Entrepreneur, ReVisioneer, Marketing Innovator and Brand Developer
I’ve been building brands for over 35 years. Last year I did something new. I built a boat. A Chesapeake 17 Sea Kayak by #CLCBoats, made of marine plywood, epoxy, fiberglass, and time. It took about three months and I learned a lot about woodworking along the way. I also learned that building a boat…
Read MoreThe Unique Selling Proposition was the golden rule of advertising for decades, and no matter how much lip service is given to the value proposition and other strategies, the mindset of the USP is still there. It’s time to lay it to rest.
Read MoreI took a quick, very unscientific survey recently. It was a one question survey: When you think of Walmart, do you think of innovation? 100 of the answers were the same… “no”. Walmart is just a big ol’ store with lots of stuff at low prices. No innovation, right? Think again.
Read MoreThere’s an unwritten rule in every industry that says “We all go to market the same way.” It’s a dumb rule and I’ve been preaching against it for 35 years. I wish I could say I wrote the book on the subject, but Marty Neumeier beat me to it. More on that in a moment.
Read MoreLast Saturday, I jumped in the truck, turned on the radio, and there he was… the local DJ with the used car dealer urging me to “Come on down right now for free pizza, a chance to spin the wheel, and drive away in a certified preowned, like-new car with zero down and no interest……
Read MoreThis is a story about the little things. The little things that solve little problems that give customers what they want and bring success to the little thing innovator. Hewlett-Packard had great success with the handheld calculator but they did NOT invent the handheld calculator. That honor belongs to Texas Instruments. The first calculator was…
Read MoreSimon Sinek in Start With Why says innovation is revolutionary. It changes industries, changes the way we do things. According to Sinek, innovation is a BIG DEAL. He is right. And he is wrong. Innovation is a big deal about 2 percent of the time. 98 percent of the time though, innovation goes unnoticed by most…
Read MoreIt’s a simple fact: Your customers have to pay for your marketing…and they don’t mind at all. When you market innovation, you are offering a unique solution to your customer’s problems. You are making their lives easier, better, faster, more comfortable and they are happy to pay for that. So, not only do you have…
Read MoreInnovation is the buzzword of the century and, while it is laudable to want to be like Apple or Amazon, it’s hardly necessary to reinvent your industry to find success. It IS necessary to market innovation. Why marketing innovation works. Simply put, innovation is a creative solution to a customer problem. Big problems, little problems,…
Read MoreIt happens to just about every company. They start off all quirky and fun. Ready to take risks, to be themselves without taking themselves too seriously. Then, all of a sudden (it seems) they hit the big time and they get all serious and busyness-like. Before you know it, you hardly know them at all…
Read More
