Posts Tagged ‘Marketing’
Here’s a stat for your CFO at budget time
We’ve been preaching for years that Marketing should drive the bus, not just go for a ride in the back. Now there’s a statistic that may actually get your CFO and CEO to pay attention: Ten years ago, if you had invested $10K in design-centric corporations you would have outperformed the S&P Index by 228%. That’s right. According to the Harvard…
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Meh boss? Maybe it’s you.
You may actually have a lousy boss and work in a toxic environment. If so, then you should run, not walk, to the nearest job exit. But if your Boss is basically okay, yet your job seems to be going nowhere and you don’t seem to get the opportunities you say you want, then it may not be the…
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Does your marketing department deserve more respect?
Your in-house marketing department is likely made up of capable, well-qualified and talented people, yet it may feel that you never get any respect from management or the rest of the company. You seem to get stuck doing all the small, tedious jobs while outsiders are brought in for the big, important projects. You obviously…
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Five uncommon reasons to rebuild your web site
It’s sad to say, but nothing lasts forever – especially not web sites. Even if nothing is particularly wrong or broken, changes in technology and usage make it worthwhile to revisit your online “front door” every few years. In our experience, web sites need to be refreshed every three to five years. You can probably think…
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Does Marketing drive or go along for the ride?
There are two types of marketing departments: those that drive and those that are passengers. Those that drive understand that Marketing revs the growth engine. Those that simply ride along only go where the driver takes them. Unfortunately, most marketing departments seem to fit in the second category. How about yours? Where do you sit? If you aren’t sure, see if…
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If everyone hates stock photos, why do we see so many of them?
I see three reasons why “shiny, happy people” stock photos are so prevalent: 1. Because they solve a problem quickly. You need a visual image that helps to communicate an idea, there seem to be mass quantities of them available, and if you ignore the time it takes to find the “right” one, they are a speedy way to complete your layout…
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Dare to be human
Go take a look at the web sites or marketing materials for a few extremely large companies. Take your pick — banks, car makers, restaurants, retailers, or manufacturing. Check out their social media postings. Where are the people? The real people, not the retouched unrelated models portraying the Perfect American Family. With very few exceptions, you won’t…
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How to turn your CFO into Marketing’s BFF
Be honest. Are you BFFs with your CFO? Or do you have to fight for every penny and justify every expenditure? Ever been blindsided by a budget cut? The struggle between Marketing and Finance goes back to the days of cave painting, but it doesn’t have to be that way. It’s not that CFOs are bad people.…
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Can you taste the local difference?
Last week, I noticed a cool new package in the freezer at the grocery store. No-nonsense, retro-yet-high-tech, and irresistible next to the generic plastic bags. Priced only a little bit higher than the generic sweet corn from who-knows-where. What it contained was sweet corn. Indiana bicolor sweet corn. I visited the company’s web site (huskfoods.com),…
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CEO to CEO: Marketing is either your baby or your fault
The Boss’ attitude and approach towards Marketing is usually the biggest difference-maker in obtaining highly successful results. Those that understand that good marketing is a wise investment, not an expense, do pretty well. Those that understand that GREAT marketing is an INCREDIBLE investment do even better. That’s why I wanted to share my recommendations on…
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