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Dear CMO: You and I have seen this movie a thousand times. Someone with little comfort in the marketing discipline says, “we don’t need to do ‘marketing’… this is what my sales people are supposed to do all day long…” One of several things probably happens to you at a time like this. The twitch comes back. You slowly […]

Dear CMO: Why do people say “discount” like it’s a bad word? This is nonsense. If you’re in a price elastic market and occasionally sell your wares to non-millionaire playboys, pricing is often the difference between window shopping and revenue. We don’t always have to confuse “marketing” with “premium positioning,” although this happens more often […]

Dear CMO: It’s often said that your average consumer is a lousy artist but a wonderfully articulate art critic. I think this is true for several reasons, none of which have anything to do with artistic ability. When left to our own intellectual devices, we tend to wander. Ask a group of eight behind the […]

Dear CMO: While drafting up what is currently looking like Chapter 8 in Killing Giants, I stumbled upon an interesting comparison of targeting that bears further discussion. Who we choose to talk to in our market is a pretty significant and strategic choice we make, as is how we choose to communicate. We often read […]

Dear CMO: I had the chance to catch up with writer, inventor, speaker and philosopher Roger van Oech on the phone last week. Roger has been very helpful in shepherding Killing Giants along, which is a euphemistic expression for ‘keeping me on track.’ In his gentle manner, Roger warned me about the pitfalls of what Robert […]