Gray Matter at White Space

When you hit a plateau—in business or life—it can mess with your motivation. Oftentimes, it’s even more frustrating than hitting a “wall,” because that would mean there is a clear obstacle in your way and there are defined ways to get around it. With a plateau, there may not be a clear hurdle to get over or anything glaringly negative in terms of performance results. It may just be… boring.

Of course, this happens all the time in business, and many times marketing is leaned on to shoulder the burden and get out of the rut. A campaign levels off, then starts to become ineffective. Budget cuts can create a challenge and often require creativity. Senior leadership isn’t interested in what you have to say, making it easier to stay placated and say, “I guess this is fine…”

It’s anything but fine.

OMG 2019. That is just way too close to 2020. It means my kids have crossed over into adulthood. Lou and I will be married 25 years, we’ve lived in our “new” house for 12 years.

In 2018, one of the strategies we implemented focused on expanding our blog presence. Part of that approach included getting more of our team members involved, contributing to the conversation with their own areas of expertise. What resulted was a diverse representation of our team’s experience and knowledge.

Here are the 10 blogs from this past year that received the most readership.

Sometimes, it’s difficult to get past all the challenges of daily life and really step back to acknowledge the fortunes. The Thanksgiving holiday presents a good reminder, providing us an entire day dedicated to reflecting on the blessings bestowed upon us.

Running a successful company sometimes requires priorities that actually conflict with one another. Time and again I’ve encountered  a current of tension between processes that generate creativity and those that build efficiency. If the tension isn’t mitigated, one will dominate, slowing the drive to the overall goal.

In last week’s blog about the psychology of testimonials, you met the five “praising personas” you’re likely to encounter when asking for a recommendation or testimonial. When you understand each, you won’t be caught off guard when the response you get isn’t quite the response you anticipated.

When was the last time someone said something nice about you or your business? It felt good, right? Now, think about how influential those complimentary comments could be if they were part of developing your business persona through the eyes of your biggest supporters.

You can’t boil the ocean.

We say this a lot in marketing. With only so much time, energy, and resources, you’re lucky to boil even a bucketful at a time. This is particularly true when it comes to attracting a base of customers for your product. Short of running a Superbowl commercial—which you probably can’t afford—you’re not going to reach everyone. Better to aim smaller and smarter.

That’s where buyer personas come in.

When it comes to web design, it’s not all about looks.

We all can point out a jumbled page, a dated layout, and wonky formatting. Messy aesthetics, indeed, do not speak well for your company.

Be careful, however, not to let aesthetics be the primary driver of your website redesign. Looks, on their own are usually not reason enough for a full overhaul.

Social media is critical in today’s competitive environment. You set up a company Facebook page, Twitter handle, and LinkedIn profile. You dedicate 10 minutes each morning to keeping up with the endless barrage of phone notifications. Now what?