People now spend more time online with mobile devices than they do with their computers. So what conclusion has business reached? We have to target them through those mobile devices. But there’s another side to that equation that’s much more powerful. You have to let them reach you with their mobile devices. They have to…

Sometimes the words we use carry more weight than we’d like. When you open an account at a bank or credit union, it’s the start of something. The expectation is that you’ll use your account to make purchases or save for future dreams. But when a loan is closed, it feels like the end of…

At a recent concert by a major pop artist, the opening act did something incredibly smart. He acted like the headliner. He talked to the audience. He went out into the audience. He and his band played with the expectation that the crowd knew every song. The result? He came off less as an opening…

Ask most adults about a President’s inaugural address, and probably the only one they’ll recall is John Kennedy’s, from “Ask not what your country can do for you…” to “the torch has been passed to a new generation…” So consider this. The average inaugural address is 2,300 words. JFK’s was just 1,355 words, or a…

When the financial crisis hit in 2008 and sales plummeted, most auto companies rolled out discounts and cash incentives, to little effect. Hyundai asked customers why they weren’t buying, and heard the same answer over and over: fear. People were afraid to buy cars for fear they might lose their jobs and damage their credit…

As you consider how to make your website work harder, try making more demands of your visitors. Short commands and brief invitations are powerful tools. “Learn three secrets.” “Watch the video.” “Read more.” “Download the whitepaper.” “Listen here.” As you add content to make your site more magnetic, make that content worthwhile — then make…

A terrific article in the January / February 2014 issue of Harvard Business Review, entitled “The Big Lie of Strategic Planning,” exposes the critical issues that undermine most planning efforts, and why planning may be designed more to comfort management than to chart a course. Written by Roger L. Martin, the piece is overflowing with insights…

On a recent Saturday at a skate park, one thing was abundantly clear.  Kids trying to execute something new on a skateboard or bike stumble or fall much more often than they succeed.  Does that stop them?  Absolutely not.  They turn right around and take another run at it.  And the other kids cheer even…

If you sell to consumers, and you have a large list of existing customers, one of the most effective ways to find more is to build a customer model.  Send your list to one of the modeling companies, and they match the people on your list to their database.  Where your list overlaps theirs, they…

When you send out e-mails, there are a lot of things to consider.  Here are two.  First, make it something that the recipient will want to forward.  And second, write it for the person it’s getting forwarded to, who may not know you.  Be sure to include something about your company, a link to sign…