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Inbound Marketing

How Does RevOps Differ from Marketing Operations?

We live in a time where there are many buzz words with many different definitions that depend upon who you ask. It can be confusing for a number of reasons, especially because these definitions not only vary, they are often fluid and evolving.

8 Steps to Set Up a Successful Campaign

Recently I’ve been on a few client calls for training, which doesn’t happen all that often, and on...

5 Ways to Make Your Website Helpful

Your website is one of the most powerful tools you have. Without it, in today’s world, you don’t...

The D.E.A.L.S. Framework: Unifying Customer Acquisition & Success for Acceleration

Over the last couple of years, I’ve seen the proliferation of marketing and customer acquisition...

The Key Components You Need to Optimize a Landing Page

Landing pages are a crucial component of your demand generation and inbound marketing strategy. You...

The Lie That Digital & Inbound Marketing Keeps Telling

I remember the datapoint that made me take notice of (at the time) this new thing called “inbound...

7 Key Takeaways From Inbound 2018

Another year…another Inbound--the largest marketing conference in the world. As the conference was...

The Critical Role of Intent in Demand Generation, Sales and Marketing

We've been doing a lot of research over the last year into a critical part of the buying process...

What it Means to be Data-Driven, How It’s Different from Metrics & How to Apply it

My daughter is entering her senior year in high school. I have to admit that there are times where...

Modern Lead Generation is Failing. 5 Critical Factors to Drive High-Velocity Customer Acquisition

A couple of weeks ago, I introduced a chronic problem plaguing the growth efforts of companies,...

The Five Must-Have Elements of Revenue-Producing Content

A good rule of thumb for a blog post is to always lead with an introduction. So, while this may not...

What it Means to Be Inbound

I was talking with Meghan Anderson, VP Marketing for HubSpot, about how much has changed (and how...

4 Resources to Get 2018 off to an Explosive Start

I simply cannot believe how fast 2017 has flown by. Here at Imagine, we’re in the final days of...

5 Essential Components of a High Sales Growth Tech Stack

The game is getting real folks. Every day it seems a new challenge is emerging that makes the...

How We Revitalized Our Email Strategy & Turned It Into An Advantage

Email is (still) a critical linchpin for sellers and marketers alike. Even as social media, chat...

Podcast: The Black Line Between Sales & Marketing

There are a lot of great things happening here at Imagine. Last week I shared the new approach...

Why We're Changing Our Approach to Serving Clients

For years I’ve come to this blog to write how customers and the world of sales and marketing are...

What Inbound17 Means for the Future of Sales and Marketing

This post also appeared on LinkedIn What a week! I think I'm still recovering from, yet another,...

Deliverability: Conquering The Email Marketing Problem

From the days when Google announced their “email killer” Wave, I’ve heard marketers and consultants...

The 10 Worst Vanity Metrics Every Marketer Uses

What you measure gets done...so be very careful about what you measure. The story of Moneyball is a...

The Truth that Inbound Marketing Agencies Don’t Want You to Hear

At Imagine we work with growth obsessed, forward leaning executives who want to hear the truth...

Good Content is a Commodity: The Keys to Making Content Marketing Work

Aaah, I remember the good old days. You remember them, don't you? You know, the days when creating...

The Biggest (& Common) Mistakes Made with Account Based Marketing

As the chart below (where I compare interest in the term "account based marketing" with "demand...

The 5 Tools I Use to Keep Me Productive on the Road

I was recently having a conversation with a fellow business owner, friend and past client of mine....

5 Common CRM Mistakes Made by Sales (and Marketing) Organizations

It's a great time to be a sales organization. I often find myself wondering how different things...

Website Not Performing? 4 Ideas to Make it More Effective

Remember life before the Internet? When you had to physically go to the library to research a topic...

3 Ways Salespeople Can Use Social Media to Sell Better

Take a quick minute to think through your last online purchase…how did you hear about the item? Was...

The Importance of Blogging: 6 Keys to Writing Effective Blog Posts

Have you started blogging yet? No? You may be the only person left. I recently learned that 6.7MM...

Checklist: 4 Reasons that Marketing & Sales Emails Are Failing

There’s a lot of talk about the death of email as a marketing or sales tool. Everywhere I go, I...

Five Reasons Good Sales & Marketing Messages Fail

Messaging gets a lot - A LOT - of attention from both marketers and sales executives. For good...

How to Assess the Effectiveness of Your Sales & Marketing Content

Sales and marketing organizations create a tremendous amount of content, virtually everyday. In...

4 Ways to Inspire B2B User-Generated Content

We recently returned from a family vacation in Orlando, Florida. Like everyone else who goes on...

5 Key Takeaways from Inbound 2016

Another year, another Inbound conference. This year’s gathering of inbound marketers and...

5 Reasons for B2B Marketers to be Thankful

Thanksgiving is next week. It brings a day of food, family, football and friends. It also is a time...

The Traditional Revenue Growth Playbook is Broken

If you’re a reader of this blog I’m going to assume that revenue growth is important to your...

The Big News at Inbound 2016

So I just saw my fourth keynote from Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah, founders of HubSpot, at this...

5 Tips for Attending a Conference Alone

This week, I’ll be in Boston for HubSpot’s Inbound 2016 Conference. I’m really looking forward to...

7 Ways to Use Video in B2B Email Marketing Campaigns

Earlier this year I wrote a post about why B2B marketers should be using video as part of their...

6 Ways You're Scaring Your B2B Leads Away

Everywhere you look these days, there’s something that’s been designed to give you a chill. From...

5 Things B2B Marketers Should Be Thinking About for 2017

This time of year brings many things…raking leaves, carving pumpkins, crisp mornings…and for many...

9 Ways B2B Marketers Can Convert More Visitors to Qualified Leads

As an Inbound Marketing Strategist at Imagine, I spend time with my clients every month to review...

5 Reasons Your Sales Team Is Not Using the Content Marketing Creates

In my Twitter feed this morning, I came across a statistic that got my attention. Here it is....

3 Reasons Not to Pursue Demand Generation-Inbound Marketing

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a BIG fan of demand generation and inbound marketing. The only...

4 Inbound Tactics that Can Impact Trade Show Success

Until about two years ago, I was what is called today, a traditional marketer. I was responsible...

5 Ways to Build an Effective B2B Editorial Calendar

As a B2B inbound marketer, I spend a lot of time and energy creating content. Everything from blog...

5 Keys to a Balanced B2B Sales Pipeline

A couple of weeks ago, I was catching up with a CEO I'd met through the speaking I do. He runs a...

Are You Making These 5 B2B Email Marketing Mistakes?

I’m sure you’ve heard or read somewhere that email marketing is dead – or at least dying. I know I...

3 Most Important SEO Factors for B2B Marketers

EDITOR'S NOTE: Today's post was written by Imagine's newest team member, Shannon Henrici. Shannon...

6 Reasons Marketing and Sales Development Should Be BFFs

Friends make life so much fun. If you’re lucky enough to have a BFF or seven, you know first hand...

How To Define Your Ideal Client Profile

The single most important question you can answer as a business leader, marketing or sales...

Are you Implementing a Digital, Content or Inbound Marketing Approach?

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to spend time with family and friends that...

17 Quotes to Inspire an Olympic Gold Finish to 2016

It’s hard to believe four years have passed since the last Summer Olympic Games. Yet, here we are....

7 Reasons Your B2B Social Media Approach Isn't Driving Results

One of the tools in all inbound marketers toolkits is social media. Falls right into the attract...

Messaging Can Make or Break Your Demand Generation Strategy

Hola from a beach in Mexico! That's right...I'm taking a vacation. Today's blog post is "my message...

My Market Isn't That Big...Does Inbound Still Work?

A topic has come up repeatedly in conversations that I’m having with executives. They’re sharing...

Are You Ready to Win With Millennials - 7 Things B2B Marketers Need to Know

Is your B2B marketing strategy stuck in the dark ages? When was the last time you revisited your...

3 Ugly Truths About Inbound Marketing

While it’s no secret that I’m a big fan of inbound marketing, I like to consider myself a...

3 Ways Marketing Influences the Success of the Sales Team

As a marketer, have you ever been in a meeting where someone (usually a salesperson) asks what is...

Confessions of a Traditional Marketer Turned Inbound Marketer

Confessions. Dirty secrets. White lies. Sounds juicy, right? But totally not applicable to inbound...

Top 10 Mistakes Made on B2B Websites

Your website is your single, most important marketing tool. It should be viewed as central to all...

11 Sales Books All Marketers Should Read

Last summer, I wrote a post about how to close the divide that exists between sales and marketing....

5 Inbound Marketing and Demand Generation Observations from HubSpot Partner Day

I think I’ve recovered from my latest visit to Boston for HubSpot’s annual get together for their...

6 Tips for Getting the Most from Your Marketing Automation Software

When I first learned about marketing automation software, I was instantly a fan…a huge fan. It was...

How to Create an Editorial Philosophy that Drives Sticky Content

Have you ever stopped to think about what makes a publication a publication? Unless you’re involved...

6 Reasons B2B Marketers Should Be Using Video

Every day your prospects have many opportunities to interact with many different kinds of content....

What Would Happen if You Shut Your Marketing Off for 90 Days?

Measuring the effectiveness of your marketing efforts is a critical part of any marketing or demand...

3 Reasons Why Inbound Marketing Efforts Fail

Editor's note: This post originally appeared on the HubSpot Marketing Blog. The subject has a been...

Inbound Sales: Beware of Those Who Claim to Manufacture Antiques

This may sound weird coming from me, but seriously the Inbound world needs to settle down and gain...

What Ricky Bobby Can Teach Inbound Marketers About Demand Generation

I wanna go fast. -- Ricky Bobby, Talledega Nights Much has been written about the radical changes...

7 Tips for Creating a Flexible Messaging Approach that Drives Sales Results

Since sales and marketing teams have existed, there have been many epic battles between the two....

Sales Enablement Delivers More Than $40 Million of New Sales Opportunities

Imagine was awarded a HubSpot Impact Award for Sales Enablement for their ongoing work with MacNair...

9 Tips to Control Inbound Marketing Chaos

It’s spring in Wisconsin…I think. For those of you who don’t live here or really anywhere in the...

Attention is the Key to Successful Demand Generation: Here’s How to Get It

Last week, I had the chance to hear Gary Vaynerchuk’s keynote presentation at the Rainmaker 16...

Was Adopting an Inbound Approach a Mistake?

Inbound marketing has been greeted with tremendous excitement. It’s hard to believe but just five...

4 Ways to Make Your Content Stand Out from the Spam

Remember when creating content was your greatest challenge? Developing your editorial calendar,...

Is Inbound Marketing Built on a Flawed Assumption?

This post originally appeared on LinkedIn Pulse. I’ve lost count of the number inbound marketing...

5 Things to Do if Your Content Isn't Generating Leads

When I joined Imagine – just over a year ago now – part of my role was account manager for one of...

Make B2B Email Marketing Great Again: 5 Email Marketing Metrics You Can’t Ignore

Your SME’s B2B email marketing efforts should be the definition of an inbound marketing success...

Want A Rock Star Blog? Be Sure You Address These 8 Areas

Blogging is a term that has taken off over the years but not just for moms who want to talk about...

6 Reasons to Add Webinars to your Content Mix

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I was a marketer in the engineering consulting...

How to Create an Effective Sales and Marketing SLA

This post originally appeared on the HubSpot Marketing Blog. The alignment of an organization’s...

10 Social Media Tactics to Drive Engagement

Social media is just that. Social! It’s a great channel to introduce yourself, your product or your...

8 Ways Top Performing Companies Use Buyer Personas

Last week in my post 7 Reasons Buyer Personas Fail, I shared a recent study from Cintell called the...

7 Reasons Buyer Personas Fail

When I was a B2B marketer at a small manufacturing firm, I was tasked with creating buyer personas....

Want More Inbound Leads? Make Sure Your Premium Content Doesn't Suck

According to the Content Marketing Institute, in 2016, B2B organizations plan to produce 76% more...

[Free Tool] The 8 Elements of an Effective Landing Page

Last week, Ellen wrote about improving conversion rates on landing pages. Today, I’m going to take...

Seven Outdated Web Design Elements

The people you see everyday age without your noticing. Your website does, too. You don’t notice the...

4 Insights to Increase Landing Page Conversion Rates

It’s a small victory when a visitor comes across your site and navigates to a landing page. What...

5 Ways to Incorporate Personalization into Your B2B Marketing

Remember the theme song from the show Cheers? In case you forgot, here’s the chorus to stir your...

Four Important Developments of 2015 to Harness For Sales Growth

Aaahh, the new year. A time to look forward and think about the future and what could be. One of my...

How Combining Inbound Marketing With Sales Development Created Traction & Growth

The Multifamily Data Exchange (MDX) is a competitive intelligence platform for the multifamily...

3 Things I Learned in my First Year as an Inbound Marketer

In my last position as a marketing manager for a small manufacturing company, I was charged with...

Sorry Virginia, There Is No Inbound Selling

We’re coming to the end of the year, and we’re a little overdue for one of my rants. And this one...

27 Reasons You Should Ignore Buyer Personas

Recently, I’ve seen an increase in the number of blog posts about buyer personas and the reasons...

STOP: Don't Buy That Marketing Technology Until You Read These 4 Tips

Every day…literally, every day…I learn about a new marketing app, platform or technology. It’s hard...

The Fastest Way To Kill Your Blog (& What To Do About It)

I had a conversation recently with someone who told me that blogging didn’t work. He’d been...

Is Cold Calling Dead?

In 2009, I wrote a post that got some provocative responses asking the question Is It Time to Kill...

Have Your Buyer Personas Wilted? 5 Tips to Keep Them Alive

B2B marketers are busy people. Juggling all of the day-to-day tasks with the long-term projects is...

4 Inbound Marketing Lessons from My Favorite Holiday Movies

I think this week is my favorite week of the year. The holidays are just around the corner but the...

15 Ways to Drive Quality Traffic to Your Website

Driving traffic to your website is difficult. Driving quality traffic that brings prospects with a...

The 5 Ingredients of a Message that Works

The biggest challenge facing most sales efforts today is simply being heard. It is for this reason...

Does Your Company Need a Sales and Marketing SLA? YES!

Sales and marketing are part of the same team within an organization. Both have responsibilities...

6 Reasons Your Business Must Be Actively Blogging

I was with a client who was sharing their new plan to aggressively implement an inbound marketing...

Five Tips for Working with Freelancers

In today’s content-driven world, keeping up with content creation can be a significant challenge...

7 Metrics Inbound Marketers Must Track to Ensure Growth

Measuring the success or failure of marketing tactics has always been a challenge for marketers and...

Keywords Are Dead, Right?

Remember when keyword stuffing was a thing? Marketers filled their web pages with the keywords they...

Want to Shorten Your Sales Cycle? Start By Mapping The Decision Journey

One of the most common (and costly) mistakes that I see strong companies make is that they’re...

Three Easy Pro-Tips for Search Engine Optimization

When it comes to promoting your website with search engine optimization, you'll hear the most...

Utilizing Growth Driven Design to Add Personalization To Your Website

Six weeks ago, I wrote a post on utilizing a growth driven design approach to manage your website....

Strong Process Is Crucial To Top Performance

Joe Maddon, the manager of the Chicago Cubs (who are threatening to make the playoffs for the first...

Lead Nurturing Aligns Sales Development and Inbound Marketing

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to speak with Kyle Porter, CEO of fast-growing SalesLoft,...

Attracting the RIGHT Website Traffic for Lead Generation

It’s time for the monthly sales and marketing meeting…you know the one…all attendees give an update...

How to Use Hashtags to Improve Inbound Marketing

For many small and mid-market B2B organizations, social media is still a bit of a mystery. Many...

5 Ways to Improve Email Click Through Rates

Let’s face it…everyone receives what seems like hundreds of emails everyday. It’s up to marketers...

Six Tools to help the Non-Designer Create Impactful Images

Throughout my career, there have been many situations where I wished I were a graphic designer or...

Struggling With Content Marketing? Here Are 7 Ways to Make It Easier

Let’s not kid ourselves – creating relevant, compelling content is hard work. Many B2B blogs have...

Three Steps to Help You Get Started with Content Marketing

So you’ve decided to take an inbound marketing approach. There are a lot of components to an...

Are You Ready to Win In A World of Caveat Vendit? 5 Strategies to Dramatically Increase Your Win Rate

From caveat emptor to caveat vendit…let the seller beware. As Daniel Pink, best-selling author of...

Give Me More Sore Losers

I hate to lose. And I like people who hate to lose. I hate losing more than I enjoy winning (and I...

The Problem With Goals

I’m a big fan of quotes, and I’ve got a love/hate relationship with goals. So the two collided when...

Uncovering The Real Power of Brand

As I’ve written before, “Brand” and “Branding” are words tossed around in a variety of ways. For...

So, What Are You Going To Do With 2013?

Welcome to 2013! Now, what are you going to do with it? As the famous quote says, time is the great...

Thoughts on Fear

Last week I was speaking before a CEO group. The leader of the group started the meeting off with a...

Why Is Success So Difficult?

This post originally appeared on BizBeat, The Washington Business Journal’s business blog. It’s the...

Networking - Online & Off

Recently, I've gotten a number of questions from clients and others about effective social media....

Insurance Companies Prove Problem With Most Marketing Approaches

The comedic approach taken by a number of insurance companies is not working, according to USA...

The Olympics & Peak Performance

As I was watching the US women win their opening game of the 2012 Olympics, I found myself thinking...

The Challenge of Different & Good

I love simple graphics that tell big stories. As I was reviewing some of my article archives, I...

Why You May Not Be Getting Leads From Your Website

I’ve been working on a project for one of my clients that has allowed me to spend a significant...

Creating The Best Collateral For Your Company

I was discussing the importance of developing an effective marketing cultivation and engagement...

Selling Done Right

What profession is best suited for a liar? How do you know when a salesperson is lying? It’s...

7 Steps to Shortening Your Sales Cycle

The trends are not good when judging the effectiveness of small and mid-market B2B sales efforts....

What .1% Performance Looks Like

I'm a fan of top performers. I love learning about them, figuring out what makes them tick and...

I Hate Losing

As many readers know, I coach college baseball. Last week the coaching staff got together because...

Business Acumen Drives Results

This book review originally appeared in Baltimore, Washington and Philadelphia SmartCEO Magazine....

Is It Too Late To Save BlackBerry?

In January 2010, I wrote a blog post asking if BlackBerry was a dead product walking. In the post I...

Effortless Results

Yesterday I was working with one of the players on our college baseball team in the batting cage....

Taking Away The Myths of Content

Anyone who's a reader of this blog knows that I'm a radical believer in the importance of content....

My 3 Lessons From Steve Jobs

This book review originally appeared in Baltimore, Washington and Philadelphia SmartCEO Magazine...

A Key To Getting Your Sales Off To A Fast Start

During last week’s webinar 5 Keys to Getting Your Sales Year Off to a Fast Start, I shared that a...

Finish Your Sales Year Strong

Sure enough, a day after I present our webinar 5 Keys to Getting Your Sales Year Off to Fast Start,...

The Difference Between Good Salespeople & Great Ones

Yesterday, as I was conducting some sales training for a client, we were talking about the...

The Key to Differentiation: Be Bold, Be Different

Sunday, while watching The Washington Redskins (finally) win, I saw an interesting ad from Chevy. I...

Do You Have The Guts to be Great?

Today, the Washington Capitals fired their coach, Bruce Boudreau. The fastest coach to win 200...

Changing Behavior

As we prepare for the holidays, thought naturally turns to what needs to happen to make 2012 better...

The Toughest Lesson

Without question, the toughest lesson I've every learned in sales (or life for that matter) is that...

Mediocrity Sucks

For the first time in, umm, well, since I can remember, I completely unplugged for more than one...

Making August Productive

It feels like yesterday when I was saying goodbye to 2010 and hello 2011. In the blink of an eye,...

Why Marketing Doesn't Work

John Wanamaker famously said, "I know half the money I spend on advertising is wasted, but I can...

The Lake Wobegon of Growth

How good is your service? How good is your product? How good is your sales effort? My bet - you...

Sales Is Hard Work

Last week I wrote about how the counter-intuitive idea is often the right one. Yesterday I read one...

Value Over Replacement of Salespeople

One of the things that I love about competitive sports is the ability to measure success. Wins and...

Can You Hire Salespeople?

Have you ever noticed that conversation topics tend to occur in bunches? This week the conversation...

Stop Differentiating - Start Enchanting

This book review originally appeared in Baltimore, Washington and Philadelphia SmartCEO Magazine...

Branding Is Crap!

There, I finally said it. Branding is crap! Sure, it might be fine, even important, if you're...

It's Not A Salespeople Problem

With increased frequency I'm getting requests from owners, CEOs and VP's asking for recommendations...

It's Never Too Late

I was speaking to a great group of CEOs in Eau Claire today. Two-thirds through my presentation,...

Go Ahead - Make Some Mistakes

Regular reader of this blog know that I'm a fan of mistakes. I've shared my mistakes, I've used the...

Build It...They Will Come

The 1989 movie Field of Dreams is, in fact, the daydream of every marketer. The line made famous in...

Busy-ness is the New Lazy-ness

In my experience working with thousands of salespeople, I've learned that there are relatively few...

Thoughts on Harvard Business Reviews Salesperson Study

In December, I shared some highlights from a study conducted by the Harvard Business Review on...

We All Need A Coach

I’ve always been fascinated by a key paradox of performance. That is that top performers are always...

The Ted Leonsis Instruction Book

In June 2007, I took Ted Leonsis and the Washington Capitals leadership team to task for...

Measuring The Real Effectiveness of Salespeople

In the investment world, the return you will get in any given time period is far more dependent on...

Growth Means Making Mistakes

One thing I know with certainty is that if you want growth (be it personal, professional, or...

I Screwed Up

Selling (the right way) is hard. As we train and lead salespeople and executives all across North...

Make It Productive

December is a tough time to get anything done when you are in sales. In my experience, there are...

Some Valuable Stats on Successful Salespeople

A very interesting article in December's Harvard Business Review: Do You Really Know Your Best...

Multiply Your Sales

I’m reading a fascinating book right now, Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter...

Want Growth? Focus on Effort, Not Outcomes

Over the last two years, I’ve become increasingly aware of a fatal flaw in my management (and...

Avoid The Sales Flu

November can be a beautiful time of year. The smell of fall, the fireplace and NFL playoff battles...

Peyton Manning, Rex Grossman & Demand Creators

Who’s a more expensive quarterback: Peyton Manning or Rex Grossman? The answer is that it depends...

Breathe

When I'm working out, my trainer always tells me to breathe. My response is that breathing comes...

Would You Be Missed?

I’ve got a question for you: Would you customers/clients truly notice if you were gone?

Growth Mindset

If there is one characteristic that I’ve always noticed in top performers that I rarely see if...

When The Sale Is Won

In my post on Monday, I asked you what game do you want to win. That night, I saw an interview with...

What Game Do You Want To Win?

Tiger Woods Needs a Coach

While Tiger Woods is dealing with a myriad of challenges, I am more convinced than ever that Tiger...

Remarkable

One of my favorite rules from John Moore at Brand Autopsy is his Law of Remarkability. Simple, if...

3 Steps to Superior Performance

I had a very interesting conversation with a CEO attendee at one of my speeches. He’s built an...

Embrace Your Detractors

I always strive to practice what I preach. If I write about it or recommend it, I always ask...

Don't Have Time To Blog? Thanks!

Last night, I spoke to the Baltimore chapter of The American Marketing Association. The topic was...

Where's The Story

Once a year, people sit down to watch television and they're (almost) as interested in the ads as...

The Only Thing Worse Than No Social Media Presence

I don’t spend much time pontificating on social media. I leave that to people like Gini Dietrich...

Brand Destruction

Verizon Wireless and AT&T are in an ad war right now. First, Verizon came out with their “There’s a...

Don't Lose Your Plot

In the height of NBC's success in the 1980s, their Thursday night lineup was commonly referred to...

What Screenwriters Can Teach Business Executives

Anyone who knows me, or reads this blog, knows that I'm a big, BIG fan of story. I've always...

Tell Me A Story

I was struck by an excerpt from a Don Hewitt speech he gave talking about the success formula for...

Why Social Media Matters

At the beginning of this year, I issued a call to all small and mid-sized businesses (SMEs) that...

Making Your Message Powerful

As more and more companies are looking to transform their business to deal with the new realities,...

Why Brochures Kill Profits

I hear it all the time: “I just need a brochure that explains what we do better,” or “If we could...

What's Your Back Story

Two years ago, I asked if your company would make a good TV show. I was reminded of this post over...

Be My Fan - Please?

The Jimmy

I was reviewing websites of a group of people who attended one of my speeches yesterday. As I was...

The New Marketing Funnel In Action

In my last post, I introduced The New Marketing Funnel and defined the phases of the process. In...

WSSD – What Should Starbucks Do

I haven’t sparked as much conversation with a blog post or observation as I did with my recent post...

How Are You Talking?

Cessna has just launched a new advertising campaign - and I LOVE it. Cessna gets who their customer...

Godin on Irrational Behavior

Seth Godin has a great insight as to why "people don't buy your offerings," check it out. Godin is...

Positioning Your Website For Success

Recently, a client asked me for advice on the strategy of their website. I’ve written about the...

The Brand Called You Is Dead...

An excellent post from Rick Liebling at Eyecube on the philosophy of The Brand Called You. His take...

Losing Your Brand

Your brand is your lifeblood. I’ve written before (as have many others), your brand is not what you...

Now "Tweeting" on Twitter

Well, when I first heard about it, I thought it was silly. Who in the world (that is actually...

The Accidental Power of The Web

Too many websites miss out on the demand creation potential of the web - thus contributing to their...

What Is Radio Shack?

The holiday week's football came with more commercials than any person should have to endure. I...

The Corporate Blogging Opportunity

I remember a story from early in my selling career. It went something like this:

Is Your Website Worth Reading?

Despite the fact that it is more difficult than ever to get and keep people’s attention – the...

The All-Star Game & The Industrial Age

Nostalgia. Remember the days when businesses could control the flow of information - when customers...

Katie Couric, Commoditization & Regrets

Two months ago, I wrote that CBS' decision to hire Katie Couric was not only a mistake, but one...

Brands & Performance

I’m a big hockey fan (from the ratings, it appears there aren’t many of us). Being from Washington,...

Katie Couric, Brand Extensions, And Value Proposition Mistakes

While I admit that it is probably too early to determine whether the decision to hire Katie Couric...

Listen to Proctor & Gamble

I have been preaching for quite some time that marketers need to stop focusing on their solutions,...

Innovation And Commoditization

Lori Colman has an interesting post on B2BMarketingTrends. She writes that Innovation is the...

What's in a Name? Questioning Cingular's Switch to ATT

What’s in a name? When is it worth it to change a name? I was watching TV this evening and saw, for...

Why Google Wins

I was working with a client today, discussing ways to monetize content on the web. He was talking...

Developing A Compelling Brand Promise Teleconference

The key to building a great pipeline is great messaging. The foundation of a great message is in...

John Mellencamp is a Hypocrite

I used to be a huge John Mellencamp fan even when he was John Cougar and John Cougar Mellencamp....

What is a Brand?

I just picked up the book Brand Harmony. I'm only a few pages into it and it's already given me...

Why People Aren't Visiting Your Web Site

Scott Heiferman (co-founder of Meetup.com) has a great post on why people aren't using your...