April 8, 2021 I hear B2b marketers use the terms customer journey and buyer journey interchangeably. While it’s not only incorrect, this misunderstanding creates lost opportunities to build early relationships with customers (or potential customers), create a more efficient buyer journey, and develop stronger conversations when it comes time to connect with a sales person. Let’s start with the basics… …
April 1, 2021 When I was growing up, the sophistication of my cheese palate was limited to bricks of Velveeta and jars of Cheese Wiz. Fast forward a few years and I’m working at my first marketing job at a small architecture firm in Lincoln, Nebraska. My boss, Dave, buys everyone breakfast, bagels with cream cheese. CREAM CHEESE! I felt …
March 25, 2021 There’s been a rash of research in the last year about the lost productivity of teams because of COVID and the need to work from home. While the new dynamics of how we all go to the office each day has certainly had effects we didn’t count on, some can’t be blamed on the pandemic. Instead, the …
March 11, 2021 Has any role in business morphed more than that of the CMO? It’s a position rife with constantly changing expectations yet most often lacks the necessary support to ensure its success. If you’ve worked in marketing long, this isn’t news. In 2013, the Business Marketing Association and Forrester did research about how CMOs stood at the crossroads …
January 21, 2021 Global pandemic. Fake news. Social protests. Economic turmoil. Political instability. If 2020 were a movie plot, no one would believe it. Unfortunately, this is the world we’ve endured the last 12 months. The effects of this imperfect storm come out this month in Edelman’s 2021 Trust Barometer. This annual index measures the average percent of trust people …
January 7, 2020 TAKE THE 30-DAY CREATIVITY CHALLENGE One the first day of class, a pottery teacher split her class into two halves. To the first half she said, “You will spend the semester studying pottery, planning, designing, and creating your perfect pot. At the end of the semester, we’ll have a competition to see whose pot is the best.” …
December 17, 2020 Find just the right something for the creative person in your life can feel like a lot of pressure. Some original thinkers are more hands on and others prefer more techie things. Regardless of the type you’re looking to please, here’s a list of 28 gifts that will show them you understand their tastes and want to …
December 3, 2020 It’s the time of year when people begin looking heavily at the change in the calendar and planning ahead. For every company, team and leader, strategic planning is the most important activity they do on a regular basis. It sets the tone for the vision of the company, and the priorities and milestones of getting there. Yet …
November 5, 2020 The manufacturer of window-unit air conditioners wanted customer input but they weren’t sure how to go about it without being overly technical in their questions. They knew the noise level of their units was loud, but they wanted to figure out if customers would pay more for a quieter unit. And if they did, how much would …
October 22, 2020 For innovative leaders, critical thinking is at the heart of everything they do. We’ve developed a tremendous reliance on technology to deliver data and analytics. Heck, I’m not sure I’d know how to get from home to the grocery store 3 blocks away without Google maps. But researchers from McGill University have determined that all the help …
October 8, 2020 I’m not going to try and sugar coat it, 2020 has been a hot mess. And we still have the 4th quarter to go. But one of history’s greatest lessons is people’s resiliency during a crisis. John F. Kennedy pointed out that the dual message in the Chinese word for crisis: “The Chinese use two brush strokes …
September 17, 2020 Most successful – not to mention remarkable – discoveries throughout history have come because someone was simply curious. Inventors interested in flight were curious about birds. Curiosity in whales inspired scientists to invest the submarine. A Swiss engineer was curious about how burrs stuck to his dog’s coat and invented velcro. People are born naturally curious. You …
September 3, 2020 If you asked 10 different people to define innovation, you’d get 20 different responses. It’s one of those things that seems simple to define and understand but turns complicated when you’re pressed for specifics. It’s no wonder. Innovation has turned into one of the biggest cliché words executives use to talk about how they differentiate their companies …
August 13, 2020 “Haven’t I seen you before?” It’s a cheesy pickup line that’s been around for ages. And while it makes people roll their eyes, there’s something to the familiarity quotient. Studies show that we’re attracted to what we find familiar. The more we’re exposed to certain people, the more familiar they become and the more we like them. …
July 30, 2020 In the 2018 GE Global Innovation Barometer, nearly three in four global executives believe that a lack of skills is an issue facing their industry. And 64% say this hurts their ability to innovate. Sadly, this situation’s only gotten worse. How to do the most innovative companies get that way, much less sustain their innovation efforts? That’s …
July 16, 2020 Have you ever read the same paragraph over and over and still couldn’t remember what it was about? How about tried to write that report, put the presentation together, or get anything done when you just can’t get your head in the game? If you could just focus! It escapes us all, and it feels like it’s …
July 2, 2020 July 4, 2020 marks the 244th birthday for the United States. We’re not alone in our celebration of independence this month. Canada, Rwanda, Somalia, Hong Kong and Burundi have July 1 as their Independence Day. The French celebrate Bastille Day on the 14th. In total, 20 countries recognize days in July for their independence. Independence for any …
June 18, 2020 A significant number of companies have received scathing responses from customers and the media in the last few months – and rightly so. They’re making claims to support people and causes when everything about their behavior proves they believe otherwise. It’s clear many brands have a gross misunderstanding of the difference between fiction and nonfiction storytelling–and don’t …
May 14, 2020 It was early 2001. The dot-com-boom had taken people on a Thelma-and-Louise ride and sailed them off a cliff. Enron’s crazy accounting debacle ended up in the largest corporate bankruptcy (until WorldCom out did it a year later). Arthur Andersen execs looked the other way while Enron did their dirty deeds and even helped their buddy out …
Learn how drinking alcohol can help remove barriers to creativity, innovation and coming up with great ideas.
