Month: March 2017

It’s Sunday night and I’m wide awake…hurray daylight savings time

Carl Setzer

Note: I originally wrote this last weekend, but through some crazy glitch, it was scheduled for March 12, 2200. 

Oh, the social train wreck, messing with circadian rhythms en masse, for fun and profit…or at sociopathic delight.

I hate these time-shifts. Firmly in the camp of “these have out-lived any usefulness they might have had”, I fine the tweaks annoying and disjointening (I just made that word up…yay me!).

So, I’m awake when I’d rather be asleep, and only starting to settle down. Being me, I thought it a great time for a blog post.

I spent a good chunk of the evening crafting some new logos for my son’s Youth Choir, the Snohomish County Youth Choir. I’m not super-happy with any of them, but they’re ok. It generally takes a few iterations before I’m ok with my work. And they’re never as good as I’d like. I’ll add them to my portfolio once I’m done and happy.

Also, I moved a bunch of photos into this site today, and built this gallery for my favorites. It’s been long-overdue. Actually, I thought I’d moved everything over and am only just now realizing I hadn’t. I have more work to do with this, which will keep my happily busy.

Anyway, enjoy!

WordPress Photo Gallery Plugin

My focus

Carl Setzer

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A few reflections on marketing 

Carl Setzer

A few quick reflections…

Focus!

  • An easy, and dangerous, trap: selling to everyone! That kills sales, unless you’re already at a huge scale. Yes, Starbucks, Microsoft, etc, market to the planet. They didn’t start there. First they focused on a niche, on quality service. Build the relationship, the connection, a reputation for expertise and quality. When we find our gift, our marketing sweet spot, business will grow. Slowly but surely, growth. In Steven Covet lingo, when you focus on your area of influence, our area of influence grows. The
  • I like feeling special, connected and cared for. There’s a cafe close to home where I talk with the owners, they ask about my family, they suggest coffees based on knowing my tastes. Clearly, they do a great job communicating appreciation to me. And I’ve become an evangelist. 
  • Marketing power comes with knowledge. Yeah, perhaps a bit cliche, but hear me out. First element: expertise. Whether it’s a specialized real estate niche, coffee and pastries, burgers…It can anything. Second: know thy customers! What do they like, what makes them happy, what they hate; you get the picture. Lastly, with both bits of power, build marketing tools to grow that connection. There are so many great customer/client relationship tools out there which let you build specialized communication plans. Spend time building out those tools, knowing them, using them to make your customer’s lives better. 

That last line is the key: “make your customer’s lives better”. Every action needs to push that way, drive with that focus. 

I Wanna Go Back by Eddie Money and Looking At Change

Carl Setzer

Perhaps it’s the planning for my son to start high-school, perhaps it’s just hitting the 50s, actually add this to all the other changes going on in my life right now and this song has been speaking to me.

It’s been one of my favorite 80s tunes since it hit the airwaves way-the-heck-back-in-the-day.  Yet it’s meaning has evolved. I guess that should be a “no duh”, but, there you go.

Awakened Early 

Carl Setzer1 Comment

These moments

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