Vinyl records. Audiotapes. Typewriters. Carbon paper. That white stuff that Mike Nesmith’s mom invented that we used to use to correct typing errors. Rotary phones. The Post Office (well, not yet…). Look back over the past 10, 20 or 50 years, and you’ll find countless examples of products and services that simply no longer exist — or that have morphed into something else. Products and services that, for whatever reasons, have become obsolete. Read the rest of this entry »
Companies That Stand the Test of Time: What Does It Take?
November 21st, 2023Do You Have What It Takes to Be an Influencer?
November 7th, 2023Opportunities for Building Generative AI Into Work Processes
October 10th, 2023If you’re involved in content creation or management and you haven’t heard of ChatGPT by now, you must be living under a rock. ChatGPT is a form of generative AI—“a type of artificial intelligence technology that can produce various types of content including text, imagery, audio and synthetic data,” according to George Lawton in an article from TechTarget.
It holds a lot of promise but also, potentially, a lot of peril for users.
The Top Marketing Trends for 2023: AI Captures the Most Mindshare, but Marketers Have More on Their Plates
October 3rd, 2023When it comes to trend spotting in the marketing space, there’s a bright, shiny thing in the room: artificial intelligence.
AI is clearly top of mind for marketers. But it can also be a distraction that keeps marketing pros focused raptly on it and turning their attention away from other compelling technologies and trends that should be on their radar screens. Nonetheless, its current and potential impact cannot be ignored. Read the rest of this entry »
Customer Intent: Elusive, but Not Impossible to Obtain
September 27th, 2023Customer or buyer intent refers to the motivations that drive consumer behaviors—not simply what they want, but why they want it. The ability to discern the whys behind the whats is obviously important to marketers. The more they can understand the motivations of their customers, the better they will be able to produce the goods and services that best meet their needs and effectively communicate the right points to compel the desired action—a sale. Read the rest of this entry »
Direct Mail — The “Snail Mail” Kind — Never Goes Out of Style
September 1st, 2023A number of years ago, a colleague of mine gave me a book on fractals to read and it was fascinating! At least I thought so. It was all about how nature is made up of fractals that operate in a systematic way to create patterns (in clouds, in leaves, in trees—in everything!). It’s all very mathematical (and I didn’t understand much of the really technical content…) but the images were fascinating and the idea that there are patterns—often predictable patterns—in everything around us, was Read the rest of this entry »
The “5th P” in the Marketing Mix: People
August 29th, 2023Developing and maintaining a strong brand for a service is significantly more challenging than developing and maintaining a strong brand for a product. Why? Because a service is less tangible, more ephemeral—and often involves multiple “touchpoints” that really determine the “brand experience.”
What makes a strong brand? Read the rest of this entry »
Ask Before Acting: Why You Should Seek Input From Target Audiences
August 24th, 2023I was pulled into an interesting online discussion recently in a PR forum that I participate in on LinkedIn. There are currently more than 100 responses to a question that initially asked whether participants hated cold-calling and eventually evolved into a discussion of whether Read the rest of this entry »
Vetting Freelance Talent in 2023
August 22nd, 2023The use of freelancers and contractors is on the rise, and this trend is likely to continue as hordes of workers are laid off or decide they simply aren’t willing to give up the freedom and flexibility of remote and hybrid work to return full-time to physical workplaces. Freelancers can offer great benefits to employers who know what to look for, what to look out for, and how to effectively evaluate talent before bringing them on board. Read the rest of this entry »