DW's Blog

Failure

by DW Green — June 26, 2019

Learning from failure is optional.

Failure is a part of life we have little choice over. Learning from failure, on the other hand, is optional. We have to choose to learn. We must consciously opt to do things differently—to tweak and change until we actually get the result we’re after. But that’s hard.Sticking with the same unsuccessful pattern is easy. It doesn’t take any thought or any additional effort, which is probably why most people do it.

Read More – Chip You

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by DW Green — June 12, 2019

If teams follow The Process, they tend to win.

I’m reading The Daily Stoic: 322 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living, by Ryan Holiday. A wonderful book!The June 8^th reading is worth sharing. “Elite athletes in collegiate and professional sports increasingly follow a philosophy known as “The Process.” It’s a philosophy created by University of Alabama coach Nick Saban, who taught his players to ignore the big picture—important games, winning championships, the opponent’s enormous leads—and focus instead on doing the absolutely smallest things well—practicing with full effort, finishing a specific play, converting on a single possession. A season lasts months, a game lasts hours, catching up might be four touchdowns away, but a single play is only a few seconds. And games and seasons are constituted by seconds.If teams follow The Process, they tend to win. They overcome obstacles and eventually make their way to the top without ever having focused on the obstacles directly. If you follow the Process in your life—assembling the right actions in the right order, one right after another—you too will do well. Not only that, you will be better equipped to make quick work of the obstacles al...

by DW Green — June 5, 2019

There is a fine line between reducing costs and maintaining or increasing sales.

A client is considering switching from a weekly ad to a biweekly ad. What effect will reducing print advertising in half do to sales? I don’t know the answer. In the short term maybe not so much. But long term, it could be a different story. Controlling/reducing expenses is a good thing. But there is a fine line between reducing costs and maintaining or increasing sales. Reducing labor expense too much will result in reduced sales. Reducing product purchasing will also reduce sales. And on and on.To me advertising frequency is about brand exposure and having an ad presence on a competitive basis. Though biweekly ads will reduce ad expense, what it will do to sales long term is unknown. To me, any activity that contributes to sales and brand awareness is a prudent expense.

Served

by DW Green — May 22, 2019

Happy Memorial Day.

One of our clients offered a 10% Off Military Discount to all veterans, active duty military and family members for Memorial Day. The only purchase exclusion, gift cards. Many retailers offer similar promotions for Memorial Day. I think this is a great promotion. I especially like the minimum purchase exclusion. It’s important to honor our servicemen and women and their families. They willingly volunteer to protect our freedom, our way of life and our country. My dad served in WWII and my good friends Ron Short and John Jella served in Vietnam. All brave, selfless men. The word served is huge. It describes what our military does. To serve their country. Thank you.I will add this to my promotion list for next year.

Read More – Help!

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by DW Green — May 15, 2019

What the mind expects, it finds.

As a kid, I remember The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale. I never read his book, but the notion of positive thinking seemed to make sense. I’m not sure how aware we are of our own thinking processes but witnessing negative thinking by others can be annoying/challenging! The power of awareness shows up again. For me, self-awareness is a big deal!I read an interesting article, entitled The Power of Staying Positive, by Madisyn Taylor. Here’s a portion of her article…“The words and ideas that we think can shape our lives and drive us toward success and happiness or failure and distress. How you think and feel can have a profound effect on your ability to recognize opportunity, how well you perform, and the outcome of the goals that you’ve set for yourself. When you maintain an optimistic outlook and make an effort to harbor only positive thoughts, you begin to create the circumstances conducive to you achieving what you desire. You feel in control and few of life’s challenges seem truly overwhelming because it is in your nature to expect a positive conclusion. An optimistic mind is also an honest one. Staying positive does not mean that you ignore difficulties or disregard...

by DW Green — May 8, 2019

Marketing Chops!

I received a Hot email blast from Dorothy Lane Market last week. “Hot Sauce Hurrah”, 20% Off all hot sauces! Plus, they told a brief story on eight different hot sauces on their website, two of which are manufactured in Ohio. Sure, last Sunday was Cinco de Mayo, but Dorothy Lane had the marketing chops to highlight a smoking category while promoting their fantastic product variety! I think it’s wise to promote product categories. Consumers have many product choices. It’s great when retailers present them in a single event. Categories like mustard, BBQ sauce, salsa, soup, olive oil, salad dressing, root beer, even oatmeal and more! Variety is a competitive advantage. Show what you got and tell their story! Well done Dorothy Lane Market!