I pulled up behind a Prius at a red light.
A sticker on its left rear bumper, in type too small to read unless you were within a car length or two, said:
“Sorry for driving so close in front of you.”
A different point of view on the tailgaters that clearly bug that vehicle owner!
Tue, Jun 23, 2020 — Part One: Determining Optimal Spending Levels and Overcoming Key Challenges Marketing budgets make CEOs and CFOs uncomfortable. They often are large, have lots of complicated moving parts, and their impact can be hard to measure and attribute to marketing. Marketing budgets commonly range from low single digits to 15% of revenue (and even higher for companies undergoing rapid growth). And by the way, there is no one “right” benchmark for marketing budgets. In this two-part series, marketing strategy and budget expert Peter Mahoney and CMO Jeff Loeb will pull from their experience and share tips on right-sizing marketing budgets and preparing for challenges you may encounter.
Wed, May 13, 2020 — After COVID-19: step back to see how the whole picture has changed Even in the best of times, your business plan relies on a sound strategy to gain – and keep – your competitive advantage. Success is generally a function of a winning combination of factors – good knowledge of the business environment, a keen understanding of your competitors, a laser focus on the size of the market and trends, technological development, and the overall state of the economy.
Fri, May 1, 2020 — Narrowing Focus to Drive Demand In a prior blog post, I discussed how a lack of market focus can lead to poor marketing campaign conversion rates.
Thu, Apr 2, 2020 — With the right vision, appropriate resources, and more than a sprinkle of luck, a really good idea can quickly become a sensational success. When that happens, as late-night comedian John Oliver might say, such an idea becomes “a thing.” Unfortunately, when a good idea becomes “a thing” — like the product equivalent of John, Paul, George, and Ringo – the quality can suffer if too many producers try to put their imprint on the hit record. The idea can get watered down, generalized, and misused.
Tue, Mar 3, 2020 — A Common Challenge for B2B technology, SaaS and Professional Services Businesses If market demand was a fixed commodity, attracting new business would require only that you create awareness and build interest around well-known needs. Companies who see their marketplace in this way often subscribe to a “lather, rinse, repeat,” approach to pipeline management – focusing marketing dollars on prospects already well-along their purchasing journey, identifying qualified opportunities, but paying little attention to the world of prospects who do not yet see their needs as urgent.
Wed, Feb 26, 2020 — Time to Hide or Double Down? Riding the 2020 Wave Establishing order in the midst of chaos can be most elusive, wouldn’t you agree? Just ask poor Chip Diller, the do-gooder ROTC cadet portrayed by Kevin Bacon in the seminal college movie classic, “Animal House.” Surrounded by fleeing masses in a parade gone wrong, and about to be bulldozed by a stampeding crowd, Diller thrusts out his hands and, gathering as much gravitas as possible, shouts, “Remain calm. All is well!” before he’s swarmed by the crowd and trampled into a facsimile of “Flat Stanley.”
Wed, Feb 12, 2020 — One of the most influential Apple commercials ever made continues to resonate with me, nearly a quarter century after it was first released. Adorned with the tagline, “Think Different,” the Richard Dreyfus-narrated spot celebrated how non-conformist inventors pushed, annoyed and irritated the established order to change the world. The commercial underscored the convention-breaking culture at Apple – and, as they say, the rest is history. While many saw the Apple commercial as a call to a particular type of idealism, in today’s society, the message “Think Different” has a very practical purpose that can be applicable to the most routine of businesses today. Creating growth in your business in today’s marketplace means doing something different enough to put the business on a faster trajectory. So how can you, and your team, think different as a means of accelerating success?
Wed, Jan 29, 2020 — Part 1: How Good are your Insights: Are you Guilty of Confirmation Bias? How do most business owners make decisions? If you answered, a) by reading the tea leaves; b) by the seat of their pants; c) through instinct and innuendo; or d) by flipping a coin, you may want to make an appointment with a good psychiatrist – and perhaps consider another line of work. In all seriousness, when I ask business owners about the foundation for their optimism about the economy, the answers often include sources such as cable news, blogs, websites, the Wall Street Journal, and sometimes even Google searches about the “state of the economy.”
Tue, Oct 22, 2019 — By Yvonne Brown and Tom McCrary Diversity is increasingly on our minds. Indeed, US census data indicates that our population is becoming more diverse, estimating that by 2042, whites will no longer be a majority of the population. An important business corollary—and a significant opportunity—is that diversity in an organization drives innovation, growth and bottom-line improvement.