What you want

After a few years of writing, rewriting, editing, some more rewriting and drinking copious amounts of tea,  it's finally out. My first novel: A perfect flaw was one of those stories that will taunt you until you tell them. So I did. A story about friendship, fear and changing the world is now freed.

I always imagined writing a book would be as easy as writing anything else. It wasn't. It taught me how to wait, how to love early mornings and how to claim the computer back from the cats.

It also taught me that chasing your dreams is a bunch of hard work and compromises. But if that's what you want, there's no other way.

Here's to new stories.

3 common words that might be failing your marketing

If you're serious about marketing, then you don't need these three one-way words: push, promote, spread the message. They assume your audience is a passive vessel that can be brainwashed into liking your product/idea. 

If your communication or marketing plans are about pushing out messages, then you've taken your audience out of the equation. Nobody wants to be trapped in an elevator with someone who's going to spend all the time talking about themselves.

Marketing is all about building relationships. It needs to go both ways.

Pushing out messages will fail you. Instead, get to know your partners in dialogue and listen to what they have to say. It will make all the difference.

The myth of the general public

The general public migh have won the battle in statistics but lost the war in communications.

How can you talk to teenagers, single fathers, sports enthusiasts, working class, the seniors and musicians at the same time and still stay relevant?

The truth is, you can't. General public is like a cloak hiding everything that makes a person unique and different.

Talking to everyone is like throwing a few thousand messages off the plane, hoping some will catch. It's vague, impersonal and easy to ignore.

People don't want thousands of messages that are made for anyone. They want just one made for them.

Who needs facts?

Almost all of the important decision I've ever made were based on my gut feeling. And it seems I'm not alone in this eather. Whether we like it or not, emotions drive our decisions.

In fact as it turns out the use of facts (e.g. debunking myths) will produce the opposite effect and reaffirm people's existing belief instead of swaying them the other way.

Time after time we learn that facts don't work. So why use them?

Maybe a better question to ask is when (not) to use them. If communication works on an emotional level, then facts are a great second step to support your approach.

On the other hand, if you start with facts, you will never touch people's hearts.

“People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe.

― Simon Sinek”

When the curtain is down

We're led to believe that what matters most is getting under the spotlights.

Those few moments on the stage when all eyes are on us and we're ready to shine.

Except that our audiences decide who we are when the curtain is down.

What matters is what we do when we think no one is looking. Do we put our values to action or are we preparing for those 5 minutes under the spotlights?

Cases like Nestle using child slavery to make their products or Volkswagen cheating on emission tests show how important it is for brands to walk the talk. Managing reputation is always more about doing that it is about saying.

So how does your brand look when the curtain is down?

Faster is not better

Sometimes the shortest way to good results is taking the time without looking for the shortcuts.

This might seem counter-intuitive in the world of constant hacking and it's easy to feel pressured.

After all, how can you tell you'll get something equally valuable in return as a result?

You can't. There's no guarantee and it's only natural to feel anxious. It's possible to recover the lost money but lost time is something you can never get back.

And that's exactly why it matters. Taking the time is possibly one of more honest ways of showing you care.

It doesn't take a lot, to make a difference. But it does take time.