I ignored AI for a long while after ChatGPT was released. I was turned off by the AI-everything hype; sad to think of its impact on art and humanity while the technologists extolled its virtues.

Why positioning is the foundation for building a successful brand

If you're looking for the latest customer acquisition 'hack,' stop reading now. But if you're ready to build a sustainable engine that consistently delivers customers to your business, my two decades of B2B marketing experience has taught me something: while tactics evolve rapidly with technology and ever expanding media landscapes, the fundamentals of successful acquisition remain constant.

When luxury brands streamline their buying process too much, something unexpected happens: perceived value drops. Psychologist Daniel Kahneman's research on how we think explains why: cognitive effort in decision-making directly influences how we value those decisions.

While it's important to get your product right, your brand right and price right, timing is everything.

The markets and the world at large wants to pull you to the center. That safe, predictable place that appeals to the most people. It's the all things to all people sector. And it has a fierce grip on us.

We talk about creating brands that engage. That are beautiful, purposeful. That spark all the right emotions and solve all the right problems better than anyone else. But that "wow factor" doesn't maintain itself. The reality? Your ability to consistently delight customers depends on getting the boring things right.

The classic startup mistake: A founder (often an engineer) gets excited about an idea and immediately starts building. She's scratching her own itch, convinced others will share her enthusiasm. Launch day arrives and... crickets.

Be findable. Be remarkable. How can you build an enduring brand like Katz's Delicatessen today?

New York City is fast and expensive. It requires a certain energy to thrive there. It lives and breathes the definition of hustle. Forget side hustles. Hustle's the main thing.

Ever notice how some B2B brands just feel different? They're not just more polished or more expensive-looking. There's something else. Something that makes you pause mid-scroll, that makes you actually want to read their guide, that makes you think "these people get it."

We live our lives in motion. Not in the big, dramatic moments, but in the quiet transitions. The elevator ride. The coffee line. That weird pause between scrolling and actually engaging. These are the spaces where real connection happens.

When you’re a start up or small brand trying to compete, it’s easy to look at established players and think they have it so easy because they have the big (bigger) budgets.

Your words have power. They can win you business or cost you hard-earned customers. The words you choose influence how you see the world and how others see you.

There is an adage in business that if you’re not growing, you’re dying. There’s no remaining just as you are.

We can collect data on most everything. Savvy marketers would be remiss not to capture all of the data available to them to measure the ROI of their campaigns. In theory, data helps you avoid the old concept of 50% of all advertising is wasted. You just don’t know which 50%.

It used to be building a brand meant creating a strong logo, color palette, visual guidelines and ensuring it was consistently applied everywhere.

Do you think you make good decisions? Earlier we talked about the problem of too many choices making decisions harder, and where no decision was indeed a decision.Now, let’s get into why we’re prone to making bad decisions.

We're drowning in choices. 52 types of toothpaste. 103 project management tools. 1300 different cameras. Or a wine list that’s a book (talk about the stress of being the one choosing the wine for your business dinner from that)!

Rational economic theory is the holy grail of business. Everyone's obsessed with efficiency. Consultants swarm in with their fancy spreadsheets, promising to optimize everything. Who's gonna argue with that? Afterall, that's what they get paid to do. It sounds smart. Safe. Logical. You’re not going to get fired for being rational.

Earning attention from the RIGHT people is one of the most important jobs you need to do as a brand.