Historic case studies in great advertising and copy
My all-time favourite piece of marketing copy is from 1958.
David Ogilvy ( the master ), for Rolls Royce.
“At 60 miles an hour, the loudest noise in the new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock.”
Eighteen words to tell the story of luxury.
Only eighteen words to demonstrate how much care went into making a Rolls Royce. A single line told the story of how elegant it was to drive this car, and how refined you were to own one.
Ogilvy was the master. If you’ve never read any of his books, you should. …
It’s the actions that you take that demonstrate how you feel
Do you know the definition of the word respect?
Quick, what is it?
I’ve asked a few people this question over the last few days, and while everyone has an answer, two things become clear.
First, everyone I asked had a hard time articulating a definition clearly.
Second, and perhaps more important, respect means different things to different people.
The dictionary.com definition?
Respect: To hold in esteem or honour, or to show regard or consideration for.
Is that close to what came to mind for you?
It got me thinking, is respect what we really should be aiming for? Is…
We’re endlessly sold the story that everything we build has to be amazing and a business.
I want to give you permission.
I want you to know that it is alright to create a thing and for that thing not to make money.
Money is good. Building a business, caring for it, feeding it, watching it grow…and then making money from it is a fabulous thing. I’ve started a handful of companies, and while they were stressful, I wouldn’t trade those experiences for the world.
But.
Not every idea is significant. Not every concept has a broad audience, and indeed, not all offerings can attract a paying audience.
Honestly, most ideas aren’t good.
But you know…
Stop being afraid to stand out, show your passion and tell your unique story
What is the story you’re trying to tell?
The businesses that I’ve been a part of all started the same way.
Some number of us, sitting around, having an increasingly passionate conversation about possibilities.
Of building something, the world has never seen. Or solving a problem in a new way. Or building a team with the skill and experience to make world-changing things for other people.
Whatever the market, and however, the genesis, there is always a story to be told.
So what story do you tell?
Does it sound like every other story out there? Is it full of catchy buzzwords, or simple promises of success? Is…
Nothing else, especially early, will matter as much as how well you treat your customers
One of the best marketers I’ve ever known was a garbage human.
He was a screamer. A dilettante. A user of fear.
He worked people to the bone, berated them repeatedly and took every opportunity to line his own pocket.
He was a pain in the ass to be around, arrogant and insufferable.
Unless you were a customer.
To the customers, he was a golden god.
He remembered their names. He remembered the wine they liked. He asked how their kids/businesses/families/ dogs were doing. He comped food if diners were unhappy, and rewarded loyalty by gifting comping regularly. …
There is nothing worse than missed opportunities — and Nike missed theirs with me
I used to say that when it came to exercise, I would only run if I was being chased.
For me, exercise was always about playing team sports. The getting fit part was simply a side effect of competition. Then, I lost the ability to do those things.
A less than well-maintained soccer field and a divot landed me with a blown Achilles. Forget sports, I had a hard time walking for most of the following year.
When I was finally cleared for more than walking, I was extremely scared of hurting myself again. So instead, I took up running.
…
The one thing I wish every founder would do
Startup life is hard.
So hard, that my go-to answer when someone asks me whether or not I think they should start a company around an idea, is don’t.
The folks that can’t be convinced, are the ones that have a shot. These outliers will fight through the darkness, push through when progress looks impossible, and stay strong when all seems lost.
These are the people who succeed.
To you, folks. The fighters. The challengers. The round pegs in square holes. I want to give you one piece of advice.
Make it easier on yourself, figure out your story, and figure it out early.
Time and again we see people complaining that they can’t get their company to grow. Too often it’s easy to see why.
Your company, the one you work for right, likely hates its customers.
I’m not suggesting you’re openly hostile to the people who give you money, but I can guarantee you are doing things to make them feel unloved, belittled or taken advantage of.
Not so you say, we love our customers, we’re customer-centric, and we focus on customer experience.
But do you really? Or is it mostly lip-service?
Maybe you have a couple of resources dedicated to customer service and feel like that’s enough, that you’re doing all that can be done to make customers happy. You’re not. …
For anyone building and growing a business, all the tools in the world won’t help you until you decide to talk about why
Hey marketing person. Yah, you.
How many of these are you currently using?
- Youtube / Twitter / Facebook / Instagram Ads
- Google / Bing / Yahoo ( yes people buy ads on Yahoo )
- Mailchimp / Constant Contact / Convertkit
- Salesforce / Marketo / Hubspot
- Buffer / Hootsuite
- Squarespace / Wordpress / Wix / Medium
- External PR / Influencers
- Content Marketing ( words and / or video )
- Moz / Ahrefs / SEMrush
- Messaging bots
A bunch of them, right? The modern, mainstream marketing toolbox.
And yet.
So many of us are still searching for more. We continue to believe…
How one word can make all the difference
Why very well might be the most powerful word in the world.
Look around; it’s not hard to see that power on display.
At SpaceX, they asked why rockets couldn’t be made at a fraction of the cost.
With Amazon, Jeff Bezos couldn’t stop asking himself why books ( and later everything ) had to be sold in physical stores.
Lyft saw that cars sat idle most of the time and asked why there wasn’t a better way to make use of that inventory while making the world’s transportation infrastructure more effective.
Perhaps no person in modern history was more…
Kerry Morrison
Currently helping great companies tell stories at http://www.wearegoodkind.com #video #storytelling #human
