Look at Your Competitive Set in a New Way

Look at Your Competitive Set in a New Way
A recent Harvard Business Review article, Cultural Innovation, by Douglas Holt, resonated with me on multiple levels. First, it’s about rethinking your category and its underlying unmet needs, Second, it’s all about understanding the entrenched schemas in your category and identifying hidden dissatisfiers to break them, which is the foundation...

A Fresh Look at How B2B Customers Buy

A Fresh Look at How B2B Customers Buy
The last few years have seen a flurry of new Argentum clients in the distribution space. Distributor differentiation is especially challenging since distributors typically carry the same products at the same prices as their competitors. As a result, these distributors have been some of my most interesting clients to position. One of these...

Looking Your Best On Camera

Looking Your Best On Camera
If you’re like a lot of my clients, you know that looking your best is important when you’re being videoed or photographed. But you may not know how to bring your “best you” on camera. You may have even heard the horror stories of the people who looked like floating heads on film because their clothing blended into the...

Best Marketing Job Spec EVER

Best Marketing Job Spec EVER
As someone who has been involved with marketing in some way for more than 20 years, I have seen a whole lot of marketing job specs in my time. Without a doubt the VP of Marketing job spec that GiveForward post last week is the best I have ever seen. And it’s not just my opinion. I posted the job to my LinkedIn network and have never seen...

Great Creative Needs Time

Great Creative Needs Time
A friend recently shared this simple but brilliant video. It was created by the Hungarian marketing communications magazine, Kreatív, to help its clients understand why better work requires time. It’s been a great tool to help our clients understand the creative process a little better, and our agency partners love it. See the video.

Ho Ho Holiday Cards

‘Tis the season to send holiday cards! Holiday cards with a hand-written personal note inside, that is. This is one of my most favorite marketing tactics for just about every business, but especially for consulting companies like mine. It is also fabulous for people in transition, and that’s when I originally became enamored of them....

Cupcake Marketing: Sweet!

I am a sucker for a good cupcake and am fortunate to live in a city with many delicious options. And while I realize that the whole cupcake craze is just that – a fad, I love how several cupcake bakeries are pushing the marketing envelope in big ways and small. Big ways: In case you missed the news, Sprinkles, the CA-based chain with truly...

Use Employee Voicemail Messages To Reinforce Brand Messaging

I called a friend of mine the other day at work. While I didn’t get him live, I got something much better: His voicemail! Normally I would much prefer to reach the person I’m calling, but Bruce’s message was so great from a branding perspective, that I have found a new tactic for all of my clients. Bruce works for a company that...

Pinterest for B2B

At last, an interesting B2B example of using Pinterest! I recently received this email from FONA International, a company that creates and manufactures sweet and savory flavors for the food and beverage industry. You can also click here to see a larger version of the email on my website. While Pinterest is now the 3rd most popular site, according...

When Your Main Marketing Vehicle Is A Vehicle

I had some electrical work done at my house yesterday. When I was writing the check out to pay my electrician he slapped a magnetized version of his business card on my fridge. When I complimented him on the idea, he told me that he kept a bunch stuck to the back of his van below the painted words “Please Take One.” I think this is...