In 1759, Samuel Johnson wrote: “Promise, large promise, is the soul of an advertisement.” So, it isn’t exactly a new thought that large brands need to do large things to cut through. This ties to how the bigger you are, the likelier it is that you’re deeply entrenched in your own legacy. In other words, people have set ideas about…
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How to Stay Relevant: Keeping With the Times as a Marketer
More often than not, a CMO’s tenure, in years, can be counted on one hand. So how, then, can a new CMO set themselves up for a long tenure built on effective marketing, and healthy collaboration? Well, the best place to look for an answer may be with Kathy Button Bell, who has served as CMO of Emerson for 19…
Make Your Bots Human
Dave Gerhardt wants those bothersome pop-up forms on B2B landing pages gone. Of course, as CMO of Drift, a cutting-edge, live chat and bot company, that would be great for business. That aside, Gerhardt makes a convincing argument: when’s the last time you said “Oh, great! Another form! I can’t wait to fill this out and get a bunch of…
Understanding Modern B2B Media
A shift is happening in B2B. Traditional advertising is giving way to more efficient digital strategies and, while certain old methods still have a seat at the table, many antiquated approaches need to be removed from the tool belt. To learn more about B2B marketing and media, watch this great interview with Erik Huberman, CEO and Founder of Hawke Media,…
Fighting (And Winning) The Talent War With Curiosity
Unemployment rates are floating near 2% in Silicon Valley. That means companies are duking it out for top-tier employees, and CMOs are realizing that potential hires are another target to contend with. This is the case with Leela Srinivasan, CMO of Survey Monkey—a company with 900+ employees that’s grown over 32% in the past 2 years. Sounds like she may…
Finding Your Vertical and Bowling a Strike
In Geoffrey Moore’s ever-relevant book, Crossing the Chasm, he compares market development and segmentation to bowling, saying that one must take a pin-by-pin approach. Ian Howells, VP and head of marketing at software firm Sage Intacct, is a big fan of this analogy, and has tweaked and refined it to benefit his very effective micro-targeting strategy—an approach that can help…
The CMO’s Approach to Being CEO
The CMO’s Approach to Being CEO Though not all that common, when a CMO role transitions into being CEO, it’s a safe bet that they’ll have an emphatic approach to marketing and will maintain an involved role in the company’s efforts and execution. With Rob Chen, CEO at Brightlink with a CMO background, you’d be half right. Check out a…
Marketing With Effective Research: Watch Dawn Colossi’s Interview
Take a look under the hood of any successful marketing campaign, and you’ll almost definitely see that research played a key role. That correlation is not just a coincidence—research, and overall, slowing down your marketing efforts, will usually yield positive results. So, no matter how tight the deadline, how urgent the project, or how eager you are to launch the…
The CEO: Every Successful CMO’s Best Friend
If you ask virtually every CMO about the keys to their success in having their marketing efforts cut through, you’ll likely find a few trends in their answers. For one, most of those CMOs will credit having their CEO completely on board. This isn’t a successful person demonstrating how humble they are, nor is it an attempt to curry favor…
Effective Communications and the Burden of Knowing Too Much
Though this used to mainly fall within HR’s purview, marketing departments are increasingly involved in shaping communications. There are a few reasons behind this change, among them the need to improve employee retention rates as unemployment increases, and the recognition that a healthy company culture can go a long way in shaping a good customer experience and creating persuasive, employee…