Rohit Bhargava's Blog, page 92

Why Great Brands Don’t Have Obvious Answers

What problem are you solving?

It’s one of the most basic and fundamental questions in business … and one that most brands believe they need to be able to answer. The best ideas solve problems, right? There is a problem with this logic. Ideas that make money don’t just solve problems. Obvious problems are often addressed with obvious solutions. The biggest challenge in this model is to find the problem.

Healthy food often does not taste as good as unhealthy food. The obvious solution is to try a...

What 5 Fake Ads Can Teach You About Great Marketing

Sometimes clients don’t buy great ideas. And sometimes creative people have great marketing ideas for brands they don’t work on. I have thought for years that the greatest marketing idea for Crayola would be to create their own series of coloring menus and crayons for kids, and sell them to restaurants on a monthly basis as a subscription. But I never worked with Crayola, so that idea has just been sitting in my head for years.

Thankfully, the people behind the collection of ads in this post d...

15 Big Brand Lessons From The 2013 Corporate Social Media Summit

There are all kinds of ways to judge the quality of a conference. Some people look at the venue, or the number of attendees. Other look at the list of speakers, or the keynote presenters. Across the dozens of events I attend every year, I have seen or used almost all of these metrics myself. But yesterday I discovered a new metric while networking with speakers and attendees of the Corporate Social Media Summit.

People brought their bosses. Some speakers from last year invited their bosses to...

How To Get Better At Networking: 7 Questions With Porter Gale

Recently I had the chance to sit down with Porter Gale and pick her brain about some smart tips that can help anyone get better at networking. Her new book Your Network Is Your Net Worth features a cover quote from Sir Richard Branson. As if that weren’t impressive enough, she is the former CMO of Virgin America and someone who I’ve crossed paths with a few times at events over the past few years.

As you’ll see in the interview below, she’s also one of those people who happens to be gifted at...

What An 80s Cult Hit Can Teach You About Curation …

In the 1987 cult hit film Mannequin, a chronically unemployed artist landed a job decorating a department storefront window after saving the owner’s life. His partner is a mannequin who comes life at night – and together they create storefront window displays that get people stopping in the streets. It’s a tale of fantasy, but what if there was a way for your brand to create the same sort of irresistable display, no matter what industry you happen to be in?

Content curation is a hot topic thes...

Brand Reputation And Why All PR Actually Is Good PR (Unless You’re Already Famous)

Lots of people who don’t work in public relations will tell you that “all PR is good PR.” In other words, if people are talking about you – it doesn’t matter what they are saying. Then there are those who are in the profession who will usually tell you the exact opposite … that PR can be positive or negative and you need to focus on improving your reputation above all else. Who is right?

The problem is, they both are … in the right situation.

The Challenge of Obscurity

If you are trying to launc...

How Do Big Brands Answer 16 Essential Social Media Questions?

In just a few weeks, it will be time once again for one of my favourite marketing events of the year. No, it’s not the party-filled serendipity fest of SXSW, or the Las Vegas geek-pride gathering at CES. The event I’m talking about is all business … and that’s why it’s one of my top events all year.

On June 12 and 13th in New York, The Corporate Social Media Summit will bring together several hundred corporate brand marketers to talk about a single broad topic: the business value of social med...

How To Choose A Great Blogging Platform That Won’t Shut Down After A Year

It can seem like a risky time to think about starting a blog. A mere two weeks after Twitter decided to shut down the blogging platform Posterous (just 10 months after acquiring it), Yahoo announced that they will purchase the popular blogging platform Tumblr for $1.1 Billion. The panic officially seems to be setting in, as social conspiracy theorists already predict the doomed fate of Tumblr despite Yahoo’s promises to leave it untouched. Though a small minority have hope this acquisition co...

5 Unforgettable Things I Learned From The Office

Fellow fans of The Office television show are sharing a moment of sadness this morning. Last night was the series finale of the documentary-style comedy show that exposed the silly side of the workplace for nine years. For me, the show coincided almost perfectly with my move from Australia back to America and my own journey of joining an American workplace, and then leaving to become my own boss around the time that one of the main characters in the show (Jim) first did the same.

But the real...

Get A Free Copy Of My Newest eBook … Always Eat Left Handed: 15 Surprisingly Simple Secrets Of Success

I want to give you a free copy of my new ebook … but I don’t want you to keep it.*

Let me tell you why. On June 4, my newest ebook will be released and I am writing it for an audience that may not include you. Unless of course you happen to be in high school or college, or starting your career right now.

It’s graduation season and there are lots of pieces of advice floating around the Internet these days. Some are going viral – like the video inspired by a forgotten commencement address from la...