things I learnt, and relearnt, about marketing in 2015
The year has been a blur, they go faster as I get older, something I find disturbing. Rushing headlong towards the daisy bed seems illogical when there is so much left to do. I will be 64 in a few weeks, must be a song there somewhere, but it seems that the older I...
Can the government’s innovation initiative innovate us out of the funk?
Peter Drucker said something like "innovation is the only truly sustainable competitive advantage". Having just re-read his 1985 musings on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, after 20 or so years, the degree of his foresight is truly astonishing. It is great to finally...
The lesson from Nurofen’s leadership folly
Reckitt Benckiser did everything right, and they did everything wrong with their Nurofen brand. How can that be? The ACCC has now successfully prosecuted Reckitt Benckiser in the federal court for misleading consumers with their Nurofen brand of painkillers, requiring...
Small business beating the barriers of FMCG category management
Small business beating the barriers of FMCG category management One of the core challenges in category management is simply the way the term has been interpreted operationally. Let me explain. Category management is a data intensive game, the numbers count for...
The mindset change for small business success
The mindset change for small business success On one hand, digital tools offer small businesses the opportunity to look big, to compete with the big guys on a global stage. On the other, small businesses have the ability to seek out niches that are too small for large...
2 truly powerful innovation words
2 truly powerful innovation words. Harnessing the power of "re-imagination" can turbo-charge your innovation efforts. "What if…….." I was reminded of the power of these two words a few weeks ago when a workshop participant used them while in a breakout group...
The ‘3rd leg’ of commercial sustainability
The "third leg" of commercial sustainability. Most are used to looking at Revenues and Profits as the measures of commercial sustainability. However, there is a third and often overlooked leg, that is to my mind more important as it drives both revenues and margins...
7 myths of marketing automation
Like most interested in this topic, I see a lot of stuff published, and have gone to my share of seminars in an attempt to sort the wheat from the chaff. Over 40 years marketing experience, and having seen the rise and rise of automation, along with the carpet-baggers...
Is your business “solvent”
Many small businesses do not know the answer to that fundamental question. It is technically illegal to trade while insolvent, but many small businesses do it every day, often without knowing. So how do you measure "solvency"? Being solvent means you are able to pay...
3 Foundations for small business marketing success.
Marketing now is as different to marketing just 20 years ago as car manufacturing was before and after Henry. However, the basics remain unchanged, just as happened with the manufacturing disruption Henry brought to building cars. I find myself spending lots of time ...