Commentary: Always Know What to Say
Welcome to the background commentary and recommended reading for the “Always Know What to Say” mental model and the “Making Marketing Messages” framework exercise.
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Framework: Marketing Message Maker
Today, we’re going to combine a little bit of science with a little bit of art to help you figure out what to say when you’re asked what you do.
Model: Always Know What to Say
All the social media posts, paid ads, press releases, and website redesigns in the world won’t get you profitable customers if you’re not talking to the right person, about the right thing, in the right way, at the right time, in the right place.
The Family Knife is now Kelford Inc.
For the past five and a half years we've been The Family Knife. But we've also been something else. It's something one of our favourite clients told us this summer: "You're not The Family Knife," she said, temporarily breaking our
Money-Making Marketing in 5 Steps
The reason your marketing is struggling is not because you don’t know what to do. It’s not struggling because you don’t know what to say. It’s struggling because you hate it.
What’s your bicycle of the mind?
Marketing cannot save a company, nor can it make one.
Don’t persuade, permit.
As a business owner, your job isn’t to talk people into buying from you. You’re not trying to persuade. Instead, your job is to permit.
5 Reasons Not to Work with Me
1. I provide very little documentation The strategy we’ll create together is ultimately yours, so formal documentation needs to be created on your end (with help and support) so that it doesn’t get rejected by your organization’s immune system. And I’m confident you know exactly what
“Make Me Laugh”: How to build a brand based on values
Darwin said that he “followed a golden rule, namely, that whenever a published fact, a new observation or thought came across me, which was opposed to my general results, to make a memorandum of it without fail and at once.”
"You'll get eaten alive."
In 1916, the Saturday Evening Post published “Obvious Adams: The Story of a Successful Business Man” by Robert Updegraff. In the story, the titular Adams becomes a sought-after consultant to business leaders who know they've been blinded by their own narrow perspective.
You can’t skip this step
Today’s newsletter is, hopefully, applicable to everyone, but it’s specifically focused on small business owners and consultants. No one else—no agency, partner, or consultant—can care more about your dream, your business, or your marketing than you do.
Charge your value or lose it
I was talking to a good friend about a business idea he’s been mulling. He presented his (excellent) plan for the work he’d do, and the clients he’d attract. And then he said, “And I think I’ll just charge a couple hundred bucks for it.” Because I can’t help myself, I immediately blurted out, “No.”
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