In the wide, wide world of marketing, there’re all kinds of opinions being tossed around. And everyone is an expert. I’ve noticed that the folks with the least to say consistently spend the most time saying it. Beyond the point of mere pontification, they can go on at endless lengths to prove their point. Unfortunately, by the time they arrive at their great epiphany, no one’s...
Marketing Triage
A confession: I like random words. Somehow, as we take our daily conversation down to 140 character tweets and colorful abbreviations (wtf!) we lose track of the power and majesty of choosing the exact, right word. That word for today is triage. Most commonly associated with emergency rooms and battlefield hospitals, triage is a process for sorting the sick or injured based upon their need or...
Savor the experience…
Last Friday, I had the extreme pleasure of being a dinner guest at Boston’s Oak Room. It’s a steakhouse in the classic tradition that fusses over every detail, serves the highest quality cuisine, and charges its patrons accordingly. As dining goes, it’s fantastic. But what really got me to thinking was the overall experience — how it kept me thoroughly contented and...
But what do you do?
Last night, I was watching the Red Sox lose to the Texas Rangers. Sad, really. In fact, I’d go as far as to call it tragic. I’m a massive Sox fan. I’ve been going to games since I was in kindergarten. I know more useless Red Sox trivia than most people have forgotten. But what caught my attention last night was the number of people in the Sox dugout that I couldn’t...
Thought for the Day #2
Teach me something, please!
The music business is crazy, unpredictable, volatile, and often revolutionary. I understand that, and despite the insanity, I can’t think of another industry I’d be suited to work in. The happiest periods in my career came when I was actually learning something. A new perspetive, a fresh outlook, a great contact — all meant more to me than the paycheck. Not that a nice paycheck...
Hello Reality!
I got a message the other day from one of my clients. I had submitted a marketing plan which met existing budget, staff, and timeline limitations. Admittedly, it wasn’t the most exciting and groundbreaking campaign, but it maximized every existing opportunity. The response I got was “I hired you ‘cuz you think outside the box. Give me something that delivers that…and go...
Anything you can do, I can do better…
I work in marketing. It’s what I do. A long time ago, I realized that I’m pretty good at “reading” people, figuring out what motivates them, and being able to focus that understanding toward promoting a product or idea. Ultimately, that’s what marketing is. And as such, a lot of it is a very “soft science.” Certain jobs have very specific skill sets that...