Buyer personas are one of those consumer marketing constructs that the clueless keep trying to graft onto B2B services. A persona is a fictional character that’s supposed to represent your ideal buyer. It’s not the same thing as a target buyer. “The risk officer of a multinational property and casualty insurance company” is an example of a […]
Weird Marketing Reporting Relationships
Whenever I read about a big company that can’t keep a chief marketing officer, my first question is: Who’s in charge? Because let’s face it. Despite the seemingly proliferating number of chief-something-officers, there still are many more people capable of working at a corporate C-level than there are C-level positions available. This is the fact […]
Clients Might Set Up Their Own Ubers for Accounting
This story is interesting. Some believe the accounting profession is under threat from online labor platforms. The author argues that these worries are unfounded because accounting services are too personal, complex, and so forth for an “Uber for accounting” to succeed. There actually are several Ubers for accounting already. One of them, Countup, claims it […]
It’s Time for Marketing to Professionalize
In this article, Dan Lyons, author of “Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble,” describes the staff of the so-called unicorn (was: dotcom) where he once worked. Nine paragraphs in, he writes: “The vast majority worked in marketing, sales, and customer support. Those jobs don’t require any special degree or extensive training. Anyone, at any […]
Matching Consulting Services With Client Needs
A few years ago, I visited the offices of a global frozen food manufacturer. Our host, the CIO, kindly gave us a tour of the company’s state-of-the-art kitchens and adjacent focus group observation rooms. Testing was very important to this business. If a new product didn’t prepare well or taste good, the place to hear about it […]
What Business Leaders Can Learn from Abraham Lincoln
Today is Presidents’ Day in the US. Because of the upcoming federal election, a lot of ink has been spilled on the special talents corporate managers might bring to the presidency. But on this holiday, I think it’s worth examining what the CEO of a nation might teach the CEO of a commercial business. My favorite lesson is found in “Team of Rivals,” Doris Kearns Goodwin’s […]
Rethinking the Creative Class
Soon after my father Dig earned his engineering degree from the University of Alabama, he landed a technician job at Stockham Valves and Fittings. One gray winter morning, he had car trouble and his uncle Earl gave him a ride to work. As they drew near, Uncle Earl fell silent. Stretched before them lay acre […]
Your Consulting Service Needs a Logline
Granny was in a hurry. I followed her into the utility room, where she snatched a jar of her home-canned bread and butter pickles from the storage shelf. Dashing to the sink, where she’d been washing pans, she began to rinse the dusty jar. Suddenly, the jar shattered in her hands. The hot water had reacted […]