Articles
Go To Market Strategy
Define Who You Actually Are and the Value You Really Provide for Success
Sometimes even the experts need experts. Over the last 20 plus years, I’ve noticed that there are two types of leaders—the ones who are willing to ask for help and actively practice personal and professional development, and those that believe that they must always appear to know everything.
A few years ago, I heard someone say, “if you can’t do for yourself what you do for clients, you’re an imposter.” This briefly caught me off guard, but after some consideration, I realized that this person …
Integrity is Really Useful and Important to Your Brand
A quick search on LinkedIn reveals that “integrity” is mostly associated with product launches or cancelations and job changes. There are a few posts that reference an organization’s core values. A quick search engine search reveals the definition, of course, and a series of self-help articles about how to identify someone ‘with’ it. So apparently integrity is a thing that you can acquire. Hmmm…
According to HubSpot and Ferguson Values, integrity tops the list of common core values. Yup. It’s t…
Case Study: How Passion for the Brand and Re-Uniting the Team Created Unstoppable Energy
Most brands would do anything to create the deep emotional connection and intense loyalty enjoyed by our client, a 50-year old regional non-profit. The organization was named after one of its charismatic, larger-than-life leaders. Back in the day, the founders had united the community around their mission of fostering conversations about diversity in various mediums--a public access television talk show, retreats, and workshops. But now, all but the TV show was shut down due to financial mismana…
The FAQs of Working with a Fractional CMO
What is a fractional CMO?
A fractional CMO is a contract Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), retained on a part-time basis to provide executive marketing leadership for a growing business. They are a key part of your executive team brought in to take a holistic view of your business. They seek to understand your business objectives with enough clarity to develop fresh and impactful marketing strategies that will drive growth for your organization. They work with you to develop strategic insights, fo…
How to Create Mission and Vision Statements that are Sticky
While these words are common-place in both the nonprofit sector and the business world, there is often a lot of confusion around what they actually mean. Without clarity, it can be challenging to know if your organization truly knows what it does and even more challenging for the market to understand why they should do business with you or donate to your organization. Remember, a confused mind never buys. So allow me to explain each of these as well as the organization's purpose and core values.…
Client Case Study: Department C.Y.A
Challenge: Company is well respected in the industry. It is a desired place to work for and to work with. Over the last ten years, the Company changed its focus of how its product was delivered to its clients. The new focus is technology based.Overtime, one department strayed from the culture so far that it affected product quality and how the clients perceived the company. Other departments within the company viewed this department as ‘weird’ or ‘from another planet’ and outsourced work so they…
Most Innovative Ways to Recognize Your Employees
I posted the below text about a year ago to get some feedback, when I was switching my site, I rediscovered it and wanted to share again. Hope you enjoy it and it gives you some great ideas for saying "Thank you" this year. Recognizing your employees (when done properly) is an incredible element of your culture. It can be a driving force that leads to the most amazing results. Your employees end up feeling like what they do matters. Happy employees lead to happier customers and better results fo…
Truth Bomb: You Will Fail in Marketing and It's OK.
It’s true, 90% of all B2B companies market in pretty much the same way. It goes something like this:
Make a product/service
Talk a lot about their product/service
Produce a load of boring content and collateral to sell their product/service
Use various techniques to attempt to stand out and cut through the noise
Use a variety of channels and platforms like advertising, email, or direct marketing, as well as social media to make people aware of their product/service
Build a sales funnel and manage and …