I’m taking the remainder of the summer off from writing DISPATCHES and MARKETING MATTERS. This article is a republication from 2018. It is as relevant today as it was then. I hope you find it informative and thought provoking. Bedros Keuilian, founder and CEO of Fit Body Boot Camp, spoke with lifestyle entrepreneur Lewis Howes […]
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We can debate the purpose of business as it varies depending upon the goals and perspectives of various constituencies and individuals. However, make no mistake, a business must generate profit. Profitability is not a negative. It is the lifeblood for sustaining operations, investing in development, creating jobs, raising living standards, promoting human development, among many […]
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Discovering your ideal target customer-segment, where your brand can win, can be difficult. The conventional wisdom of category participants and audit services doesn’t help; they merely force you into occupying the same space as your brand’s competitors. It takes a keen insight to break away from the pack. So, how might we get there? Identify […]
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Segmentation – Classifying parts that contribute to the whole. It’s no secret. I love eggs. I’ve written about eggs in DISPATCHES (“Egg-actly Brand Worthy Idea”) and Marketing Matters (“Serving Up The Whole Egg”). Each time I’ve addressed the egg it has been about marketing related matters. You might say I’m obsessed with two of the […]
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The blame game is perhaps one of the most popular and widely played games worldwide. It is front and center daily in politics. Is it not? It’s also played in business. Disastrous policies, strategies, execution, etc., are laid everywhere but at the feet of those responsible. I feel sure you’ve heard these proclamations before: “Marketing […]
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When sales persistently decline, a common refrain among marketers is “It’s time to reposition the brand.” Well, it may be too late; in most cases, it is too late! Repositioning typically indicates a brand that is no longer healthy and in serious business decline. It’s reactive behavior to (typically alarming or consistent) sales, market share […]
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This past Sunday, 23 April, was World Book Day. It’s the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) organized day to recognize and promote the benefit of reading books. The date is rather auspicious. It marks the day that several prominent authors were either born or died, such as Will and Miguel (that’s Shakespeare […]
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I feel like I’m walking on thin ice. At any moment, it will crack, and I will plunge into icy waters and be swept away. What am I talking about? Well, to start, I will conduct a postmortem on Bud Light. This undertaking alone is fraught with danger as corporations sweep their failures away to […]
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Synergy (noun) the interaction … of two or more… agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate parts. I learned about synergy in B-School. It’s combining two or more things to get a more significant effect than the sum of each entity. Companies’ stock prices that create synergy tend to rise […]
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Over the past several weeks (since the lead-up to the Super Bowl), I’ve been sharing proven principles, best practices, and quality processes for making your advertising more effective. This article gets at a critically important but overlooked element, the client-agency relationship. We want customers to perceive our company and brand as the preferred “one” in […]
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