I’m a hunter gatherer. I interview business owners about why they do what they do, finding angles from their story that show why they’re special in the eyes of their clients. I have a secret rule. When I’m interviewing clients, I challenge myself to make them stop talking. It sounds weird and it’s not a… Read more
It’s OK to get carried away. What I learned from my SiteVisibility interview.
Last week I was unnerved. I was a guest on the Internet Marketing Podcast. Produced by Site Visibility, it is one of the most popular internet marketing podcasts around. It’s been going since 2006, gets around 500-700 downloads every day and the total number of downloads has passed the 1 million mark. Turning the tables…. Read more
Get your company noticed. Bring a new perspective.
When you take an audience by surprise, you grab their attention. Challenging assumptions is a good way of getting your business noticed. A couple of caveats: be sincere in your opinions and, if they are particularly controversial, make sure you can back them up. Here’s an example of how a conversation gave me a new… Read more
Snapshot stories. The Community Chef.
Every time I interview someone, I come away with a ‘snapshot story’. It’s a vivid mental image, created by their words and feelings. It can hang around in my head for weeks, even months. Snapshot stories make you memorable. So if you want a message to stay with your audience, try illustrating it with an… Read more
Grow your reputation. Be distinctive. Be generous. An interview with SiteVisibility’s CEO Jason Woodford.
Your reputation. It’s crucial when you’re growing your business. We all know what happens when a good name takes a knock. (Need I say VW?) So how do you come to people’s notice in the first place – and stay on their radar? You need to linger in their minds for the right reasons. Not… Read more
Daphne Todd: the Big Painting Challenge and why boilers and bricks deserve their moment of fame.
Daphne Todd has come to the nation’s attention as one of the judges on BBC1’s The Big Painting Challenge. There was also a flurry of headlines when Daphne revealed she’d secretly painted horns beneath a portrait of one of her sitters. People were a bit surprised that a former President of the Royal Society of… Read more
Avoiding A&E. Sometimes it’s about the timing. (An Untold Story from the Young People’s Centre in Brighton.)
Of the current crop of news items about A&E, these words, from Professor Keith Willett of NHS England, have stayed with me: “We often see a sharp spike in emergency admissions at this time of year.” “We know that the majority of these are elderly people who have stored up a health problem at home… Read more
