If you are like me and subscribe to the notion that your brand is whatever people perceive it to be, then the importance of delivering your brand promise applies to non-customers, too.  Organizations that focus all of their branding efforts solely on “customers” are likely to fail. Here’s why. Astute marketers know that brands interact with, and have the potential to influence, groups of people other than customers – employees, job applicants, vendors,  investors and members of the community, to name a few.  The interaction becomes more personal when there is an overlapping relationship with a brand among any of…

There are a few spots left for Wednesday's workshop in the Baltimore, Maryland area. Here is the information. Email Bjorn (contact info below) with any questions (or me). There will be a meeting of entrepreneurs who want to learn the art of making great presentations. Mr. Ira Koretsky will lead this event. He has travelled the world training people and consulting to organizations on the art and science of great communications. Join us for a fun, engaging and insightful event.   Ira will introduce us to his five-step approach. He will ask you to draft your pitch (any type of…

I stopped in my local Starbuck’s the other day. I had been up late the night before and was staring at a full day of work at the office. I needed something that would boost my energy level and brighten my day. I took my place in line, along with everyone else that morning. When I got to the counter, I found exactly what I was looking for. I was greeted with a huge smile and a sincere-sounding, “How are you today? What can I get for you?”  I paid $2.05 for my grande-sized coffee and left. I could have gotten…

Twenty-four years ago, I attended a Rotary Club luncheon where my congressman was the featured speaker. He had just returned from an overseas congressional visit to Eastern Europe and he took the occasion to remind us of the importance of family relationships here in America. He closed with a few prophetic words from the Harry Chapin folk rock song, “Cat’s in the Cradle,” about finding time for others, despite the hectic pressures of daily life. The song is a first-person narrative and is a story about a dad who is too busy to find time for his son.  As a boy,…

I'm a big fan of Dan Pink...While his article is about politics...it's really about words and messaging. Here's the beginning: This year’s presidential race has now come down to ten days and two people. But like many exercises in persuading, influencing, and otherwise moving others, it has also come down to two words – one for President Barack Obama, another for Governor Mitt Romney. Which word prevails may determine which man takes the oath of office three months from now – and therein lies a lesson for your own work.A few years ago, British advertising pioneer Maurice Saatchi conceived the…

GetResponse, an email marketing company, recently posted a blog on emails with an insightful infographic. From its blog post, author Hanna Andrzejewska shares "We analyzed 21 million messages sent from US accounts in the 1st quarter of 2012 to determine top open and click-through times. We also analyzed the recipients’ top engagement times — all to test our thesis: sending times matter, and message results depend on reader engagement routines, not just a little but a lot." Key Takeways:- Emails reach the best results within 1 hour after landing in the inbox. - 24 hours after delivery, the average open…