What’s New
Podcast: Linda Popky appears as a guest expert on Technically Speaking to outline your steps to launching and promoting your book! - Listen
Podcast: Linda Popky and Dan Weedin (Shrimp Tank Podcast) talk with Brett Clark from BC Fitness about the importance of staying active and doing resistance training to slow down muscle loss as we age. - Listen
SAC® Press Release: "Companies Eye Innovation and Disruption in Volatile Economy" – Read Release.
Video: Just a Moment for Marketing: One-minute marketing tip videos. – View over 100 videos.
eBOOK: Top of Mind: 101 Insights to Transform Your Business
Purchase PDF or ePub book.
Subscribe to the Top of Mind Thursday Newsletter
Free articles download with sign up
Marketing Above the Noise
Introducing Dynamic Market Leverage™, an approach to help cut through the clutter, stand out, and effectively build business.
Available in Hardcover and eBook formats
Top of Mind Thursday Memo Archive
Top of Mind Thursday – November 4, 2022: Two Sides of the Same Pill
Yesterday, when I walked into my local CVS to pick up a prescription, I found 7 people in line in front of me.
Immediately, my blood pressure went up. How long would this process take? How much time would I waste waiting, while the people behind the counter berated the customers about something or another related to their order? How many times would I hear excuses and arguments about why refills weren’t completed when promised?
Then I remembered I was at CVS and not Walgreens, where we’d had our prescriptions filled for years. It was at Walgreens that we’d suffered horrible customer experiences that bordered on the absurd. At one point, a clerk glared at us, pointed to a huge stack of paper and told us, “Your refill is somewhere in that stack. We’re not sure when we’ll ever get to it.”
We stuck with Walgreens much longer than we should have. Because they had all of our medical records. The store was open 24 hours. It just seemed easier to stick with the status quo. Until it wasn’t. Hours were cut. Other stores were closed–forcing more people into the queue at our local store. The pharmacy was understaffed and overworked. The staff was miserable and they took it out on the customers.
The other reason we stuck it out was in the back of my mind I thought, this must be the way pharmacies run in 2022, post-pandemic, Great Resignation and all that. Will anyone else be any better? But the “lost in the stack” incident, was the final straw.
I asked our doctors to start sending prescriptions to CVS and something strange happened. We went in the store and had a friendly experience. The lines were shorter–and they moved more quickly. The staff was friendly. If something was out of stock, they apologized–they didn’t argue.
The products we purchased were exactly the same. The experience could not have been more different. I no longer dread a trip to the drug store (some of my daughter’s meds need to be picked up in person, and can’t be handled through mail order).
Time in that line yesterday? Five minutes. Seven customers served in five minutes–all with courtesy and efficiency. Not only did the staff have smiles on their faces, when I left there was a smile on mine, too.
Check out our marketing thought leadership podcasts and the video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
.
Let us help your business rise to the top.
linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com
Top of Mind Thursday – October 27, 2022: The More Things Change, The More They Stay the Same
Four years ago today, the country was shocked by the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, when eleven people were killed in the worst antisemitic attack on US soil.
Since then, attacks against synagogues and community centers reached an all-time high, rising 60% from 2020 to 2021 alone. Antisemitic incidents in general rose 34% year over year.
This week, a number of businesses pushed back against Kanye West’s recent anti-semitic rantings and ravings. The list includes Gap, Foot Locker, JP Morgan Chase, Instagram, Twitter, Peloton, TJ Maxx, and Adidas.
While these organizations are to be commended for not ignoring this dangerous behavior, no one should be fooled into thinking this solves the problem. “Cancelling” one bad actor doesn’t make the problem go away.
Two weeks ago, former president Donald Trump posted a diatribe that warned American Jews to get their act together “before it’s too late.” Given that remarks from Trump caused more than 2000 people to storm the US Capitol on January 6th, what could this type of veiled threat unleash?
In August, a school district in Texas removed the Diary of Anne Frank from its curriculum because they found the content disturbing. Huh? What happened during the Holocaust should disturb us, as should the Tree of Life shooting, Kanye’s behavior, and all the rest.
The fact that this is still happening in America in 2022 is what’s most disturbing. To quote Joseph Heller, “Just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean they aren’t after you.”
Some things never change.
Check out our marketing thought leadership podcasts and the video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
.
Let us help your business rise to the top.
linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com
Top of Mind Thursday – October 20, 2022: That Didn’t Last Long
Today, Liz Truss, Prime Minister of the UK, resigned after only 6 weeks on the job.
Those of us in the US are used to having to wait anywhere from two to six years to remove politicians from office–depending on whether they are representatives, presidents, or senators. But in the UK and other parliamentary democracies, a change in power can happen very quickly.
Truss was likely the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time. Just two days after her initial meeting with Queen Elizabeth, the Queen died–throwing England, the Commonwealth, and much of the world into a state of mourning. Then Truss promoted extremist policies that were not well-received by the financial markets or her constituents. Aides and appointees began to quit and the whole thing unraveled rapidly.
It will be interesting to watch what happens next. Will someone new be brought in to sort out this mess–or will former PM Boris Johnson come back for another round? And how much long-term damage has this episode caused to the country?
As tough as this situation is, it’s refreshing to see a bad decision acknowledged and dealt with quickly. How many times do we know in our gut something’s not right, but we continue down the same path for quite awhile longer–either because we want to confirm our suspicions, or because we’ve already made an investment we don’t want to write off?
Sometimes, it’s better to say so long quickly and move on.
Check out our marketing thought leadership podcasts and the video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
.
Let us help your business rise to the top.
linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com
Top of Mind Thursday – October 13, 2022: Reinvention
This week, we held the 19th Annual Meeting for the Society for the Advancement of Consulting.
Our annual theme has been Reinvent for Success which, given what’s going on in the world right now, has been quite apropos. Entire global alliances are being revisited in response to the Russian threat in Ukraine, fuel and food prices are rising, natural disasters are accelerating the movement to fight climate change, and the threat of recession lurks.
Our speakers spoke about disruption, global trends, managing across cultures, supply chain issues, and handling intergenerational workplace issues. We had sessions about using podcasting as a strategic tool, increasing the size of your mailing list, closing sales in today’s world, and more.
This was the third year we held this event virtually, since we knew it was unlikely we could get a critical mass of speakers and attendees to New York for an in-person event. By now, we have much of the process down and things ran fairly smoothly. That means it’s time to change things up for next year. The world is changing and we need to change, disrupt, and reinvent to keep pace.
What are you doing to reinvent yourself and your organization for what’s coming? The choice is not about whether or not to change. It’s about whether you consciously take control of the situation or let someone else reinvent your world instead.
Check out our marketing thought leadership podcasts and the video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
.
Let us help your business rise to the top.
linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com