Matthews on Marketing

Matthews on Marketing

The Five Benefits of Curiosity in Marketing

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If you are reading this post, my guess is that you are a curious person. The kind of person who is inquisitive by nature. A life learner. I’ve written before about the traits that make up a good marketer. Curiosity was top of the list. And I’m not the only marketer who values the quality. Here’s what Seth Godin had to say: “If you are not curious, you are not going to learn.” I think learning is the point. It’s not just asking a lot of questions. That just makes you nosey. It’s seeking a … [Read more...]

Ten Marketing Terms You Need to Know

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Marketing lingo has broad and varied origins. The provenance of the terms on the list below spans astronomy, the Industrial Age, television and Yiddish. So, you’d be forgiven for not knowing them all. Then there are newer terms that have been created to describe concepts that have only just been developed. The explosion of martech makes it hard to keep up. Below are ten terms that I think are essential if you are a modern marketer: five old, and five new. Old Boilerplate A boilerplate … [Read more...]

Marketingspeak: Why Are PR People Called ‘Flacks’?

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PR people have a hard job. Clients are never happy. Their story should have gotten more coverage. It was the agency's fault for not pushing hard enough. The agency can't easily tell their client that their story was a dud. Reporters see agencies as a necessary evil. PR staffers bring them stories, but can also be pushy. And truth be told, most reporters prefer finding their own stories. So it's no wonder PR pros have earned the pejorative 'flack,' as in "Tell that PR flack to stop … [Read more...]

Three Math Tricks Every SaaS CMO Should Know

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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...]

Marketingspeak: What Is Greeking? And Why Is it Latin?

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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...]