One of many gorgeous beaches near the southwest corner of Portugal. So many people have been asking about my recent Portugal trip, I decided to write about the highlights as well as some travel issues I encountered so you might learn from them. Portugal itself was lovely, but the journey was a lesson in resilience. As someone who has been to more than 40 countries and traveled more than 99.9% of the people I meet, I can say with some authority that customer service levels of the airlines and rental car companies (in this case Icelandair, TAP Air Portugal and Hertz) have gone way down. [ Read More ]
Marketing Communications
From World Travel to Nuance in Communications
I am an avid world traveler, 40 plus countries and counting. All of it for fun. I was reading some of my travel journals recently and came across a gem that I wrote. More on that in a bit, but first some context. [ Read More ]
Basics of Strong Messaging
Creating strong messaging takes skill and experience. That said, the very basics of good messaging are so simple it’s surprising to me how many companies get them wrong. There are three primary things to focus on: clarity, consistency and repetition. [ Read More ]
Your Life as a Museum
In this age of personalized media, I have often thought about the concept of each of our lives as a museum. What would yours look like? What rooms would it contain and what would be in each of those rooms? My rooms might be Exploration, Connection, Adventure, Laughter, Fun and Wisdom. It is an interesting and expansive exercise to define your life in collections like that. It also forces you to think about the things that really matter to you and all that you have done with your life. [ Read More ]
5 Irresistible Daily Newsletters
Some media outlets are doing an excellent job. Today I want to give a shout-out to some of my favorite free daily newsletters. These are the ones I look at regularly and find interesting, intelligent and compelling. Even when I am super busy, I can’t resist taking a quick look at them. [ Read More ]
23 Ways to Maximize the ROI of Media Coverage
It has always been amusing to me how many small to mid-size companies want “really, really great” media coverage, only want to pay relatively little to get it, don’t want to work too hard at it and then have absolutely no idea how to maximize their return-on-investment (ROI) once they do get it. This blog is about the last one. I have been helping companies get great media coverage for many years and below I outline how to maximize the immense value of a positive piece of coverage. [ Read More ]