Leaders generally have a vision that drives them, but selling people on it is not always straightforward.  What one person can see clearly is not usually shared by the next person. When you are marketing your vision, you need to be mindful of your communications and adjust, be it to for staff, clients, a board, financial supporters or just family and friends.  What you share and how you share it will need to be different for each audience and indeed you may have subsets of each of those audiences. Successful leaders don’t just have a vision, they lead you there.  Sometimes that ..read more

It’s an age-old debate, where do you stand when it comes to quantity versus quality?  What is the right formula for your marketing?  How do you judge success on social media, email marketing or other types you use? The fascinating thing about all the mass marketing techniques you can adopt is the percentage of those who are potential buyers is usually less than 1%.  The ‘letterbox’ drop is a good example.  It is one used by real estate agents all the time.  The response rate is tiny.  They spend a bit of money on the flyer/magnet/letter (produced on mass) and th ..read more

If you are someone who started a business or organisation from scratch, or you are a CEO who worked your way from the bottom up, it can be hard to let go. Leadership is putting the right people in the right jobs. It’s acknowledging that even though you might be able to do it, using other people means you use your time in a better way. Giving other people the opportunity to focus in their area of expertise can work to the advantage of your brand. If everyone is pushing in the same direction, you can achieve so much more. The challenge, however, is when a CEO takes the spotlight or the brand a ..read more

Marketing at its heart is a creative endeavour and one of its most powerful, but often underrated aspect is about daring to do something different. So often people are hung up on the platform, execution, and costs or a marketing campaign itself. While these aspects are important, it is nothing without a vision. Marketing is not just about engaging your customers, it’s about making sure those running the business are even more engaged in where the future can take them. One of the most memorable lines in a speech is the famous “I have a dream…” Dreaming is such a powerful tool. Dreams are by na ..read more

Do you consider yourself to be a generous person? What about your business — is it just as generous? When you give, do you do it out of an emotional need to share what you have? Or do you do it hoping, or possibly even expecting, something in return? Lots of questions to consider when it comes to giving.  Remember giving can be classified in a couple of different ways: To charities/worthy causes To other businesses I am not going to say one is selfless and the other has the intent to gain.   There is always going to be an element of both no matter whom you are going to, par ..read more

Do you give ideas the respect they deserve? Does your workplace do enough to encourage sessions where ideas flow freely? Marketing is a creative endeavor that supports a strong business strategy.  Marketing can, and should, help you achieve those objectives. You need a free space in the calendar with key staff to get things started. Encourage lateral thinking, thinking outside of the box and be inspired by past experiences of others, even if they are in unrelated fields. How you treat ideas is critical, here is why… It does not have to go in the too-hard basket I have been pa ..read more

Marketing leadership doesn’t always come from sitting on your own, or just being surrounded by the same people, you need to seek out inspiration. In an age where almost everything it would seem can be found via the phone in your pocket… Have you worked out what is missing?   You can jump online and watch videos on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, TED etc, that will make you laugh, cry, think, educate, shocked and much more. However, it’s not the same as being there. It’s like live sport or a concert – yes you can watch it on TV or online, but being there holds a special piece of magic ..read more

One of the most common questions I get asked is what can you do to add real value to a brand?  The key is in the word value! The way to do this is through addressing two problems, “accountability” and then defining/understanding what “value” truly means. The reason these are both problems has much to do with the fact that is very difficult for people to accept they must be based on reality. Sounds simple to overcome, but raw truth is confronting because the answers are rarely as “shiny and sparkly” as you may wish them to be. Accountability carries the notion that the “buck stops at th ..read more

Are you looking to become a popular brand in the community in which you operate or is leadership something you value more?  Take a moment to think about the difference between these two words. We live in a world where popularity is increasingly driving behaviour.  For example, how many times have you checked to see how many people have liked your latest post? This kind of environment makes it harder for ‘leaders’ to survive because by nature they don’t make the popular choices.  If we look at our recent Prime Ministers and consider each as a brand.  We have a catalogue o ..read more

Simple Marketing Tip “Take responsibility for helping others” From the video My marketing tip for this week is to spend some time thinking about the idea of giving information back to your audience. Far too often, we are selfish and hold on to everything yet we want to market ourselves. The best way to do it is to show that you are on top of your field, you know your game, and you have something unique to share with people. Remember: You’re the one that’s delivering it so people want to come to you: the originator of the idea. The first trick is don’t be afraid to share your intellectual ..read more