Gray Matter at White Space

I subscribe to a daily inspirational email newsletter, which doesn’t always spark me as so much “inspirational” but rather a bit preachy. However, from time-to-time, the creator (Jerry Del Colliano) gets me into a light-bulb state of mind. One recent topic was, “People Want to Buy, Not Be Sold.” The writer prefaced his quick snippet of wisdom with the following:

That’s true not only of merchandise and services, but ideas and concepts.

If you have a great idea for your team, spend much of your effort into getting them to buy it from you rather than have you sell it to them. If you have a daughter or son who could benefit from your wisdom, don’t push it, get them to buy it from you.

I’m forced to prioritize daily—and many times throughout the day. My daily routine actually starts the night before when I put my workout clothes next to my bed (wishful thinking!). If I make the girls shower at night, that’s 10 or 15 extra minutes the next morning… so, let’s do that.

Once they’re on the bus to school, there’s no more hiding from the beastly inbox of things waiting to be addressed. Sometimes that’s not so simple to determine what comes first. The same applies to business and marketing. You know certain pieces of strategy are more pressing than others, but how do you select, definitively, the order in which they rank?

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.

When I was visiting my sister and her family over the Thanksgiving holiday, we got into a conversation about customer service based on an instance where my two nephews were attempting to order at Panda Express. The key word here is “attempting.”

Last week I wrote about the little “aha” moments I’ve been experiencing lately, sparked by a few eye-opening webinars I’d attended. I love that these continuing education opportunities are so accessible and so affordable (aka, free).

And, they’ve been extremely inspirational—not just for contributions to the White Space blog, but in my everyday work and working relationships.

Sunday, September 30 marked the last day of the 2018 Major League Baseball (MLB) regular season. I grew up a Minnesota Twins fan and have many fond memories associated with the team; most notably seeing the team go from “worst to first” when they won the 1991 World Series.

I hate to admit this, but I’m a sucker for seasonal decor. To give you an idea just how much I enjoy seasonal transitions, I started planning for fall decorating at the beginning of September—as soon as summer’s shadow had barely passed. I bought a few more pumpkins, a couple throw pillows, and (surprise!) yet another faux fur throw to add to my collection.

I have a secret.

Well, it’s not really a secret, at least not after sharing this blog with you. Let’s start with some backstory…

“A brand is more than just a tagline.”

Any savvy marketer would say, “Well, duh.” It’s a mistake to think your brand “is” an attribute, like a logo, product/service, or a name—even though certain brands garner great recognition and respect based on name alone (e.g. Apple). Unfortunately, it still happens and is one of the missteps Darren Gurr discusses in his article, “The 5 Enemies to Building a Relevant Brand.”

As marketers, we talk about audience as the foundation of all marketing campaigns. Who we’re talking to, why we’re talking to them, when we’re talking to them—it all goes into the mix, not just for building an audience, but for defining and refining a target audience.

Recently, I had an epic fail.