Argentum Blog

Argentum's blog, Marketing Op-Ed, highlights interesting, real-world examples of marketing with a little bit (okay, a lot) of opinion thrown in.  It's written by Susan Silver, President of Argentum Strategy Group, with the occasional guest blogger added to the mix.

Let’s Play: What’s Wrong With This Survey

Let’s Play: What’s Wrong With This Survey
An early-stage investor in Chickety Split, a healthy ready-to-eat food product that you can buy in grocery stores, recently asked me to take a look at a survey that the founder, Fred, is preparing to send out. The investor, Harry, explained that he was seeking my advice because he expected that the survey would result in a disappointing outcome...

So You Have a Positioning Statement, Now What? Messaging Matrix.

So You Have a Positioning Statement, Now What? Messaging Matrix.
A few years ago, I was working with the CEO of a fast-growing Bay Area technology start-up. After a recent promotion from CMO, he wanted my help with the company’s messaging since he no longer had the time to lead that project himself. While he wanted to focus solely on messaging, I knew that grounding that messaging in a foundation of...

So You Have a Positioning Statement – Now What? Elevator Pitches.

So You Have a Positioning Statement – Now What? Elevator Pitches.
For fledgling marketers, it’s not always clear how to use a positioning statement beyond on-boarding and grounding creative partners. The good news is that it’s actually a tool that can be used to enhance all of your sales and marketing efforts, not just the classic creative ones like ads and collateral. A great example is using your...

It’s Okay to be Needy – Identifying Your B2B Customers’ Unmet Needs

It’s Okay to be Needy – Identifying Your B2B Customers’ Unmet Needs
Defining your customers’ unmet need can be one of the trickiest parts of developing a strong positioning statement, especially since it has to be a need your customers know they have. It hurts me every time I hear someone say “we just need to educate our customers,” because that’s a pretty good indication that the speaker...

Video: Using “Human Words” to Describe Unmet Needs

Video: Using “Human Words” to Describe Unmet Needs
Clearly articulating your customer’s unmet need is a great test of your ability to put yourself in your customer’s shoes. During a recent workshop with entrepreneurs at Chicago’s 1871, I took a few minutes to talk about  the importance of Unmet Need for your brand positioning, and how to more effectively articulate it.  Watch...

Warby Wannabes – Direct-to-Consumer 2.0

Warby Wannabes – Direct-to-Consumer 2.0
As a “classically trained” marketing person who believes passionately that the best products solve a real unmet need in a better way than anything on the market, watching the direct to consumer (DTC) revolution has been fascinating. And while I love Dollar Shave Club’s viral video and Warby Parker’s fab glasses, I...

Make Your Customers’ Lives Easier

Make Your Customers’ Lives Easier
Most companies say they excel at saving their clients time, but are all of your touchpoints really demonstrating that you understand how to help them do that? Kids Science Labs’ original voicemail message is a great case in point. Watch this quick 90-second video to learn how to more strategically use your customer...

Execute Tactics More Strategically

Execute Tactics More Strategically
Use what you know, or can infer, about your customers’ behaviors to help you make better marketing decisions. Check out this brief video for ideas on becoming more precise in how you execute your marketing tactics.

B2B Content Marketing: Digital vs. Face-to-Face

B2B Content Marketing: Digital vs. Face-to-Face
There’s exciting new research out from my alma mater, the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, about how B2B marketing teams can help drive more quality leads to sales through digital content marketing. The research, conducted by professor Bobby Calder and his team at the Medill School’s Speigel Research Center, explored which...

The Top Reasons Startups Fail

The Top Reasons Startups Fail
I recently came across some research done by CB Insights about The Top 20 Reasons Startups Fail. They’re data aggregators backed by the National Science Foundation and other heavyweights, and they regularly read startup post-mortems and compile an aggregation of why startups fail.  The first thing that really stood out to me was that HALF...