Why your best marketing department might already be sitting in the office next door. Many people in business believe that it takes large teams of marketers to build a successful brand. Some imagine there are hundreds or even thousands of them. They picture everyone wearing the same lanyards and sipping coffee with names that could…
Book Review : Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less by Roy Schwartz, Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei. Modern business has an odd problem. People say they lack time, yet they send emails so long you need a packed lunch to finish them. Smart Brevity aims to fix this issue. The main idea…
Why shouting louder isn’t the same as becoming memorable. Modern marketing runs on an interesting economic system that often goes unnoticed. Many businesses take part in this system without even realising it. Every day, they spend money just to get noticed. Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Facebook campaigns, display ads, sponsored posts, trade show sponsorships, influencer…
Why the internet stubbornly refuses to celebrate your new website quite as much as you do. Somewhere out there, a strange force has puzzled business owners for years. It isn’t dark matter. It isn’t quantum mechanics. It isn’t even the mysterious office printer that only jams when the Managing Director is watching. No. It’s the…
Why the most effective marketing strategy is also the one least likely to go viral on LinkedIn. Many people in marketing seem to believe there’s a hidden button somewhere online that holds all the answers. Press it once. Customers appear. Revenue doubles. The sales team applauds. Someone writes a LinkedIn post that begins with “I…
Book Review : This is Marketing by Seth Godin. Many people still think marketing is just about convincing others to buy things they might not really need. Seth Godin has spent much of his career making the case for a different approach. This Is Marketing isn’t focused on tricks, hacks, or chasing the newest algorithm.…
Why has marketing become slightly more complicated than convincing people to buy things? Every January, the marketing industry performs one of its favourite rituals. Someone publishes an article entitled “The 37 Digital Marketing Trends That Will Change Everything This Year.” By February, another expert announces that half of them are already obsolete. By March, artificial…
Why growing a forest is still better than renting a plastic tree. Every few years, someone confidently announces the death of organic marketing. Usually on LinkedIn and occasionally in a webinar. Sometimes, while trying to sell you a course explaining why organic marketing is dead. That’s actually a pretty clever business model when you think…
Why the most important marketing metric isn’t usually the one you’re looking at. In marketing departments everywhere, a familiar routine plays out. Someone opens Google Analytics and refreshes the dashboard. Stares thoughtfully at a graph. Refreshes it again. Checks LinkedIn. Refreshes that. Looks at website traffic. Refreshes again. It’s almost as if, somewhere online, a…
Why does planting a garden usually work better than constantly buying plastic flowers? Many modern businesses share a common habit. The moment sales become a little sluggish, someone inevitably says: “Let’s spend more on advertising.” Which is a perfectly reasonable suggestion. But when the advertising budget runs out, everyone looks at the dashboard with the…