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Watch my branding brain at work
Put some soul into your brand
People rarely buy because of WHAT we do—they invest in the WHY of what we do.Yes, people will buy from WHY-less brands (just look at Walmart). But no one LOVES them either.No one is wearing a their t-shirts proudly. No one is begging to work for them. No one is...
Write for the reader first, then for the robot.
This is some pretty insightful thoughts from web developer, Christopher Butler, on planning and writing website content:"Only by clearly identifying your prospects can you go about creating content that is truly valuable. Oh, and despite the obvious importance of...
Interview on the Don’t Sell Me Bro Podcast
I recently had the great pleasure of talking with Chris Conrey and Dave Cooke on their sales-coaching podcast, 'Don't Sell Me Bro.'We had a great discussion about my blog post about how business-to-business is dead as well as general thoughts on branding,...
How not to design an HTML email
This was an email I received from Inc.com—basically a standard newsletter they sound out every few days. Do you see the problem?See that giant grey section at the top of the email? Yeah, that's the problem.With marketing emails you've got barely any time at all to...
Poets don’t go mad
“Poets don’t go mad; but chess-players do. Mathematicians go mad, and cashiers; but creative artists very seldom. . . . The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that...
B2B is dead.
That's right. I said it. Business-to-business is dead.With the proliferation of online networking and the movement towards authentic online personalities, selling to businesses has shifted back to where it started. We no longer operate in a world where firms do...
When Customer Service Fails
Last night, the restaurant where my wife and I had dinner failed.Nothing catastrophic or life-threatening—they merely forgot to take our order. Whoops!In short, we sat down, ordered drinks and meandered our way through the menu, attempting to make the ever-present...
What’s Your Battle Cry?
photo by Dave PearsonI saw this question brazenly scrawled across the back window of a high schooler's car the other day. What a great question!When my partners and I at re:sound creative talk with our clients about branding, we like to talk about fans and advocates...
Social media giveaways: a better way?
We've all seen it: 'Tweet this and win a free iPad!' or 'Sign-up for 50%-off!' or 'Follow us on Facebook and get a free meal!'Social media is rife with promotions and giveaways as business after business tries to build a list of followers and beef up their social...