Over the years I’ve worked with a huge number and variety of writers, many amazing, some stellar, the majority are “good enough”, and a few are frighteningly confident […]
CM Blog
NOTE: I originally posted this back in July of 2012 on another blog. Sadly, the situation is the same 4 years later. Get out your tissues for […]
Companies Whine over Unfillable Positions
I’ve heard many times that inside every marketer is a frustrated writer. To be fair, we all probably have 5 or 6 partially written novels, several screen plays, […]
How to Hire a Marketing Writer
Most smaller brands and entrepreneurs use social media as one of their main marketing strategies, and rightly so, it’s a very powerful channel. Social Media Marketing by nature […]
Social Media Marketing is Still Marketing
When I was little, my dad and I used to have this ritual at night. Once all the 10+ dolls were properly placed along the bed and under […]
Storytelling in Marketing is Not the Answer
The answer probably isn’t what you think. Over the course of 25 years I’ve heard this question surprisingly frequently. It’s one usually asked by new entrepreneurs and is […]
Are Your Products Bought or Sold?
The Most Important Question to Ask About Marketing Automation It’s very simple. Is it working? We could discuss and spew data, quotes, and trending influences about the pros […]
Marketing Automation Mistakes
I gave up and slammed down my phone (well, not slammed, I’m too keenly aware of the cost of technology, so I “angrily” hit the button to shut […]
#$@&%* Marketers!
A Page from the Feudal Lord Playbook Set a seemingly random Sales & Revenue target for the coming year. Do not provide context for the selection of the number. Require a […]
10 Steps to Ensure You Will Not Hit Your Sales ...
When Smarts Became Overhead If you watched Mad Men you probably were intrigued and drawn by the culture in business, how they interacted, how they got things done. […]
I was Overhead
Transactional or Relational Many business owners say their business is more transactional, without actually comparing it to any other option. Relational is the other option. When they say […]
No, You are NOT a Transactional Business
Email open rates are often viewed as a measure of a successful email. And it’s a logical assumption. The Email process goes like this (removing deliverability from the […]
3 Reasons Your Email Open Rates Don’t Matter
Bain & Company Report: Everyday moments of truth: Frontline managers are key to women’s career aspirations (read it here ⇒) Harvard Business Review Summary: Companies Drain Women’s Ambition […]
Suck it Up, Cupcake
KPIs: Key Performance Indicators The term sounds pretty straight forward and self-explanatory, at least to those of us who have been embedded in them for our careers, but […]
KPI Conundrum
“Sal is a Marketer. And all it took was Constant Contact.” Sal is NOT a Marketer. The ad shows that he’s successful, has a loyal clientele, and is […]
Sal is NOT a Marketer
Attribution Reporting Those two words have so much power and influence over the lives of marketers. The phrase is both terrifying and empowering, often at the same time. […]
What Made You Purchase – Attribution Reporting
I Grew Up a Mall Rat I’m going to be honest here, I was a kid who lived the mall life just as the kids in Fast Times […]
What’s Wrong with Department Store Marketing?
I’ve seen about 30 posts and articles so far about the varying success or failure of retailers to match the projections of holiday shoppers, about half of which […]
The 2015 Holiday Shopping Frenzy
I recently heard the suggestion of a PPC (pay-per-click) “dark time” to test the impact of paid search on a site, shortly after the new design launches. The […]
When to Pause Paid Search Campaigns
As we welcome the onset of fall, so begins the process of finalizing strategic plans, budgets, and innovative initiatives for the coming year. You can see that in […]
Coming Soon – 2016: The Year of …
Are You Giving Your Customers what THEY Want or what YOU Want?
Redirecting the River
Data Just Is Data is not an answer. It is not proof. It is not direction. It is not plan. It is not a strategy. Data just is. […]
Because … Data
Perhaps you watch too many movies or too much reality TV, but in the work world, Passionate and Emotional are not the same thing. To lump them together […]
Passionate or Emotional
Understanding Your Customer Lifecycle It costs as much to keep a sick horse as it does a healthy one. I was told that years ago, working for a […]