Preserving tradition in a digital world. Despite all the changes to the media landscape in the last 20 years, the fundamentals of marketing haven’t changed much. You still need to get people’s attention, and hold it long enough to make a positive impression that leads to interaction. It’s still about creating opportunities to start a […]
Thoughts
Websites That Work
Seven keys to online success Does your website work? And if it does, how do you know? Whether you sell products or services — online or off — your website is probably a customer’s first interaction with your business. So, just like a car, boat, or a home, your website needs to be properly maintained […]
Vague But Exciting
The dawn of the World Wide Web Have you ever wondered about the origin of the World Wide Web? The passages below are from an online book (see below) by Jeremy Keith. He can explain it far more eloquently — and with much more authority — than I could. Enjoy. Complex machinery Right now humanity’s […]
33 Signs
33 signs that you might need a better web designer. I often get asked: “What’s the difference between a $500 website and one that costs $5,000?” My usual snarky response of “$4,500” no longer gets many laughs, so I came up with this list. If you’re not thrilled with your current website, this might help […]
da Vinci Was a Doodler
Why so few paintings? You’re no doubt familiar with Leonardo da Vinci, the 15th century artist most famous for painting the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. But maybe you didn’t know that he was also a sculptor, engineer, architect, and inventor. In fact, despite his wizardry with a brush, only 15 paintings have been […]
The Boys From Dayton
Confessions of an Ad Man At a used bookstore many years ago, I bought a first edition of the 1963 classic Confessions of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy. Neatly folded and tucked inside the book was this hand-typed memo on Diamond National Corporation letterhead: Required reading The language in the memo seems almost quaint, […]
What is Email Marketing
Most folks get it wrong Despite all the hype about TikTok, Facebook ads and YouTube videos, there’s still no better way to connect with your customers and grow your business than through email marketing. Yet the vast majority of businesses aren’t using it effectively. Own your audience On any other platform, whether it’s Instagram, YouTube, […]
A Single Window
Constraints are good ” … life is much more successfully looked at from a single window, after all.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald / The Great Gatsby 1925 In the context of his masterpiece The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald probably wasn’t thinking about web design. I get that. More likely, this memorable line suggests that a person […]
The Truth About Logos
Logos are overrated “The truth about logos is that they are not that hard to do. If you ask people in the U.S. what logos they like and recognize, they’ll name Target or Nike. Target for example, is just a dot with a circle around it, that’s all it is. So if you want a […]
Smart People
Don’t tell me what to do. “It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do. We hire smart people so they can tell US what to do.” — Steve Jobs 1955–2011 Amen. I reckon maybe 20% of big employers get this. The rest insist on second-guessing your every move […]