My favorite conversation starter at a dinner table with a client and their key employees (who are usually sick of talking to each other about work) is: “So, what do you like to do outside of the gun world?” These folks who’ve worked together for years sometimes end up learning interesting new things about each other, and I’m invariably reminded about just how [...]
Which way did this rub you? How did you react when you first saw this truck? On social media, especially among gun industry people, I saw two opposite reactions. One was: “I ordered mine already” (or the admiring equivalent). The other was horrified, that it doesn’t look like a truck (or like an El Camino mated with a Pontiac Aztec). Obviously, no one was talking [...]
Every Vacation Day Carry? I'm a fan of good marketing. I loved Mad Men and I admire the fictional genius of Donald Draper. I’m probably not the only one who likes to play armchair ad-man now and then. Still, I admit it’s a lot easier to criticize after the fact than to create a good marketing campaign from scratch. For example, a Facebook meme revealed that [...]
HOW TO PROTECT “COOL” TWO FAMILIAR WAYS TO PROTECT PRODUCT DESIGNS, PLUS A THIRD WAY YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF AND CAN UNDOUBTEDLY AFFORD. Everyone wants a patent. It’s perfectly logical to want to protect a new product. Technical innovations help set you apart in a crowded marketplace and a patent prevents anyone else from offering your innovation for 20 [...]
Because I’m constantly advising clients having branding challenges to read this old newsletter article, I decided to break my rule against reruns. Based on the feedback I have gotten, this may be one of the most valuable articles I have written in a long time. I hope you think it’s a “keeper” even the second time around. Guess who kept Daddy too busy to write a [...]
Our Industry’s Missing Market Segment Almost Nothing to Do With Guns, But... Have you ever sat down to a big round table with a bunch of industry folks, and the conversation just didn’t quite get off the ground? I had a dinner last month with a good client, but with a bunch of key people I didn’t yet know very well. When the conversation stalled, I got out my [...]
