This is the scene that greets you on a video that is all about how important it is in business to stand out from the crowd. Of the three middle aged white men in grey suits it’s the one in the middle giving the advice.

It’s actually quite good advice, and Sticky Marketing is full of good ideas.

But still.

Some niche / ‘deep’ brands are growing towards their natural share; some are struggling because they’ve grown beyond it.

If you have the sense that you are disfiguring what is natural and strong about your brand,  or you’re getting breadth at the expense of the depth that made you grow, then you may be trying to outgrow your natural share.

If you make satisfaction the primary metric of success, then the customers will follow.

Customer sat? How dull. But a relentless interest in it, fascination with how it can happen, can be the engine of a great business.

Policy is essentially elitist. It distrusts the marketplace and decisions of ordinary people. It strives to look after its own

Policy makers tend to make policies that excite and benefit their own kind and those that feed on them.

A big general hospital is like a Victorian town hall: a bulwark against national agendas, and a beacon of local identity.

Fundamentally, a big hospital is saying two things: to the local community ‘We’re Ipswich, Nottingham, Glasgow – we’ll take care of you, our citizens’. It’s also saying to government / the Department of Health: ‘We’re Ipswich, Nottingham, Glasgow – f**k you.’.

Content that builds trust - One of the first jobs of your content is to bridge the gap from awareness to trust building. Your SEO efforts actually marry with this type of content to make sure you are both found and found in abundance.

• How to content – specific advice or tips and tricks
• Reviews – customer reviews on sites like Yelp and Google Places
• Testimonials – endorsements from happy customers
• Articles – articles you’ve written or that mention your firm in outside publications

Content that educates – Once you create awareness and trust a prospect will be hungry to find out much more about your unique approach, your solution, your story and your organization.

• White papers – not boring, dry technical stuff, your best writing tying a bigger topic together
• Newsletter – Weekly or monthly education that nurtures their interest
• Seminars – in person or online, these allow prospects to learn as well as engage
• FAQs – some folks just need the answers to their questions and this format serves well
• Survey data – results from surveys can be very compelling as a way to let prospects know you understand them

Customer generated content – Getting your customers involved in the production of content builds loyalty and community, creates proof of results and gives you another avenue for content creation.

• Automatic referrals and reviews – create ways to move happy customers to a referral and review process
• Testimonials – automate this process by providing online audio and video tools
• Video success stories – create events that bring customers together to tell their story and network

Other people’s content – one of the primary jobs of marketers these days is to provide some insight to the stream of information that our customers face. Filtering and aggregating content produced by others is not only a great service, it’s a great differentiator.

• Custom RSS feeds – create customer or industry specific feeds to share
• Republish, Share, RT – point to and share great content that being produced
• Curate – use tools like Storify to collect and republish customer newsletters

Content that converts – this last category is one that gets overlooked in the write for writing sake view of content. Ultimately, great content has the ability to call and convert prospects to the action of buying.

• In person events – live events are the absolute best way to use content to close
• Case studies – deep studies into the success of another client act as tangible proof in the buying decision
• ROI calculators – use content to help prospects understand the specific value of making a change
• Results – provide documented proof results in simple and easy to understand forms that address the common needs of most prospects.

You value independent thought: at the same time,  you read a paper that you know has a specific political or commercial agenda.

Once you’ve established this, it creates a tension between our thinking and actions that we seek to resolve.

I did what I did. I did it as well as I could.

Could any of us say more?

A church is either a movement or it is a building.

It can operate like a moral community or a property management company. Giles Fraser‘s resignation embodied this choice, and the question is now thrillingly alive for members of the Anglican church.