For 364 days a year, we block TV ads with the full fury of defensive linemen. One might slip through now and then only to remind us to increase our vigilance, to prerecord more shows, or avoid network TV altogether. But one day a year, we suddenly welcome ads into our living rooms like long-lost friends. We celebrate their arrival…
Here’s a resolution for you: thank the hosts of your favorite podcasts by writing a review or a leaving a comment on their LinkedIn page. Why? Because producing a high-quality show is a shit ton of work. We counted 34 steps to produce Renegade Marketers Unite and that didn’t even include the prep time I put in for each interview….
Since putting my book on the top of this list of 9 must-read books for marketers is blatantly self-serving, perhaps you’ll take someone else’s word for it. Thus, here are a few highlights from Hugh Taylor’s review of Renegade Marketing: 12 Steps to Building Unbeatable B2B Brands: Renegade Marketing: 12 Steps to Building Unbeatable B2B Brands, by Drew Neisser, offers…
[Updated for 2021] As the economy tightens, it’s not surprising that Gartner’s 2020 CMO Spend study reported that CMOs are shifting 32% of their budget from agencies to in-house resources. That same study also cautions CMOs that “pursuing in-housing can turn into futile effort … and involves more financial risk than relying on a contracted partner.” So, before you shift…
Would you take on two C-Suite roles at once? Mika Yamamoto of F5 Networks would—and she did, taking the lead as both CMO and CXO for the application services company. Why did she do it? To drive simplicity across the organization, of course. Under both titles, Yamamoto boils everything F5 does down to one question: does this activity remove friction…
When CMO Ed Rusch joined Command Alkon in 2017, they were already the leading technology platform for heavy construction suppliers. He saw this as a massive opportunity for the business—it was time for an upgrade to the way things were done, and he was fully prepared to transform the brand in provocative ways. Ultimately, Rusch and company launched their new…
Which sounds better: a package delivered to the office filled with branded swag or a LinkedIn post announcing your newest product launch? The answer is, hands down, the former. Why? Because there’s something truly special about a personal touch—it’s more genuine, and it gets people excited about your brand in a way that makes you stand out. These days, it…
Kathie Johnson was only a few months into her role as Talkdesk’s new CMO when the COVID-19 pandemic struck and changed the world. There was no playbook for something of this magnitude, but Johnson realized that this was a make or break moment for Talkdesk. They had a cloud-based software solution for contact centers, the rooms where customer service representatives…
This is not a business as usual moment. Whatever plans you had in place for 2020 have no doubt been disrupted if not tossed out the window. Undoubtedly, it is a moment that will test the resolve of just about every business, its financial coach and leaders. In short, this is a leadership moment, during which brands, like individuals, can…
I just finished looking through Gartner’s 2019-20 annual Insights for the C-Suite document (the marketing perspective, naturally), and wanted to share a few thoughts. In essence, some of the collected numbers really validate what I imagine many CMOs have suspected about the state of marketing, and I wanted to offer a couple perspectives on how to adjust to better meet…