“The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter–it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” –Mark Twain You know how difficult it is to find exactly the right terminology. Even Mark Twain knew over a century ago that just the right words make all [...]
Category Archives: communication
Better Late Than Never?
If you look at tried-and-true sayings to rationalize your behavior, you could choose “It’s Never Too Late,” “Better Late than Never,” or find justification for the opposite course of action with “Too Little, Too Late.” What’s a rational person to do? There are certainly many times when what we do for ourselves or our career is too little effort, too late. Nothing [...]
Consumer Choice–Is there a Moral Imperative?
Yesterday I read an op-ed piece in the Denver Post from a woman who was bashing Whole Foods for being up in a down economy and criticizing Whole Foods shoppers for indulging in luxury items, while she and her family were clipping every coupon she could find to keep her food expenses within her budget. What bothered [...]
Also posted in Priorities Tagged consumer choice, moral choice, moral imperative, profit, Whole Foods Leave a comment
Are crickets chirping on your company blog?
Every week my husband groans and asks why I have to keep writing my business blog: Fertile Ground. He views the exercise as an albatross around my neck, since I’m a small business owner who can’t share the writing responsibilities with anyone else. I see it differently—and so does Mark Schaefer who wrote an excellent piece this week on his [...]
How Witnessing a Sacrificial Sheep Slaughter Made Me a Better Marketer
What’s the angle, you’re asking yourself? Has Sage Advice Marketing Consulting been reading too many Copyblogger tips on provocative blog headlines? Actually, I just returned from a fabulous vacation in Central Asia where I did, in fact, witness a sacrificial sheep offering. My husband and I had just celebrated my birthday with pieces of cake from a [...]
Also posted in target audience Tagged communication, marketer, marketing, prioritized information, relevant information, target audience, target market Leave a comment
Deadlines–Not Just for Procrastinators Anymore
Whether you’re on the client side or the partner (consultant, vendor, supplier) side of business, you know that you need a contract before any work is started in order to set expectations, scope of work, timelines and cost. But what happens during the process of getting that work done? Last week a business coach friend of mine had [...]
If You Can’t Say Anything Nice…
Recently, a former colleague told me that his company was launching a new product line, and it was in direct competition with our former brand. He wondered how much he should say about the things the former company had done to the brand to diminish it’s authenticity. My counsel was that he should build his own brand, and leave the negative [...]
Posted in communication Tagged brand, brand launch, communication, key messages, launch, marketing, product launch, public relations Leave a comment
What You Don’t Say…
Sometimes what you don’t say is more important that what you do say. In his insightful blog post this week, Seth Godin describes the story of a vegan ice cream store in NYC that couldn’t afford the extra words to post “vegan” on their sign. It turned out to be a fortuitous accident since the [...]
Posted in communication Tagged brand, communications, marketing, message, messages, Strategy, target audeince Leave a comment
Being Gracious Doesn’t Make You a Business Wimp
A couple weeks ago I had coffee with a woman with a very successful social media business. I was hoping to pick up some pointers on expanding my new media knowledge; but instead, I got a great lesson in business etiquette. Deb Krier, whose business name is The SociaLight, told me that she responds to every [...]