Each week I receive a tremendous volume of e-mail asking questions about a wide variety of business topics. I received one of these e-mails yesterday which peeked my curiosity as it was not only a great question, but it also challenged me to answer the question in a specific format. The question was: “Can you provide a...
What is marketing? One of the most entertaining things you can do in business is to attend a meeting where a group of senior executives begin to pontificate on the subject of marketing. I have more fun watching people attempt to distinguish between marketing, advertising, branding, business development, sales, communications, public relations, etc. It never...
Looking for a way to enhance your direct marketing initiatives? Look no further than Twitter. Why is Twitter so hot? Why is it the fastest growing microblogging/social media platform on the planet? Because it produces real value, and it does so very quickly. Twitter is arguably the best and most powerful direct marketing tool to come along since email assuming two...
The fact that CEO marketing priorities need to be extremely focused in this tough economic environment should go without saying. The days of spending just for the sake of spending are long gone. As the above graph denoting responses from an eMarketer survey of C-level executive displays, by necessity CEOs have become extremely focused...
I’m often asked how to tangibly measure personal brand equity and my answer is quite simple…The value of a personal brand is directly proportionate to its ability to create and wield influence. When it comes to the subject of personal branding much has been written about authenticity, transparency, marketability, thought leadership, etc., but it...
Great personal brands are simple, understandable, and straight forward in their brand promise. If you want to create a strong personal brand do yourself a favor and avoid the hype and rhetoric being espoused by the masses of overnight personal branding experts who have suddenly flooded the marketplace. Most so-called personal branding gurus are...
Business process meets advertising…it’s about time. I have often been critical of the advertising industry for not adapting to the consumer driven world of social media, and the cross platform nature of what today’s mediums offer. In “Ad Agencies Just Don’t Get It” I criticize their inability to differentiate media buying from branding due to...
Social Media marketing will be critical to your businesses success moving forward. If you don’t have a well conceived and deftly executed social media strategy it will be difficult to drive brand equity in an ever increasing consumer driven market. Our social media practice is the fastest growing segment of our business simply because...
Well, another Super Bowl has come and gone…While the ad rates continue to climb each year, from my perspective, the ads themselves seem to be declining in their appeal and their effectiveness. My belief is that with rare exception Super Bowl advertising makes no business sense whatsoever. My guess is that the Hyundai ads will...
It’s all about the customer…Sync the timing of the message with the needs of the market if you want to achieve advertising success. The above ad is simply brilliant…Hyundai gets an A+ for innovative marketing during tough times, and at the same time gains entry into my “Companies That Get It” category. While I enjoy...
