Growth Insights for CEOs

The AI Training Economy: The Human Expertise Behind the Agent Revolution
The challenge of training AI models on human expertise is not new.What is new is that three college dropouts just built a $10 billion business by productizing that exact problem at scale.
Executive Takeaways
- The AI training economy is already here — and a $10 billion startup is proof.
- You can't have capable AI agents without well-trained models. Human expertise isn't being replaced; it's being harvested.
- Fast followers still have a window, but waiting another 18 months may mean competing on scale alone, not quality.
- Most organizations are underestimating the speed of this workforce transformation. The time to build AI fluency is now.
Recent Posts

How to Retain Customers and Develop Brand Advocates - Part 3
Thu, Oct 10, 2019 — Part 3 of 3: Winning Retention Marketing Strategies Retention marketing isn’t meant to replace acquisition marketing, but to work alongside it as part of your growth strategy. The activities associated with retaining customers and/or increasing customer value through re-purchasing or up-selling products and services, is less expensive than acquisition marketing. While you need both acquisition and retention marketing, you will get a better return from your investment in retention marketing and create customers for life. In the previous blog post, we discussed how to develop a retention marketing program that specifically addresses the needs of your business. But are there proven retention marketing strategies or tactics that should be considered regardless?

How to Retain Customers and Develop Brand Advocates - Part 2
Fri, Sep 13, 2019 — Part 2 of 3: Developing a Retention Marketing Program As we learned in my previous post, retention marketing encompasses the activities associated with retaining customers or increasing customer value through re-purchasing and up-selling products and services. It’s anywhere from five to 25 times less expensive than acquisition marketing—and done well can reduce the expense pressure of acquisition marketing to grow your business. Retention marketing should be a part of any business growth strategy. Retention marketing involves communicating with your customers in a way that helps you nurture and keep them. This should be an ongoing priority for the business with buy-in from the top throughout the entire organization. After all, you’ve all worked hard and spent a lot of money to acquire those customers.

How to Retain Customers and Develop Brand Advocates - Part 1
Fri, Sep 6, 2019 — Part 1 of 3: Why retention marketing should be part of your growth strategy If you are losing customers at almost any rate, you are jeopardizing your business growth strategy. Every lost customer creates a hole that you must fill before you can claim any new customer growth. The more customers you churn, the deeper the gap before you can realize any revenue or profit growth.
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How to Generate Winning Results with PAC
Wed, Jun 19, 2019 — Most of us have heard of the Five P’s of Marketing (Product, Price, Promotion, Place and People) and how getting those right is essential for success. Certainly, all of these have a role and are important, but for small to mid-sized companies, experience shows that PAC is the biggest driver of success. These are: Product Audience Communications Executing well on PAC provides your business with focus and a market-informed approach. The PAC mindset creates a differentiated product and an activating message that reaches those most likely to buy. Consistent revenue and profit growth naturally follow.

An Audience of One: Neuromarketing the New Reality
Wed, Jun 14, 2017 — If you buy into the old corollary that the “future is now,” be prepared to be blown away by what tomorrow’s future holds. If you thought that today’s wave of marketing analytics tools represented a bold new frontier in how enterprises can track and nurture consumers through the buying cycle, well, in the words of Bachmann Turner Overdrive – “You ain’t seen nothing yet.” And, if you believed that the kind of brain-reading technology that served up personalized advertisements to Tom Cruise in the movie “Minority Report” was the stuff of fiction, it may be closer to reality than you ever thought.

3…2…1… We Are “Go” for Product Launch
Wed, Feb 8, 2017 — Part 1 – Gathering Strategic Insights B2B product companies have to move quickly to innovate and release new offerings to remain viable and sustain growth. All too often, B2B companies rely too heavily on their sales channels to launch their products. Because we are always connected to the Internet, your sales prospects have access to a wealth of information making the traditional sales journey less relevant. Your marketing team now has a greater responsibility than ever in driving success of a new product launch.

Is Your Business Planning or “Strategically” Planning?
Mon, Jan 9, 2017 — You might be thinking… “This is the year that my business really focuses on developing the best strategic growth plan.” Then the process starts and the questions surface… Am I developing a strategy or a plan? What’s the difference? If they are different, does my business need both?

Pick a Strategic Direction: What Alice in Wonderland and the Cheshire Cat Can Teach CEOs about Growing Their Business
Tue, Jun 21, 2016 — In the whimsical world of Lewis Carroll’s famous tale Alice in Wonderland, the author paints mind-bending pictures of some of the most pressing questions in modern society. Though many regard this classic as merely a children’s story, every modern CEO can appreciate several scenes woven through the book that can be applied, succinctly and directly, to the challenges of today’s global business environment.

3 Ways to Justify a Chief Marketing Officer
Thu, Jun 4, 2015 — I frequently talk to chief executives about the value of a focused, well-reasoned strategic marketing plan. Invariably, during these discussions, I’m hit with the big question: “But how can we measure the ROI of our marketing efforts?” It's THE question that makes many marketers shudder, because, let's face it, what they're really asking is "can you please justify your existence, your budget, and your future with this organization?"