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  • Inside The Mind

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    Red Fish . . . Blue Fish — Marketing Reinvention ROI

    Thursday, March 8th, 2007

    An associate emailed me saying that his business partner was heavily into the philosophy expressed in “Blue Ocean Strategy” and wanted to know if I thought it was useful or a waste of time. 
    Here’s what I wrote:
    “Blue ocean . . . red ocean . . .
    Like what you read? Then click here to buy me [...]

    Top 10 Usability Film Bloopers

    Thursday, February 15th, 2007

     Web usability expert Jakob Nielsen has this wryly-humorous article on the technology gaffs we take for granted in movies and TV shows. I clipped the sum-up because it contains the

    Like what you read? Then click here to buy me a coffee.

    24 Redux - Copywriter/Agent-For-Hire Returns

    Wednesday, January 17th, 2007

    It’s started again and if you’re missing a four hour chunk of your life, then it must mean another season of Fox’s “24″ has begun.
    Last year I blogged about the parallels some clients made between my focus as a copywriter and strategist to Sutherland’s character Jack Bauer.
    In fact, one client
    Like what you read? Then click [...]

    Walter’s Rule #05 - Part 2

    Monday, December 18th, 2006

    “Never hide the pain” frequently works with another law that hasn’t been numbered and it’s called “Picard’s Law” first mentioned in the pilot episode of Star Trek - The Next Generation. I’ve adopted it as an operational philosophy ever since.
    Picard said, “If we’re going to be be damned [judged], then let’s be damned for who [...]

    Walter’s Rule #05 - Never Hide The Pain

    Friday, December 15th, 2006

    While it’s my rule, I didn’t create it. Initially it formed one of the core tenets of effective software testing protocols pioneered by James Bach, one of the field’s premier thought leaders.
    “Never hide the pain [from your clients],” Bach intoned as he mentored us into the software testing world. As project test leads, our clients were huge software [...]

    The Right Things Done At The Right Time

    Friday, October 27th, 2006

    UPDATE: For some reason this never posted to the Yahoo GTD-MindManager Group for people who use David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” approach to productivity and also use Mindjet’s MindManager business mapping software (talk about a niche market!). After two unsuccessful attempts, I’m posting it on my blog because I often get asked the type of [...]

    Got The Facts? Check

    Friday, October 20th, 2006

    Ok, yesterday I gave you a way to verify and suss out results from actual scientific research and results that have have skewed to support a particular POV.
    If you haven’t read that fact-finding post, then click here to learn why working from the actual facts in marketing and life is a Good Thing.
    Today I have for [...]

    Copywriter Ant-ics

    Sunday, October 15th, 2006

    I love my ant farms. Yes, farms as in plural. And I’m not talking about the old Milton Bradley ones from the 50’s that were flat, filled with white “sand” and with the plastic farmstead on top.
    No, I’m talking about the Antworks habitat developed by NASA. Cool, space-age design, blue gel that serves as tunneling [...]

    Studio 60 - Watching Others Squirm

    Monday, October 9th, 2006

    Mondays nights are my time to watch others squirm on the creative hook. I get to check out my life from an outside perspective and watch someone else wrestle with the creative beastie.
    It’s official. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is my favorite new show of the season. It vies for the #1 slot with [...]

    Last To The Party But 1st In Sales

    Tuesday, September 26th, 2006

    Why is that?
    Why is copywriting always last on the list of “things we must do?”
    It’s silly when you pause and consider it. If there’s no content on your site, how will people know what you’re selling in order to make a buying decision?
    Ah, but you’re thinking ‘That’s ridiculous, Terry. No one would ever put up [...]

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