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 -›

Many wise managers and agency partners have taught me over the years that when asking for changes to creative work, framing the problem you want the creatives to solve, versus telling them how to solve it will virtually always get you the best results.

For example, instead of saying this: “Can you make the label bright green?”
Say something like: “I’d like the label to be more noticeable on the package”.

This way, you use the creatives to identify different, multiple ways to solve your problem. Versus spending their time on coming up with the perfect shade of green.

So I was pretty mortified a few weeks ago when I realized that I should have applied this “Frame The Problem” approach to my personal life as well.
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Okay, so maybe I’m biased. After all, I do love to travel. And I just got back from another great trip. This time I spent 2 weeks in Egypt and Jordan with two friends.

But I have always thought that the best marketers are able to put themselves in other people’s shoes, and traveling is a great opportunity to practice that. When you are exposed to how people in different cultures live and work and eat and shop, it can help you look more objectively at your own customer and consumer behavior back home.

Now that I’m home, while reflecting on the trip, I realized that there are 10 things I try to do to better experience a country while I’m there

10 Tips for Maximizing Your Marketing Skills Through Travel Read More -›