January 11, 2006 holds a special significance. Over a decade before that date I had put the Toronto Star online, as well as completed substantive work with the Globe and Mail and several major book publishers. I was at the vanguard of online publishing (blogging wasn't invented then), yet I [More]
Have you ever been in a situation where despite your best efforts, you cannot make headway? Or where you feel like a fish swimming upstream? This inertia - resistance to the new - is a key reason why implementing change is so difficult. It's also why selling new products to [More]
Look around, and you are surrounded by advertisements: which ones catch your eye? Likely, the ones that are the loudest. Unfortunately, the race to the loudest is making it hard for anything to get through. One of the key reasons for corporate interest in digital is that it is a [More]
If you are an American, you know precisely all about Black Friday: it is when herds of people get up early, head to the stores (usually online these days). It occurs the shopping day on the Friday following Thanksgiving. If you live outside of the United States, you probably have [More]
What can the world of manufacturing teach us about Social Media, Marketing, and Stakeholder Engagement? On the face of it, not much, but look more closely, and there are two concepts that are surprisingly relevant: Continuous Improvement, and Just-in-Time. Continuous Improvement: In the manufacturing world, continuous improvement is all about [More]
"We've got that covered" is a very satisfying thing to say when you are asked what your organization is doing to engage stakeholders online. Sadly, our research, covering 400 different organizations across the country, shows this isn't true: very few actually are "covered". The next year's research on the same [More]
"I am great! Really. Truly great! Really!" How many people (or organizations) have marketing strategies that boil down to self-serving claims of greatness? (Too many.) How effective are these emails, LinkedIn profiles, ads, websites, TV commercials, or billboards? (Not effective at all.) There is a trust hierarchy of marketing strategies: [More]
Frameworks and models are a great way to unpack a challenge, and often provide clues as to how it might be solved. Here are three that I have written about extensively in my books... but never together. Model One: One of the most powerful real-world networking techniques is called "give-to-get". [More]
Ever feel slighted, ignored, disenfranchised, "sold to", taken for granted, or just plain commoditized? For many prospects, these feelings are what prevent a sale from taking place. They prevent repeat sales, prevent referrals, and encourage negative word-of-mouth. Clearly, great customer service - supported by great training and great management - [More]
It's always easy to look at other organizations - or other people - and marvel at their incredible foresight, acumen, and investment. To look at some of the most successful companies and their products - Apple and Google come to mind - and say "They were just lucky" is too [More]
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