Often, a business will start out using one tone of voice, and then realise a few years down the line, ‘This isn’t really us anymore.’ We have to accept that it’s OK to evolve your business tone of voice. In fact, as the world changes – we have no choice. By asking ourselves some very […]
In a lot of ways, 2020 has sucked for all kinds of businesses. I’m not here to Mary Poppins a terrible situation. But in amongst all the bad news, some rays of light have strayed across my screens. The small and mid-sized businesses that have turned lemons into limoncello and provided valuable services during a […]
Creative marketing ideas don’t just happen. The kinds of ‘ideas’ we’re used to seeing in marketing – cliched, tired, repetitive – come about because no one is dedicating time to creativity. What is an idea? I’ll tell you what it’s NOT: a thought. We’re all guilty of having believed our idle thought was worthy of […]
Isn’t a big splash better than lots of little app releases no one notices? You’ve got big plans for your app and you’re proud of all the awesome stuff you’re going to release. Of course you feel like it should be a huge, international announcement with a party. Maybe an ice sculpture or two. A […]
I hate the phrase ‘brand purpose’ simply because it’s been used too much by people that don’t feel its meaning deep in their souls. So, let’s say brand mission. Every business has a mission. Even if that mission is just to make as much money as possible. We need this mission to help us work […]
For a small business, making good ads isn’t about hiring Cindy Crawford and buying a Times Square billboard. We have to be – dare I say it – better than that. Our ads will be in trade magazines, directories and social media feeds. We have to keep it simple and effective to maximise our modest […]
Scarcity bias. It’s what makes us go crazy at Christmas trying to find the last L.O.L. Surprise doll left in the country for our child. It’s what makes those ‘Only three left in stock!’ banners work. For a small business, having production limitations due to cash or staff numbers can be a big problem. You […]
With the country coming out of COVID-19 lockdown, now is the time to implement whatever office changes we’ve been mulling over – time to make our workplaces work for us. A sustainable workplace has maybe seemed a bit too much effort previously. You try to sort the recycling and you worry over how many plastic […]
There’s a theory about how humans hunt information, developed by smart people from Palo Alto Research Center way back in the 90s. It’s called information foraging and it’s about how we’re all just monkeys wearing clothes. This calculation can be applied to both animals and humans: Rate of gain = information value / cost associated […]
Website UX is about making your website as easy and pleasant as possible for your user. A website designer is going to make a very good start on that but it’s impossible to get perfect on the first pass. We can work with generally accepted website usability guidelines but your users are different from other […]