From the sublime (Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural for example) to the ridiculous (see the latest viral video of parent taunting child or furry cat being a furry cat) — we celebrate the art of messaging. In a few weeks we’ll actually perk up during commercial breaks of the Super Bowl to spot this year’s benchmark … Continue Reading
My friend George — a veteran of the hospitality industry, and no push-over when it comes to what service looks like — was just back from a cruise during which he and his wife became customers for life. But it did not start that way. The cruise coincided with an anniversary, and George’s wife had … Continue Reading
Listening is the last thing on anyone’s mind when the subject is communication. And it’s understandable. From the instant an infant realizes what it takes to get attention, our practical view of communication is shaped by a repeated focus on doing whatever it takes to deliver a message. Experiences reenforce the idea that charisma, wordsmithing and … Continue Reading
“Move more. Assume less.” This was the response of a CEO friend when asked about his success in turning around a consulting firm on the brink of extinction twenty-two months earlier. Don was retiring, and he was reflective. “In the early days we were determined to meet the market at its point of need. That … Continue Reading
A long time ago I worked for a guy who talked a great game. He talked about a workplace with great culture…about transparency and trust…about being the kind of place the best and brightest wanted to work. That’s what he said. But he rarely delivered. Once every couple of weeks he would make the rounds, … Continue Reading
These days, anyone with something to market has unprecedented opportunity. And that’s the problem. More specifically, better opportunities are one of the major reasons your marketing efforts flounder and fail. Mobile capability, competitive intelligence, data analysis, up-to-the-minute tendencies and trends — never have we had so much at our fingertips. An array of message distribution … Continue Reading
There is a reason so many of the issues we face today are the same ones we faced last week. Or last year. Or three years ago. Or . . . you get the idea. From individual relationships to global politics…personal finance to marketing a business, often the solution on which we land is little more than a reordering … Continue Reading
There are exceptions; but the fact is that for many lawyers, marketing is an annoyance, if not anathema. And there is good reason. CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING (This week’s post is a guest shot at Managing Law Firm Transition, the blog authored by my friends Roger Hayse and Andy Jillson of Hayse LLC. Thanks to Roger … Continue Reading
If you find yourself wondering where the next piece of work will come from, two things may be true about your marketing and business development efforts. Your professional network is anemic; and you have a shortage of strategic targets. Easy to say from the comfortable confines of a blog post, I know. But it is not, in … Continue Reading
Does the success of many of our marketing or business development plans hinge on the hope that our market somehow finds and chooses us? Oh, we talk about strategies and grand plans. We might even flirt with data, throw a few targets up on the whiteboard, and make a pass at mapping relationships. But reality sets in. … Continue Reading
The event you just hosted, sponsored or participated in represents a good beginning. Introductions. Conversations. A chance to build a bridge or two…or shore one up. This is what the event driven activities in your business development and marketing plan are about. Connections. Face time. One piece in a strategic plan of action. If you’re … Continue Reading
The axiom says perception is reality. Translation — as if to taunt marketers and communicators, something more than brilliant content (or evident tangibles) impacts the interpretation of messages we so painstakingly create. Consider how varied multiple descriptions of a single event can be. Or the predictable discrepancies in eye-witness testimony. Or the differences in what … Continue Reading
Marshall McLuhan — a godfather of 20th-century communication theory — characterized one of the challenges inherent in connecting when he coined the phrase “the medium is the message.” Seth Godin hit on it from a different angle in his timely post today, Get Over Yourself. Given the timing — the 1960’s, in North America — … Continue Reading
