As you may have noticed, I haven't posted in quite some time. I apologize. It's not acceptable. It is, however, a sign of the times. Which times are those? The times where we do not want to mention [...] read more »

Launching a new website is no easy task especially when you're a marketer marketing to marketers! Yowza! But my team and I recently completed a project where we did just that.  While we're proud, we're also relieved.  All that technology and integration is painful.  In fact, I heard the comments made that I'm the most expensive web master they've ever employed.  Truth is, I'm also probably the least qualified, technically speaking!

Check it out.  The site is www.sitebrand.com.
You see this isn't just a pretty website. This website is an example of modern marketing - one that can be held up to the [...] read more »

Things have changed dramatically on the awareness and brand tracking front since I began marketing so many years ago.  When I engage clients I always do a little background search to understand their challenges.  To do that I simply measure their brand awareness against their competition.  I can do the same thing for their industry or solution category.  Once I'm engaged, I use the same tools to measure and trend the impact our efforts are making.  Seems natural, yet so many people do not do it.  What's even more amazing, people will rarely understand the impact you're making until they see the [...] read more »

As marketing executives, we spend a fair amount of time creating our marketing plan, ensuring it's aligned with the business plan, and then executing the programs and campaigns against that plan.  It's the cycle we live.  We repeat it daily, quarterly, and yearly.  We get into a routine.  We become creatures of habit.  If you're wondering where I'm going with this allow me to get to the point: our habit is undermining our effectiveness.  How so?  In what context?  We apply this same learned behaviour to our customer acquisition tactics. That may have been fine a decade ago but it no longer works [...] read more »

  There is a fundamental disconnect between the traditional marketer and the new consumer.  Some marketers are starting to understand this however most marketers continue to live in the old world.  The result of this is a drastic reduction in campaign effectiveness as consumers spurn the traditional tactics and no longer feel committed to a vendor or loyal to a brand.  Last year, Microsoft produced a video to this effect which does a fantastic job of satirizing the problem. Check out the video here.

Having been in marketing for twenty years now, in fact in all things technology [...] read more »

A recent study tracked CMOs at 100 leading consumer companies and found that the average tenure in 2007 was 26.8 months--compared to 23.2 months in 2006, 23.5 months in 2005 and 23.6 in 2004.

That's not a long time. In fact, it's less than half of the average tenure for a CEO.

My last blog post certainly gave my perspective as it relates to the Canadian high technology scene and the understanding of the role of Marketing. That said, success in the Marketing executive ranks remains solely with the Marketing executive; nobody else can be blamed.

According to a recent CMO Council report, Define & Align [...] read more »

Let's talk about the role of Marketing in technology companies. I liken it to oil meets water. The engineers in the company want to be logical, black and white, empirical, and predictable. Without the technology, there is nothing to market. Engineering is the critical ingredient. We'll call them oil. Marketing is psychological, grey, uncertain, half gut and half experience. Marketing deals with the human element and how emotional beings will react and engage. We'll call them water. Unless you shake them vigorously, oil and water don't mix.

So why is it in the USA, Marketing is strategic and integral to [...] read more »