“Pride, politics, and an overabundance of technology can blind you to the simple truth of what consumers want.” Thus reads the obituary — er, article about Sony’s Ken Kutaragi in Business 2.0. Kutaragi, the onetime genius behind Sony’s videogame consoles, will step down as head of the company’s games division, no doubt to be shuttled […]
Author Archives: Tom McKay
Do you work for money — or happiness?
Tim Ferriss has written a terrific book that explores the imbalance between work and happiness. The 4-Hour Work Week challenges the notion that we have to wait until we’re 65 before we can shake off the yoke of work and start enjoying ourselves. For most people, Ferriss writes: “…the perfect job is the one that […]
Why does it take so long to write?
“The best writing is rewriting.” (E. B. White)
Writing secret
“Where do the words come from? The same mysterious place, I suspect, where notes of music go. They precede ideas, and are inseparable from them. For myself, I bow my head, touch wood, and utter a small prayer that the flow of them never cease.” (Joseph Epstein)
How long should your copy be?
Just long enough to say what you need to say. “Omit needless words. Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.” — The Elements of Style, William Strunk Jr., […]
Do your customers wonder about you?
“The public should always be wondering how it is possible to give so much for the money.”(Henry Ford)
Why your customers aren't paying attention
Let me guess. You’re probably doing a couple of other things while you’re reading this, right? Uh, hello? Are you listening? Marketing’s first and biggest challenge is getting the attention of potential customers. These days that job is harder than ever, because people are paying less attention than ever. They’re doing other things– consuming other […]