Fear is contagious. You can catch it. ~ Neil Gaiman Do you believe that Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD) is the only way to sell successfully in this tough economic time? I've listened to a number of supposed sales gooroos promote their fear-based approaches, suggesting to their followers that they: Find or create terrifying outcomes our customers haven't thought about, Build a pile of evidence around that threat, and then Go scare the bejezus out of prospects so they … [Read more...]
Pride Before the Fail
So many marketing discussions revolve around our brands. Many marketers think we still control our brands. I don't buy it for a minute. Given the dynamics of today's digitally empowered buyers, I think our brands are beyond our control. Our buyers gather all the information they need to decide who and what we are from other buyers - regardless of our marketing efforts to create our brand. Our brands are controlled in the market - by our true behaviors and results. Here's an example of … [Read more...]
posted on July 8, 2012 by
Lipstick on a Pig
I am so sick of companies spending valuable dollars on rebranding. Why would anyone think that the key to powering breakthrough success is a new logo and color palette? It’s ridiculous. We spend TONS of money, time and resources re-coloring that logo, rebuilding materials, changing the website and revamping the building. What a worthless exercise. As if that’s going to solve the revenue problem we’re facing. Every single time I work with a company that has a revenue … [Read more...]
posted on January 16, 2012 by
Marketing Think for the 21st Century
Never before has it been so important to transform our Marketing Think. Our economy changed, our markets shifted, our targets and their buying patterns advanced, access to information became ubiquitous.... even as many marketers held on to the way we've always done it. So - for the month of January, I'm going to focus my posts on the critical transformations in Marketing Think that I believe must happen for technology marketers to be successful. For any marketers to be successful for that … [Read more...]
posted on January 2, 2012 by
Ego, Gravity and TweetDeck
We humans seem to get stuck in the Gravity of yesterday's successes and power. Sometimes we get so stuck in our power - we think we can dictate to users because of our successes. We forget that the users brought that success. That's human ego guiding your business strategy - and it's dangerous Gravity. Yet it happens a lot in technology companies. We create the latest and greatest cool stuff, we grow beyond our wildest dreams, we are recognized and lauded as a market and … [Read more...]
posted on December 18, 2011 by
You’d Better Damned Well Know Why!
" Stop worrying about Why your buyers buy. They don't even know why they buy!" I heard the above guidance at a marketing event last week. It came from a prominent and well-respected marketing speaker. I almost fell off my chair. I had to fight the urge to stand and scream, "Are you nuts?" I just couldn't believe I heard someone say that. The marketing guidance went something like this: Buyers have no clue why they buy. We vendors shouldn't worry about it … [Read more...]
posted on November 12, 2011 by
Will You Stand Up Against the Cruelty of Man?
My mustang child Maverick was part of the Nebraska 200 rescue, where 200 BLM " protected" wild horses had been abandoned to starve in a federal holding facility. 100 of Maverick's family were dead by the time help arrived - scattered around the small paddock. Maverick was one of the 200 lucky ones. Here is the video of the lucky surviving horses as they were first being cared for by their rescuers. Our Tax Dollars at Work After I met Maverick, I started researching Mustangs. … [Read more...]
posted on February 28, 2011 by
Does Business Growth Trump Social Responsibility?
A TV ad for Plan B popped up last weekend - smack dab during date time. Wow, an emergency contraceptive ad at 10:20 on a Saturday night. Tell me that isn't brilliant audience targeting. I saw it flash through on Saturday night during House - another sweet piece of profiling, IMHO. Hats off to the media dudes! I'm impressed. I am also stunned at the complete lack of social responsibility. Before you call me an old fogie, let me say that I understand we're a much more open society … [Read more...]
posted on February 23, 2011 by
