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"Your side of the boat is leaking!" - Surviving Life at Sea with Sales

In the 20+ years I've been running marketing departments, the relationship we had with sales varied widely. Sometimes it was great (usually when everyone was busting revenue), other times, not so much. In talking to a number of my colleagues, my sense of it is that Sales’ opinion of marketing... Read more →

Echoes of The Plague

This is actual copy written for an actual company who actually used it: "XXXX solutions deliver actionable information and productivity improvements that can benefit a wide range of organizations, yielding tangible ROI from your software investment." There was a time, believe it or not, when this type of information-free ad... Read more →

Magic...

I've always wanted to work with special effects producers like this, and I finally got to. This is a video I directed of a fly-through for a client's data center. The company that did the FX also worked on the movie Gravity, Sherlock Holmes, and others. Kudos to RVX. Read more →

You're not here to be loved, the Wheel of Sadness, and other facts of life.

Many a young, bright-eyed, and eager marketing hopeful has found themselves a tad forlorn when, early in their careers, they discover that Marketing isn't exactly the most beloved and respected group in their firm. Some find, for instance, that some people say the word "marketing" the same way they say... Read more →

The Sea Monkey Effect

Let me say up front that I've been guilty of this many times, but through trial, error, mentorship and many, many ass-kickings I finally learned how to add "focus" to the elements of my marketing game. Let me explain. First, do you know what Sea Monkeys are? Do you remember... Read more →

A Career by The Decades

I was told this wonderful bit of wisdom in my 20s (note - the Sony Walkman was the hot technology). I'm not sure of its origin, but darned if it hasn't held up exetremely well in terms of its accuracy for myself, and many people I know. It goes like... Read more →

Justify Your Life

From the moment you entered the marketing profession, it doubtless occurred to most of you that a fair amount of scrutiny and skepticism was directed at your department from...well, from everywhere, but primarily from sales, finance, and of course, the CEO's office. Everyone wants to know whether or not they're... Read more →

Words As Enemies

Most professional marketers I know are remarkably expressive individuals; it's one of the reasons that I so love our profession. I suppose this isn't surprising, given the requirements of the job, but I've found it is just as often a hindrance - a handicap that results in a lot of... Read more →

No one wants to hear about your product.

They really don't. Not up front, anyway. What they want to hear about is their problems, their company, their profession, their perspective, what they think is funny, or righteous, or smart - ANYTHING but your product until they believe that you undestand any or all of the previous things. Ah,... Read more →

"The highest paid guy in the room is always the head of Marketing."

I was told this once many years ago by a wizened old CEO during a debate about a campaign. I was trying to point out that said campaign was doomed to fail and would be a significant waste of money. My admonition went unheeded by the company's #1 sales person... Read more →