On a trip to the Rioja region of Spain this month, we stopped in the regional capital, Logroño and sampled the tapas in the legendary area in the heart of the old city, along Calle de Laurel and Traversa de Laurel, with 40 odd tapas bars, open from 8 in the evening until the early…
Call it corporate-speak or spin but whatever you call it, its days are numbered. When I’m reading copy on a website, my BS filter is set to high. And I’m not alone. People are getting increasingly cynical, their trust betrayed so many times. We made fun of the estate agents when they did it, finding…
The case study as an element of marketing communications has outlived its usefulness. It’s one of those things that exists as a short-hand for ‘how xyz company benefited from using our product/service’. We’re used to case studies from text books we read at school or university. We’re drawn, to like moths to a flame, to…
Moving has the potential to be one of the most stressful events in life, whether it’s your home or business that moves. So many things that can go wrong, so many people to give your updated address to, so many things to update. The last thing you want to do is have people showing up…
I’ve long been a fan of guerilla marketing. Maybe it’s my parsimonious nature. Or maybe it’s just the fun aspect of it. The original book on Guerilla Marketing is 27 years old but its central concept is more relevant with every passing year. Real-time is this year’s buzzword and makes it into the title of…
As a marketing graduate I read with interest David Meerman Scott’s views on how many marketing professors could be guilty of malpractice in the way they teach the subject. Part of me agreed, I remember in a tutor group session explaining Chasm Theory to my fellow students and the lecturer. But then I thought ‘how…
A recent stay in hospital gave me a first person lesson in the difference between enthusiasm, professionalism and downright hostility. During the 4 days I was there I and my ward-mates were looked after by a number of nurses of differing skill levels and ages. The student nurses were the most enthusiastic, friendly and generally…
As marketers we all love to promise the earth but you need to be able deliver on what you’re offering. If you need to use weasel words and internal jargon to qualify your promises, you’re doing it wrong. When you see an advert for flatscreen TVs offering a ‘free Blu-Ray player with selected TVs’ –…
Is your local retail business going well? Some of your (not ‘really competing’) neighbours doing worse? I wrote a piece last year about why you might want to help out those who you might consider competitors. I’ve just seen first hand what can happen when a company’s neighbour goes out of business: a much more…
Having just experienced a truly awful customer service experience (not traumatic or damaging and I won’t bore you with it) I was prompted to write this post. What was awful about it is that it exposed just how customer hostile this particular supermarket chain’s processes are. The customer is always right Even when they’re not….
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