Pricing Is a Story
Eight principles for setting numbers that do real work Most operators set prices the same way. Add up the costs, pick a margin, peek at what competitors charge, sign off.…
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The Lorax in the Boardroom: Why Marketing Needs an Equal Voice
When I was a CMO, I used to tell the executive team I was the Lorax. I spoke for the people — not the trees. The line landed as a…
The 90% Rule: Why Good Enough Beats Perfect in Modern Business
Perfection is expensive. In this article, Matt breaks down the “90% Rule”: once your product is good enough, chasing the final 10% wastes time, money, and momentum. Learn how Apple, Southwest, and others win by balancing marketing, ops, and experience—and avoiding costly perfection traps.
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The Four Pillars of Brand Leadership: Lessons from a Brand Strategist
Most teams don’t fail because they lack talent. They fail because they over-invest in one kind of excellence and neglect the rest. In this post, I share a four-pillar framework that keeps brands balanced: product experience, economics, positioning, and organizational alignment. Get all four working together, and growth gets easier.
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The Brand Expedition: A Framework for Building Brand Identity That Lasts
A Guided Ascent to Brand Identity Every brand I’ve helped build — from scrappy rural startups to mature regional operators — has needed the same thing at the start: a…
There’s a big difference between building a business and building yourself a job.
Most of the founders I’ve worked with didn’t realize they’d made the choice until it was already made. The choice: are you building a business, or are you building yourself…
The Creative Team Map: Understanding the Roles Inside a Boutique Design Agency
Over the course of my career, I’ve sat in hundreds of discovery calls that opened the same way: “We just need someone who can do the logo, the website, some…
Without a Compass, You’re Just Wandering
Most of the marketing failures I’ve seen weren’t creative failures. They were directional failures. Leadership teams hand down vague, feel-good directives — “we need more engagement,” “let’s get some buzz,”…
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Beyond the Basics: Campaigns that Elevate a Brand
At a certain point in a brand’s life, it no longer needs to introduce itself. The heavy lifting of name recognition, product There’s a moment in a brand’s life when the work…
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Using the 5-Paragraph Order Format for an Effective Business Plan
Most business plans I’ve read fail at the same point: somewhere between “the opportunity” and “the financials,” they stop telling anyone what to actually do on Monday morning. The analysis…