Every once in a while, someone enters your life and alters your path. Are you aware enough to know when it’s happening? (It might be happening right now, with this blog posting.) Shyam Nair altered my path. We met at StockPot, Campbell’s fastest growing division at the time, when I was Director of Marketing there. […]
Those other Joe Hages!
(This article first appeared on April 24, 2008.) Back in the day, me and Dad — we were the only Joe Hages that mattered. Now with this new-fangled Internet thing, there are Joe Hages all over the place! There’s the Lebanese Coalition Joe Hage and the baseball-playing Joe Hage. The legal Joe Hage could defend […]
Strong positioning paves the way for good copy
To (whom),
(who/what) is the (what is your frame of reference?)
that (what is the benefit that the “whom” will realize?)
because (what are your supporting claims?)
Really Bad PowerPoint
Seth Godin is a friggin genius, in my humble opinion. And I told him so back in 1999. Had I not read his first book, Permission Marketing, I wouldn’t have had the knowledge and jargon I needed to secure a job with 1-800-FLOWERS.COM that got me started online. (He was very courteous in his reply; […]
Seattle Marketing Strategy: The first three questions
These are the first three questions you need to answer before you spend any marketing money. I ask these three questions whenever I start a new project. In fact, I find it impossible to build a solid plan without these answers.
Seattle Marketing Strategy: Six ways to persuade people and grow your business
My take on Robert Cialdini’s “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion,” among the most important marketing books I’ve ever read.