Author Archives: Ann James
Content with content?
Hasn’t it always been about content? Forgive me for missing or stating the obvious, but haven’t marketers always been challenged to put the ‘thing’ in front of their audience? The thing that informs, persuades, niggles and nurtures them into noticing, … Continue reading
I’d just like to say…
… that we all work for the same company. We may have different approaches but is that so bad? With the same goal in mind, we all want to sell the same stuff, to generate revenue and ultimately support a … Continue reading
Testing customer loyalty
Sometimes, as a consumer, I visit a website and am amazed at how difficult the company makes it for me to buy something. I wonder, have the people responsible ever actually sat on the outside and tried being a normal … Continue reading
What’s the story?
The easy bit is choosing the data, the media, the means of direct or indirect communication to meet the people and start the conversation. The big question is, how are you going to stand out, why should they remember you, … Continue reading
So it doesn’t work. It happens.
How annoying is that? You’ve researched, planned, scoped, written, created and delivered. But no response. It ‘missed’. What does that mean? You didn’t connect, you weren’t talking their language, they didn’t ‘get it’. So what now? Back to the drawing … Continue reading
The hook
Without a hook it’s just words. The hook is the aha, the penny dropping. It may come to you at the oddest moment, but I think that may well be the one that makes the connection. Summarise your message and … Continue reading
Think like a customer, act like one too.
I’ve had two instances online today, where I doubt that the customer experience team has ever actually put themselves in the position of a visitor and worked through a common journey. One was an airline, where online check-in left me … Continue reading
Stories, that’s what makes it real
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2013/09/words-sentences-paragraphs-stories.html He’s right, of course. The story puts the facts in context, so we ‘get it’. How much easier is it to remember something around which a story is spun, rather than just being given the bare facts. It goes … Continue reading
Does ‘so what’ come before or after?
I’d put a quick round of ‘so what’ in first. Then again in public airing, most likely. But this is too true… http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451b31569e2019104dbc27f970c
Imagine. just, imagine…
Imagine how compelling marketing would be, if all campaigns had ‘imagine’ at their heart. You’d cut out the dull, dreary, unnecessary and over complicated facts and figures, and paint a picture that just might resonate with your customer. You’d share … Continue reading
"so what?" marketing 