Psssst! Direct Mail programs gain leads, conversions and sales at a much higher rate than email, banners, retargeting, or other online methods. It's the most powerful medium of Direct Marketing. ​ Yes…Direct Mail. Many people have used it, and say it's not cost effective. Agreed… if you use it improperly! David Ogilvy said Direct Mail is hsi secret weapon. Yep ! It's a discipline that takes time and money to learn, so it's often been the red-haired stepchild of ad agencies and companies, and marketers who like to show "glitzier" things in their portfolios like TV and web animation.. Few companies explore or master its tools. Those that do swear by it (good swearing!). And if you've explored "Direct" and it hasn't worked, it may be because — faceplant! — key fundamentals or nuance were missed. ​ But is direct mail worth the investment? Does Direct mail really gain a strong ROI? ​BURIED SECRET ALERT: Proof is most successful companies employ direct mail for strong ROI in their marketing.. Just ask digital kingpin Google... it's one of the world's heaviest users of direct mail! The check into almost any Fortune 500 company's promotional mix, and see if it isn't a profitable segment of their lead generation, brand-building, cross-selling, and more. No, it's not good for every company, or every program. That's why training and experience is critical to approaching this powerful beast. So what's some secret perspective about Direct Mail Marketing? Glad you asked! LOTS OF BURIED SECRETS ALERTS: In fact, many survey results prove that direct mail… conveys information and is easier to understand than online advertising… it uniquely has the recipients full attention at that moment converts prospects to customers much faster produces a stronger emotional response has all kinds of killer techniques to help you build your brand… and sometimes get the sale in the same communication gives you an infinite range of 2-D and 3-D formats to tell your story your way (more and bigger images, infinite folding formats, multi-pages, paper textures and finishing such as foil stamp and embossing, even scrent)…and create major impact. Done well, it can be incredibly creative and "glitzy" it's more memorable -- it gives you more than double the recall breaks through the media overload of the internet, and puts something physical — and credible — in the hands of your prospect response rates are way higher than email and online the best way to heat up C-Level and top executives, and cold or warm contacts? Go with on-target messaging via Dimensional mail (3-D boxes)... where the response rate goes way higher than regular direct mail, and breaks through the clutter big-time! (Plus, we have an additional Secret Weapon that we've developed that is so effective that we can't even tell you about it until we've working with you!) is a key marketing component of the most successful companies in America. We've produced strong results for a wide range of clients, and we have multiple certifications in Direct Marketing, Inbound Marketing, and more ​ Our Chief Lightbulb, Joel Alpert, is multi-certified in this realm — with huge print and digital experience in email and direct mail, producing results for Fortune 500 and SMB companies. ​ BURIED SECRET ALERT: And, yes, direct digital or print can — and should — be used in an integrated program, driving leads right onto online systems. That integration of print and online media is absolutely the best ninja tool for marketers, getting your prospects and customers involved with your business on multiple channels! You reach them intrusuely… they respond interactively… and you get to craft your drip campaign or SQL program on stronger footing. If you've used Direct Response Marketing before, and it's only given you ho-hum results...there are lots of wires that might not have been hooked up right. It's time we connected, so you can energize your marketing! ------- More on Direct Mail Marketing, plus examples of our work.

I was half-enjoying my egg drop soup as NBC's Nightly News was about to come on. Then I suddenly realize the soup I was eating…was not the soup I expected! The soup from the Chinese restaurant, would be far more salty, with an oily texture. Or at least that’s what I thought. But guess what — it was not. This simple realization emerged, just because I started tasting it…as opposed to “just eating” it. I was making specific observations about the flavor and texture, and temperature… rather than having some vague notion about it. Is it important for businesspeople to taste the egg drop soup…strategically?! We don’t want nothin' fuzzy in soup. Or in business. Fuzzy ideas, assumptions and expectations come in all kinds of forms, and affect us in all sorts of ways. This confusion about reality makes us unclear about our starting point for any goal. Or can limit us in what we think we should do….or can get done. Practically, think of being unclear, or “not knowing” reality, when you do something as simple as give directions to “Northlake Mall,” here in Atlanta. Yes, you know where you want to go, but if you don’t know your starting point — AKA “reality,” or the actual taste of the soup... — you can’t begin to give any workable directions. Add a double ladle of emphasis if you say you know where you want to go, but you just can’t quite clearly define it. (Like you've never heard that in strategic meetings.) That’s the way it goes in business situations -- whether you’re trying to define new business direction or sales growth... creating a new brand identity… a website to reflect that… a social and outbound marketing plan to drive traffic to it… a coordinated marketing strategy….well, you get the idea. When you come down to it, “fuzzy” thinking, not really knowing certain things —like specifically where you want to go, your actual starting point, and other relevant factors — will bite you in the butt. You might be able to accomplish many things with vague idea of what’s going on…and even an unfocused direction. But think of the capabilities your team could unleash — and the more efficient, angst-free pathway everyone could be taking — when they’re producing something that’s focused right on the target! Strategic thinking mistakes happen every day all day a client wants help with a critical business presentation, and spends 80% of the time stirring the details, and later tries to mix in big-picture strategy and branding. It's tough to make that mix taste, right. Someone else wants a sharp promotion, but when it drives them to a website, they feel like they've entered the DeLorean Time Machine and are visiting 1990 -- outdated product descriptions, outdated graphics, a website that doesn't answer common questions, or provide insightful solutions as clients might expect The sales talk and process doesn't sync with the marketing,... onboarding and service don't sync with sales… That creative dynamic can happen when we are clear and specific — in reality — about where we are going, and our starting point. Wild craftsmanship of solutions is finally important… It's even more important to gain insight on exactly what needs to be done. It takes courage to think and support strategic thinking This was a great reference for me of what I already have been practicing for many years — the high value of being truthful about reality. And taking a stand for it (even if unpopular). And I'll confess— I hadn't always done that. Forgive me, but there have been times within the last few years where I thought “the client isn’t ready for it,” and I didn’t push certain recommendations. I've worked with companies where certain business, branding, and marketing issues…and even executive “thinking styles” that don’t work very well…aren’t spoken about. It was the CEOs problem. And even if people weren’t fully conscious of exactly what was going on, most dealt with it like the Emperor’s New Clothes. But I noticed that the prospects for success are greatly increased when reality…truth…straightforwardness….are the guiding principles. And while I respect the client’s choices, I clearly offer those choices. Like my consulting mentor Robert Fritz has been fond of saying: “Reality is an acquired taste.” Like soup. My consulting training with Fritz increased my appetite for un-subjective "reality." We can come to a consensus on reality in most things beyond politics and religion — there's really not "my reality" and "your reality." Granted, there are perceptions, and those count, but let's not debate that there's a turn in the road 200 feet ahead, and you're going 70 m.p.h. It's time to turn. Those choices are the most powerful access points you could have in business, and the greatest opportunity for significant and powerful change. Being able to create results, includes three primary factors: #1, the ability to see clearly what you want. #2, the ability to see exactly where you are. #3, the action steps you need to get from #2 to #1 with both points clearly in sight. One of the worst things that can happen in a strategic planning session, is that everybody knows where it's going to go. They’re bored of the soup, it always is the same. Always. They want to get out of the conference room as soon as possible. They know that little is done as a result of these “strategic” working session…so they just want to “survive” it. So all the answers are queued up. Easy….no thinking. But that also drives people crazy, cause it’s unproductive. And they’re right. And so the work they do all day long, which on so many levels they really care about, doesn't get advanced even during these occasional strategic sessions. What if you were to really...look at strategic business issues freshly? What if you didn’t automatically have all answers queued up? What if you stopped answering texts and emails long enough to engage your noodle -- not the one in the soup, but the big hunk atop your neck? What if you engaged the insights and opinions of your key employees, customers and prospects…and, especially, your own fresh thinking? What if you actually tasted the egg drop soup? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Joel Alpert is a branding and marketing consultant, who has worked with Fortune 500 and “Fortune 500,000” companies….huge and wee companies in just about every category of business. He learned how to discern reality clearly — or so he thinks — and other consulting skills, though years of study with Robert Fritz, Inc., and other business, marketing, and consulting leaders. Among his many business and person interests, is that he likes good soup. [ If you liked this piece, ready to take on this challenge to your thinking? Revel in my other posts...see my page, connect and/or say howdy;

For spelling fams, Whac-A-Mole iand Whack-A-Mole are both correct. The first is the original video game. Aren't we all "problem-solving" in multiple areas of business— Strategy, Branding, Management, HR — and isn't that a good thing? Doesn’t it sound like problem-solving is exactly what any responsible business owner should do? Are we going to let problems ran rampant, , cause problems, and damage our businesses? Seems to make immediate and obvious sense that we should solve problems, address those issues as soon as they come up. But wait… let’s step back. We might observe that many business issues seem to reoccur. So when we keep "solving" many day-to-day problems that pop up, aren't we just whacking away at them, like the Whac-A-Mole game? There may be more here than meets the eye, and unmasking some of it may be a service. Here's my take on insights gained from training with Robert Fritz, Inc.: When we react and respond, we’re solving a problem. (Duh!) However, it’s a short-term way of dealing with the issue. We grab a mallet and "Whack-A-Mole" to kill the problem. Our motivation: We want to make the problem go away.! The only problem is the mole pops up — again and again and again! — and bites you on the butt! Arrrrrrrrrrgh! So wait… problem-solving is primarily a short-term way of dealing with business issues? Strategic Thinking & the Problem with Problem-Solving — How Many Issues Become Management Problems You've seen it. These recurring problems — and recurring actions — happen in many areas of business. Are these examples familiar at all? Strategy, where the company wants to expand and grow, then they want to downsize. Rebranding, where the company thinks their messaging and customer service functions are on target, sme in the company think products and services have evolved off brand Recruitment or Capacity problems — keeps the business from growing when sales come in High turnover — because of inadequate salaries, or bad work environment Employee Frustration — they want to do a good job, but did management define goals, provide resources and pathways, or change the plan midstream again? Organizational Management, OMG are you serious? Another reorg? We think we should "solve" these problems..but there's an ironic dynamic that tends to occur with problem-solving: You gotta problem… ⬇️ At first, we take lots of action to get rid of this big bad problem . . ⬇️ Yay, some improvement. So now we need to take less action. After all, it's some gone._ ⬇️ But then — yikes! — since there's less "problem solving" effort being exerted, the problem pushes back again. And the problem you thought you killed, comes back ,…and says (in the voice of Nelson Muntz from The Simpsons): "Hah-hah! Whacked you over the head…AGAIN!" The difference between "problem-solving" and "creating results… …is like the difference between deleting emails again and again and again… or …unsubscribing. It's like the difference between demolition and architecture. With demolition, you're trying to get rid of something. With architecture, you're designing and building. So why do smart businesspeople run around "solving problems"? They do it for good reason! It's obvious that businesspeople want to solve a problem. Who wouldn't want their problem to go away?! Some owners and managers like to be "firefighters" and put out the fire whenever it rages — they're good at it, and they see it as a service. They may also be feuling the fire. Often this phenomenon is unseen because we're running around "doing"…... instead of stepping back for a the big picture. There’s life beyond Whac-A-Mole. We can engage in "problem solving" more effectively by addressing the cause of an issue. And creating a solution orientation that’s build around what you want (not what you don’t want). We all have a lot to learn in this area. Because we’re human.…and we want to use our superpowers for the good. But let’s direct them to really produce what we want. This orientation — about "creating results" — is pivotal for small-medium business and solopreneurs,… not just the Fortune 500. To bastardize the poetry of Rumi… “there’s life beyond reaction and responding. There’s a field where we put structure into place that works. I'll meet you there.” - - - - - - - - - - INSIGHT 4) Stop Whac-A-Mole Problem-Solving, it’s better for you, and the moles won't have headaches! - - - - - - - - - - Joel Alpert is Chief Lightbulb of MarketPower. His expertise includes strategic thinking, brand identity, marketing communications, direct marketing, personal branding, and more. He draws on the expertise of his mentor Robert Fritz, who has developed many key distinctions ‚— this one between "problem solving" and "creating." "Whac-A-Mole" is a Hasbro game — it's better if that's not the game you're playing in business..

Much better to read Part 1 first (right here in the PowerBlogs): Come back here when you’re done...we’ll keep this post warm for you. Part 2 Branding or Rebranding requires thinking on lots of dimensions – freshness, clarity, innovative insights, some comparative thinking, and much more. Don’t go in “knowing” the answers to such questions as who is your market, and what do they want....in fact, Part 1 of this series explains a bit of what you’ll miss if you have the Short-Attention-Span-Jitters, and pogo-stick your way through. This Part 2 is really about the best approaches from my experience in the pivotal “HOW to think it through” part of strategic branding. No-Slip Branding Tips & Sparks For Strategic Smarts 1) THINK. Branding or Re-Branding is NOT a fill-in-the-blank exercise. If you do that, you will not be “thinking,” you will merely be answering questions from a database in your brain that supposedly has the “right” answers. Nope, don’t do that. You want to think. Run your noggin like a toboggan down fresh slopes. Explore the process as if you don’t know the answers. Why? You might discover insights like WHY your customers really buy — beyond their “buying need” and their “pain points”...you might discover their buying motivations. And HOW they really prefer to work with you, or receive your services. Such key components as “How” they receive your service has quite the range, but it could lead to things like a 2-hour service window that Comcast/Xfinity has been offering. Or providing a better “onboarding” process, which you use as a selling tool. Or providing online access to a consulting firm's project status updates (I developed this for an insurance consulting business, and it made a major impact in gaining new clients). Slide downhill with that noggin toboggan...don’t be scared. 2) DON’T THINK. At least don’t think like a business owner (or a marketer) of your business. The best branding and marketing ideas come from acting. Be a thespian...with or without a ruffled shirt and heavy stage makeup. If you are playing the starring role of your potential buyers, you’re not accessing the same mental “channels” you usually follow — your own. You are beginning to understand the personas of your customers. Don’t think of them as specimens under a petri dish…become them. See the world through their eyes. (Okay, not all of it, the way they towel off like a puppy after a shower can be weird, you can skip that part.) Think smart...and don't overthink it. 3) DIVIDE AND THINK. If you mumble-crumble-jumble everything up into a big ball of mush in your thinking, you won’t get the big picture… you’ll just have a big ball of mush. Divide and Think. That means that you should break down each point, and keep it separate from the next. So, for example, don’t merge the datapoint of “who are your customers ?”… with “what do whey want?” So with this example, if you compartmentalize those questions, you may find that in the “who are you customers?” question you have some customer or influencer or referral sources you have missed. And sometimes those “secondary prospects” can become an important part of the engagement, marketing and sales process. And the separate “what do they want?” question will likely go beyond a need they might describe, to something else, such as personal interests in their career or within their organization, that influence that buying decision. So breaking the points out helps you harness that noggin toboggan, addressing overt and covert (undiscovered) interests. 4) STOP THINKING ABOUT YOUR OPINION. Your opinion may have real value. Or it may only have “real value” to you. Think of it as an opinion…not The Absolute Freaking Truth. Stop trying to be "right." When your company is developing strategy, or making choices about logo or tagline or colors, you want to be deeply involved, but you’ll want to focus on what you and your best guides think will work best for your prospects. Not random opinions from the first person who says something in a meeting, which sometimes goes unchallenged. (Sorry to break it to you, but the notion that “Everyone’s Ideas Have Value,” just isn’t true on the face of it — some people who express "opinions" will barely understand your target market, or might insist that all their life they've known the world's best color is chartreuse.) Yes, your opinion and taste and instinct may be good. Even brilliant. Just realize that “opinions are like bellybuttons…everyone has one.” And yours is just yours. Even if you own the company. At the end of the day, you do want to like the work...but remember the guidance of uber adman David Ogilvy, who said that when a creative or account person presents a new advertising concept to a client, it should make them sweat — if not, it’s going to be boring or ineffective. More Rubber Sole Strategic Thinking For Your Brain 5) LISTEN. Especially to others! Especially to everyone on the team. I’ve lead my PowerBranding working sessions where the Executive Assistant was in the room to take notes. And when I could see an idea on her face, or someone was asserting a premise out of touch with reality…I’d ask her, "So what do you think?" And frequently that contribution was huge. Sometimes pivotal. And even when occasionally dismissed by others (after all, they knew better)… when an idea is killer, I've championed that cause. No matter the source. Ideas can come from anywhere. Don’t assert. Listen. 6) DON”T BE SCARED. JUST DO IT. Be receptive to big ideas, even if you know nobody else in the field is doing this. Don’t be scared, that may be the best reason to take on a new focus. And you don’t have to worry about not being an innovator like Apple or Amazon in order to offer up a simple idea in service or rebranding that can be tremendously powerful. 7) DON’T ASS.U.ME ANYTHING. Don’t make an ass out of you and me. Make no assumptions. When everything is up for grabs, you can grab great ideas out of thin air. Shhh! Biggest Secwet Be vewy, vewy quiet... 8) THE BIGGEST SECRET: GOOD BRANDING REALLY GOES BEYOND __________ . Most businesspeople think branding is a new company name. A new logo. Or tagline. Or website. And it can include all of those. But if “branding” is supposed to represent the essence of your company ...shouldn’t the branding match the offering? Seriously now! Your products and services are sold in the marketplace…and the marketplace has choices. So why would a prospects choose your brand over another? When you approach branding of your business, you’ll realize it even goes beyond the logo and website....to Customer Service...to your actual Offerings. It might be because you provide better service. Or they may choose your biggest competitor because those guys explain the process better. Or they may choose an upstart start-up because they “tell it straight” and sound more down to earth in their branding style. Or another company which offers an easier-to-use app, or have just-in-time delivery. Often the adjustment you could make is easy. If you turn the corporate cheek and ignore market demands, sooner or later you’ll get kicked in the butt. You only need to put your full focus on branding or rebranding for a short period of time. Cellphones and phasers on stun. Lock the doors if you have to. But that full focus is worth it…it's likely to change the future of your company. - - - - - - - - - - - - - Joel Alpert of MarketPower is a branding and marketing consultant who has developed strategic thinking, business strategy, branding and targeted marketing, for Fortune 500... SMB... and one person consultancies, in just about every conceivable category of business. This perspective comes from PowerBranding, MarketPower’s signature process – the merged thinking of Robert Fritz, Inc. and MarketPower. Use the power, Luke....

If you haven’t taken a good clear look at your company strategy and branding in the past 2 or 3 years — along with the products and services which are part of your brand — you probably should! The marketplace isn’t waiting for you to take this fresh look, it is always evolving… and expects you to keep up. Your branding impressions are made in just instants! That's why you should put some time into thinking this through. Make that work. There are a range of branding components which are relevant to your business — company name, tagline, your strategic focus, overall brand identity, website first impression and ease of use, overall marketing, social media posts, customer service...and, believe it or not, "more" (wait a second, I'll tell you about a key area that most folks miss). These are the "central organizing forces" in the way you present your business. Strategy and branding are on a "continuum" — and you could make these components distinct or not with terminology — as long as you take the time to make these vital business functions work for you. And don't even think of them as band-aid patches you can slap on when you have the time — these form a vital compass that unifies and guides your direction. One major mistake I see is as obvious as the nose on your face, but gets missed most of the time: Your products and services are not separate from your brand. They are intrinsic to your brand. So don’t miss these in your company branding. Your brand will inform how your products should be presented (not only style, but substance!)… and your products will inform how you should present your brand. Makes sense when you think it through, right? You have the real opportunity to create significant increases in engagement, sales, market share, a more efficient sales process, and profitability, when you align your company and the deliverables and processes it produces with your prospect and customer interests. WARNING: These are Q’s to explore, fast answers to fill in the blanks don't work. Take your time. The biggest business asset you have is in between your ears! When we do this with you "for real," we take about a half-day to explore these thoroughly. If you fly though, you’ll miss a lot on the ground. Your business branding is worth thinking it through, right? You’ll Want To Cover These Key Questions! While these questions seem simple, when answered with depth and perspective, they open up new pathways to break through the branding and communications clutter. When we do our PowerBranding strategic working sessions, most often in a group setting, we spend ample time exploring these questions (outlined here), and encourage you to do the same. Here's some of the big picture: 1) What is your product or service offering? Sure, the "obvious description" of products and services is okay. To start with. But you want to know what it really does for its users. How it impacts their life and work...that’s why they want it. If you’re doing a rebrand, you need to be particularly aware of the trap of “knowing”....if you know, you won’t look. And you’ll miss some aspects of why people buy. 2) Who are you Customers? Include buyers, influencers, referral sources. In some cases, you might explore personas. You may very well come up with new sales and marketing avenues, and new ways and messages to engage your audience(s). 3) What do they want? Go beyond vague interests or expected answers, to the motivations of your prospects. (Not what they say they want...but your best understanding of what they really need from you.) If you can subtly (or overtly) hit these points, you’ll accelerate your sales and marketing impact. 4) What does the company want? "Customer Focused" ain't the whole picture. Yes, the company agenda should be part of the agenda. What your company owners and employees want should also be part of the picture. You’d be surprised that “greater profits” is not the only thing a company may want. It can include any range of responses, expected and unexpected. 5) Why Do "Prospects" Make The Move To Being “Customers”? What is the match of interests...why do they say “yes”? This “match” of interests is the "handshake," after sales and marketing, where the agreement makes sense. Make sure you’re flexible at this stage, could be some simple adjustment in your process or service makes it easier to buy, and that could lead to new approaches. The deal works when it works for both your team and it's business interests…and your customers. Your Brand Strategy & Brand Identity Has Specific Content, plus Context 6) What’s the context? How are you interacting with referral sources, prospects, customers, and investors. Be accessible. What’s the style of company in the marketplace? You don’t have to be "corporate" or “grunge” or anything else in particular, in order to be accessible. You just need to be focused on who you are, and what your target market wants. Are you willing to explain what’s “under the hood”? You don’t have to give away the shop, but transparency tends to be attractive. 7) Do your products and services match your brand? That includes company name, to how you describe company services. Company, product and service names are usually strongest when they integrate under a brand umbrella and make sense as a unit (not disjointed) to your prospects. And even in the services you provide, think about what the customer is looking for. If you’re a cable television company, remember that only one definition of your business is “cable service”...and another definition is “providing a fun entertainment and communication service,” for starters. If so, make sure you deliver that service well – such as a “2 hour service” window that makes life a little more pleasant for customers, and reinforced in your marketing communications before and after that service. 8) Create a Copy/Content/Communications style. Don’t be scared to be human, and talk normal. No MarketSpeak. Screw the corporate facade... if you ain’t a people, then people don’t want to talk to you. Be a people. 9) Corporate Brand Story? I can be important. But a Human brand story is often more engaging. See point #8. Relax, and talk about the business, and why it exists, how it became your calling. herther it's about the company or its founders, there’s your brand story. And if it doesn't exist, no worries. Exploring a brand story should be done casually...maybe even "secretly." Manyatimes if you tell a client in advance you want to hear their "brand story," they'll dictate, pontificate, attempt to monumentalize this story as their last will and testament. You might have a conversation over a coffee, without any preparation and record the conversation. Get the essence down, edit later. I had a client who didn’t seem particularly good at explaining his business....but when he told me he was working part-time as a security guard, and his peers were wondering what he was doing online on his breaks, trading stocks, He showed them, and wound up training lots of people casually at first... it's a great story on how he developed a specialized stock trading workshop. So those are some of the Q’s. The A’s depend on you and your team, really being willing to explore the impact of these answers. It's definitely not a race. Just the opposite. Closer to chillin' out in a lotus garden, b-r-e-a-t-h-e and think, where you don't access automatic answers from a churning mental database... and you do some real powerful thinking. If you finish in less than a half-day, cut back on your coffee, practice meditation, and put in the focus needed. After all, you spend most of your time on your business, give it the time it needs for a strong foundation! That fresh thinking is what we as humans are best known for....and you could be doing some of your best work here! The answers you explore and develop are key to your company brand identity and brand strategy. ► Go To Part 2: http://bit.ly/2gUFizr This post introduced the "What" to consider...now check out Part 2, HOW to think through your branding! http://bit.ly/2gUFizr ► See my profile for a links to more on blogging, strategy, marketing, and thinking! And I invite you to connect.... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Joel Alpert of Market Power is a branding and marketing consultant who has developed strategic and tactical consulting, business strategy, branding and targeted marketing programs, for Fortune 500, one-person consultancies, startups, non-profits...in a ridiculously wide range of business categories. This perspective comes from PowerBranding — our signature process which merges proprietary consulting tools of the Robert Fritz, Inc. organization and MarketPower Com visit: www.MarketPowerOnline.com

Part 2 of 7: "2023: Gain These 7 Powerful Insights On Strategy & Branding" Strategy > Branding > Business Infrastructure > Website, Social, Promo “Come on! Let’s go! Time’s a-wastin’!” Many well-meaning entrepreneurs and executives want to develop and start selling their products and services, before laying out a roadmap of what these do for their prospects, and how to go about positioning and selling them in the marketplace. The instinct to do move forward is a good idea… but the foundation must be set up for it to be successful. You don't want your sales efforts to bleed on the battlefield. You don’t want chaos in your systems, or AWOL leads and sales. If you’re moving ahead quickly — but don’t quite know where you’re going — you’ll get somewhere fast. Just remind me…where are we going? Strategic Planning should include a bit more, with a shift in focus. You need to lay out your plan. When you think about it – and please do! — strategic thinking is not a “fill-in-the-blanks” exercise to “solve a problem” in the fastest way possible It’s about creating results. Most obviously, your strategic thinking should result in producing leads and sales. But there's more to make it work.. So you want to include in the components of your thinking ALL the relevant components of success, when it’s done. Yes, you'll want your spiffy new logo (which needs to represent a strong business machine), and a new website that’s useful to prospects… but also key components such as smooth back-end processes. Trained CSRs. Happy customers. You don't just want to focus on your product launch. Why do you do this? Because you just don't want your launch to fizzle. We introduced a new strategic initiative for a telecom provider with a Direct Marketing program that was launched in 17 cities. It had hundreds of crafted partner offers to encourage participation of its cellphone users, providing customers with value and encouraging loyalty. What's so bad about that? What could go wrong? Well, in checking out the back-end, to make sure our response mechanism were lined up with their processes,, we realized the client just wasn't ready for processing responses, and the CSRs hadn't even heard of this major program. We suggested to upper management that they hold off a few weeks until they could get their ducks in a row, and we expected they would. They wouldn't. It was scheduled to launch. What happened? The lead generation program was very successful, with raving testimonials. But within a few weeks, the program fizzled because the back-end just wasn't ready. Gimme a break. The reason you do strategic thinking... is because you don't want your business efforts to fizzle! There are any number of places your plan could misfire. You might not have a good process for delivering results. Your products or services might have problems that need to be addressed. Could be your capacity can't keep up with sales. But there's more. Those are now the actual goals that are part of your “Desired End Result.” They are not add-ons, and they don’t get produced in a vacuum. You’ve considered them, they’re important, and you want to create a pathway to get there. That’s the strategic compass point you want to follow. Is your "strategic plan" sitting on a shelf in a a binder? You don't want your strategic planning or strategic thinking on any program to sit on the shelf and become useless 3-ring binder babble. It should be a do-able Action Plan. You want to refer to this plan often. You want this thinking to be clear, with next steps which your team understands, and uses to create success. In one unusual example, when Covid gave a client pause, we worked actively for 3 months on re-inventing a mobile repair business. “How” we will do business will be radically changed. That new “How” that affects all strategic thinking we have done — business strategy, branding and positioning, website and online presence, marketing strategy, staffing, equipment, recruiting, training, back-end processes, and more. All produced materials would have been different before this caffeination of our strategic thinking. That’s not using strategy as an add-on… that’s using strategy as a compass point…an effective bridge to a successful future. BONUS 1 So what makes for good strategic thinking? Well here are some questions to consider for good strategic planning and strategic thinking that address key company issues. It's objective, are you clear about the goal and the starting point? Is it quantifiable... do you have steps towards the goal. and measurements? Are you taking into account all that's relevant within the big picture? Are you solving a problem… or creating what you really want? Is it really a "goal" or a process to get there? Does it focus on long-term goals, and use an action plan to get there? Can leaders and team understand and explain it? Is the intended audience impacted by it in a good way? Do people know their jobs, where their work fits into the big picture, what's next? (call this "controlled autonomy") Will you have reasonably clear criteria for when any process goal and the Desired End Result is completed? And there may be additional — or different — criteria that figure into your business. --------------------------------- Insight 2) STRATEGIC THINKING IS NOT AN 'ADD-ON", IT SHOULD BE GENERATIVE! --------------------------------- Next installment of: "2023: Gain These 7 Powerful Insights On Strategy & Branding" Insight 3: "We can add branding later… right?" --------------------------------- BONUS 2 Want a CEO-level "strategic thinking challenge" that's different from anything you've ever explored? Why so many business efforts of all kinds fizzle (and why it's not even their fault!) This quick video will describe a remarkable phenomenon…these 8 minutes will shake up the apple cart! Bonus Video: "Struck Inside The Strategic Thinking Matrix"? The Sowgrow Marketing Council hosted this online meeting of experienced marketing professionals... Joel Alpert presented this insight, explaining why so many efforts fail across branding, marketing, HR, management… --------------------------------- Joel Alpert is Chief Lightbulb at MarketPower. Explore the site and discover why the work we do in strategy, branding, and targeted marketing and more… has high value to your company. www.MarketPowerOnline.com/blog

Your brand is perceived in many ways. When you step back from the business babble you can return to fundamental concepts about how brand identity and marketing actually function, so you can produce far stronger results. You’ll viscerally appreciate the impact of your branding, when you observe where and how your audience gets that first impression. And how they get past that decision gateway to enable more impressions. 1) Your Brand Identity Is Signage For Your Business Your brand identity tells prospects and customers to “come do business here,” just like the old hanging boot in front of a shop in Colonial America. They recognize your business, and the way you do business, and begin to form an impression. Brand communication in the new millenium comes from a firehose spray of subtle impressions — the company name (or product/service name), logo, tagline, style, description of your products and services, customer service, your blogs and social posts, your voicemail message, and all kinds of other nuanced communication and interactions your prospects and customers have with your company. When all is said and done, and conceived and produced and engaged, your "brand identity," with all its components...IS your business. While some improv within your marketing communications is perfectly fine, it should always reference the compass of thought-out strategy for your company/brand. 2) Your Brand Identity Reminds Them How You’re Different Could be style, substance, or both. Preferably both! And if you don't think your business is any different than others in your field, we either need to look harder, or start inventing! Remember, your brand should be different beyond the newest homepage photo you've posted, it must extend to smarter innovative ways to do business, so your prospects and clients come back. Also, regarding your logo and tagline, a key first impression, don't think "yeah, that looks kinda like a logo, it'll work"... when a good logo and tagline positively influences your audiences thousands of times over a period of years. 3) Your Brand Builds Awareness & Recall If your name, logo and tagline and overall look are on your digital and print communications and places like your office and trade show booth, people remember your brand and your business. Name recognition really matters — ask any "unknown" political candidate who lost, even though they had better ideas. Remember that your company name, logo and tagline are the first (and most powerful) of an array of interactions and impressions your audiences get, across many areas of your company. 4) Your Brand Builds Loyalty Among Customers When your customers are happy they come back for more. And they bring new business with them via word-of-mouth recommendations. And if CFOs and Marketing Directors went out for beers they'd discover it's far less expensive to keep a customer than to hunt down a new one. Brand Ddentity — with your logo and tagline and graphics and content style — helps focus customer attention, and if they like what you offer overall, helps build brand loyalty, 5) Your Brand Identity Lights Up Your Employees When we say "band identity," it's ironic that "identity" is part of that phrase. Interestingly, the impact of a good brand goes beyond prospects and customers. Your employees like working for a brand they value. It inspires pride and purpose. When they understand and get behind your company (your brand)… that gets communicated powerfully to your prospects and customers. 6) Your Brand Graphics Promote Consistency Even if your products and services may be plentiful and in seemingly different categories, the unifying elements of brand identity that help tie everything together, across your marketing channels and communications. Repetition creates that consistency. Those are six. They represent more… because the sum total of the components of your brand and your website, is your business! Your brand should initiate the prospecting and sales process…Don't take Step One before Step Two Is Ready! Our own approach to branding is highly strategic — for the short-term and long-term — and transparent. We’re told this is uncommon -- good branding shouldn't be. It doesn't come so easy, it's not just a cute logo or new website colors.. We need to work hard at developing that first impression. And work harder developing a second-tier engagement with your customers. That second impression — usually before we launch the brand or rebrand — engages, and converts a suspect into prospect into a customer. Practically speaking, this means looking at the full branding, marketing and sales process. Talking to customers. Potentially whiteboarding Customer Journey Mapping. Also, very practically speaking — make sure you have your "back end" ready (your website, with well-branded, clearly-explained products and services, your processes) — before you invest your efforts and the attention of your prospects on "front end" (social, email, promotional) marketing! This falls short often. You really don't want to gain the interest of prospects with a good promotional campaign, and turn them off when they hit your website or in the sales process! Your website should have architecture and content that converts a prospect into a customer. (Read that last sentence again!) It's necessary to go beyond mentioning “target market” and avatars… to tweak products and services, so they’re worth engaging with and worth buying. We use proprietary consulting tools and processes that get the tricky job of defining, refining and articulating the essence of that brand done quickly. It's necessary to connect cranial synapses like a circuitboard, noticing where "symptoms of opportunity" come up. "Problems" within the company are usually the drivers of action. Yes, you need to address them — but it's best not to do this reflexively, but systemically, so strategic, branding, sales and marketing problems don't keep popping up like Whack-A-Mole. You don't want to spend your time "reacting and responding" to problems… you want to plan your thinking and "create" results, based n the company and culture you want. If you do — you'll create a business impression for your company that is "on brand"...that is brand new. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Joel Alpert is a Branding and Marketing Specialist in Atlanta who uses all kinds of brainy consulting tools and a unique combination of strategic and creative approaches to engineer marketplace impact. He works with “the largest and smallest companies in America.” Find out more about PowerBranding… rebranding… our unique strategic consulting… personal branding and more — connect here on LinkedIn, and come visit: www.MarketPowerOnline.com (I'll even show you some more of what's "inside my head"!).

You’ve heard people say “You only get one chance to make a first impression.” You can ignore that if you like. But if you’d like your LinkedIn Profile to be a powerful tool in the business world...and you don’t want to continue being a SuperWimp, keep reading. LinkedIn gives you the opportunity to make a good first impression, and network, 24/7. However if your profile is weak, that ho-hum “bo-ring” first impression will register just as fast, 24/7. If you’re treating your LinkedIn profile like a resume, cut it out. This medium gives you vast opportunities to do far more. You might think of it as an introduction on steroids– an opportunity to supercharge that vital first impression, and beyond — because you have huge flexibility in the way you develop your profile and your networking. Here are some tips to get you going in the right direction. 1) BE FOUND MORE EASILY ON LINKEDIN You need to be found by folks searching for you, whether you have a business, are a consultant…or in job search mode (overtly or in stealth mode). So using your keywords powerfully really makes a difference. Those areas are throughout your profile, but the most important spots are like real estate – think “Location. Location. Location.” The first 4-5 words after your name, and your former work position titles are some of the strongest positions you need to nail, in a coordinated way with mirrored wording, in order to get found be people searching for your type of experience. 2) MAKE YOU LINKEDIN PROFILE VISUAL. If your knee-jerk reaction was “but my work and profession aren’t visual,” I will throw Kryptonite ping pong balls at you in rapid succession. Those visuals can include photos, video, slideshows...start using your visual thinking....it’s the most powerful sensory medium, able to leap tall and short people in a single bound. I have been challenged to find a profession that can’t produce a profile that includes visuals, and have never failed my native Krypton. You’d be surprised how many options there are, from all kinds of graphics to videos. And if your lack of visuals includes no photo, I will throw more ping pong balls at you. Can you imagine doing in-person networking with a bag over your head? Without a photo, you’re doing the same thing. (Do you mean you can’t find a friend with a camera-phone, and get this up in the next 20 minutes?) 3) YOU CAN RE-ORDER YOUR LINKEDIN PROFILE. Most folks don’t even know that you can play your strongest cards first, by displaying your profile in the order that works best for you. When you’re in edit mode, the “drag me” boxes appear the upper right of each section. Grab ‘em and drag ‘em. 4) YOU CAN EXPAND YOUR NETWORK QUICKLY ON LINKEDIN. If you don’t know the value of an expanded network, you’re probably rationalizing that “I don’t want ‘just anybody’ in my network.” Some people are also concerned that they’ll get a lot of junk email in their inbox. The numbers show that if you expand your network (first-level contacts), your “reachable” network – via connecting to hard-to reach people via your existing network – expands exponentially and it’s worth it. How else are you going to try to reach those busy executive types who don’t readily accept people into their network? (They frequently require you to know their email address, just to contact them.) In years of doing this, I haven't had problems with connecting with people I don't know (and may have dropped only 2 or 3 contacts). It pays to grow your network, because it grows your “reach.” 5) JUST DO IT. Start. (Now would be good.) You want to network more strongly, but it doesn’t happen by itself. When you join groups and get active in discussions (and have a good profile that introduces you), you gain credibility and contacts. There’s lots to learn, and a number of profile tweaks and networking approaches can have very high impact quickly, to go beyond “just sitting there.” Get the basics right, and update your profile regularly.Once you get started, you’ll get the idea. Up...up...and away! - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - Joel Alpert used to have a weak profile, but is now wearing spandex and a cape– he’s developed private coaching and a unique, practical workshop: “LinkedIn: Turn Your Profile Into An Effective Business Tool…In Just 1 Night!” available to businesses as a powerful value-building and conversation-starting tool. Plus, he does works with executives on unique LinkedIn profile makeovers which include Personal Branding, getting found, profile writing, and graphics. When off-duty as LinkedIn superhero, Joel is a Branding + Marketing Wizard, who generally prefers 100% cotton outfits. Check out our video post here in the PowerBlogosphere about what Russell says about our LinkedIn Workshop — now offered privately for business and trade associations.

Breakfast meetings can be a wake-up call, especially when the presenter and attendees are experienced and masterful at their crafts. When Jim Weber of ITB Partners presented his perspective on selling consulting services, even the most experienced among us sat up and took notice. (This post combines Jim Weber’s presentation, and with his endorsement, some framing with my own perspective.) Anyone who is a good consultant wants to do a good job, and differentiate their services for their prospects and clients… that’s natural. Sometimes, however, we can miss the point — which is making the connection to our client, and understanding their world fully, through their eyes. We sometimes miss some of the subtext of the business or sales conversation hich may be about the client’s unstated needs. So good consultants must be connected to their client. They must value the client interests. And the context of selling consulting services must be reframed to focus on the client’s interests. And it must be framed within the context of coordinating the thinking and efforts of sales and marketing teams. (Okay, there, I said it! And one of my own biggest victories was by doing just that... I can tell you about it.) There’s also an additional bit of healthy schizophrenia involved — while you must understand the client need, you must also ensure that your own consultant’s assessment adds up. Here’s the link to the original video, as Jim Weber presents Selling Consulting Services: https://lnkd.in/eXPbePR Here are some takeaways from that talk on sales secrets Inside Your Prospects Head At just about any company, the person hiring you will want to know two essential questions — “Do You Understand My Problem?” and “Will You Make Me Look Good?” If you can’t get past these questions, all the great work you might do… might not happen. Other key questions will likely include “Can You Work Within Our Culture?” While the culture may be cool, calm, and collected…or mad as a March hare, most clients expect No Drama. You Are In Front of Viable Prospect A key step in developing the plan is making sure there can be a plan. Is the prospect qualified? Are they just fishing around, or do they have a defined need? Are they looking to you to define this need? Do they have a budget available to pay for the project? To understand and frame your client’s expectations you can ask: “What’s important around here?” This will help you determine if they are looking for a certain type of program response, or profitability, other KPIs or “soft” goals. Sizing Up The Project And Expectations Asking the right questions here may make the difference. You may ask “What have you done” in regard to the project, and this will offer insights into the client’s approach, plus success or failure at that endeavor. And you will want to know “how” they executed the project — “How did you execute that?” will also tell a lot. The consultant can check out expectations by asking a question such as “If we found new ways of thinking through this issue, would you be open to that?” Your Goal – Close The Deal! When discerning the client’s needs, and their framing of it, you’ll want to Validate The Client’s Diagnosis. This step is key for producing later success. You’ll also want to understand the company culture, and how your work and style fits into it. Then, essentially, you will be validating your fit for the work. The Presumptive Close I presume there are all kinds of “presumptive close” styles, but part of the subtext of the selling conversation will be to continue building the relationship. You’ll want to demonstrate what it’s like to work with you, and your Closing Strategy conversations are the beginning of your work. How To Scare Off Your Prospect Sometimes we can scare off the prospect by identifying all their landmines. And we suggest solutions. I take this one personally, I do it often — my rationale, likely yours, too — is to help the client, direct the conversation, and to provide value even in that initial selling process. While those insights might be correct, the client just wanted to solve a particular problem. Other times, in the spirit of being a hero and showing how much we know, we can come up with a premature diagnosis – which is not fully informed, and off-target. We can also be too surgical in our technical techniques and conversation — even if it’s right, it just doesn’t build rapport. A Successful Sales Close While a consultant needs to map the terrain, and understand where the client is at, if all the questions asked serve the consultant… then you might as well hire yourself. Jim reports that some consultants were “dying” when they focused on the mechanics of their job. But-but-but when they switched to issues that were important to the prospect… they arose like Pegasus. That’s a way better end result! Another interesting bit of perspective from the meeting and discussion, regarding agenda and expectations, was the insight to “assume the worst going in” to a meeting. That doesn’t mean being a pessimist, it means that we live in a fast-paced world, and everyone may not be prepared for the meeting, or you might not expect the unexpected — so you may need to set expectations and guide the agenda. Jim’s presentation had us focus on being connected. Valuing the prospects interests. Playing their role. Not just understanding what they say they want, and selling the value of your services… but absolutely ensuring we meet their interests. Sounds good to me! - - - - - - - - - - - Would you like to see the narrated .ppt presentation? Here’s the link, as Jim Weber presents Selling Consulting Services: https://lnkd.in/eXPbePR Joel Alpert of MarketPower is a branding and marketing consultant who has developed branding, strategic thinking, direct marketing and more, for Fortune 500... SMB... and one person consultancies, in just about every conceivable category of business. Connect with Joel: www.LinkedIn.com/in/JoelAlpert123 Connect with Jim: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimweber/ Find what you need...take a quick tour: www.MarketPowerOnline.com .#sellingtips #sellingsecrets #strategicselling #managementconsulting #sellingconsultingservices #managementconsultant #strategicplanning #newbusinesspresentation #ITBpartners #marketpoweronline #marketpower #atlantabusiness #atlanta #brandconsultant #brandingconsultant #brandstrategy #atlantarebrand #atlantarebranding #atlantabrandconsultant #atlantabrandingconsultant

The Good Guys built a fake copy of the town of Rockridge, so they could set a trap for The Bad Guys who were chasing them. Your business, however, must be built on a solid foundation… a facade just won't do. Think about this, cowboys and cowgirls… When you create “Branding” — what’s under your ten gallon cowboy hat— what are you thinking about? Should you think about definitions and perspective, such as what are the business tools you use? Should new company or existing company branding include a new logo? Do we need a new tagline and branding statement? Should it freshen up colors and use a new website design template? You can round up and define those criteria. And the answer may be "yep!" But if this is the corral you’re working in... HOLD YOUR HORSES! You’re not rounding up most of the herd! You need to get them into one corral! What moves prospects to do business with your company, pardner? You can — and should — go beyond those basic definitions. You must consider “WHAT” actually moves your prospects into your barn…what turns them into customers. When you do branding work, it’s not created in a vacuum. A good logo or tagline or website with good color choices is vital for flagging the interest of your target audience. But if all you did was attract them, and the "back end " and website are weak — you won’t get the opportunity to tell them more about your company products and services , and you won't keep them in your barn. As important as the branding facade is you don’t want to ride into a western town movie set…only to find you’re looking at storefronts propped up by 2x4’s, like the fake Western town in Blazing Saddles! There must be a deeper level of branding the company, that includes more. Branding Strategy and Business Strategy are not separate exercises. They are a continuum. They are not just cowchips to kick around in an annual review…they are feed-and-grain for your daily planning and marketing. They both have to be done well, and they should be done together. Not sometimes. Not when it’s convenient. But always. If not, all your cowboy brand yodeling that draws them in, is going to seem like caterwauling, when they see yer barn doesn’t have good horses and cattle inside, as promised. And your prospects ride on into the sunset. A quick overview from the hilltop: HOW you bring your products and services to the market with your brand messaging…and WHAT you do as a product or service offering, become much more powerful when you integrate your business and branding thinking. When you think about this process as a continuum, you will not only refine your message, but also will likely find opportunities to refine your products and services. When you put all this into one corral, it makes for a powerful posse! Branding: Changes Perception + This Perception Should Change The Way You Deliver Your Products & Services! Okay, you want to stand out and be a horse of a different color. You want to differentiate your cowboys from the other ranch hands. You want to think about the whole ranch, with Business Strategy and Branding as a continuum. So how can that play out in the substance and style of your products and services? Here are some branding/strategy continuum examples: I work with a client whose insurance clients jump through the hurdles of complex and varied state compliance regulations. Their clients sell products in 50 states, and they have many variations of many products. Keeping track of all of these multiple nuanced technical compliance processes was a nightmare. We had already painted the facade of their consulting business with our branding work, and the marketing strategy and branding had added new life to that dusty ol’ tumbleweed company town. But there was still a mismatch between what was outside and inside the barn. We realized that customers needed a more efficient way to access the status of their multiple programs in multiple states, beyond the calls to the albeit attentive staff. So we recommended that they bring the highly confidential internal records system online, under military-grade password protection, creating a dashboard that makes it easy to keep track of a silo-full of programs in 50 states. This was beyond “well received”….it was the reason why many prospects turned into clients. We didn’t reinvent the product/service...we repackaged it on a functional level, so that it matched the interests of buyers. That was a big deal change — altering the actual service, based on the overall strategy and branding,. And it helped create a steady little stampede of new and renewed clients. Another example, with a very unusual client service. I worked with a professional services practice which specializes in “sound therapy,” using high-tech and traditional sound tools to resonate within the client’s body to enable relaxation and healing. We tried out the process… and saw gaps in the service, between what might be possible, and what the practitioners were doing. And the series of recommendations on the environment, working process, and customer experience revolutionized the practice. It didn't come about by accident. It came about because we had established a clear vision for the result of the work and the process…and we just caught up with ourselves as we altered the delivery of the service. Branding Should Influence Marketing Strategy, too We worked with a home services company, and when evaluating what motivated prospects during our branding focus, we realized the product shouldn’t be sold directly to homeowners, it might be better off sold via homeowners associations, since the service was good for the associations, too. We thought multiple sales might be made to homeowners in one fell swoop. That premise proved true. And sales went up over 60% in 8 months, as costs of marketing decreased by over 50%. This wasn’t a change in the product, but an alignment in market and marketing strategy, based on real immersion in the process. "Branding" used to be done on cattle, identifying your herd. And it sure made impact… especially if you were a cow. Your company branding (and your personal branding, too) must quickly identify and differentiate…and drive a prospect to the green pastures of client status. Most knowledgeable people will say your brand has a major impact on the financial value of your organization. That’s true. But when your products and services are on the same continuum of customer motivations and value…you’re going to keep lots more cattle in the corral! To make this work you need this kind of holistic orientation. You need to be willing to think freshly…and not just "fill in the blanks" as if your answers come from an existing database of knowledge. "Thinking" is different. And you need the patience to pull down the rim of yer cowboy hat, shut off your text message alerts, and work through the process. Is it worth it? Yep. It'll streamline your sales process, and bring in new customers. So round ‘em up…and move ‘em out! Yee-hah! - - - - - - - - - - Joel Alpert is a cowboy from the wild plains of Brooklyn who moved out west (okay, “south”) to Atlanta. He does Branding, Business Strategy, and Marketing using a unique integrated process, which can include product and service revamp, and more. Say howdy. Tip yer hat and flash a smile to a random stranger today.

In case you didn't get to the video introducing MarketPower, here is another way of saying howdy. MarketPower is a different kind of business! We work in an advisory role, and an execution role, to help you produce the results you need. We're media agnostic — we work with email and direct mail… websites and social media marketing … Keynote or billboards. Any medium..we work with you to do whatever's right for your business right now, and for the future. Let's grab a coffee..

“ SIRI says what SHE wants to, even if it's a bit edgy... but we’re trying to work it out” Who knew that Apple had a bawdy side as part of its brand, just waiting to emerge from the insides of its microchips. 'Tis a wee she-leprechaun that innocently bats her eyelashes… and causes butterfly repercussions across town and around the globe. But I should explain. I love my iPhone with a passion that really should really be reserved for a human female. Nonetheless, my relationship with Siri — who I speak with more often than any other woman — can get a bit strained. Because Siri Sez what she wants to. These personal messages – Rated R — may not be for the faint of heart. Here are some of the real-life Siri typos that have come up on my screen…and theirs, too! “With friends like these, who needs enemas?” I’d texted to a female client “Speak with you soon.” Siri thought she should say otherwise, and it told her “Sleep with you soon.” Even as a marketer, that does provide a higher level of customer service than I usually offer. On a business conversation via text, I said “I’ll review with you in a bit and call if I have questions.” It was not intended to be “Let’s review you bitch with qualifying questions.” The guy this went to didn’t think of himself as a bitch. He texted back “Joel, this HAS to be a typo, do you have Siri?” I texted back “Jeez, so sorry! I think Siri has me!” I was talking (texting) to a woman about a matter of community affairs, and it was getting late in the evening — I actually just asked if she was available “during the day for conversation.” I didn’t plan on delving into her personal life to inquire if she might have“frigidity for conversation.” In another case, I just wanted to “coordinate.” I wasn’t accusing another guy of being a “coward at eight.” Or even being a coward at another time. I was texting a new client who had been in the office, and he was transitioning to driving. I suggested that if we were going to continue with a phone call, that for his safety he “Put on your ear bud.“ It was hardly my intention to suggest he “put it in your butt.” When typing to a client about music for a video, I mentioned that I have a “wide range of musical interests.” Siri thought I should explain that I have “a wide range of breasts.” In fact I do not have such a range. Like Lucy Ricardo, in these cases and others, I had some 'splainin' to do! And I've had to contemplate how brand extensions like Siri connect with me...on a personal level. But I've made a note to self: ”ee-NUN-see-ate!” Meanwhile, as Siri takes personal growth courses and tries to improve her interactions with me, we are still working some thinks out. – – – – – – – – – – – – When not engaged in bizarre conversations with Siri, or trying to explain them, Joel Alpert is an experienced marketer, helping clients delve into branding, business strategy and consulting with unique tools and experience… so we can produce effective, award-winning targeted marketing.