Hi, I'm Jeph. I love helping people make smarter business decisions. I help companies stand out. I consult, speak, facilitate and do project work on new marketing strategies (word-of-mouth, customer service, and social media). My consulting company is JephMaystruck.com Research & Consulting. The marketing industry is changing very rapidly and the only way to stay on top of it is by a philosophy of continuous learning. Do you have an information strategy? Are you learning faster than the world is changing? If not, we should talk. Learn more here: http://jephmaystruck.com/marketing-strategy/ Follow me @JephMaystruck
Want to have an opinion on a topic? Easy, read a few books on said topic, you’ll have plenty of material for your next cocktail party. Don’t like reading? Buy an audio book on iTunes. Don’t like books? Read blogs. Don’t like reading blogs? Listen to Podcasts. Don’t like Podcasts? Watch as many videos on Ted.com as you possibly can.
True education is not institutionalized learning, that’s the bare minimum of education (school).
A client of mine had a radio sales person stop by the other day, she was polite, left her card and said she’d follow up with an e-mail. My client has already told her he does not want to use radio. The following day he receives an e-mail/sales pitch on why radio is the best medium to spread his message to the masses. Radio? Really? REALLY?
This is frustrating for my client because he doesn’t have an awareness problem, he has a marketing problem. The sales person has never thought to ask “what is the goal of your marketing?”, a simple question that would have helped her immensely at understanding how to make the sale.
Almost running a marathon is worthless.
Almost traveling the World actually means you haven’t left your couch in months.
Almost going on a diet means nothing, actually, it means you found a better reason not to go on the diet. Effectively worthless.
“The essential source of value right now is coming less from master strategy than from broad experimentation, because no one has a complete grasp, or even a very good one, about what the next great idea will look like.” -Clay Shirky, Cognitive Surplus
Strategy is no longer a document, or a recommendation. The “all inclusive strategic plan” is irrelevant in the new business world. What you need to focus on is small bets, ideas and experiments, measured meticulously over a predetermined amount of time. Find what works and improve upon it.
The concept of the Purple Cow was introduced by Seth Godin in his groundbreaking book by the same title. Recently I read it again because it is full of ideas and case studies on how to make your business remarkable.
When you drive by a heard of cattle they all look like cows and it doesn’t seem out of the ordinary. But if you drive by a heard and standing in the field is a Purple Cow you have to tell someone because it is so different. When something forces you to remark on it, by definition it is remarkable. This is what your new business strategy should be focusing on, finding ways to make your customers talk about your products to their friends.
So the obvious question is, what is a Purple Cow?
Sanpellegrino is different than regular juice. Well, it’s not really different. It’s sparkling juice in a can but the secret lies in the can itself. Every can of Sanpellegrino has a foil lid you must peal off before drinking. As if your juice is so special that it needs to be covered by an additional seal. Also, you can’t find this juice at gas Continue Reading
