Monday Morning Memo

For Traditional Retail and Service Businesses I feel a bit like the boy in the Hans Christian Andersen tale of The Emperor’s New Clothes, though I’m not nearly so brave as he. You remember, don’t you? Two weavers promise an Emperor a new suit of clothes that will be invisible to those unfit for their &hellip Continue reading »

1. You have something to sell and 2. You want to tell the world about it. These are my first questions: 1. Are people already looking for it? 2. Can you deliver your message in 8 words or less? If the answer to both questions is yes, 
Put up a big, intrusive sign. The world &hellip Continue reading »

The MondayMorningMemo for May 9, 2011 I’ve never met a business owner whose advertising failed because they were reaching the wrong people. Let me say that again. I’ve never met a business owner whose advertising failed because they were reaching the wrong people. Advertising fails when people have    1. no knowledge of the offer. &hellip Continue reading »

The MondayMorningMemo for May 2, 2011 
We stay too busy to think big thoughts. This frantic busyness, this voluntary slavery to the merely urgent is preferred, I think, because big thoughts make us realize that we are much smaller creatures than we like to pretend. “We often talk about Hurricane Katrina and 9/11 in terms &hellip Continue reading »

The MondayMorningMemo for April 25, 2011 See it. Believe it. Say it. These are the first steps. But be prepared; most people will think you’re an idiot. Or delusional. Or full of yourself. Maybe they’re right. The outcome is all that separates confidence from hubris. You saw it in your mind. You believed it could &hellip Continue reading »

The Monday Morning Memo for April 18, 2011 You open your mailbox and grab a handful of paper. How long does it take you to sort that mail? Do you open each envelope and consider its message, or do some of them get tossed into the trashcan unopened? More than 71 billion dollars were spent &hellip Continue reading »

The Monday Morning Memo for April 11, 2011 Brands are extensions of belief systems. You are attracted to a brand when it stands for something you believe in. We buy what we buy – most of it, anyway – 1. to remind ourselves and 2. tell the world around us who we are. Brands are &hellip Continue reading »

The MondayMorningMemo for April 4, 2011 You Can’t Quit Knowing What You Know “My name is Natsu and I’ll be serving you today.” Pennie said, “Natsu… What a pretty name!” “Thank you. I was named after my grandmother. It means ‘summer’ in Japanese.” Thirty seconds earlier, Natsu had looked like any other waitress. But now &hellip Continue reading »

The Monday Morning Memo for March 28, 2011 Ken and Barbie are perfect. Ken and Barbie are plastic. Ken and Barbie are hollow. I do not prefer them. True friends are flawed in endearing ways. Quirky. I’ll never forget the morning when I asked a roomful of newly arrived Wizard Academy students to tell a &hellip Continue reading »

The Monday Morning Memo for March 21, 2011 As you do or don’t know, I make my living as an advertising consultant. My income is directly tied to the growth of my clients’ businesses, so you can be sure I keep a close eye on their income trends. Although my office works with only a &hellip Continue reading »