It feels like everyone is wearing a fitness band these days. That’s partly because they’ve managed to succeed where so many approaches fail: they’re getting people to pay attention to how active (or inactive) they are — and to work at doing better. Now consider your company and your customers (or your employees). There are…

The digital world is a sterile place. That’s partly because few companies try to warm it up. Think about something as simple as an online form or an app. Are the instructions fun? Are the cues lighthearted? “Almost there!” “We know — it’s boring, isn’t it? But there’s good stuff around the corner.” There is…

At a recent conference, it was shocking how many presenters, even great ones, crammed so much into each slide that they were unreadable from the middle of the large room. Worse, the people who could read them were doing exactly that — instead of listening. No matter the setting, internal or external, limit your slides…

When the research experts at Gallup look at how well customers are being served, they identify three categories. Customers are either fully engaged, indifferent or actively disengaged. Let that sink in for a minute, because only one of those is good. Indifferent customers are only there by inertia…but the clock is ticking, and they’re one…

Actor Anthony Mackie, who plays Marvel hero The Falcon, has a way of looking at a part that you can use to think about your brand. When he gets a script, he underlines everything that the other characters say about his character. That gives him an outside perspective — the way the world sees the…

Want a simple way to make your brand stand? Try the most overlooked and under-utilized: words. Here’s a fun activity. Grab an ad, or brochure, or print-out of the homepage of the website of three or four direct competitors — and your own as well. Line them up and look at them. Highlight the things…

A lot of companies let all team members submit ideas for a logo, a product name, a tagline or a promotion, or let them vote for their favorite. That’s asking for trouble. First, you’re asking unqualified people to second-guess the qualified people you pay to do this. So there’s no marketing rationale behind what’s chosen.…

A conference speaker recently suggested that your media buy should reflect the amount of time consumers spend with various media. His graph showed lots of time spent online and far less with print media. His conclusion: spend four or five times as much on digital ads as on print. Not so fast. First, we engage…

Think about those TV commercials that promise amazing results in days with some fitness machine or another. The truth is, there’s no shortcut to getting stronger. Only hard work pays off. Same with marketing. Despite what all the SEO wizards and digital devotees preach, no single silver bullet will solve all your marketing challenges. You…

We all do better in some areas, and less well in others. Just as a good trainer helps you isolate your problem areas and work directly on them, you need the discipline to take a step back, decide where your marketing isn’t as strong as it could be, then focus the time and resources needed…