DrContrarian

What’s not… I read a piece today that made me think about the difference and the impact of what is and what is not. The author draws a parallel between a style guide and a menu. ‘A manual of style () and a menu share one important point in common: both impose limitations. The word "menu" is from the Latin - minuere, to diminish. You can tell as much about a restaurant by what isn't on the menu as by what is: a chef doesn't try to cook everything, or to appeal to everyone's tastes. A stylebook imposes its limitations on the varieties of a written language: it's from these many acts of limitation and diminishment that a style is formed.’ Marketers are guilty of always focusing on the point of difference, the proposition, the benefit, the key feature. We often ignore what the product/ service does NOT do or offer. Just like a menu tells you about what you can eat, what is not on the menu possibly says more about the restaurant and the chef than the ...

Cliches are usually/ often mocked and derided. (See list below.) My take on it is that cliches (in a business sense) is really just the art of business grappling with becoming a science, and cliches become the language of the emerging science. Cliches are not bad because they are popular sayings, they are only bad if they don't add to the clarity and understanding of a discussion. Cliches only risk being a distraction if the through overuse the familiarity means that people don't listen. I don't deny that some people go overboard - every wannabe consultant usually wants to coin and own a new buzzword that will become their point-of-difference, but that is price worth paying for progress. Where would we be without the cliches such as "point of difference" and many others? Click through to see the plexo

We are presenting on "Brand Me" up on the Gold Coast next week, and is my wont, I have been doing some research. I came across a blog The Buzz Machine (click on the link above) - which does not have anything to do with branding per se, but made a very interesting observation. I quote from the blog: For young people, writes [Dov] Seidman, this means understanding that your reputation in life is going to get set in stone so much earlier. More and more of what you say or do or write will end up as a digital fingerprint that never gets erased. Our generation got to screw up and none of those screw-ups appeared on our first job résumés, which we got to write. For this generation, much of what they say, do or write will be preserved online forever. Before employers even read their résumés, they’ll Google them. If you are a parent, this is pretty important to communicate to your children. Now along with the talk about condoms, drugs and not getting into strangers' cars, you also...

The last word about Marketing I am one of those people you see in the bookshops, browsing through magazines and books. (The kind of people that annoy even me.) There are a number of reasons why I do this, and it isn’t about money. I find ‘topical’ magazines to offer very little value, but like an addict I keep going back to look. There are several magazines on marketing (and every now and then even a runaway best seller) that propagate a new buzzword and makes amazing claims about a wonderful insight the author has. (I actually created a table that allows you to create your own NEW theory in 5 seconds flat – more about in the next blog.) I thought about the discipline of marketing quite long and hard, because quite frankly, I am struggling to see how marketing (as it is practiced today) will retain its relevance over a long period. I have come up with these 7 immutable laws of Marketing. The Contrarian 1-2-3 of Marketing: 1 Law of Process CONSISTENCY 2 Laws of Product/Off...

Margaret Wheatley asked this question: Who are you? http://www.margaretwheatley.com/articles/eightfearlessquestions.html The question is not new - in fact it is probably the original question (or maybe even the primordial) question. But her take on the response is interesting: Your answer should be 'big' enough to hold your life. Do you define yourself as a cancer survivor? A father? A marketer? Are any of these answers 'big' enough to hold your whole life? Suddenly we start needing multiple lables - and maybe that is a cop out? What is the 'lable' that will define who you really are? And here is my little insight: Those who can define who they are most clearly and soonest, are the ones who become who they think they are best, and hence are the most successful? It is the philosophical equivalent of a USP or a brand proposition, or maybe even the sales equivalent of your 30 sec elevator pitch. You don't only need it - but you need to live it. That is when the...