It costs you nothing to make me feel important
- Written by: Martha Bartlett Piland
It's easy to make customers and donors want to come back again if you make them feel important. It's inexpensive—even free—to do it. But it doesn't happen by accident.
Are you building a feel-the-love culture?
The infrastructure of your company starts with culture
- Written by: Martha Bartlett Piland
Often unseen, corporate culture is your essential power supply that keeps everything moving full speed ahead. And like technicians who conduct an energy audit, or engineers who design bridges, you need to ensure your organization is fit from the inside out.
Here are three ways to ensure your infrastructure supports a powerful future.
Time flies: use it or lose it
- Written by: Martha Bartlett Piland
In recent years, being busy, overworked and sleep-deprived has become a badge of honor. Ask how they’re doing at a cocktail party or a Zoom meeting, and inevitably, people proudly reply, “I am so busy.” Or they just answer emphatically, “BUSY!”
And especially in times of crisis, these same people feel ashamed to say they have down time or that they took some time away.
Stone Soup: the ancient lesson for today’s brands in COVID-19 crisis
- Written by: Martha Bartlett Piland
You may remember this story from childhood. Stone Soup is a European folk tale where a hungry stranger from out of town convinces the locals that his soup recipe—the basis of which is nothing more than a stone—will become something extraordinary.
BRANDCHANTMENT: a remedy for ailing retailers
- Written by: Martha Bartlett Piland
There’s a lot of talk about how retailing—and other traditional business—is dead. And there’s much hand-wringing and complaining about how those big online giants are unfairly hurting brick-and-mortar businesses.
While some of this pressure on physical locations is unavoidable, many retailers are driving their customers right into the arms of their online competitors.
Don't take the person out of personal service
- Written by: Martha Bartlett Piland
I don’t know whether it’s today’s consumer online habits or a lack of training. But I do know I don’t like it. “What’s the name?” the receptionist blankly asked me at my doctor’s office this week. Ick. There seems to be an epidemic of taking the person out of personal service.
Branders: stop shouting and start listening
- Written by: Martha Bartlett Piland
The strongest brands on earth have a two-sided relationship with their fans. Like any real life relationship, there’s give and take. Speaking and listening.
If you’re only focused on advertising, posting, tweeting and shouting, you’re going to miss what people say—and think—about your brand.
You asked. I answered. Did you hear me?
- Written by: Alexandra Reilly
Recently I received an email from a business asking me to rate a visit. While that visit was very positive, I used this survey as an opportunity to share a different and very negative experience that happened a couple months before that. This is a healthcare organization and the situation involved life and death decisions.
At the end of the survey, I had the option to share my contact information. I decided to share, wondering if anyone would reach out to me to find out more or see what they could do to improve the situation.
And then I waited.
A dear john letter to my (former) favorite brand
- Written by: Martha Bartlett Piland
I’ve been a loyal Mercedes Benz driver for nearly 20 years and four different E Class sedans. The last one let me down so hard I won’t go back. The reason: they cut corners and it broke my heart.
Here’s a warning to brands everywhere about the dangers of subbing cheaper materials and snubbing your loyal fans.
Culture lessons from a turkey wrangler
- Written by: Martha Bartlett Piland
My mother grew up in West Virginia. Like many families at that time, hers had a sizable garden and some chickens and turkeys. Typically, my grandmother tended the garden and kept all the myriad household projects neatly organized and running smoothly. (Martha Stewart would be proud.)
