You might think being around awhile makes a brand stronger.  Not so much.  With the passing of time, the arrival of shiny new competitors can make your brand blend into the landscape.  Branding isn’t an event; it’s a way of life.  Especially if your company has a lot of years behind it, you need to…

Why does so much marketing look alike?  Why does so little stand out?  In part, because putting a truly engaging message out there — one that stands out and sets you apart — takes nerve.  And this is where things usually fall apart.  A company hires a marketing firm or ad agency.  The brief?  Shake…

You’re staying more than one night at a hotel.  The front desk offers you a discount voucher good at any of their restaurants if you opt to skip housekeeping.  Smart.  It puts you in their restaurant, where you’ll spend more than your voucher — and where you might return another time — and either helps…

Three actual restaurants.  Three real servers.  Three very different questions.  “Is everything delicious?”  “How is everything?”  “Is everything right?”  Each of those questions reveals a great deal about how the server sees their own restaurant — and what they expect your experience to be like.  That sets their customers’ expectations, too.  And for better or…

A client recently shared a fantastic way to evaluate your marketing.  Look at whatever you’re considering — a print ad, TV spot, etc. — and ask yourself if you would be jealous if your competitor was using it.  Try it.  Look at what you’re doing now.  Would you be jealous if your competitor was using…

Another insight from the hospitality world.  During the course of a meal, a server asked, “Is everything delicious?”  That may seem like a small thing.  It isn’t.  The usual “how is everything?” is simply a service inquiry.  Asking if everything is delicious sets an expectation.  It suggests that your meal is supposed to be delicious. …

A colleague recently chose one restaurant for a breakfast meeting over another that offered equally good food and was much closer.  Why?  Tiny tables.  The tables at the nearby restaurant, while cute, are barely big enough to accommodate plates and cups, let alone a notepad or tablet.  The lesson is an old one: know what…

How many people are out there right now — aspiring musicians, writers, athletes — waiting to be discovered?  We all know that it seldom happens.  Yet many companies take the same approach, assuming that if they simply launch the business and do a good job, they’ll be discovered.  They won’t.  At least, not in the…

If you saw a car commercial touting features like four wheels and seats, you’d think someone had lost his or her mind.  Yet plenty of businesses take just that approach, pouring money into promoting the obvious.  Banks skip branding in favor of ads for mobile banking, which virtually all banks offer — it’s a “standard…

SoFi is a financial institution that produced a terrific-looking spot called “Great Rates for Great People.”  They then spent that spot — and $5 million — pointing out a lot of people they don’t think are great.  Most of whom look like me and you.  So instead of making the point they wanted to make…