A CMO can get stuck in their own marketing world. As a head of marketing myself, I have occasionally fallen into what I call marketing tunnel vision. The condition has three symptoms: it complicates communications with other executives, especially your CEO; it distracts CMOs from the bigger picture of the business; and it perpetuates the stereotype that marketers are lightweight business people. It doesn’t have to be this way. I have the cure, and it’s as simple as changing your mindset – to … [Read more...]
How De-positioning Works: Dissecting a Shane Co. Radio Ad
Positioning – how your product is perceived in the mind of your buyer – is critical for any marketing organization. Creating a positioning statement is an essential skill for marketers to master. In crowded markets, where the capacity of a buyer’s mind is already filled with competitors, another key concept is critical – de-positioning. I came across a great example recently, which I’m going to dissect to illustrate the concept. If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, as I do, you know Tom … [Read more...]
Three Math Tricks Every SaaS CMO Should Know
Time was when you just needed to be an idea guy to be a great CMO. When it came to academic strong suits, English was desirable, and maybe Art if you were really good. But marketing has changed. Numbers are much more important than words or pictures. To be a great CMO, you need to be great at math, too. This shift to numbers is even more pronounced when it comes to running marketing at subscription businesses like SaaS. That may be a tall order for some. You can’t just decide to become a … [Read more...]
Four First Steps to Make Your Marketing Authentic
Authenticity. Everyone wants it. Nobody wants anything inauthentic. Fake. Substitute. Artificial. Ersatz. Even though it's intuitive, too many marketers ignore this basic desire and put out advertisements and campaigns that come across as phony. Marketing needs to be authentic. Marketers need to understand that their customers want something real and deliver it to them in every way – in the product, in the promotion, and in their language. No customer wants to be sold. Or on the receiving end … [Read more...]
Marketingspeak: What Is Greeking? And Why Is it Latin?
Marketingspeak is my occasional series on interesting words I encounter in my day job in marketing. I do my best to channel the late great William Saphire, whose 'On Language' column brought a smile to my face many a Sunday. – TM Greeking is a typesetting technique where intentionally incomprehensible dummy text is used to test the layout of a document. Since the reader can’t understand the text, they focus on the layout, which is the point. Plus, the designer doesn’t have to wait for the … [Read more...]
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