You’re staring at the cursor and it’s blinking at you, taunting you. You sigh. When you were out driving earlier today, you had a ton of clever blog post ideas that just came to you with no effort. But you couldn’t write them down. And now – poof – they are gone with the wind. This happens to me all the time. I seriously wish I could record the thoughts I have right before falling asleep. I’ve … [Read more...]
What Happens When You Don’t Match Your Brand
A friend recently passed along this story about branding gone bad. I thought it was so moving it warranted a blog post. Last year, this friend-of-a-friend found herself sniffling into a kleenex at the first of many therapy sessions, pouring her heart out on topics like identity and authenticity. This, in and of itself, isn’t particularly noteworthy; many of us have found ourselves on a … [Read more...]
What Are Your Competitors Success Secrets? Here’s How to Find Out
Is it possible to check out your competitors without falling into a deep, dark pool of insecurity and self-doubt? Yes. Here’s how. Paramount to this process is the act of objectively, strategically seeing what your competitors are doing. There’s little benefit to weeping with envy over your competitor’s perfect prose but it is helpful to notice how many service offerings they have or how … [Read more...]
How to Understand Your Competitors Without Falling Into a Jealousy Trap
Stop me if this sounds familiar. An intelligent, experienced marketing professional gives you the sage advice to keep an eye on what your competitors are doing. So you do. You subscribe to their newsletters. You pore over their lush, beautifully written blog posts. You stalk their social media profiles and notice that their followers number is in the tens of thousands. You read all their … [Read more...]
3 Things You Must Do For Your Brand Story to Bloom
It’s all well and good for us to talk about having a strong brand story. But that’s only part of the “story” (pardon the pun). Whether you are a one-person consulting business or a 1000 employee technology player, there are 3 phases to brand “storyhood” that must all be addressed in order to have real market impact – from hiring the right people to attracting the right customers or … [Read more...]