Hi, I'm Kelly, the co-founder, creative director, and senior copywriter at Category Archives for Marketing
The longcut – the greatest of all marketing shortcuts
Marketing shortcuts often come with a hefty price, as I was reminded a couple nights ago. I had an allergic reaction to soy that hurtled me into health hell, throat nearly shut, the rest of me swollen like an overstuffed … Continue reading
Why most advertising fails
When you’ve been in advertising as long as I have, you learn that there is really only one reason why most advertising fails, and it’s called fear. How fear manifests with regard to advertising presents in an almost endless list … Continue reading
Mass transit, bicycles and obesity – how about some direct dialog?
As I enjoyed an early morning ski in my neighborhood a week ago, I tried to take a few moments to enjoy the silence of the night. Except I found that 4:00 a.m. Seattle is no longer silent. The noise … Continue reading
Fear: how bad hair, habits and horrible has-beens happen
Fear is a convenient excuse, a procrastination technique, an avoidance tool. Fear is free, so it’s easy to wield it in the face of anything in life that imposes difficulty. A better method is to state your fears, then dispel … Continue reading
On categories – People are people, human is human.
People are people, human is human. All the rest are just categories used to market ideas. Sometimes those ideas are valid, legitimately protective, promoting community and joy. Often though, categories are used as means to impose oppression and promote separation. … Continue reading
Humanity-based customer service is the new rule
Since customer service is a top-down equation, poor customer service experiences are clearly designed with pessimism in mind. Which is odd because that’s a person or a team of people working against human nature to manifest experiences they themselves do … Continue reading
Honest marketing begins within
Honest marketing used to be thought of as impossible. I’m not sure why, but I suspect it had to do with romancing a stone, or to put it more succinctly, polishing a turd (ick). Thing is, honest marketing has always … Continue reading
The toxicity of buddy deals
How often do you try to get ‘buddy deals’? People have approached me, saying a ‘buddy deal’ went south and didn’t turn out how they wanted. So they came to me, saying they wanted to do it the right way, … Continue reading
Kablam! Now it’s a marketing blog
KellyHobkirk.com is now a marketing blog. I’ll still be writing about brands and branding primarily on my branding and advertising firm website, trainofthought.net. Inevitable it is that some talk of brands and branding will still be here because marketing and … Continue reading
Good customer service is good marketing
‘Do unto others’ is a great rule to apply to all businesses. It’s good customer service and smart marketing. Treat people with respect, and they will respect you. If you treat them poorly, they will find they don’t need you. … Continue reading
