Is marketing….evil?
I was scrolling through Facebook the other day when I saw some sponsored content by a widely-used website building company. The blog was about how to use persuasion science in your marketing techniques – aka ‘neuromarketing’ and pretty much everyone responded with “but that’s evil! Here’s a marketing strategy for you – if you have […]
‘Why aren’t my Facebook Ads converting?’
I’ve worked with so many businesses this year on their Facebook ads. Some have been wildly successful, some have been unable to produce a profitable campaign. Mostly, we get there in the end after a few months of testing and working things out. Businesses with successful social ad campaigns are happy as a lamb in […]
What’s the Vision?
Vision is a hugely under-discussed part of marketing. Business begins with vision, and it’s carried through into everything you do.As a marketer, it’s really difficult to work with companies who lack vision and it’s something that I look out for when I’m choosing a client to collaborate with. It tends to be present in businesses […]
Beyond business growth. What happens next?
All businesses, large and small, come to me to fix a very specific business problem: They need, or would like more customers. Whenever I’m consulting with a new client, I always find that the following question is the most telling about where they are on their business journey: ‘How many new customers do you want?’ […]
Brand tone of voice – Definition, consistency and integrity
I had an interesting Q+A session the other day. During which a lady asked me what was appropriate to post on social media, should we refrain from posting about social topics? “Well” I said “If it’s relevant to your brand then post it, if it’s not, then don’t.” “But I don’t want to be all […]
Most marketing is unprofitable
Most marketing is unprofitable. Notice I said marketing, not businesses. There are actually a lot of businesses who get by with little to no marketing success, but it makes client acquisition a graft. I wonder what percentage of businesses are actually thriving with marketing? As in, they’re exceeding their sales forecasts. When they want to […]
Enabling workplace creativity using design thinking
via GIPHY Being creative isn’t a magic skill that we’re born with. It’s not an inherent way of being. As I’ve been in a design and art education from the ages of 16-21, I know that all good designs come from what is essentially a five step process: Inspiration/exposure Brainstorming. Initial ideas. Editing. Developing ideas. […]
Customer pains and strategy
It’s no secret that I think SWOT analysis and most marketing strategy documents (and even business plans) are largely useless. Most of the time these are static Microsoft Word files that someone creates at the beginning of the project and never get looked at again. Often they include information that isn’t analysed and everybody is […]
Sorry, there are no magic tricks
I was doing a consultation project recently where the lady involved was assured by other marketing companies that if she changed her posting times, or used different hashtags or posted some Reels, her Instagram engagement would improve. This might be the kind of advice I’d give if a client had already gone ball to the […]
The one thing FMCG’s and big brands are missing in their social campaigns
FMCG’s (Fast moving consumer goods) have everything thought of. They’ve got their brand story, their tone of voice, immaculate graphic design and brand. Except they’re missing one thing….. a human soul. When you have a lot of people working on one brand social media accounts, it becomes nobodies real responsibility. Say you’re in a creative […]