As I get ready for my next Point of View Lab, I’ve been reflecting on some recent examples I’ve been uncovering with clients. Over the past few months, I’ve been working with a lot of people around their point of view and I keep being amazed at the power that this has in our marketing. Whereas …
I hosted a men’s circle earlier this year and a young man said something brilliant: be a flower, not a butterfly net. It reminds me of something I heard colleagues say for years: be a lighthouse, not a searchlight. Butterflies run away from nets. People run away from searchlights. Of course, it’s dangerous to …
This is a simple question that I’ve asked more times than I can count of clients to help them clarify their point of view on an issue: “What are your favourite books and authors?” Now, when I ask this question, I’m not asking generically. I’m asking it in the context of the work they do. I’m asking them, …
The best guide I’ve ever seen for writing your homepage is Carrie Klassen’s eBook How To Write a Loveable Homepage. And, over the years, one of the biggest questions I’ve gotten about websites and homepages is, “What if I offer three different things? How do I represent this on my site?” The first thing is that, …
Five Homepage Case Studies: Directing Them Where They Need To Go Read More
I’m a big fan of the intro workshop – that two to three hour experience that gives people a good taste of who you are and what you do. In the first seven or so years of my business, these kinds of workshops were my bread and butter. I did them for free and used …
Before someone buys from you, everything in the following sentence needs to be true (and true in the order it appears in this sentence): There’s a result clients crave that they believe can be attained, and they believe you can help them attain it better than others. So simple. Of course. But we often miss pieces of this in our marketing. I …
Everything I know about marketing in a single sentence Read More
The other day, I was wondering about why there was such an appeal to marketing courses that taught secrets of unconscious persuasion, stealth tactics, invisible influence, secret closes, ninja strategies etc. The implication of all of these approaches was that no one would notice what you were doing. No one would notice that you were …
Marketing Feels Bad Because We’re Ashamed Not Because It’s Shameful Read More
Here’s the truth: most of marketing your business is boring. It’s the tedious making lists of people to contact. It’s pre-writing emails. It’s scheduling things out and making plans. It’s rewriting headlines. It’s editing eBooks (dear God… the editing). It’s doing all of those things when, frankly, you’d rather be having beers with friends or …
Ten Simple Ideas to Deal With The Reality That Most Marketing Work Is Boring as Hell Read More
Marketing shouldn’t feel hard. That’s not to say that it shouldn’t take effort. It does. That’s not to say it doesn’t ask you to hustle. It does. But it shouldn’t feel like a struggle. I see so many people struggling to figure out which tactics to use and how to use them. If your …
If Your Marketing Feels Hard Then Something Is Wrong Read More
A simple, counter-intuitive idea for you today. You’ve likely been told the importance of niche in marketing. Likely you’ve heard this from myself. You’ve likely heard about the importance of honing in on who you want to reach, to identify your ideal client, chosen audience or target market and maybe even to create …