We all know there is way too much jargon in tech. I make it my mission to fight it. It's pervasive. Jargon, like a virus, multiplies. Jargon hurts your business. There is just too much noise out there; and if I can't 'get' what you do, I'll move [...]
Crapendectomy. One silly, made-up word caused quite a stir this week. I was asked to provide a webinar to an organization recently. They invited me and, by extension, my voice. My *authentic* voice. There is too much noise in the world and too much marketing that lacks [...]
I’ve always joked that marketing is a not missionary position! There is truth in comedy. Marketing is about preaching to the already converted. Your job is to attract people who believe what you believe. Too many businesses focus resources on marketing individual products and services. While that is [...]
Every business is in the simplicity business. This article discusses ways of simplifying messages so you uncomplicate customers' lives.
There is a big difference between customers and advocates. Advocates are the passionate fans that talk about you and, by doing so, scale your marketing efforts. They are your best and most important marketing champions.What do you need to engage them? Why should they care? Before you [...]
Jargon gets between you and your customer and it’s one of the biggest challenges in marketing messaging today, regardless of industry. As I’ve written about before, jargon is not just a disservice to your customer; it’s a marketing and sales problem for you that shouldn’t be ignored. [...]
Marketing is about the story you tell your customers, and the stories they tell about you. If there’s a big gap between who you say you are and who customers say you are, you have a problem. I can’t tell you how many times I hear businesses [...]
A new era of executive communications is here, thankfully. Move over sound bite-spewing CEOS. Fragmented media compete for increasingly divided customer attention. The decline of trust in corporations combined with the increasing volume and complexity of information have left audiences with a glut of ‘data’ and, yet, a [...]
Keeping marketing human means your core story is never about you, your technology, or your products and services. As Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, states, you must think bigger than what you do. In the case of Zappos, Hsieh knows the shoes his company sells are incidental. Hsieh [...]
If you read my blog or any article I’ve written, you know this is mission of mercy for me. As a marketer, storyteller and improviser, I have seen humor deliver results. Humor IS human and in a world of sameness, increasing noise and complexity (big data, anyone?!), humor [...]
