By Clemens Rettich, on November 15th, 2011 
What are you selling?
If nothing, then you are not in business. If only commodities, then you won’t be in business for long.
“But wait,” you say “I am a service provider. I don’t sell commodities. So I guess I’m safe.”
Sorry. A service alone is still a commodity. In the brave new world of social business, anything is a commodity to the extent to which it is a) a transaction that consists only of the exchange of a good or service for money, and b) reproducible in every important way.
So a service which is repeated over . . . → Read More: The Social Market: Relationships, Stories, and Desire
By Clemens Rettich, on October 11th, 2011 
This morning, (October 11, 2011) IBM (TSX: IBM:US) released a valuable study into the pressures, stresses, and some successes of corporate Chief Marketing Officers trying to come to terms with the rapidly shifting ground-rules in their worlds.
IBM conducted face to face interviews with more than 1,700 chief marketing officers from 64 countries and 19 industries. This study, entitled From Stretched to Strengthened is part of an ongoing work called the C-Suite research program, interviewing 15,000 CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, CHROs and CSCOs.
Over the next few days I will be exploring different facets of the CMO study; it has . . . → Read More: 2011 IBM Study: What Keeps Your CMO Awake At Night?
By Maeve Maguire, on September 7th, 2011 
Guest post by Maeve Maguire
I have a client who owns a cooking school, and for whom I am helping write website content. Her customers are mostly women, between the ages of 35 to 70. They hear about her cooking classes from friends who are current or past students, and they usually attend in pairs or groups. Here is a conversation we had:
Me: I see your web designer has included a Twitter icon on your banner. Are you planning on using Twitter as a communication tool?
My client: Yes, I was planning on using Twitter. My web . . . → Read More: If You Must Tweet, Choose Your Tweeter Wisely
By Clemens Rettich, on April 16th, 2011 
Each week I bring together a few articles that add value to our work of becoming better communicators in business. Short on time? Watch for the *Must Read* where I think you’ll get the best bang for your reading buck!
Stages of Cross Cultural Awareness
Which stage of cultural awareness are you at? If you are at the most integrated stage, you not only acknowledge the differences and frames of perception, but you are able to move between them fluidly. Read more…
8 Strategic Blog Home Pages that Draw Readers Deeper
Does your blog keep readers reading past the . . . → Read More: On Message: The Best of Business Communication – April 16
By Clemens Rettich, on April 13th, 2011 
You don’t own your brand. Your customers do.
Most business owners who have some understanding of branding already know this. But here is another reason you are not fully in control of your brand: it is also the product of your environment. You are part of a brand ecosystem.
Don’t believe me? Think about Japan. Are you old enough to remember when “Made in Japan” was not a good thing? And yes, I mean long before the Toyota fiasco. How about now? Japanese exports are perceived as premium products.
Wine, electronics, cars, clothing, the list goes on. How . . . → Read More: The Canadian Brand Ecosystem
By Clemens Rettich, on October 6th, 2010 
Listening to Steve Reich’s composition Music for 18 Musicians the other day, I was struck by its power to consistently evoke a certain mood for me and how I sometimes seek those moods out. Most of us have pieces of music that consistently evoke an emotional response.
Great brands can also be evocative.
The word evocative comes from the Latin evocare, which means to call out. Calling out not in the sense of calling out loud, but in the sense of calling out to. Something that is evocative calls out to you.
A great brand should evoke an emotional . . . → Read More: The Evocative Brand
By Clemens Rettich, on February 6th, 2010 Image by Clarita
If your business disappeared tomorrow, would anybody miss you?
No one wants to close their doors. But let’s imagine the unthinkable: how would your customers respond if you had to close up shop?
I can think of two scenarios…
Scenario one: you disappear and no one notices… That would be a disaster, but what would it tell you? Maybe it tells you that whatever needs your service or product fulfilled, those needs could be fulfilled by someone else. What you had to offer in the end was just a commodity, and all commodities are replaceable.
. . . → Read More: What if your Business Disappeared Tomorrow?
|
Is Your Business Growing with Social Media?
15 Weeks Working with Me Online, and It Will!
Watch the Video
|
