Are You Delivering On Your Promise?

'Business With Personality' proclaims the masthead of 'City AM' the daily paper serving London's financial community. 'Fresh Business Thinking' shouts the website for the conference of the same name.

Nice promises - I like both of them.

The problem. Well, ‘City AM’ is hardly ‘Fast Company’; apart from a couple of lifestyle pages it doesn't have much personality to me. And sure, 'Fresh Business Thinking' had some decent speakers but there was nothing 'fresh' or different about the conference, it was like any other I’d been to.

There’s often a disconnect between a brand’s promise and what it delivers. Business owners get excited by the *idea* of a great market position or the allure of a new look and feel, but they don’t have the right mindset and offering to deliver.

I see it my local high street. Each month seems to bring a new estate agent office promising a new, different offering. They may have a fresh looking office and logo, but if it’s the same offering once you walk in the door, what’s the point?

So if you’re going to promise your business is a game-changer, different or radical, you’d better make sure it is.

The Best Recruitment Video Ever

Increasingly agencies and suppliers trade and compete on their attitude and culture. Not so much, 'what they do' but rather 'what they are like to work with'. Of course, that’s the bit that makes them unique. That follows through to recruitment and employee engagement where employers need to make sure that the people they hire reflect their attitude and organisational dna.

This video was recorded a few years ago by Connected Ventures, a group of friends in New York who work for Vimeo, CollegeHumor, Busted Tees, and Defunker. This single video communicates a lot about a bunch of people that a brochure, logo or website can never say. I love it. Whether it’s used as a recruitment tool, a brand statement, an exercise in employee engagement, or – more likely – just something they ‘did for a laugh one night’ it says a lot about the organisation and its people.


And you'll probably watch it and say 'I want to work there' (I did).

Lip Dub - Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger from amandalynferri on Vimeo.

David Hieatt's "The Things The Last Ten Years Have Taught Me"

Until last year David Hieatt* was CEO of howies, the outdoor clothing retailer he founded. If you’re a howies customer, you’ll be familiar with some of the touches that make the brand so distinctive. From signs in stores to the catalogue, this is a brand with an attitude and purpose. And it’s refreshingly different.


In their Carnaby Street store in London, I snapped this photograph of the changing room wall. Written by David, it’s “The Things The Last Ten Years Have Taught Me”.

I’ll let it speak for itself (click on the image to enlarge):

* if you’re interested in finding out more about David, check out my post about him on my ‘Unplan Your Business’ website here.

Rethink Success: Stop Chasing The Numbers

There’s so much pressure to chase the big audiences. Whether you’re a shop, a small business, a brand, an author, a band, a new movie the questions are always about: how big is your audience? How many people bought your product? How many clients do you have? How many visits did you have to your blog? How many followers do you have?


But success doesn’t always need such obvious benchmarks. Your brand or product doesn’t have to be the market leader or the biggest to be a success. It just has to have impact, to fill a niche, resonate, make a difference, solve a problem, fulfil a need.

If you stop chasing the numbers and focus instead on your talent and how you can make a difference to your clients and audience (whatever their numbers) you’ll still find success. You’ve just got to remind yourself that on this occasion, size doesn’t matter.

The Idea Moment

More and more of us are trading – and competing - on ideas. From ad agencies like Saatchi & Saatchi to one person companies, we’re all in the ideas business.

But of course ideas aren’t an easily-produced commodity; there is no proven production line for churning out genius game-changing thoughts.

You can spend a whole day, a whole week - or even longer -searching for ‘that’ solution, for the clarity of vision on a project. And still, you might get nowhere, sitting frustrated, manacled to your desk, laptop or notepad, scratching your head.

But all it takes is for one single, simple, short moment of clarity to get *it*. Not always a ‘eureka’/ light bulb moment, not always that jaw-dropping but nonetheless you’ll get it. That solution, a wow product idea or instant solution to a problem will suddenly appear with the instant realisation that this can make a significant difference to your business or career.

The Idea Moment is difficult to define. It’s like scanning the screen or searching across a landscape and not seeing anything. And then suddenly… like a silver lining to a cloud, a glimpse of late sunlight on a cloud-filled afternoon, you get ‘it’; that return of investment, that moment of clarity as all becomes clear. Not even a minute, just a split second of the recognition that it’s a good idea, is enough.

If ideas are important in your business, know what currency of ideas-generation gets results. Know what makes a good idea and do whatever it takes to create and sustain more and more of them.

Think about it.

What’s Your Point Of Difference?

The announcement this week that Borders bookstore was closing the UK generated some industry comment; despite the naysayers, there’s still optimism about survival in the book market. And whatever market you’re in, whether you’re an entrepreneur or a freelancer, it’s all about making your offering different.

Here’s my 60 second video take:



If the video is not displaying properly, watch it on YouTube here

A Brand Juggle: From Ice Cream To Radio

I’m doing some ad hoc videos with people who interest me; those who have a good story to tell behind their business or career, people who juggle plurality in their working lives or who have reinvented themselves through their career. The first one is Giles Pearman.

Giles is Group Director Of Marketing at Global Radio, the UK’s largest commercial radio group that owns stations like Classic FM, Capital FM, XFM and Heart.

I met up with Giles last week in London’s Green Park to find out how he juggles his multiple brand portfolio and to discover how his passion drives all he does.

In the video interview you’ll hear:
- how he made the career transition from marketing ice cream to radio.
- the importance of loving the brands he works on to go the extra mile.
- how he has to be ‘jack of all trades’ to understand the different touch points for the consumer.
- How marketing is understanding who your target audience is and super serving them.
- The importance of instinct and keeping his feet on the ground to ensure he preserves a real-life take on things.

Here’s the interview below (with Buckingham Palace and a few random pigeons in the background)*



*if you can’t see the video above, it’s on YouTube here

Think Reinvention

If you're looking for ways to reinvigorate your business or your career, Think Reinvention.

In this rapidly changing world reinvention is a powerful way to consolidate your strengths, keep fresh and stay ahead of the game. But reinvention is not about marketing hype; it’s about staying authentic - taking a look at your organisational, personal or brand strengths from a fresh perspective and repositioning your offering to maximise potential.

Here's my 90 second video on the subject:

Spell It Out…

Is your business or career potential hampered by misperceptions from people who don’t understand what you really do? Are you still defined by what you *used* to do or what your business *used* to stand for?

The marketing challenge for many of us – especially where we have reinvented ourselves or our business – is fighting such misperceptions in the marketplace where potential customers think we are all about ‘x’ where actually we are all about ‘y’.

It's like the perceptions of one of my favourite cities where I was last week -Amsterdam. Mention ‘Amsterdam’ to people and you’re likely to get one of two responses. Either how beautiful the city is with its architecture, canals and bicycles. Or people will talk about the red light zone and the cannabis cafes. Amsterdam is indeed a brand that suffers from a large amount of people thinking it is one thing, but once you experience the real city, you’ll probably have a completely different view.

So start asking your target audience what they think you do or what do you stand for. That may sound a bit obvious but the feedback will be invaluable. You may have assumed that your website or ads explain what you do, but don’t take anything for granted.

And if you’re reinvented yourself, the challenge may be tougher. It’s like when I worked with the fashion brand Benetton. Mention ‘Benetton’ and so many people think of their provocative ad campaigns (even though that was over 10 years ago) or brightly coloured clothes. They don’t know about the other products, the smart suits from Sisley, the jeans, the kids clothes. And that was my marketing challenge for the assignment I worked on.

So whether you are a big brand, a city, a freelancer or even a job-hunter, start educating your audience about what you actually do – spell it out. Make sure everyone knows what you stand for, why they should hire you/ buy your products/ or use your services.

And don't take the risk that your audience must already know the basics.

The Importance Of Customer Engagement.

It’s what we all aspire to – grabbing the customer’s attention and establishing a relationship. Whether you are Blur, Tesco, BMW, a radio station, an author, a freelancer, a small business, or the corner shop you need to engage with the customer. It could be via a download, it could be a TV commercial, it could be a print ad, an email, a video on YouTube, a website, a meeting or a shop window; but whatever the platform, it’s about communicating and connecting with an audience.

Take the shop analogy: you have your shop window to sell your wares but the real potential for engagement comes from when you walk in the shop and connect with the person behind the counter. When they attempt to build a relationship. Whatever the economic challenges of the marketplace in 2009, this is where the independent shopkeepers and boutiques have the potential for the upper hand over the big stores and supermarkets. It’s that personal intimate service that you could rarely get in a huge hypermarket. In a small shop where the proprietor might be in the store herself, and with a constant and small number of staff, meaningful relationships can be established with the customer. The kind of connection that will make you a loyal customer, coming back for more.

Last week I went in to two – very different – (very small) independent shops. The first, to buy some swimwear. I walked in, the shopkeeper was at the till pouring over some paperwork. I attempted to make a connection but he didn’t look up; zero acknowledgement, no hello. There was a rack of items I wanted to browse but a stepladder had been left against it and it was too difficult to look. Sure, I could have asked for help, but there’d been no attempt at engagement so I decided to walk out. #Fail.

Later that day I went in to the Monocle shop in London, a small concept store selling Monocle-branded items and a small selection of menswear and luggage. I was probably in the shop no more than 5 minutes but by the time I left, I’d shaken hands with the shop assistant, we’d exchanged names and we’d talked about the shop, its products, its other stores. He’d initiated that engagement by welcoming me in. Okay I didn’t buy anything that time, but I’ll go back for sure. #Success.

I know consumers have strong views on this subject. Many people tell me they would rather shop in silence than have a shop assistant talk to them. But this is not just about shopping. This is about business and brand relationships, it’s about taking the initiative to engage the customer in that valuable first minute in your store/ on your website/ in the meeting/ wherever.

So make sure your brand, your website, your brochure, your shop – or whatever medium of communication it is – succeeds in engaging with the customer. And don’t do the business of equivalent of not looking up from the counter (and certainly don’t leave the equivalent of a stepladder across your products).

Make Your Company Accessible (& Make Sure You Check Your Info@ Emails)

Whether you are a one-person company or a huge corporation and you’re in the service business, make sure your customers can – easily - get in touch. Put a contact number or email address on every page of your website. Make your organisation – and the executives within it – accessible.

If you don’t feel confident about publishing the email addresses of your executives, then ensure you do have an info@ address (or a contactus@ or talktous@ or hello@). Some way of getting in touch.

But that is only half the story. Having a generic enquiry email address is only effective if it is someone’s responsibility to action. Make sure someone is checking – and dealing with – your info@ address.

It might be an enquiry about a piece of new business or a customer complaint. Either way, it matters.

I had a disappointing customer experience in a restaurant/cafe. A company who failed in their brand promise. I thought they had a good brand and they would be grateful for me talking the time and trouble to feedback. I wanted to email the CEO but could not find his email address in the public domain so I wrote to him c/o the info@ email address that I found on the company website.

That was 13 days ago.
And I have heard nothing back. No acknowledgement. Nothing.

And that lack of response has dented their brand equity*. It might only be feedback over a £2 cup of coffee but that oversight has the potential to damage their reputation. So stay on top of customer feedback, whatever business you are in.

*but I’m giving them a second chance and have filled in an enquiry form on their website: let's see if they are listening.....

Don't Over-Engineer It!

The problem with technology is that whilst it has the power to simplify business it also has the power to complicate it. We requested a logo file from a client and were asked to log on to an allegedly ‘easy to use’ system where in fact, we had to have at least six click-throughs to find said file. Over-engineered?

Sometimes good solutions don't need complicated systems, they just need DOING. I was impressed by the a hotel's concierge emailing me with weather reports the week before we went on holiday. I tweeted about it. I got a response from a technology company that provides hotels with e-solutions, 'what system are they using' for the weather emails they asked? 'What system??' Their bare hands. Someone is taking the time to email me and say it is sunny today. That personal touch was impressive. Would an e-solution have had the same effect? No.

So keep it simple and sometimes it’s worth eschewing technology for doing stuff with your bare hands!

The ?What If! Jugglers

This morning I hung out with Chris Barez-Brown to film the latest in the series of The Juggle Tapes interviews. Chris is Learning Director of the ?What If! Innovation company, an organisation that helps clients who want to innovate and grow. They’ve got an impressive client list from leading brands to government departments.

Chris juggles multiple projects, brands and timezones at ?What If!. He’s also a writer, speaker and a real evangelist for creative thinking. We had a really good chat about how he juggles his different roles, how he finds time for guitar lessons and play, and how he finds time for creative thinking in such a busy schedule. We also spoke about how he has managed to co-create an organisation that encourages juggling at all levels where staff embrace their plurality and mix up their passions. The interview is being edited and will be up on in a week or so.

Thanks to Chris and Jane at ?What If! and to Clem and Tim for production.

Knowing When It’s Time To Say Sorry

How often do you say the ‘S’ word? To your partner at home or to your boss or to your team, or to your customer? Sorry can go a long way. If - that's a big IF - it's heartfelt it can mean a lot and go a long way to address a long queue or slow service. If it doesn't feel genuine, it's worth zero.

London's ‘Evening Standard’ newspaper has been accused of being out of touch with this great city for some time. It's one reason I had not picked it up for years, it had become negative and cynical. So when the title recently got bought by Alexander Lebedev I was pleased to hear the new owner and editor designate acknowledge this fact and declare that under new ownership it would change its style. Today it is re-launching, after a brave ad campaign from McCann Erickson.

Ads saying ‘Sorry For Being Negative’, ‘for losing touch’, ‘for being complacent’ have appeared in tube and train stations around town. Is it just a creative ad campaign or is it a genuine re-engineering of a brand? That is the $6m question but the honesty of a brand that says sorry on a huge billboard at a train station feels pretty serious to me.

Like any marketing campaign or brand promise, the challenge is whether they will live up to that claim and only time will tell in the pages of the newspaper. I’ll tell you that when I pick a copy up this evening...

The merits of giving stuff out for free

Chris Anderson, the author of The Long Tail, has written a new book ‘Free: The Future of a Radical Price: The Economics of Abundance and Why Zero Pricing Is Changing the Face of Business’. The notion of freeconomics is where businesses and brands give away some of their products for free. Examples like Google where the cost of manufacture/distribution per user is so low that digital services can be offered free. This generated some heated discussion at his SXSW keynote with Guy Kawasaki with polarised views on whether digital content should be offered free or paid. These are questions I consider as an author – how much of my content (books/ videos/ PDFs) do I offer free online?

Whatever the merits of ‘Free’. we all like getting something for nothing. Whether it’s blagging a flight upgrade or getting a free sample chocolate bar on the street, it gives a good feeling. And especially in a recession with much doom and gloom about. So I was interested to experience an innovative marketing initiative from Absolut Vodka in London yesterday (most brand managers and agencies would claim their marketing initiatives ‘innovative’ but I really thought this one was).

I walked into a coffee shop I often go to Spitalfields, ordered my espresso and when I reached into my pocket the proprietor said ‘coffee is free today’ and handed me a ‘Give Kindness – Not Cash’ card. Absolut Vodka’s ‘Absolut Kindness’ initiative is running in London this week with free coffee, travelcards being given out, free snacks at cinemas. All that is asked of the consumer is that they show an act of kindness (a smile will do) that is rewarded with something free:

"For one week, kind gestures such as giving smiles, high fives and simply saying good morning are going to become currency and earn their givers coffees, drinks and cinema snacks, as we bring to life our vision of An ABSOLUT World where currency is replaced by kindness".

It created a great atmosphere in the coffee shop I was in, got everyone talking and everyone smiling. And an espresso may only be £1.70 but it’s the gesture of having it for free that gave a great start to the day. A good initiative for Absolut and for spreading random acts of kindness, but I didn’t see any free vodka being handed out…

Yep, It's 'Customer Service' Again

I read in yesterday’s Observer that the US electronic retailer Best Buy is coming to the UK. Bob Willett, Chief Executive was quoted as saying ‘John Lewis aside, no one provides customer service. We think we will grow the market’.

Okay, an over-simplification but he’s right. Customer service makes all the difference but so many people still get it so wrong.

I went to an independent shoe store the other day. Tried on a pair of shoes that were on display, tried to get eye contact with the two sales assistants with no success even though I was the only customer in the store. I put the shoe back and throughout the whole experience, they failed to connect with me, not even a smile or a ‘hi’. If they’d come over or communicated with me, no question – they would have got a sale. But they didn’t. So I walked out.

The same day I went to a branch of Carphone Warehouse to get an iPhone and switch my mobile network provider. The guy that served me was first class, great service, took all the headaches away including copying my contacts from my old ‘phone to the new one.

And that was a pleasant surprise. Sometimes we think small independent retailers are going to be better at customer service than the big multiple retailers, it’s often easier for them to offer an intimate experience but here was proof it can be the other way round. One example of how to build brand loyalty; another how to lose a customer.

Spreading Your Company Culture

I’m a firm believer in the importance of brand personality being a key ingredient in any business or individual’s success. By ‘brand personality’, I mean the bit in your offering or your values that marks you out from the crowd. As many have commented before, we live in an abundant marketplace with so many companies offering similar products and services. That’s true for most of my clients so the challenge is identifying, communicating and living that point of difference. For many, the company culture is what sets organisations apart; the spirit that unites its people, where the brand equity is not just in a mission statement, but it runs through all the staff as part of their DNA.

So I was interested to read about a ‘life swap’ concept in the FT where the ad agency Iris was encouraging executives to swap not just roles but also apartments and cities between London and New York. I’ve always been a fan of role swaps because it helps people understand each other’s roles, it aids communication and makes the organisational culture stronger. But this swap goes one stage further; its reason is about spreading culture from one office to another:


Ian Millner, chief executive of Iris, says there are a number of reasons the agency likes to “life-swap” rather than merely job-swap its employees. “Most ad agencies are pretty similar – the only real difference is culture,” he says. “It’s our competitive advantage and it’s very important. So initiatives like the life swap are very powerful tools in making our culture consistent around the world.” [Financial Times, April 6, 2009]

What a great way for spreading and instilling company culture…

When It Comes to Customer Service, Try Thinking Like A Coffee Shop

In Edinburgh at the weekend I soon sussed out the neighbourhood’s coffee shops and I came across Coffee Angel. Friendly, serving good coffee with a nice vibe and a mixed clientele; from people having a meeting, parents and babies in buggies to workers with their laptops. It had all the necessary ingredients to become my coffee shop base for the 4 days I was in the city. In that short experience, customer service was spot-on, and I had a good chat with the proprietor who juggles the shop with a business advising clients on food safety. He joked that I was such a regular; it would have merited me having one of their loyalty cards for my short stay.

After having enjoyed their espressos and free wifi. I checked out their website. It’s always good to experience a product or brand first; and compare against their website or brand promise second. So much of the time we experience brand promises that are never delivered. Other times we may spot things in a brand's positioning or mission statement that we didn't experience or notice. Coffee Angel delivered. Their philosophy is ‘that it is always about the customer. So we’ll make your drink, your way; we’ll listen. We’ll chat’. They also source their products locally and pride themselves on their independence. They've not yet been open 12 months but deserve to be a great success. Here's proof too that you can juggle more than one role or business interest withour diluting individual success.

That customer focus is – of course – so essential whether you are a huge brand or a single neighbourhood shop. And I got more of a quality experience in my four days of visits than I have with other neighbourhood coffee shops that I have visited forty times.

So whether you are a one-person business or a big business, learn a few lessons from Coffee Angel.

Make Sure Your Prospective Clients 'Get It'

Do your prospective clients 'get it'? Do you communicate your business offering clearly and distinctly?

I always advise my clients to have a clear brand statement, a mission statement or a positioner that sets out their stall in a simple and compelling way. In their website, creds and sales tools - so the marketplace 'gets it'. Not a shopping list of services, not a 'me too' proposition, something distinctive.

Your website is your shop window and you have to communicate - in a flash - what you are all about. It's a bit like this A-board outside one of my favourite coffee shops, NudeEspresso. It might just be a pavement A-board but it communicates their brand essence to passers by in the same way a website needs to.

'freshly made food, fantastic coffee + free wifi in a warm cosy space'

It's funny because brands and agencies spend tens of thousands of pounds and months in brainstorms trying to articulate brand statements. Whoever wrote Nude Espresso's probably didn't think what they were going to chalk up for too long but they have done it an ever so simple - yet genius - way. It does the sell perfectly. And even better, they deliver on the sell.

Don't over-engineer it, just tell the story. Whether you are a big business or a freelancer, ask yourself: what does your A-Board say?

Who's Asking Your Clients How Their Weekend Was?

I was talking to a friend of mine – David - last week; we were discussing the importance of client care and managing relationships. And he made this observation, often neglected or overlooked: