Persistent, consistent, and frequent stories, delivered to an aligned audience, will earn attention, trust, and action.

When you’re the cheapest, you’re not promising change. You’re promising the same, but cheaper. The race to the bottom is tempting, because nothing is easier to sell than cheaper. It requires no new calculations or deep thinking on the part of your customer. It’s not cultural or emotional. It’s simply cheaper.

Marketing is the generous act of helping someone solve a problem. Their problem.

3. Deepen our understanding of our unique value and what differentiates us in the marketplace. 4. Reinforce our core values. 5. Help us to act in alignment and make value-based decisions. 6. Encourage us to respond to customers instead of react to the marketplace. 7. Attract customers who want to support businesses that reflect or represent their valu

A Simple Marketing Worksheet Who’s it for? What’s it for? What is the worldview of the audience you’re seeking to reach? What are they afraid of? What story will you tell? Is it true? What change are you seeking to make? How will it change their status? How will you reach the early adopters and neophiliacs? Why will they tell their friends? What wi

At every step along the way, create and relieve tension as people progress in their journeys toward their goals.

3. Status attended to is the status that matters. Status is most relevant when we try to keep it or change it. For many people, status is upmost in our minds in every interaction. But it only matters when the person we’re engaging with cares about status. 4. Status has inertia. We’re more likely to work to maintain our status (high or low) than we are

There’s a very big difference between five thousand and “everyone.” And for your work, five thousand of the right people might well be more than enough.

If you want to make change, begin by making culture. Begin by organizing a tightly knit group. Begin by getting people in sync. Culture beats strategy—so much that culture is strategy.