Online Marketing for Marketers

Whether you’re a Stephen Colbert fan or not, marketers have to love his interview with Lucas Conley, the author of Obsessive Branding Disorder. I have not read his book, but his point about branding gone wild is valid. And the interview is very entertaining (like a marketing private joke).

While the examples in the interview are exaggerated, what I gather from the interview is that Conley argues the problem with many brands today, or co-brands, is they don’t make a lot of strategic sense. Brands need to get back to basics, remember what they stand for, who is the target audience, and strategically move forward with that in mind. Be relevant to your audience and relevant to your positioning.   Read more

This has been a really busy summer. So, instead of my usual ‘business book’ reading, I’ve embarked on a guilty pleasure…reading the ‘Twilight’ book series. My experience getting caught up in this vampire soap opera made me think of how the success of this book has been perfectly viral. And a nice example of remembering to find your customer enthusiasts and help them refer your product or service. Even reward them.  Read more

Marketing can be too tactical. Over the years working in marketing one problem I see regularly are organizations chasing marketing tactics without an understanding of what they are trying to achieve, and worse, no way to measure the effectiveness to the company goals. This is prevalent in small business but not absent with larger organizations.

I came across the issue again this week with a client. I believe marketing is prone to a ‘tactical’ nature more than most other professions (in business).  Read more