If you do, you’ll certainly be choosing a crowded quadrant. And without the magic of advertising, it’s very difficult to grow in a quadrant that’s crowded. Your customer doesn’t know what to do, so he does nothing. The alternative is to build your own quadrant. To find two axes that have been overlooked. To build a story, a true story, that keeps y

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Instead of saying “You can choose anyone, and we’re anyone,” the marketer can begin with an audience worth serving, begin with their needs and wants and dreams, and then build something for that audience. This involves going to extremes. Finding an edge. Standing for something, not everything. The method: draw a simple XY grid. Every available alte

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That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try, but you need to be clear about what you’re doing and why. An ad, unnoticed, doesn’t exist. A noticed ad is noticed by some people, not everyone. And, if it’s noticed by the right people, it creates tension. The tension of not knowing and needing to know more. The tension of being left behind. The tension that th

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You can no longer get away with simply stating a powerful benefit in the headline. Every good, experienced marketer does that.

No, if you want to get your promotion read, it needs to be anchored in a strong, unique and compelling Big Idea. Keep those three keywords in mind. Strong, unique and compelling.

A Big Idea has to give the reader something th... See more

I’ll bet you a lot of your competition will refuse to even try these channels. And if that’s true, that’s even more reason to go try those channels! It can almost be a competitive advantage (at least a temporary one) if you can acquire customers in channels that others cannot, or refuse to try. That’s more interesting than duking it out with AdWord

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