What kind of marketing is the most effective?

sneezr.ca Have you ever asked yourself that question? I did. In fact, many years ago I spent countless hours trying to figure it out.
The answer turned out to be quite simple: word of mouth marketing. Or as I call it: the art of cultivating recommendations.

Surprised? Probably not. With recommendations, there is no sales pressure and no credibility issues. When your friends, family members or trusted co-workers recommend something or someone to you, they are genuinely trying to help you. That means a lot, which is why you usually remember it for a long time. But here is the catch: recommendations must be earned. How do you do that? Where do you start? How do you give people a reason to talk about your products/services? How do you nudge your story into every day conversations? I launched sneezr.ca to help you answer those questions.

Ads that change lives

A few days ago, a New York couple took out an ad in the Palo Alto Weekly asking Tesla Motors‘ CEO Elon Musk to make some improvements continue reading

Quality is not a branding strategy.

If your primary branding position is quality, you have no branding position. If quality is the first thing you communicate to the marketplace, you won’t continue reading

How Paulo Coelho killed a wolf with his bare hands

paOnce upon a time, when he was in his teens, the now best selling author Paulo Coelho (pictured on the right by Niels Ackermann/Rezo for The Wall Street Journal), was committed continue reading

Ads that change lives

Design_for_people

The advertising business, what’s it really about?
When done right, it’s more about making things understandable than about persuasion.

Aug 1, 2014

The Holy Grail

coffee

When properly executed, minimum-elements ads are the most irresistible and emotionally satisfying experience modern advertising has to offer. (Pictured continue reading

What’s love got to do with business?

It’s true that every year people buy/listen to millions of love songs and read millions of love stories. (Online, continue reading

A simple idea that shines

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I had to renew my passport recently. There were two options: the general renewal passport application, and the new, simplified continue reading

Only in Canada: Dude Chilling Park.

park

“Without the proper branding, a park is just a grassy expanse of lawn mown by the city, but with the proper signage, it’s an Internet sensation. continue reading

Don’t act like you’re not impressed.

ron

What can we learn from the above? My 2¢:
a. Icons mingle with icons.
b. Humor can put velcro on your message.
If you’re really continue reading

The minimum in “minimum viable product” is still big

If you want to ship a half-decent game/app for the iPhone (or even Android), and promote it just a tiny bit, you’re looking at investing a minimum continue reading