This month we have a guest blogger, Nancy Goldstein of Compass(x) Strategy. While Nancy’s firm focuses on brand strategy and marketing for environmentally and socially responsible businesses, she just couldn’t resist commenting on the recent launch and subsequent discontinuation of the Microsoft KIN. I thought she makes some terrific points, and wanted to share them here. As you’ll see, she feels the KIN case is ripe with lessons to be learned to help businesses of all shapes, sizes and missions improve their new product launches. So, here’s what she thinks:

On May 13 of this year, Microsoft launched The KIN – their latest entry into the mobile market. Just 48 days later, Microsoft killed The KIN. After spending tens of millions of dollars on advertising, $500 million to acquire a small tech design firm, and countless dollars and people on development, the product was discontinued due to dismal sales. Read More -›

In a recent TV interview, I cited “Do, Reach, Say” as three common marketing mistakes I see companies making. I thought it might be helpful to write a post about each of those elements, starting with Do.

How is “Do” a marketing mistake? It is shorthand for the fact that many companies do not stop and think about what they really want their marketing to DO for them. How will it help them achieve their business objectives? Developing a marketing plan helps to answer this question while giving guidance for how the goals will be achieved.

Every year, brand teams at large companies spend countless man hours developing their brand plans for the coming year. While this highly disciplined approach is a truly great way to tackle brand strategy from the ground up, it is often not feasible for companies with revenues under $300M.

As Dan and Chip Heath point out in their new book Switch – How to Change When Change is Hard, if you’re beginning anything new and daunting, some basic, easier to handle steps are a great way to get started. The way I do this with my clients is to start by roughing out what the overall marketing objective for the brand/company is. For example, grow business by +25%. Read More -›

This month, my friend Andy Crestodina of Orbit Media Studios is kindly letting me repurpose a post he wrote for his own blog a few months ago. I think he offers some great advice here, and I often refer my clients to it.

From Andy:
Full disclosure: I sell websites. Every day, I meet with companies who are looking for a web-design firm, and naturally, I’d like some of them to choose us. But I’ve also noticed something during these conversations: typically, people don’t ask the most important questions.

In 5 minutes, these 5 questions will tell you more than any hour-long presentation could: Read More -›