Tag Archives: strategy

Know and Value Your Customer: A Forgotten Rule

Posted on Friday, 24 July 2020 7:52 am by

One of the hardest things to teach marketers is that our customers are everything and that our brands are–in the minds and lives of our customers–tiny, inconsequential things. That level of humility can be hard to achieve, but it’s necessary … Continue reading →

Posted in Marketing, Strategy | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Chumbox Your Users While Taboolaing Your Brand Equity

Posted on Monday, 1 June 2020 11:59 am by

Avinash Kaushik created a (new to me) term the other day. In his email on Friday, he coined the term Taboolaing to refer to the use of the chumboxes offered by dreadful companies like Taboola to destroy one’s brand equity. … Continue reading →

Posted in Branding, Leadership, Marketing, Strategy | Tagged , , , , ,

Digital Marketing Tips From El Al

Posted on Wednesday, 24 January 2018 8:57 am by

El Al airlines has never been bombed and only hijacked once. This in spite of being a constant target for well-funded and persistent criminals. An enviable track record. How do they do it? Isaac Yeffet, El Al’s former head of … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, digital marketing, fraud, Media, Philosophy, planning, Security, Strategy | Tagged , , , , , , ,

No Real Marketer Wants Their Budget Increased…

…properly-trained marketers focus on improving business performance. A bigger marketing budget might be a second order effect.

Aside | Posted on Wednesday, 24 January 2018 7:10 am by | Tagged , ,

Data-driven?

When somebody claims they’re a data-driven marketer, generally that means their actions are driven by cursory analysis of biased data sets, and that they lack a coherent strategy.

Aside | Posted on Tuesday, 28 November 2017 7:54 am by | Tagged , , , ,

On the Radar

Out of nowhere, something appears on your radar. You’re not sure how long it’s been there. You can get upset that you never noticed it before, because it might have changed the last decision. Or you can acknowledge that you … Continue reading →

Aside | Posted on Wednesday, 25 October 2017 7:09 am by | Tagged ,

“Digital” is Just Accelerated Direct Marketing

Says the great Drayton Bird in his email this morning: “On-line marketing is just accelerated direct marketing.” He’s right. It’s therefore more important than ever that your marketers are properly trained: it’s harder to keep the rubber on the road … Continue reading →

Aside | Posted on Thursday, 27 July 2017 11:14 am by | Tagged , , ,

Before You Worry About Match Rates…

Posted on Wednesday, 19 July 2017 9:12 am by

But before you get bogged down in match rate discussions, the more important strategic work needs to have been done up front. Never delve into tactics without understanding the mission and the strategy to accomplish the mission. Continue reading →

Posted in digital marketing, Direct Response, Marketing, Media, Strategy, Tactics | Tagged , , , , , ,

Your Mission and Vision are Lousy

Posted on Friday, 30 June 2017 7:40 am by

I was talking about company mission and vision statements with Paresh Shah, a good and smart friend of mine. During the discussion, he gave me a simple rule to see if your mission was good or not: “Write out the … Continue reading →

Posted in Branding, Marketing, Philosophy, Product Development, Strategy | Tagged , ,

Advertising Needs More History Majors

Posted on Monday, 20 March 2017 10:15 am by

In the United States in 2014, only 1.7% of the undergraduate degrees awarded were history degrees. In the period since 1971, the share of history and social sciences degrees has declined from 18% to 9%. 1 Why study history? According to … Continue reading →

Posted in Leadership, Marketing, Philosophy, Strategy | Tagged , , , , ,