Tell your own story ...
Question Number 2: Why are psychographics important?
For those of us in marketing who understand the science, the answer is fairly obvious. But many times, we take that for granted and tell our clients to gather psychographic data without telling them why. This can be frustrating for the client and doesn’t really help build a relationship. [Read more...]
Question Number 1: What exactly are psychographics?
Psychographics are the holy grail when it comes to marketing and sales. They are more than just the external characteristics of your customer. They run deeper than past purchasing habits. Psychographics are the why behind consumer behavior. [Read more...]
This is an article I wrote in October of 2007. It’s no less vital to developing your brand and marketing strategies today than it was then. At the same time, it deserves a far more refined discussion – tune in on Monday for Psychographics Redefined.
Knowing your perfect customer is only the first step in marketing towards them. Knowing where he or she lives is still just an early step. What you need to figure out now is why. [Read more...]
The other day in the office, we had a very important discussion regarding formality in our written materials. The best summary of this conversation is straight from the original email from our tech writer:
I can stick with the normal, more formalized tech-writerly language (e.g., “Following are the minimum hardware and software requirements to run our product”), or I can make it more personal, fun, and informal (e.g., “Here’s what you need at a minimum to run it”). Doesn’t matter to me which way…so do you have any preference?
It might not be obvious to everyone, but this chat was a very important conversation regarding our brand. The question isn’t so much about the tone we should use, but the personality of the company as reflected through what we write. Knowing the character of your customer helps you narrow down what the character of your brand should be, but ultimately you are still responsible for making the decision.
Whatever you choose for your brand’s personality, you need to live it every day. A “personal, fun, and informal” company can’t have a drawn-out bureaucratic process for customer support. Likewise, a “more formalized” company (think suit-and-tie) can’t host a college bar football party without raising a few eyebrows.
Your brand needs to be consistent, and it needs to accurately represent the way you do business and interact with the community. So in a world where many businesses are just beginning to develop their brands – what do you want your brand to say about you? How much “formal” should your brand have?
Nothing can ever be truly secure. The best we can muster is the illusion of security – create a veil through which our world looks private and closed off from the idle hands of those who would disrupt it. [Read more...]
This is an article I wrote last June for Smarter Markets. I was reflecting on the rising price of gasoline and the impending disaster such a situation meant for our economy. Looking back almost a year later is an interesting exercise for me, and an educational one for some others.
My brief foray into the world of economics was inspired by my dad and a conversation we were having about the “good old days” when gas was less than a dollar per gallon. He decided to compare that to minimum wage at the time which was just about twice the going price of gas. Today, he argued, gas is up to $4 per gallon and the minimum wage (in the state of Oregon) is just shy of $8 per hour. Maybe gas prices aren’t as high as we all think … [Read more...]
