Category: marketing

The difference you make

FabrizioLeave a comment

Generosity and kindness work very well as a marketing tactic, particularly in times of uncertainty and discomfort.

If you have something valuable to share, do it. But value is not measured on your income statement, in this case more than ever. It is measured in the impact you have on those you serve, in the difference you make in their lives, in the ways you enhance their capacity to get past such difficult times.

If you have something valuable to share, do it. In all other cases, just continue business as usual. Leveraging the pandemic, covid-19, remote working, social distancing to sell a bunch of new subscriptions and products is not something we feel the need of.

What we are not

FabrizioLeave a comment

What we are not helps define what we are.

Yet certainly, that cannot end there. This is particularly true when we compete, when we try to influence, when we run against something that is already established.

We need to differentiate, and that cannot be done by merely saying “not-the-other”. The more you let this message run, the more steam you are transferring to your adversary’s engine.

Building movements that matter is hard job because they require self-reflection, deep knowledge of the playing field and story building.

All the rest is a shortcut, and short is the breath that will sustain it.

Stories are ideals

FabrizioLeave a comment

The stories we tell others, the ones we use to buy people into our cause, to inspire action, to convince buyers that our brand is better, to present ourselves and the work we do.

They are not lies.

They are ideals waiting for an audience.

Against common sense

FabrizioLeave a comment

Sometimes things do not turn out to be as they should have.

And so, a podcast ad by Dashlane that follows the general rule for which you are supposed to leverage the potential of the channel might fall flat. Simply because it is not enough to go on a show that often aims at social media and their negative impact on society to claim that a tool that remembers passwords makes the internet better.

On the other hand, an ad for a fast food chain, that common wisdom would want featuring juicy pictures on steroids, can become incredibly effective when it shows a moldy burger.

Things are almost never as straightforward as they seem. That’s one of the reasons why marketing is extremely difficult and requires continuous attention.

One last time

FabrizioLeave a comment

Why would you design the inside of a package and fill it with content?

Perhaps it’s because it’s cheap to do. Perhaps it’s because you can. Perhaps it’s because you want to signal status and quality.

Or perhaps it’s because you know your customers do recycle, they flatten the package to save room in the recycling container, and you want to connect with them one last time before they put the package away.

In any case, it can be beautiful.