A company’s vision statement looks into the future.  It says what the company aspires to be one day.  Your brand needs a vision, too.  What are your aspirations for the brand, which defines the consumer’s relationship with your company?  How would you complete this vision statement: “Our brand will be ____________ .”  What could go…

What’s more powerful than customer loyalty?  Habit.  It turns out that even the most loyal customers of a brand are open to straying from time to time.  But the more a brand becomes a habit, the stronger the bond with the buyer.  An obvious example is Starbucks.  Because the rituals of ordering are familiar and…

Whether you ask in person, in writing or via one of the many online survey tools available, the general mindset of most surveys is negative — what did we do wrong, or how can we improve?  But research shows that taking a positive tack — what did you like about your experience? — actually shapes…

Does your target audience include young people?  When that group was asked to name the people most impacting pop culture, the top five picks were all — wait for it —YouTube stars.  So consider these three ideas.  First, if you’re not on YouTube, you’re not where your audience is.  Second, remember that establishing a video…

A recent article in Strategy + Business suggests, “every marketing action…has to be no more than one step away from the point of sale.”  That’s huge.  Think about where your prospect sees your marketing message — on your website, on social media, in her mailbox, in a magazine.  How many steps is she from doing…

Consider this.  Confused prospects are less likely to buy — and confused buyers are unlikely to buy again.  So look at everything from your promotional material to your processes — especially the steps you ask customers to go through to sign up, open an account, make a change, ask a question or transact business.  Is…

Before you put those bullet items, benefits or website list in alphabetical order, consider this: when it comes to marketing, alpha order is entirely random.  It doesn’t take into account which items would carry the most weight with prospects.  Alphabetize your books or music…even your pantry.  But for marketing, lead with your big guns —…

A financial institution tosses up a billboard with this gripping headline: “Ready when you are.”  Makes you want to drop everything and move your accounts, doesn’t it?  This is the laziest kind of marketing: the notion that any old message will work as long as people see it.  Instead, it makes you easy to ignore…

“I’m afraid our customers won’t get it.”  “Someone might be offended.”  “What if it doesn’t work?”  There are always more reasons not to do something new than there are reasons to do it — a lot more.  But quantity isn’t quality, and those reasons are rarely better, even if you add them all together, than…

The best ideas — the ones that are truly inspired — tend to keep their distance.  One key to putting them within reach is to let your subconscious out to play.  That’s when your brain has a little downtime to mix things up and recombine them in unexpected and often innovative ways.  So what unleashes…