutions, and get better results.
Just days after New Year’s, my daughter and I were talking about making and breaking resolutions. She said hers would be easy to keep. She wanted to cook-in more. Kelsey is in her last semester of graduate school and races between school, internship, work and the gym, eating or munching on the run, or standing at the kitchen counter in her apartment. I took a deep breath, pondering whether I should just say, “That’s a good one, sweetie,” wearing my Mommy Hat, or tell her what I really thought, wearing my Business Hat. I managed both. “That’s a good one,….
Posted in Business, Goals, Random Thoughts, Observations, Work Life Balance | 1 Comment »
Hillbilly Healthcare Terms
It’s Funny Friday time. I am the former marketing director of a hospital and health system, and know just enough to be dangerous when it comes to talking medicine at parties and such. No one in my family likes to watch “House” with me or any other show that mentions medical conditions in the plot. I remember when Kitty was diagnosed with lymphoma on “Brothers and Sisters,” and after her treatment she was going to have an MRI. “Oh, no, they wouldn’t do an MRI. A PET-CT is standard of care for determining whether the treatment is working and re-staging.”….
Posted in Funny, Random Thoughts, Observations | No Comments »
Example of Bringing Your Benefits to Life: Literally and Figuratively
Show, don’t tell, and whenever possible, defy gravity! Last week I had the pleasure of speaking to two different Virginia state associations in the AEC (Architectural, Engineering, Construction) industry: the Society of Design Administrators and Society of Professional Engineers. Like many other firms in other industries, it’s an ongoing challenge to stand out and set your firm apart when prospects often think “you all look alike, same-o, same-o, just tell me your price.” I’m always pounding the drum that encourages anyone in this situation to go beyond describing their products and services, and instead, bring your benefits to life. A….
Posted in Advertising, AEC, General, Marketing | 1 Comment »
Tautology: When Twice is Once Too Much
You know how it is when you learn a new word and then it pops up all over? That hasn’t happened yet–not exactly, anyway—but I’m more nervous about writing this email blast than any other. The word is tautology, and while I have not heard or read it since first learning what it is, I have, to my horror, found evidence of it in my own writing and conversations. A tautology is the opposite of an oxymoron, sort of. An oxymoron combines two contradictory terms, like jumbo shrimp. A tautology is unnecessary repetition of meaning, using different and dissimilar words….
Posted in Communication, General, Random Thoughts, Observations | 8 Comments »
Go Below the Line
Response is what you get Above-the-Line. Relationships are built Below-the-Line. The seventh mistake of the seven marketing mistakes every business makes (from the book by yours truly) is that we don’t go far enough. We want to think that if we just find our target audience, identify our attraction factor, create a compelling offer or message and communicate it enough times, the prospect will “buy.” That’s what I call your Above-the-Line strategy. The problem is that most prospects don’t do what we want them to do, when we want them to do it, just because we asked them so nicely….
Posted in Advertising, General, Marketing, Sales | No Comments »
Funny Friday: Too Young for American Idol, But I’d Vote for Him
I couldn’t say (or sing) TGIF any better. Enjoy! And I hope your weekend is anything but blah.
Tags: Funny Friday, Humor
Posted in General | No Comments »
Put an end to endless follow-up
I recently did the closing keynote at a sales and marketing conference in Las Vegas, and I arrived in time to hear the opening keynoter, Tim Wackel. Tim’s the sales guy; I’m the marketing gal. As you can imagine, my antennae are always up, listening for ideas, tips or tools that resist the usual, ordinary or expected way of doing things, and Tim had plenty of them. First a bit of context. Tim reminded us of the statistics that say about 80% of sales are made on or after the 5th attempt. Yuck. For me, that means after I send….
Posted in Communication, Marketing, Sales | 1 Comment »
Say what, Starbucks?
Starbucks Chairman, President and CEO Harold Schultz just sent me an email showing the company’s updated logo. Mind you, all they did was remove the word circle that says Starbucks Coffee and change the color of the mermaid–oh, wait, he called her a siren–from black to green. Why the change? “Our new brand expression [he means logo] reflects our evolving freedom and flexibility to serve and connect with our customers in meaningful ways while continuing to represent the integrity, quality and consistency of the Starbucks Experience,” his email said. Huh? Blah. Blah. Blah. I don’t drink coffee, yet I adore….
Tags: Advertising, Branding, Communication, Marketing
Posted in Communication, Marketing | 10 Comments »
Funny Friday: Hit the Brakes, Heads Will Turn
On random Fridays, I like to share a little something that made me smile, with the hope that it will help you end your week with a chuckle, too. Perhaps that should be Ho Ho Ho for today, the Friday before what might be a vacation week for some of you. So here’s what I found: Decals that turn your garage door into something that is anything but blah! Maybe they’ll create one with a sleigh for next year? For my friends in the printing, graphic arts, advertising, marketing world, this lends a whole new meaning to phrase “double truck.”….
Tags: Funny Friday, Humor
Posted in Funny | No Comments »
Tell me something I don’t know
I spoke at a marketing conference about three years ago and recently got a call from the new conference committee chair . Apparently someone who heard me speak back then was now on the 2011 committee, and she recommended bringing me back. “Have you got any new material?” the committee chair asked me. Yes, I did, but I hesitated telling him so. I had just been chatting with a colleague about the notion that for a presentation to be worthwhile it has to be full of new, never-heard-before information, and I didn’t want to reinforce that notion. The colleague I….
Tags: Communication, Presentation Skills, Target Audience
Posted in Communication, General, Presentation Skills | 3 Comments »
