Articles
Scaling Your Business GROWTH Stage
The Ability of a Brand to Go from Viable to Valuable
MVP. Sounds exciting. You want that title. Right?
Well, unfortunately, I am not going to talk about being the most valuable player. Instead, my thoughts are about a minimal viable product (MVP). I know that is nowhere near as sexy. And as you know, you don't want me talking sports. LOL!
Anyway, I want to draw attention to the words--minimal...viable...product—MINIMAL in particular.
The concept is great, you spend as little as possible and generate the most revenue (and hopefully profit too)…
Increase the Power and Impact of Your Brand with a WOW Statement
Marketing terminology really hasn’t changed over the years—even though consumers, the market, technology, and expectations have.
In my experience, there are gaps between formal, traditional marketing statements, the pillars of marketing success, and the actual application and results of these structures. These statements are either too formal and wordy or too slapstick and trendy. The pillars used to build and define marketing efforts were based on consumer behavior of the 1950s at best. Most m…
How to Make Sure Your Rebrand is a Success
I remember having a conversation with a business owner years ago about branding. He was trying to convince me that a brand’s logo should NEVER, EVER change. At the time I had been in the industry for over a decade and knew that his intention was correct, but the reality couldn’t be more wrong. As I sat there listening to his reasonings—which completely contradicted each other, but that’s another story—I was taken back to my days in college and my History of Graphic Design book. There was an enti…
The FAQs of Working with a Fractional CMO
What is a fractional CMO?
A fractional CMO is a contract Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), retained on a part-time basis to provide executive marketing leadership for a growing business. They are a key part of your executive team brought in to take a holistic view of your business. They seek to understand your business objectives with enough clarity to develop fresh and impactful marketing strategies that will drive growth for your organization. They work with you to develop strategic insights, fo…
Do You Need a CMO or a Fractional CMO?
Hiring a CMO or Director of Marketing can be challenging. These are very important roles that can make or break an organization— especially when you factor in the costs of recruiting, benefits, and the equity you may have to hand over. To invest all this in finding a CMO when there is no guarantee they will be a fit is a massive risk to take on.
Fractional work is the new full-time employee. Whether you call it part-time, interim, gig work, virtual, on-demand, contract work, consultant, or fra…
How to Build the Ultimate Brand to Better Connect with Your Customers
Figuring out your brand personality can seem to be impossible. It's like figuring out who you are and what really matters to you as a person. We all struggle (whether we admit it or not) when it comes to figuring out who we really are. It can take years of self-reflection, self-care, and personal discovery only to discover that who we thought we were is not who we actually are…and then begins the process of accepting who we really are. Well, you don’t have that kind of time when it comes to buil…
Truth Bomb: You Will Fail in Marketing and It's OK.
It’s true, 90% of all B2B companies market in pretty much the same way. It goes something like this:
Make a product/service
Talk a lot about their product/service
Produce a load of boring content and collateral to sell their product/service
Use various techniques to attempt to stand out and cut through the noise
Use a variety of channels and platforms like advertising, email, or direct marketing, as well as social media to make people aware of their product/service
Build a sales funnel and manage and …