Two roads diverged in a yellow wood (How to plan for growth in 2012)

(my apologies to Mr Frost) When you’re trying to grow a business, it’s not really two paths that diverge is it? It’s more like ten. Or twenty. Or…what day is it today? It could be a hundred. (By the way, this doesn’t have anything to do with the sheer number of hats – I hadn’t [...]

Franchise Marketing – Why Invest in Local Marketing?

It’s a question that was posed to me the other day whilst I was speaking to a franchisor about my company’s new Franchise Marketing System (you can read all about how it helps you support your franchise network in effective local marketing). They spend a fortune on marketing, he argued, so why would they spend [...]

Somewhere over the rainbow…

It’s been a long month. (Scratch that. October WAS a long month, and now we get to see how November pans out. Here’s hoping eh?) So yeah, it’s been a long month. A long month of ups and downs. A lot of time spent reflecting. A lot of time spent searching. Even some time spent [...]

We’ve shined our shoes, cleaned our suits…all we’re missing is a punch bowl…

It’s a pretty exciting time here at Designate. It’s not every day you get to see three years of hard work come together. But it has come together, and I get to walk around the office with my chest puffed out (for a while, until the ladies manage to deflate my head). I’m very pleased [...]

Take a little time…a little time to get to know me.

I feel a song coming on. Or not. Either way, really. I was speaking to a group of franchisors the other day. (For those of you who don’t know the term, a franchisor (person or group/company) sits at the head of a franchise. They are the people everyone else buys their franchise from. They own [...]

5 ways to ruin your new product launch

Bold and beautiful title, eh? Yep, today I have a very simple message to people who are looking to bring new products to the market: be careful. That’s not meant to be negative. There are lots of great examples of recent companies that have brought new and innovative (or some combination of the two) products [...]

If the ship is already sinking, you probably can’t get it fixed…

As someone who has owned and run a business for the past six(ish) years, there is nothing that makes me sadder than to see a business close its doors. No matter whose fault it is, how stupid the decisions were, or how incompetent people have been, it still makes me feel a bit sick to [...]

I say potato, you say pot-ahhhh-to, dahling…

I love meeting people in marketing. Particularly ones who, with a great deal of self importance, introduce themselves as someone who is an expert because they are a fellow of something, studied somewhere or have some letters after their name. If you can add the three little beauties ‘MBA’ as well, chances are I’ll have [...]

I’m just going outside and I may be some time…

It’s been a while since I had the time to sit down and write. Too long. Things have been pretty hectic here at Designate HQ, and most of it is falling on my shoulders. I have a new team of people starting up in the next couple of weeks but, until then, it’s crunch time [...]

Sometimes it’s my job to tell you that you look fat in that dress.

I was sitting down for coffee with a fellow marketing man the other day. To be fair, I try not to do that too often, but every once in a while it’s ok, right? Anyway, there was a bit of a sales pitch on his side of the table, but he was a nice guy [...]