The money is not in the list.
Every second self-appointed digital marketing guru who offers to help me, making the offer in a mass email, proves the point in the headline. They have a list, bought from somewhere claiming to have a 'relationship' of some sort with me. However, they still...
The 11 reasons so much marketing is crap.
I have been at this 'marketing' game a long time, long enough to know that the bits you see, as a customer, prospective customer, or just by accident, are only the tip of the iceberg. For many so-called marketers, what you see is the whole iceberg, they are...
Where is the SKAM in Marketing and Sales
In many major companies, there has been a number of new positions created in the last decade to try and accommodate the changes in the strategic and competitive environment. Among them has been the 'Chief Revenue Officer' (CRO) In some cases, this reflects the...
The three drivers of domain knowledge
Often when seeking advice, we set out to find those who have 'Domain' knowledge'. Those who know what we need to know because they have 'been there done that' or have studied the domain extensively for one reason or another. When you break it down, there are three...
Should housebrands be illegal?
Retailer 'brands' have taken a huge toll on the ability of proprietary marketers to profitably market their brands and build markets in FMCG. A proprietary marketer may spend several years and make a huge investment in product R&D, market research,...
The ‘why’ and ‘how’ of a successful daily huddle
Chasing improvements in an enterprise comes down to doing the small things well, every time, and continuously improving, generating a compounding effect. The best way to achieve this is for everyone involved to be engaged in the process, have a stake in...
Ultimate Test: How much do consumers value their privacy?
A few weeks ago, Apple released an upgrade of their operating system, iOS 15. This release includes a (potentially) monumental change in the digital world of communication. Its default is to turn off the ability of a third party to track your online activity....
The recipe for culture change
Culture change is perhaps the hardest challenge to be faced by any leader. It can evolve over time, with patience and commitment, but every successful change I have seen comes after a catalytic event of some sort. Many years ago, I worked for a manufacturing...
Simple and true are not the same
Part of the job of marketing is to make the complex simple and understandable, while retaining the essential core of the proposition. As Einstein said, 'Everything should be made as simple as possible, no simpler'. This is the same logic used by 'Occam’s Razor’, which...
What drives brand strength in B2B?
Brand is underplayed as a source of economic power in B2B. We seem to default to the tactical marketing tools used in B2C too easily. Over the years I have concluded that there are only two core elements in B2B brand strength: Trust. Service. They are mutually...