Why Most Businesses Have No Strategy
All businesses have a brand. All have a product. All have people, sales, marketing, and various other building blocks which add up to “a company”. But not all – in fact very few – have a strategy. I don’t mean to say here that most businesses have bad strategies (though quite a lot do). I […]
The most powerful market force nobody talks about
The other day on Twitter, a chap asked a perfectly reasonable question: “Zoom is now worth $130B and I still don’t know what their moat is. Brand?” His question is a variation of the critique that has been put to many a founder when seeking investment. “What’s to stop someone coming and copying you?”. The […]
The utility of the open mind
If you ever read a book on creativity, you will find a recurring theme: the muse. It will be talked about in varying ways, but the central idea is generally the same: that rather than coming up with ideas ourselves, they are instead “given” to us by an outside force (the muse, the universe, God, […]
Before ideas, comes action
In the past 5 weeks, I feel like original thoughts have slowed to a trickle. Perhaps you’ve experienced something similar. Normally as I go about things, new ideas and theories are constantly bubbling up. Sometimes I’ll get the urge to write something in the most inconvenient of moments – whilst driving, having coffee with someone, trying to go […]
The data delusion
We’ve now had about a decade of the “big data” craze. Data, we have learned, is the answer. It’s the ultimate competitive advantage. It doesn’t lie. The business of the future will be “data driven”. Businesses are obsessed with collecting our data, believing that if they get enough of it, the solution will surely present […]
The myth of visionary leadership
Very successful people tend to be surprisingly ordinary. The average millionaire entrepreneur you meet will tend to be highly competent, no question, and generally fairly talented in some manner too. However, they rarely match the image people have in their head of someone unusually insightful, or brilliant. Typically, in their role of management, they’re quite […]
Steve Jobs is a bad business role model
Choosing A Business Approach That Matches Your Company Don’t try and be like Steve Jobs. Don’t learn from his example, don’t try and copy his techniques, don’t internalise his philosophy. I’m not referring here to his famously aggressive, borderline-bullying, management style. If that floats your boat then go for it. No, here I’m specifically talking […]
Interview: how Mark Constantine made Lush the UK’s most admired brand without advertising
A recent study by consultancy Basic Arts sought to discover the most admired brand in the UK. Naturally, there was a decent presence from the usual suspects such as Apple, Google, and Nike; businesses whose brands have become so strong as to almost be cliches. However the identity of the top brand came as something of a […]
How to bring your people with you
To become the kind of inspiring business that wins friends and fans in the modern world is a team effort. We can’t just bring in a hot shot marketing director and expect them to “do” some great marketing for us – instead we have to make everyone marketers, all working creatively towards a perfectly defined and […]
How should we organise our marketing departments?
Sometimes the old ways are indeed the best. You might be familiar with the concept of the four, or latterly seven “ps” that comprise marketing – product, price, promotion, place, process, people, physical environment. Whilst this list has been around for a long time (the original variation cropping up around 1960), it actually represents a […]