Making the Case for Change in Financial Marketing
When your buyers are financial institutions, whatever you sell is probably something they already use to do something they already are doing. Much of the time, your “competition” isn’t your competitors. It’s inertia. You have to get buyers to ask, “When is good enough no longer good enough?” As a result, your marketing needs to […]
A Call for Compassion in Marketing
Marketing drifts so quickly into cruel and dehumanizing language. Pain points. Targets. Just try to explain how words like that reflect compassion or a belief in human dignity. For example, no, B2B buyers are not usually in pain. It’s a bit odd to fetishize or hope for pain. Even worse, your offering is not a […]
How Thought Leadership Makes Marketing Everyone’s Ally
Marketing can build relationships with department heads in many areas of the business by including them in the planning and development of thought leadership. It establishes a partnership in which marketers listen to and solicit input while helping other departments sharpen their messaging and play a part in building a company’s reputation. For example, in […]
Claiming Your Space
At one level, you don’t own your thinking if you’re a thought leader within a company. The IP belongs to your employer. But you still build your reputation. You still have the freedom to carve out a space in which you care. The key to that self-sovereignty even within employment is establishing your ownership of […]
Aligning Marketing Actions with Strategic Insights
“Marketing sometimes has this activity reflex, where they just go and do things without really taking the time to properly align those things with the underpinnings of the problem.” As quoted in an excellent article in The Financial Brand by Sean Allocca Marketing trends like growth marketing and demand generation play a dual role—they are […]
The Power of Interaction Without Expectation
A more accurate title for Charles Duhigg’s Supercommunicators would be “How to Use Friends and Get Things From People.” Some of the insights are interesting enough, until you realize they are a guide to straight-up sociopathic behavior. Even if you make it up with the lipstick of “connection,” using vulnerability to obtain an outcome is […]
Cultivating a Culture of Challenge in Leadership
Being a leader can create a dangerous distortion field around you. – People will say they agree with you even if they don’t. – People will believe what you say even if they know better. You’re always subject to low-level anthropological phenomena. Your status and people’s fear and safety impulses can combine to bend the […]
Guided by Greatness
Most of my most formative intellectual and professional development has been with women leaders. The majority of my knowledge, skills, and experiences are thanks to women—from undergrad and doctoral advisors to CEOs, leaders, and entrepreneurs. The good fortune continues with the many female leaders I work with across my various clients. I’m so grateful. It’s […]
The Content Professional’s Guide to Value Creation
Content professionals have an opportunity to play a central role in creating value. But not on their current path. Imagine…people who can find and amplify great ideas that drive growth and change. They would be at the center of everything that matters to an organization, wouldn’t they? Senior leaders would trust them innately, seek out […]
Pruning the Web of Smut
I have a mission—to rid the internet of smut content. No, it’s not what you’re probably thinking. Although it’s likely just as lost a cause.