I’ve had the privilege of directing external and internal communications “in the trenches” during a number of major industry revolutions over the last several decades. From a communicator’s standpoint, what do they all have in common? The need to win over the hearts and minds of those people whose daily work is most impacted by the […]
Read more "Workin’ the changes, enjoying the ride"Thanksgiving is a time for gratitude, reflection … and family stories recanted over mincemeat pie. Want a lesson in extremely compact story telling? You may have seen AT&T’s Rethink Possible TV spot. If these guys can visually tell the life story of a fictitious future U.S. president right up through inauguration, along with the meeting […]
Read more "Thanksgiving is Story-Telling Time"My Core Score is not about the look or the navigation within your B2B website … it’s about the value propositions and specifics presented right on your home page.
Read more "Give your B2B Home Page the Core Score"PR ideas for the nonprofits during “Quality Time with PR Minds” ranged from maximizing the awareness-building effects of a 40th anniversary event to viral video strategies featuring personal benefit-success stories. Lots of practical thoughts about efficiency and reach, also.
Read more "Sharing PR Expertise with Nonprofits on a Speed Date"Early in my career in the years “B.I” (Before Internet), I began experiencing first-hand the marketing power of pumping out useful, insightful content to the marketplace. My colleagues and I proved that we could magnify the perception of a very small company as a leader, by demonstrating what they know. Our Detroit-area agency did the […]
Read more "Application Stories Fueled B2B Manufacturing-Tech Leadership"My workday adrenaline is fueled by the fact that business innovations are exciting, new technology enthralling. Likewise, B2B marcomm messaging should tap into new and engaging energies, rather than reverting to hyperbole and braggadocio. And why do we need to always be as serious as a funeral home? So, here’s my first in a series […]
Read more "Borrow Best B2C Campaign Themes for B2B Messaging"Authenticity is growing as a guideline on business websites, but it’s getting rarer on TV these days.
I recently went to a taping of Chelsea Lately, the rude, shallow but amusing gossip/talk show on the E network. I expected that an under-employed comedian would be warming up the small studio audience prior to the taping – what I didn’t expect was that it would be an obnoxious Laugh-Nazi.
Read more "Have You Laughed at Chelsea Lately?"I am now in the 4th stage of my career. This post begins a series on these stages, with some insights I have gained along the way. Stage I (below) was my “heavy-duty” period. The struggle of manufacturers during this deep recession to get support from banks for investments in new technology and capital improvements […]
Read more "B2B Marketer’s Challenge: Cutting Through the Clutter to Persuade Top Management"Although my focus is on the B-to-B world, I summarized three of my favorite B-to-C stories that are well known to many business people, and asked colleagues and cohorts to vote on the one they thought was the most significant to them. My thanks to the thirty pros who responded. Looks like the oldest story […]
Read more "Industry Origins are Popular as Business Stories"The value of storytelling goes back a long ways. Thousands of years. An unfolding story holds more interest than a mere stating of facts derived from it. In B-to-B marketing we are fond of saying that it allows a prospect to visualize himself or herself as a user of a given technology, imaging how the […]
Read more "The Value of Business Storytelling"