Reading Time: < 1 min A few weeks ago, I mentioned a few companies that I tend to trust. In all of those cases, it was the humans at the companies that helped build that trust. However, Slack (the chat app that we use) does something automatic that I think is brilliant. If you add more users, they automatically charge […]
Marketing
Who do you trust?
Reading Time: < 1 min I was at a business event last year (pre-COVID) and an interesting thing happened. A few of us were chatting, when a woman came up to us with a great idea: “Let’s pass our business cards around, take photos of them, and share them on our social media accounts!“ While I’m happy to recommend businesses […]
The best design is invisible
Reading Time: < 1 min There’s a running joke with I.T. folks that they’re seen as expendable, because people often only see them one of two ways: All systems are running great, so why do we have I.T.? Things are broken, so why do we have I.T.? Similar are sound techs at a concert. They’re completely invisible, and often underappreciated, […]
Or current resident
Reading Time: < 1 min You’ve seen it before; probably nearly every day. An important looking envelope in the mail, but with a dead simple giveaway — it’s addressed to you “or current resident”. If it was important, and meant for you, they wouldn’t say “or current resident”. The same goes with any message that you put out to the […]
PDFs are starting to go away
Reading Time: < 1 min The UK has updated their content design guidelines in major way, and I suspect similar guidelines will find their way to the US before too long. Specifically, they now say: If you publish a PDF or other non-HTML document without an accessible version, you may be breaking the law. The reason for this is pretty […]
Monologue vs Dialogue
Reading Time: < 1 min Is your marketing more monologue or an actual dialogue? There’s nothing wrong with a bit of monologue — buy a TV or radio ad, spread the message, and see what happens. Increasingly, though, customers are wanting more of a dialogue with the companies they do business with, and it’s important not to confuse the two. […]
Good salespeople have good return policies behind them
Reading Time: 2 min My wife just picked up a new pair of running shoes from Big Peach Running Co recently, and she commented how the salespeople there are always so helpful and never put pressure to buy. Without really thinking, I said “Yep, it’s because they have such a good return policy.“ After taking a few minutes to […]
Don’t hustle those you wish to serve
Reading Time: 3 min As the pace of the world seems to always be increasing, it’s tempting to try to find shortcuts to reach your intended audience, but those shortcuts are likely to backfire. As Seth Godin as said, “The people you most want to engage with don’t want to be hustled.“ You can earn attention through giving of […]
Reputation vs Character
Reading Time: < 1 min Your reputation is important. At GreenMellen, we help companies with reputation management to make sure their best side is showing to the world. However, we don’t do that for just any company; we need to know that their character is solid first and that’s a very different thing. The late, great basketball coach John Wooden […]
Who is that feature really for?
Reading Time: 2 min I was in an interesting Twitter discussion recently where the idea of having website links open in new tabs came up. You know what I mean; sometimes when you click a link on a website, the new site replaces what you’re viewing, but sometimes instead they automatically open up in a new browser tab. So […]