People love stories.  And your website is a great place to tell them.  As simple as it is to put videos online, your site should feature founders, owners, board members, team members, customers – whoever has a story to tell about what makes you special – telling that story themselves.  While people hate to be…

Whether in print or online, techniques like bold type and bullet points are useful ways to help readers jump to and recall key points.  But overusing either undoes the benefit of these approaches.  If all of the copy in a paragraph is bold (or italic), nothing stands out.  Likewise, bullet points are intended to break…

Bankers have a relatively poor track record of marketing in ways that connect with women.  This is truly surprising in light of the fact that women control or have primary influence over 85% of the financial transactions made in this country.  So here’s a free idea – one we’re willing to bet would win rave…

In this economy, if you’re asking consumers or other businesses to write a big check, your pitch had better be a bold one.  A timid or tepid request for a customer’s business, especially for big ticket items, is likely to be met with indifference.  If you want to persuade someone to act in a big…

Only one thing is certain about the future of your business.  It won’t be what you expect.  Changes in technology, the splintering of the old mass market into millions of tiny splinter markets, mutating media and a whole host of other factors will continue to transform business – including yours.  Here’s the takeaway: if you’re…

While Facebook boasts more than 400 million users worldwide, business has been somewhat slow to take advantage of the social media leader.  That’s all begun to change in the last year.  More companies see a Facebook presence as an important supplement to their website.  And for some, it’s paying off big.  Coke’s Facebook page has…

Coke may be the official sponsor of the 2010 World Cup, to be held this summer in South Africa, but that didn’t stop rival Pepsi from creating its own World Cup video – one that keeps its brand front and center while being ridiculously watchable.  Pepsi’s work quickly rocketed into the top ten most-viewed clips…

How much is love worth?  Consider these words.  “I love that ad.”  “I love her blog.”  “I love that billboard.”  “I love this website.”  Wouldn’t you love to have someone say this about your marketing efforts?  That kind of love translates into word of mouth, increased sales and strong relationships.  But if John said, “All…

If you watched figure skaters during the recent Winter Olympics, you might have been amazed at how effortless the athletes made it all seem.  But if you watched them waiting for their scores, you saw them sweating and catching their breath.  It’s a great reminder that companies who make it all look easy do so…

How do you make a problem bigger?  By ignoring it, then sidestepping it, then downplaying it.  Toyota had several opportunities to take the reins and control the story.  Instead, they underestimated consumer concerns, and the attendant media attention only amplified their mistakes.  Toyota should have taken a page out of the Tylenol playbook: deal with…