May 16, 2008

We've all been there. In fact, I just visited this place of client frustration and fear a few days ago. It usually happens when the solution provided to the client's (or boss's) problem will cost them time, money and stress. At that very moment, we stand at the precipice.

May 13, 2008

No business that strategizes around making people happy by giving them a voice and a sense that they have a stake in your business will experience less wealth. In the simplest sense we are talking about building relationships and communities around our business and the products and services we produce.

April 21, 2008

As America seems to be less and less about values in the eyes of most of my boomer friends, one has to wonder if they matter in business. I call my business a values-based business, because we stated the values that underpin the business in our business plan before the business launched.

March 31, 2008

Last Friday, I attended the IMCNE (International Management Consultants New England) ThoughtLeader Conference as both a learner and a presenter. I learned much more than I expected. The key to my learning, or -- better yet -- my remembering, happened at the general session entitled Speaking to Different Audiences.

March 25, 2008

There is good reason for politicians to raise values as political campaign issues. Polls show time and time again that Americans care about values.

March 6, 2008

The New York Times (After Suicide, Blog Insults Are Debated) reported on March 5 that, "Visitors to AgencySpy and AdScam, two sharp-tongued blogs written by advertising industry insiders, posted comments blaming the sites for contributing to the suicide late last month of Paul Tilley, 40, the creative director of DDB Chicago."

February 26, 2008

Recently, I had a great conversation with Patrick Byers, President & CEO, Outsource Marketing, about ethical marketing. The subject is what brought us together.

February 19, 2008

General Electric’s Mission Statement from 1981 through 1995 under CEO Jack Welch is described this way in Welch’s best-selling book, Winning: “to be the most competitive enterprise in the world by being No. 1 or No. 2 in every market—fixing, selling, or closing every underperforming business that couldn’t get there.”

January 28, 2008

In the last 18 months of sharing my thoughts on my blog, guest blogging at other's blogs, and visiting others at their social media sites, I have read and heard every emotion, from love to hate, and have been both a beneficiary and a receiver of those emotions.

January 14, 2008

Last week, Richard Binhammer from DELL twittered me about the launch of Regeneration. Once at the site, the first thing I saw was a box inviting me to leave my idea in answer to "What Does Green Mean to You?" I love being asked my opinion, so right away, Regeneration won me over, and I blogged about it. Within the first 24 hours the post received more than 500 unique page views.

December 10, 2007

In addition to borrowing the oft-used title above, I am using the insights of writers and listeners much more tuned into listening than am I -- including Swami Chinmayananda; Brenda Ueland, a prolific Minnesota author and columnist; and Terry Wildemann, CCSE, CPBA, Performance Consultant, Reiki Master, Image Plus. In saying this, I am admitting that I struggle with the Art of Listening. In my experience, I am in the majority.

November 29, 2007

Recently, a number of bloggers have criticized Facebook as a site that is becoming more nuisance than valuable. Those criticisms seems to be aimed at the addition of advertising and the number of member messages hitting their inboxes. Even Time Magazine has decided to notice Facebook. And, I wonder, why all this sudden attention?

November 26, 2007

Happiness is the driving force behind everything Americans do. It is the key to determining their wants, needs and desires. It is the essence of the American Dream and is as important as the air you breathe.

November 7, 2007

Anyone who knows anything about me knows that I love to talk. I love it most when there are a group of us discussing something provocative, almost anything will do.

November 5, 2007

Because I am in the biz, I like to think that I am unaffected by marketing, particularly the advertising wing. Wrong! The truth: I am unaffected by bad marketing, which I think is best represented by much of today's advertising.

October 11, 2007

Fifty years ago, Chevy ads were the best. I know that because I still remember them, and I am not one to remember what I ate for lunch, let alone 50-year-old ads. Although we were a Ford family in the '50s, we became a Chevy family because of Dinah Shore and these great ads.

October 1, 2007

Too many. If you have ever needed a plumber you know what I mean. This past week, I needed one. And many calls and voice mails later, one of them finally returned my plea for help. But, of course, after he came to fix my problem, I had to reschedule. Why?

September 24, 2007

Several get-togethers of bloggers who met in the virtual world happened last week, and from all reports a good time was had by all and new friendships were made.

September 13, 2007

Few things are more important in life and in business than communications that are clear and concise. And, I think I can safely say, few things are more scarce in life and in business than those kinds of communications. That said, while few I know seldom have problems speaking, many of us have or will experience writer's block. What to do?

September 7, 2007

Is too much of a good thing a bad thing? The answer to that lies somewhere between black and white, in the very depths of gray.

August 29, 2007

Even the best bread goes stale in a few days. After a year of blogging and sharing marketing ideas, is it possible bloggers go stale, as well? I think the answer is yes. But does that mean we should shut the doors on our blogs and fade quietly into the background?

August 13, 2007

My friend Valeria recently ran a post here at the Fix that made me think, always a good thing. Called Why Let Friendship Get in the Way?, Valeria shares this: Over the years, I had a couple of instances in which hiring a third party to do a job who was also a friend bit me in the tail.

August 7, 2007

We marketing and business consultants provide our clients lots of smart advice, and when they use that advice we brag on their intelligence. When they don't, we predict their failure. This past weekend I spent some time thinking about that and decided to check myself and my marketing firm out. I evaluated how well we do in taking our own advice and analyzed our successes and failures based on that advice. We did well, but could do better.

July 30, 2007

Last week, I carried on a conversation that began with Joe Jaffe announcing he would exchange sponsorship on his podcast for an iPod, about which Mack Collier wrote a thorough examination of monetization vs. value.

July 23, 2007

If you read lots of blogs, you likely have come across several posts that discusses selling blog advertising or exchanging space for such things as iPods. The most recent and the best, I think, is Mack Collier's post at The Viral Garden entitled Blog Monetization; How Do We ALL Win?

July 9, 2007

Having a fictitious name or writing under a nom de guerre can be fun, and it can be completely honest. And then, I wonder. Can doing so also provide cover for saying things we might not otherwise say in tones that are offensive?

July 2, 2007

In my youth, in the days before we males were rescued and transformed by feminism, it was popular among us boys to say the following about women: "You can't live with them, and you can't live without them." The same can be said about proposals. Whether we work for the (Wo)Man or ourselves, proposals are a necessary evil. We love them, and we hate them.

June 20, 2007

I can't help but notice a decline in commenting here at the Fix and at the 50 or so blogs I try to visit each week. Furthermore, unless I am wrong, few if any of Mack's Top 25 show weekly increases in readership. More often than not they are showing some decline. (Mack, correct me if I am wrong.)

June 15, 2007

By anyone, I mean customers and clients. The inspiration for this post came months ago when someone here at the Fix, I think it was Ann, wrote a post. I don't recall the specific post... but what I do remember is that the post generated a few comments about phrases that drive people nuts. Two of those phrases were "I think" and "I believe."

June 12, 2007

Yes, it can. My two most recent clients hired me because of what they read on my blog and at my Web site. That is significant because for marketing to be accepted and effective, it must result in sales. I know some disagree, and that's one of the great things about this medium. It is interactive, immediate, and informal... key ingredients to good communications.

June 4, 2007

This past Saturday while watching TV, I was thinking about how programming shows us what marketers and advertisers are thinking with their messaging during particular shows. My disclaimer is that my television fare is limited to news, sports, a few prime time shows and PBS. Although my views are not broad by television standards, I think they are on target regarding a specific audience.

May 29, 2007

This is a story about building relationships online through blogging and how connecting and sharing is about the art of marketing. For this post, we will leave science aside, except for the technology required to blog.

May 22, 2007

Social media is becoming a "wow" strategy and blogs a good tactic to meet some client's needs. In addition to connecting us to a variety of communities that offer various topics, ideas, and potential friendships, its best advantages to us and our clients, I think, are the sharing opportunities. We can get feedback on almost any idea or any topic. We can ask questions. And we can answer them.

May 14, 2007

Most of us learned in Business 101 or during on-the-job training that businesses have to build market trust and credibility in themselves as well as their products and services. If we succeed in doing so, business grows. If we fail to do so, business doesn't grow or at best grows slowly. But how do we build trust and credibility within our markets and within our audiences?

May 10, 2007

Wouldn't it be cool if...? With that question leading the way, 18-year-old Ben Kaufman founded Mophie, named for his two dogs, in 2005. The goal: To create a "funky product development firm based around good people and great ideas." Today, Mophie products are in 28 countries worldwide, at Apple specialist stores, and at Apple retail stores.

May 9, 2007

Before we get too excited about Web 2.0 and social media, here's a little reality check that may get us bloggers thinking about the importance of our blogs or at least about whether businesses should embrace Web 2.0.

May 7, 2007

Word of Mouth Marketing. Brand Evangelism. Buzz. These are not just words and phrases. These are tactics that might make the difference in your business growing or dying. Each depends on the same link for success: people. We sometimes call them influencers.

April 26, 2007

There are several ways to read that question. To clarify, I speak of your local Chamber of Commerce. I know. They don't seem huggable. But think of a virtual action that says, "I like you, and I want to thank you for all you do." So what would that look like?

April 23, 2007

I flew to Dallas this past week, and man, are my arms tired. Well, actually American Airlines flew me there and back. Just wanted to tell a bad joke.

April 13, 2007

We talk a lot about Word of Mouth. Usually it is in the context of Web 2.0. Whether you believe Word of Mouth is just being discovered as a marketing strategy, or whether you agree with me that marketers have been strategizing and measuring word of mouth forever, doesn't matter.

April 11, 2007

The other day at a networking meeting one of the attendees suggested that we need to be more business-like. I replied, "I like it that we are not so structured and that we can have fun while still getting our business done." "What can be more fun than making money?" she countered.

April 3, 2007

Good and great companies don’t sell price, they sell value. Still, too many businesses approach sales as if it is pricing combat between the seller and the buyer, and it is the seller’s duty to win at all costs, especially by discounting. This results in two things: discounting to any level to close the deal, and razor-thin margins that can ultimately mean the death of your business.

March 23, 2007

Sometimes I think those of us who run marketing firms or work in a marketing department forget that although we are the beginning of the sales process, we also need to be involved in the middle and the end. For at the end of the day, our bottom lines and the value of what we do are measured in sales, not direct mail campaigns, sell sheets or packaging.

March 22, 2007

I'm a Baby Boomer. In fact, I'm on the leading edge, having popped into this world in 1946. Although at 12 lbs. exiting a 90-pound mother, it was Iess a pop than a thud. And I'm still causing thuds -- the good kind, I hope.

March 12, 2007

As a college sports fanatic, March is my favorite month. It's the race to the big dance, the NCAA's brightest shining star, and a chance to watch kids being kids playing a game. And that is where I wonder out loud where the kid inside the adult marketer goes as we grow.

March 8, 2007

For those of you too young to remember or who don't follow baseball, before Yogi Berra, Leo Durocher was known as the baseball philosopher. Although the phrase was taken out of context, he is best known for the following: "Nice guys finish last." Not true....

March 5, 2007

Lately, as my readership grows and as I focus more and more on growing that readership, my attention turns to two questions that seem key to communications success (specifically, blogging): 1) Does my content meet my readers' wants and needs and (if so) how? and 2) How do I inspire more comments and participation that adds to my content by adding others' contributions, ideas, thoughts and feelings?

February 26, 2007

My repetitive stress syndrome is becoming so painful that I went entirely ergonomic this week -- keyboard, mouse and mouse pad -- but not without some difficulty.

February 21, 2007

To be honest, in more than 12 years running my own firm, I've only fired two clients. Both because I misjudged their values before taking on the work, and then discovered they required things of me that I would not do.

February 8, 2007

Would you wear someone else's underwear or lingerie? Would you sleep comfortably on a used mattress? Would you purchase one? I don't know about you... but actually getting cooties is a lot worse than the memory of some 6-year-old bully telling other first-graders that I have cooties....

February 6, 2007

The first thing I learned in Journalism 101 is that the headline is the most important part of any story. Why? Because, like a great proverb, we only have a few words to get our message across. And if we fail, readers won't read our story....

February 2, 2007

Where is the fizz, the pizazz, the let's-have-a-party and stand-in-line-groupie-thing, Vista-is-what-it's-all-about splash...?

January 29, 2007

"We all got along fine before the existence of social media (at least the digital kind), so how is it making what we do better or worse?" Our friend David Armano asks the right question over at Logic+Emotion. But what is the right answer? Does one exist...?

January 24, 2007

Now that I have your attention, here's the deal: I just finished reading All Marketers Are Liars by Seth Godin (Portfolio, 2005). This is my first Seth Godin book. Why this one? For exactly the reason Godin says that the title of this book would sell: It's outrageous, and I had to see what the heck he meant by it....

January 19, 2007

Our jobs and our businesses make every effort to get inside our heads and eat away whatever common sense we may possess. If we allow those nemeses to conquer our heads, the heart may soon follow. The old boxing maxim is "kill the body and the head dies." Perhaps the modern world's business maxim should be "kill the brain and the heart dies...."

January 17, 2007

ChoicePoint marked the 21st Century by appointing a Consumer Advocate. For a company dealing in privacy and security, this seems a large step forward. Is ChoicePoint listening? Maybe or maybe not....

January 15, 2007

The iPhone and and the overwhelming attention given to its introduction leads me to wonder: Are we becoming less human as we gravitate more and more toward gadgets...?

January 11, 2007

Recently I found myself in a contemplative mood. Not unsual, as I try to think within myself daily. However, what brings me to this writing is that my friend David Armano finds himself in a similar place. In We Are Fragile, David writes: "But today I was reminded about what really matters—and I'm writing this down for my sake more so than yours...."

January 8, 2007

Foolish you. If you won't listen to "who's he to tell us" guys like me, at least take a hint from the famous Mr. Peter Drucker, who said, Business has only two functions -- marketing and innovation....

January 2, 2007

I don't want to steal thunder from our upcoming initial MarketingProfs Book Club discussion, to be led by CK, but I need to borrow from the book for this post. So, instead of stealing thunder, maybe this discussion can catch lightning in a bottle and increase your interest in the book and the book club....

December 26, 2006

The face of many brands. That's right. You are the face of your business, whether owner or employee; the face of your image, whether mom or dad, friend or foe; the face of your volunteerism, whether a museum or a cause....

December 21, 2006

I want to share two personal experiences that provide simple examples of the face of a Brand—the first positive, the second negative....

December 19, 2006

Why are we bloggers so desperate for attention? Why do we go giddy when the traditional mass media takes notice? Are we so insecure that we need others to validate what we do? And why did I break every rule of good writing by starting my post with not one but four questions? Because I want you to notice me, please....

December 12, 2006

Dear Martin: I am sure you worked hard and had the best interests of America West foremost in mind, but this is just wrong, buddy. You can't do this stuff....

December 7, 2006

Rants and raves are good for the soul. They free our spirits. And like my cat Emily, such freedom makes me run around the house feeling good about myself. So without further ado, here are my rants and raves. Feel free to add your own....

December 5, 2006

Some friends and I spent all day and evening in NYC. Mostly we went to visit MOMA, but of course no trip is complete without visiting Rockefeller Center to join the hordes around the christmas tree and skating rink. And then onto Times Square for a few beers and a few more single malts....

November 30, 2006

I admit it, you got me, I am a reading junkie, addicted to words and their meanings and implications. As any reading addict knows, because we live with it daily, they symptoms are severe and can be debilitating....

November 28, 2006

In the 1950s, former Boston Red Sox Centerfielder Jimmy Piersall wrote a popular book called Fear Strikes Out....

November 26, 2006

"One thing that's somehow bothering me is that it seems we get caught up in our own BS.... I know it looks foolish if we don't follow the hottest trend in marketing, but we should know better... is it really a new big thing or did we drink some of our own poison...?"

November 23, 2006

Whether you choose to or not, you likely will eat more than a little SPAM this holiday season....

November 17, 2006

At one time or another, most entrepreneurs and most businesses experience poor to no cash flow and find their balance sheets running on empty. I've been there -- three times with three businesses. At the end of the day, however, most of us pay the bills and we fill the tank for another run....

November 16, 2006

I've since passed my party prime but I still love trying. Last weekend, we used complimentary tickets to a local fundraiser classified as a "blue jeans ball," and that worked for me. The event became somewhat more complex, however, when we received two additional tickets....

November 13, 2006

Since Donald Rumsfeld resigned (or was he fired?), I keep thinking about the significance of having a personality that rubs people like sandpaper across a baby's bottom....

November 8, 2006

Not long ago, I wrote a piece called "Stupid Things Corporations Do." But never did I think that stupid could fall into the moronic range. WalMart proved me wrong....

November 2, 2006

English, of course. But maybe not for long....

November 1, 2006

Whatever happened to communicating to an audience of one? It's one of the first concepts that every writer learns....

October 27, 2006

Anita Campbell posted an interesting article on her blog, Small Business Trends, two days ago entitled It Takes A Million-Dollar Mindset. Here are a few nuggets....

October 25, 2006

Stop and think before you delete! If you don’t, you risk killing your brand and ultimately your business....

October 20, 2006

Only a decade ago, I dreamed of carefree travel and sleeping late once I retired.....

October 18, 2006

If any of you read my recent comments and posts regarding the Edelman fiasco, you discovered my hot button....

October 13, 2006

Writing about nuclear proliferation on a marketing blog may seem nutty, insulting and demeaning. But in trying to come to grips with North Korea possessing a nuclear weapon, I took a different path than most....

October 12, 2006

According to the AP, Netflix is offering $1 million prize for better movie recommendations. Here are the first three paragraphs of the article for any who missed it....

October 9, 2006

Just in from CNET: Blogs to books: A six-figure industry?....

October 6, 2006

In writing the above headline, I couldn't decide if the statement should be declarative, rhetorical or questioning....

October 4, 2006

I just returned from a week-long road trip to Illinois and Michigan. Lines at the airports were better than expected, service on the airlines worse, and shopping experiences a mixture of both....

September 28, 2006

The Happiness Quotient is defined and measured based on meeting people's wants, needs and desires, which may or may not tickle their emotional sides 24/7....

September 27, 2006

A crowd of motorcycles, from Triumphs to Harleys to Hondas, cool quietly in front of Starbucks in one of Connecticut's most upscale, suburban town centers....

September 25, 2006

The buzz today among marketers, brand developers and those who love coffee circles around the announcement that Starbucks raised its drink prices by a nickel, its first price increase in two years....

September 22, 2006

But maybe you can replace it; however, I have my doubts. About what, you ask? The American Automobile Industry, of course.....

September 19, 2006

Before Jonathan Kranz's wonderful post, "WOM Is Not SOB" goes cold here at Marketing Profs Daily Fix, I want to tag along on its shirttails....

September 18, 2006

My first post touched on "The Happiness Quotient," which is the focus of my upcoming book entitled, Lead with Your Heart....