Back when I was a kid, I clearly remember my family doctor stopping by to see me when I had come home after major surgery. Nothing fancy. Just to see how I was progressing and chat with my Mom about how I was doing. Of course, today, that is unheard of. Larger populations, shortages of [...]
TicTalking Helps Drive In-Brand Conversation
May 26, 2013 by Leave a Comment
At the 2012 edition of Social Media Camp in Victoria, BC, I got introduced to TicTalking. It was in its Alpha release and was a platform for conversation curation. Nothing really new, but interesting none the less. “Tic” stands for Things in Common and the platform allowed the users to create conversations around their favourite [...]
Give Your Clients and Prospects What They Want
May 15, 2013 by 4 Comments
As a business owner, you understand the importance of attracting new clients. You know that the degree of success you demonstrate in attracting these new clients directly correlates with the level at which your business does (or doesn’t) grow. No matter how many satisfied (past) clients you have, if you are not attracting the number [...]
What Happens When A Brand’s Core Goes AWOL?
April 30, 2013 by 5 Comments
There are about as many definitions for the marketing term “brand” as there are brands. Some might define a brand as an experience, others might define a brand as a promise of perceived value. Still others might define a brand as a product’s personality. According to Wikipedia, “a brand is the name, term, design, symbol, [...]
Marketing In The Participation Age: Getting Found + Driving Action
April 9, 2013 by 2 Comments
The term “Participation Age” was first coined by John Schwartz in 2005, while CEO of Sun Microsystems. Sadly he never turned the idea into a book. I was excited to discover “Marketing In The Participation Age” by Daina Middleton, which I added to this list of 20+ books seeking to name the post Information Age. Daina [...]
Memo to CEO: Stop Competing
February 2, 2013 by 6 Comments
To: CEO From: Business Consultant Regarding: Competition and You Hi! I thought I’d dash off a quick note to you to tell you something nobody else in the company is willing to tell you. Since I’m a consultant, your employees and management team have told me what they’re thinking in hopes that I will [...]
Customer Experience: The Next Big Competitive Advantage
January 13, 2013 by 15 Comments
Let’s discuss customer experience (CX). According to this post last week, CX is also in danger due to…hype. So I’m reporting to duty to combat this! Plus, yesterday’s community manager hangout about magical customer experiences was encouraging.
This is not a fancy term for customer service or a fad. It’s a “sleeper” (not widely recognized – like the NIU Huskies football team in the early season). It influences business growth and results through increased conversions, lead generation, brand advocates and more. As Jeannie Walters pointed out yesterday during the hangout, customer service is reactive and customer experience is proactive. You make the first move.
The Value Triangle
January 7, 2013 by 5 Comments
Have you ever had a prospective client or customer say this?
“I’d like you to have you do my project, but I’m on a tight budget, I need to have several custom features, and I’m really in a hurry to have it finished.”
If so, I’m sure those are not the projects you eagerly jump at.
Several years ago I heard someone talk about the “Value Triangle,” and it has been very helpful when deciding if a client will be a good fit for my business. It has also been a great tool for explaining “how things work” when hashing out project details.
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