How Does a Branding Strategy Create Value for Your Brand?

Brand identity is the backbone of any company’s marketing efforts. You know your brand identity should resonate with your target market, making them feel connected and welcome to your company. Your brand identity should also be unique and different from what other companies in your industry are doing. The goal of a branding strategy is Read More …

Lean Startup: Build-Measure-Sell?

Often, startups think Product/Market fit is found by obtaining their first customers. They try to validate their product and customer base by building this Harry-Potter sales funnel thinking they can create a customer. The only measure part of the equation is the sales activity they generate within the funnel. I am not saying it doesn’t Read More …

Connecting The Basic Appreciative Inquiry Models

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) and Action Research (AR) has become more prevalent in my marketing approach and toolbox. For my Lean connections, it is comparable to the way I think and use PDCA. I have a higher-order of thinking as I go left to right in the diagram, but the thought process remains basically the same. A Read More …

Are You Collecting Data That You Care About?

If you take the time and think through the process; how would you do with just using an educated guesstimate? Or, at least starting there to zero in on what will actually be needed for your project. Too often, we collect data, one because it might be easy, and two thinking while we are here Read More …

Planning and Pursuing Your Customer Portfolio 

I often use Kim and Mauborgne’s (Blue Ocean Strategy) Pioneer-Migrator Map as a beginning step in identifying customers and organizing clusters for engagement and exploration. It is certainly not meant to be a direct comparison but it offers a unique view of the material. I like to look at growth opportunities through real people, and clustering from the known Read More …