On August 3, 1997, Lee Clow, then an advertising agency rep, pitched the Think Different campaign to Steve Jobs and the team at Apple. At the time, Apple had a tarnished brand, slumping sales, and they were being dwarfed by Microsoft. The theme, “Think Different,” resonated. And it was what…
Archive for the ‘Planning and Measurement’ Category
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
5 Ways B2B Marketers Can Think (and Act) Different
Continue reading "5 Ways B2B Marketers Can Think (and Act) Different"
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
7 Back-to-School Must-Reads for the Business Bookworm
September always seems to be a month of new starts, new learning and new challenges for me—and probably more so than the New Year. I tend to spend all summer preparing for it, too! This summer, I dove into a large pile of books, and I wanted to share them with you in hopes that you’ll find them…
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Invite Customers to a Never-Ending Talk at the Kitchen Table
A guest post by Andrew Reid of Vision Critical.
When market researchers want to find out what customers think, they do everything—except ask them directly. Face to face. Or even Facebook to Facebook.
For decades, market researchers have surveyed customers anonymously by using methods that …
Friday, May 6, 2011
3 Ways to Ditch the “And” in “Sales and Marketing”
In 2001, I became director of marketing for an enterprise software company. My first day was the annual sales kick-off, where I was ready to go and excited to meet my sales counterparts.
In an early effort to begin aligning with sales, I decided to eat lunch with the Western Region sales team…
Get Clients in 2011: A Simple Marketing Plan
Now through the end of December is one of my favorite times of the year. Not only because I like snow but because these months are when the planners are gearing up for the next year and preparing strategies for the next 12 months.It’s a very exciting time for a goal-driver planner!
If you’re…
Monday, November 8, 2010
An Open Letter to B2B Sales
Dear B2B salespeople,
I am a B2B marketer and, for some time, have felt compelled to write to all of you about the often discussed yet never solved marketing and sales alignment gap. In no way is the intent of my letter to cast aspersions upon you or point the finger for the gap that exists betwe…
Friday, October 1, 2010
5 Things to Know Before Buying Marketing Automation
I had the good fortune of spending most of my childhood in a rural area. One day, when I was 13, my dad asked me to get on our old Farmall red tractor, drive down to the barn and get a few bales of hay. My father gave me a crash course in how to start it, shift gears and steer. And then I was off–…
Friday, July 23, 2010
False Numbers, Lost Revenue & ‘The Karate Kid II’
Now that Netflix can stream movies to computers and through the Wii, my kids are taking full advantage by watching some of the shows and movies I watched as a kid. At any given time in our home this summer, I have been serenaded by the eloquent dialogue of Hannibal from “The A-Team” and even the…
Friday, June 18, 2010
Why We Brainstorm: To Solve, Grow, Think and Create
Research shows we spend half of each working day in meetings. Tens of millions of meetings happen each day. All these meetings about all sorts of topics and all these hours generating ideas can be boiled down into four basic reasons:
To SOLVE or fix something
To GROW a part of the business
T…
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Best Place to Get an Email Budget in 2010: Steal It
Marketing budgets are up this year, according to Winterberry Group, but the email channel may not see the benefit. It will depend on the tenacity and integration of email marketing into both customer acquisition and retention innovations.
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