Category Marketing
Why Your Marketing Message Isn’t Working (And How Story Can Save It)
Like Oscar Wilde observed, “In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity, is the vital thing.” But when it comes to marketing messages, both matter tremendously – and most businesses are failing at both. Let’s unpack why your marketing likely…
The Precision Paradox: When Technology Trumps Trust
It’s a curious thing, watching sport in the age of technology. Recently, in the fourth cricket Test between Australia and India at the MCG, a moment crystallised everything that’s fascinating and frustrating about our quest for perfect decisions. Indian batter…
Service in Hard Times: A Tale of Two Cities (and Three Queues)
In Port Lincoln, there’s a railway crossing with two contradictory signs – one warning of trains that will never come, the other asking to keep tracks clear. It’s an apt metaphor for the paradoxical situation many Australian small businesses find…
The Great Awards Swindle: How We All Became Award-Winning Everything
In my recent acceptance speech at the prestigious “Most Prestigious Awards for Prestige 2024”, where I won “Most Award-Winning Person to Win an Award While Accepting an Award”, I had an epiphany. We might have a awards problem. The Awards…
Vitamin Or Pain Killer? How You Market Yourself Could Mean Sales Maybe In The Future VS Sale Today
Marketing is a bit like playing a game of darts. You can aim broadly and hope to hit the board somewhere, or you can zero in on the bullseye and land a winning shot. This idea is at the heart…
Marketing Insights from Port Adelaide Football Club’s AFLW Success
Recently, I had the pleasure of soaking up some top-tier marketing wisdom at the Australian Marketing Institute event at Alberton Oval. Jessica Green and Rachel McLean’s team from the Port Adelaide Football Club (PAFC) walked us through their approach and…
Persona Power: Navigating Business Success Through Swashbuckling Pirates and Aussie Bush Wisdom
In a world where the US presidential race is sending shockwaves of weirdness through our media and social feeds, why not lean into the absurd? I’ve harnessed the creative prowess of AI to craft two wildly different tales that illuminate…
I Really Can’t Engage, Baby There’s Spam Outside
After doing my quick check of the spam folder today, I saw more and more spam messages that are indignant about the lack of my reply. I’ve pasted in the spam emails below. As you’ll see, one killed the deal…
Conferences Are As Boring As Documentaries But They Don’t Have To Be
Ever sat through a conference where the speaker’s intro drags from childhood to present, packed with humblebrags, only to be followed by a dull PowerPoint plod? At the moment when a speaker begins their address, according to Chris Anderson of…
Customer Service Lessons From The Road
This past week, while delivering a series of workshops titled Designing Better Customer Service in Tourism on behalf of TiCSA across South Australia’s Mid North and Southern Flinders Ranges, I encountered two markedly different customer service experiences. We started the…