Category: Strategy
A collection of our thoughts and opinions on strategy and how this can be put to good use to grow your business.
Do you know your marketing numbers? Whether you like it or not, modern marketing is all about numbers. Sure, your agency or marketing team will bang on about beautiful design, ad copy and the awards they’ve won. But all that really matters are the key numbers in your marketing equation. How many people did your...
How do you measure your business and it’s success? There’s a good chance that you are measuring against your industry’s averages. “What are our competitors doing?”, “What is standard industry practice?”, “Let’s benchmark ourselves against the industry.” This sort of thinking might raise an underperforming business up to the level of others but when average...
Greetings from Los Angeles, where I’ve been fortunate enough to meet with a handful of world-class marketers and business experts to discuss how we can help companies grow faster. I received some great advice from a particularly famous marketer, industry legend Dean Jackson. I realised later that the “marketing” tips Dean gave me were actually...
I recently had a new client contact me, wanting to get started immediately despite us having never met and not even having written a proposal. When I asked why, he said, “I’ve read everything you’ve written over the last year and know we’re a good fit.” Most successful modern marketers know that the creation of...
Does your website exist to generate leads or direct sales? If so, do you know how much your traffic is worth to you? Surprisingly, not many businesses seem to know this, and therefore tend to stumble around with an unfocused marketing strategy. Here are some simple formulas to get started: Lead generation site Your traffic...
Many companies that do their own marketing experience little to no success and feel that marketing is ineffective. However, they don’t realise that marketing can sometimes mean nothing without developing a brand first. Branding is an essential component of marketing, and not just something that is nice to have. Companies need to build on their...
Too much marketing features words and expressions that lack real meaning. They sound really good but lack any real value or meaning. These are the terms that you think that you should include in your copy, that doesn’t really add any value for your customers. Some examples include phrases, such as, “exceeding expectations”, “best in...
Business advice can often be extremely complicated, but when you break it all down the basics remain the same, whether you run a cafe, retail outlet or do most of your marketing online. If you want to grow your business there are 5 essential activities you should focus on. 1. Properly identify your niche, customers...
How do you measure your business and it’s success? There’s a good chance that you are measuring against your industry’s averages. “What are our competitors doing?”, “What is standard industry practice?”, “Let’s benchmark ourselves against the industry.” This sort of thinking might raise an underperforming business up to the level of others but when average...
Every week I receive enquiries from business owners or marketing managers wanting help with their marketing. The first question I ask is, “What is the goal here, what are you trying to achieve?” I’m surprised how often the client doesn’t really know the answer to this. Most people find it difficult to understand how marketing...
One thing I’ve learnt over the years is that constantly working is not the key to business success. However, constantly working on the right things is. If your company is not growing as fast as you’d like, more hard work is probably not the solution. You probably need a better strategy. Ask yourself these questions:...
The world of marketing has changed for almost every organisation, no matter how traditional or cutting-edge their particular industry might be. The financial services industry is no exception either. Most people now gather their information from online sources, so any financial services business that wants continued growth and success, needs to go where they can...