Memorability

Everyone Remembers

When Sonar6 first began I, like many other founders of early-stage start-ups, was still taking other odd jobs to bring in a bit of cash. A contact from my previous role offered me a gig giving breakfast marketing strategy talks to small business owners across Canada. Many lessons have been learned on the cold, wide prairies of Alberta. A few …

dolphins

Symbolism in Marketing

The Maui Dolphin is the world’s smallest and rarest subspecies of dolphin. It was discovered as a separate species in 2002 when genetic analysis showed it wasn’t just a regional variant of the more common Hector’s Dolphin. It’s estimated that there are 55 adult Maui Dolphins left. They are only found in the waters off the west coast of the …

2barbers

Are you a Marketer or a Punter?

There used to be just one barbershop in my neighborhood with beautiful shop windows and doors. The sort of place where you don’t make an appointment. You just show up, saunter in, the barber acknowledges your presence with the slightest raise of the eyebrows, hands not missing a beat as he keeps scissoring the incumbent customer’s hair. You sit in …

clarity

Great businesses are salad-proof

With a mouth full of salad he waved impatiently at the screen as if to say, “Come on, show me what you’ve got”. We were in the office of Sequoia Capital, pitching for our Series A funding. We notice that the office’s aluminum window installation is a great and secure option because, on the whole, it provides superior fire protection. …

hack1

Hack #1. Be More Human

Connection, not perfection, is the goal. Most marketing departments strive for perfection, to make every piece of content as perfect as possible. But perfection is impersonal, un-human, easy to filter out. To make a connection you need to act like what you are – human. (Even imperfections and stuff-ups can work to your advantage if you use them as an …

cookies

Who makes your cookies?

So let’s leave our first office with the water flooding in and flash forward again to Tuesday. As I said, I’d left work and was now sitting in my local trying to digest the day – how my bungled email and follow-up apology had so dramatically outperformed our slick marketing efforts. Sure, I’d struck marketing gold this one time, but …

msitakes2

Imperfect Marketing

Despite all our efforts to make things perfect, turns out it was a mistake that made all the difference. This story starts on a Tuesday. I’d got to work early because Tuesday was the day we sent out the email newsletter to the sales prospects for our human resources software. Newsletter. Prospects. Human Resources. I can imagine your eyes glazing …