It’s that time again – the Word Carnival has come to town. This month’s topic: Dirty Deeds and Due Diligence – what to watch out for in 2015! The New Year is bright with all sorts of new ideas, but in certain circles there’s still plenty of shady tricks and underhanded practices that we think should be […]
Here are the first 5 things I’d do this week
New year, new plan. If you’re getting back to work today, here are the first 5 things I’d do this week: Write down, from scratch, what you know about your customers. Who they are, what they say, where they shop, what they like, what they read, what they believe – and most importantly: what stories they […]
What makes the Holidays so magical?
A light blue twinkle permeates my vision. A whoosh of air signals that I am no longer standing at the entrance to a “shuttle simulator” ride in Las Vegas’s Star Trek: The Experience. I’ve been transported to the USS Enterprise-D’s transporter room. Starfleet officers stare back at me, visibly relieved that I materialized in one piece. I am not hallucinating. I am not plastered. This is real life. To […]
Why Rituals Matter
Almost every morning since Ryland was born, I’ve had breakfast with him and my wife before I start my work day and before he goes to bed, my wife and I read him stories. As another revolution around the sun is coming to a close, consider: rituals and routines are not the same thing. Routines are largely unconscious […]
Bad small business social media is why we can’t have nice things
This month’s Word Carnival is all about Jekyll and Hyde business decisions. That is: perfectly valid yet diametrically opposed views of how businesses should conduct their day to day activities. My beef is with how most small businesses use social media. Experts say small businesses MUST be on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and on and on and on. Here’s […]
Don’t be Scrooge McDuck when it comes to investing in your business
For a long while, I was adamantly opposed to anything that cost WTF Marketing money. Seriously. I was all Scrooge McDuck up in this joint, sans the giant swimming pool full of money and tophat. Even when I started up my first business banking account and had a ridiculously awesome bank card that said “WTF […]
A Dollar is a Lightsaber: Marketing from Scratch
WTF Marketing just turned 5. At the start, I was broke, tired, and having the time of my life. When I first started WTF Marketing in 2009, I was fashioning websites for $350. I knew that $350 wasn’t gonna cut it for long – I was barely making ends meet only two years after I […]
Pull my lever: Efficiency and Effectiveness
This month’s Word Carnival topic is Price vs Value and my post comes in two parts. First: the marketing 101 bit about how you figure out your value. Second: the “everybody talks about price vs value the same way, so let’s turn it on its head” discussion (where you, the smartest kid in class, and your […]
Interchangeable vs Irreplaceable
I have a quirk that pisses a lot of people off: I hate the phone. Unless you’re my wife, you may not get a call back – ever. Sometimes even clients I like will get the cold-shoulder. I used to have a 10-minute bullshit limit on phone calls, now I’ve totally banned unplanned phone calls. This is a quirk […]
Learning from @Nenshi – If I was going to run for office…
Three separate local politicians asked me this month what I’d do to market a political campaign. Aside from the obvious: “keep your promises and try not to be an utter dick”, I do have some useful advice that could help. See, for the last few years I’ve thought about what it would take to run […]