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.

Ever heard of a spider that couldn’t spin a web?

Once upon a time lived a spider that could not spin a web.
It’s hard to believe that there was ever such a spider, isn’t it?

“C’mon, a spider continue reading

Why simplicity matters

Complexity up; trust down. Even mundane purchases are affected by trust. It’s easy to forget that.
May 27, 2013

Effective design = helping people understand things.

pietro_gala_1

pietro_gala_2

Images via atissuejournal.com

Case in point: pasta packaging for Italian Chef Pietro, a new pasta brand developed from scratch by Fresh Chicken continue reading

Have you ever noticed that…

People who are successful become that way more often than not because they paid attention to stuff that was unrelated to their unique situation. They continue reading

Got 5 minutes to hear some business-building ideas?

You know that at any given moment a lot of people are all ears, right? You‘re one of them, no?

Okay, so people are looking—searching. What are they continue reading

Did you ever notice?

It’s noisy out there. Getting people to notice, experience and remember much about you is not easy.
That’s why it’s very important to be clear and simple continue reading

This just in: Do you ever lose hope?

Yesterday, one of my regular readers asked me this question:
“Do you ever lose hope and wonder if the problems are too big?” 

My 2¢: Rarely.
I’m in the empowerment continue reading

A simple idea that shines: window socket

solar-window_socket-Kyuho-5

solar-window_socket-Kyuho-2

solar-window_socket-Kyuho-3

solar-window_socket-Kyuho

solar-window_socket-Kyuho-6

The so called window socket is designed by Kyuho Song, and it converts sunlight into electricity to allow people to charge their small electronic devices continue reading

Do you know what a story is?

“I find that most people know what a story is until they sit down to write one.” —Flannery O’Connor

Are you climbing something right now?

Climb something—an anecdote about Edmund Hillary

After seeing two men who’d just returned from climbing Mount Cook in New Zeland, here’s continue reading