Category Archives: Marketing

The Heart of Marketing

At the heart of marketing is the heart.

And we all have hearts, brands, and businesses that are marketing something…could be a place, a person, a belief, a dream, enthusiasm, an experience, a feeling, an emotion, or even hope.

Marketing isn’t about convincing people to buy things they don’t want or didn’t know they needed. Rather, it’s about the heart pointing at something it resonates with and, sometimes, even pointing back to itself.

I hope our hearts, brands, and businesses will point to such wondrous places.

If so, we’ll become great marketers.

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Fake Flowers

Have you ever had that moment when you realize that a flower you thought was fake is not fake?

You walk up, feel the coolness of the petals – rub your thumb over the rubbery orchid leaf, and in the touch the verdict is in…it’s real.

We do this with people. We do this with businesses. We do this with everything.

Customers do this with handshakes.

Web surfers do this with clicks.

You, your product, and/or service will be touched this week.

The greatest testimonial you may ever receive is the one when someone shared with another that you were real.

 

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Below The Surface of the Colors We See

You’ve got them – I’ve got them – we’ve all got them.

Purple problems we’re sifting through, orange organizations we work in, and green goals we’re after.

But they’re not just colors are they? Something got them here to the color they actually are. Circumstance, belief, courage, fear, paranoia, joy, hope, purpose, harsh words, and encouraging words all mixed together to make the colors of your world. Blue and red made your purple. Yellow and red made your orange. Blue and yellow made your green. Oh, and blue and green and a little more blue after the initial mix made your turquoise.

May we be the leaders that gaze into Purple to see her red heart and blue soul.

May we be the leaders that take Orange and love him for his awkward yellow ways and red personality.

May we be the leaders that get under the skin of Green to find its blue ocean and yellow streams.

Don’t be fooled by the outer coat or the surface because it’s just an illusion of what has happened within and below it. There’s a world of mixing, matching, and harmony that occurred to make the color that you see before you.

If you hear anything today hear this…That thing you call Orange just may be waiving his red hands at you. Look deeply. Listen closely.

It is below that surface that the beauty of most things come to life and if you want to be a leader you must fall in love with snorkeling.

 

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Crayon Thieves

“Get a job.” That’s the mantra that upper level education has seared into our minds. And yet, today, it’s been harder than ever to find “that” job that you listened, studied, memorized, and tested four plus years for.

Perhaps this whole job pursuit is overrated? For instance, I know numerous people much smarter and better educated than I ever will be that are in the “perfect” job they prepared for. All to find that “perfect” place to be empty of experience, fulfillment, and meaning.

Rather, what if the pursuit was a search for a medium, a platform, a canvas, or a stage for you to express yourself and expose the world to what you feel, hear, and see that the rest of us don’t see but need to see?

You see, they took our Crayons from us when we got to junior high and we’ve been lost without them ever since. In the blink of an eye, our education experience went from being look what I painted, colored, or made to look who’s on the A team, look who’s pretty, or look who’s cool. One day we’re all in the talent show, the next day we’re lucky to be in the crowd watching the talent show.

If LTMPblog has any hope or purpose at all, may it be that it helps to spur you or any reader to find that something or some place that the world sees in black in white, but you see in color. If so, I believe you will have found your job. But please, at the proverbial cocktail parties don’t just tell people what you “do”. Instead, enlighten them to that which you expose. Entrepreneurs, artists, leaders, and world-changers are those that expose us to the colors unseen.

Your Box of Crayons > Your Diploma

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Raving Narrators

The choices are never-ending on how you can differentiate.

You can differentiate with:

speed,

concern,

ease of use,

taste,

touch,

smell,

quality,

price (careful),

sound advice in-lieu of mounds of information,

and on and on and on.

We don’t just want another salesman, another fancy hotel, or another good meal.

We want a story.

Mr. or Mrs. Entrepreneur, you are the author of these stories. And if it’s done right, your people who experience these stories will repeat them over and over.

Everyone wants raving fans. Really, though, we should want raving narrators.

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