“Creativity is intelligence having fun!” —Albert Einstein When you are online, you often see things that inspire or prompt a new idea. The key to creativity is the ability to capture those fleeting thoughts, ideas and images. Yet, to stay on task, you need options to quickly capture them and keep moving. Here are my favorite two ways: Notepad (Microsoft) – When working at your computer or laptop, it’s easy to pull up Notepad to jot down ideas that pop …
“Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not. A sense of humor was provided to console him for what he is.” —Horace Walpole, Man of Letters Did you know that most creative ideas come when your mind is allowed to play? For example, the initial melody for “Yesterday”, by Paul McCartney of The Beatles, came to him in a dream. “I just fell out of bed and it was there,” McCartney told Rod Granger of …
Every summer, the same thing is heard around the C-Suite: no one is around in the summer, so how can we make our numbers? Interesting, that when I was an acting CMO for a $450 million credit union, I was able to dispel the summer doldrums with a simple signature loan promotion. The concept was to increase the number of signature loans by 50% during the summer months with a special rebate for larger dollar personal loans. While this isn’t …
In the age of the smartphone, we all get email and Facebook posts and texts all the time. So, thinking that people on vacation don’t check email is like saying that people don’t keep their phones by their bed. Okay, 57% do, but the statistics show that more and more of all generations are addicted to their phones. For your marketing, the concept is to provide a relevant, interesting connection to the customer/member’s summer dreams, finding affordable solutions for vacations, and …
Taking a vacation? Here is something to do while sitting on the beach or relaxing by the pool. This isn’t about “working” or “being serious about your future.” The idea is to ruminate, dream, and imagine while you’re relaxing using these questions: What is my guiding light in my life? Is it being successful in terms of money, fame, achievements? Is it the success of being surrounded by family and friends who love me? Is it traveling, buying a new …
Every organization is faced with many opportunities and challenges in navigating the crowded, competitive and changing marketplace. In fact, success is now being defined as how well your organization can position and differentiate itself in this marketplace. While accounting firms conduct financial audits to ensure financial stability, rarely have we heard of clients performing Strategic Marketing Audits to determine their marketing effectiveness and opportunities. The value of marketing audits was something I discovered in a textbook by Phillip Kotler while teaching graduate …
Are your website and online branch effective channels for building more business with your customers/members? Consider doing an audit regularly to make sure you are keeping your marketing efforts working for you. We created a tool to help our clients understand how to migrate their website to be more effective and useful with a four–level audit! The checklist includes 10 items that are “Informational & Useful,” 10 that are “More 24/7 Access,” 10 items that are “Robust & Convenient Virtual Branch,” and then …
If your ambition is to get promoted in your current work, take on a new challenge, find a new job, or start your own business, it is really important to know how your own personal marketing stacks up! Here are a few things to consider in doing a personal marketing audit taken from my book, Almost Famous: How to Market Yourself for Success. These questions uncover key information that is important for making the best decision about your career and having …
As a marketer, the hardest thing to craft is the layout with a grabber headline or offer that will attract your target person’s attention. With so much clutter of brands battling for eyeballs, what will work for the message you want to have your target customer/member see? Here are some tips to help you be more effective: Use Color – The target person’s eyes are drawn to contrasts, so using contrasting colors within your marketing materials will get their attention! …
In these days of clutter in our inboxes, some C-Suite managers will say that there is too much junk — they never look at emails, so surely customers/members don’t either. There may be comments that no one opens email or clicks through. However, here are some stats that show you should be paying more attention to e-marketing: 91% of consumers check their email at least once per day on their smartphone (Exact Target Mobile Behavior Report 2014) 36% of respondents check email, …