As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I am working on two book projects. It is likely I will self-publish the books, and as soon as next year. The “things I’ve heard in job interviews” is further along than the “stuff I’ve seen in concerts” concept, so that one will get published first. Here […]
Much of my love for literature and poetry comes from my paternal grandmother, who lived with us for about 15 years. She had a degenerative eye disease named Retinitis Pigmentosa. By age 40 she was completely blind. Despite losing her sight at a young age, she had a phenomenal memory for books, songs, and poems. […]
My job search was conducted across four different workstreams: Each has their plusses and minuses as I’ve worked through them to land a job. Applying to posted jobs and interacting with headhunters are basically self-explanatory, so this blog post will lean into what I mean by direct outreach. Direct outreach begins with news sources that […]
My inspiration for two upcoming book projects is “I Killed Pink Floyd’s Pig” by Beau Phillips. His book is an often-hilarious collection of short stories from a life spent in the music radio business. While I never drank beer from or with the late Dickie Betts nor discussed hedgehogs with Robert Plant, I enjoyed his […]
Somewhere in the great murk of the 1990s, the British songwriter Joe Jackson (check out his catalog – it includes lots more than just “Is She Really Going Out With Him” and “Stepping Out”) wrote a song called “It’s All Too Much” which is about being overwhelmed with choices. One of the verses is: I […]
Finding a phone number for a business, or an executive at that business, shouldn’t be an Olympic sport. But find phone numbers is getting increasingly difficult and complicated. The once-common practice of companies listing a phone number in the footer of their website is long gone. Even the investor or media contacts at an organization […]
As I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts, one of my favorite movies is The Commitments. It’s the fictional story of a group of scruffy people who banded together to form a 1960s-style rock and soul revue in the unlikely city of Dublin in the late 1980s. They were supposed to meet and presumably jam with […]
One of my favorite lines from a rock song is “You can be what they’ve made you into, or you can make your own luck,” which was written more than 30 years ago by the under-appreciated songwriter Jules Shear. Many other artists have recorded the song, such as an unforgettable version by Roger McGuinn that has his signature […]
One of the attendees on a recent video call asked me why I have a piñata in my office. The answer is not only a story about the piñata, but also a lesson in the art of following up on a sales call. The concept of the piñata is believed to have originated in China and was part of […]
You may have this kind of information in your head, on myriad documents, maybe pieces of paper, but a playbook is your definition of your Go To Market strategy and how to make it repeatable. Here is what should go into a playbook: Early in my most recent role as VP Marketing at an outsourcing […]
I’ve been in job search mode for the last quarter of 2023. Although a lot has changed in the few years since I’ve been in this mode (for example, LinkedIn has become the most used and reliable job board), there are still a few old pains that continue. Here are just a few mild rants […]
If you think that AI is everywhere, that’s because it is. AI is here to stay. Those who understand how to work with it will thrive. Lately I’ve been attending webinars and training sessions about how to incorporate AI into your work life. PlayPlay put on an excellent Content Summit this morning, with storytelling and […]
Are you familiar with the concept of unconscious bias? It is when people make judgments or decisions based on prior experience, their own personal deep-seated thought patterns, assumptions or interpretations, and at times they are not aware that they are doing it. The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary defines it as an unfair belief about a group […]
The annual Burning Man festival is in the news this week, more as a debacle than a celebration. Although I’ve never been, I’ve always associated Burning Man with concert festivals such as Lollapalooza, Warped, and the veritable but not forgotten HFStival. Turns out it was something else again. The weeklong event—known for its art, communal […]
One of the more fun things about getting your colleagues more famous is doing podcasts. I’ve been a podcast champion for years and have encouraged my PR partners to secure them. So now I am looking to start one of my own, and recently connected via LinkedIn with someone who has been running them for […]
Today’s blog post is inspired by a recent article from Crystal Theis, The Clash of the Titans in Our Minds. Here is a mind-bending concept – the maps and mapping programs that we use today were based on assumptions made centuries ago. Wait, what?!? This is true. Europe was basically the center of the known […]
One of the most talked-about technologies today is chat, and in particular a chat bot technology known as ChatGBT. The technology has a lot going for it – it is easy to get started, easy to use, and (best of all) it is free. And a little addictive. I attended a webinar recently that discussed […]
A few months ago, a friend posted a story on Facebook about a recurring dream. His dream involved having tea with Roger Daltrey and Pete Townsend of the Who. Pretty interesting stuff, especially since Roger is an avid tea drinker and Pete is better known for much harder stuff. Their conversation included kids, life on […]
This one is a blog post that I wrote and published on the HGS website, about my insights and takeaways from the Next Generation Patient Experience conference. The full post is https://www.teamhgs.com/blog/5-ngpx2019-insights-first-time-attendee.
Gearing up for a major trade show usually means “show specials,” or specific promotions designed to help spur business at the show. The other day a colleague asked me if I was finished creating a flyer for a promo we had discussed. After spending most of a day in promo flyer mode, I didn’t have […]
Ireland, rhythm and blues, and the thrill of being in a new band. Sounds like a perfect mix, right? They were all plot elements of the 1991 movie The Commitments, in which a group of scruffy people banded together to form a 1960s-style rock and soul revue in the unlikely city of Dublin. During one […]
Let’s face it – there are lots of people who want to be around celebrities. Every industry has them; they don’t have to be in pop culture. There are people who are noted for being good at what they do while others are legends in their own minds. As a marketing professional, I’ve run hundreds […]
Many organizations prefer to group Sales and Marketing together. The head of such a combined organization typically has SVP of Sales and Marketing in their title. The executive presides over two very different organizations. But which one are they? Are they a sales person or a marketing person? The truly rare bird has been both […]
Your customers have a multitude of channels through which they can interact with you. Does that make them omnichannel or multichannel? It doesn’t really matter, so long as your customer service team has visibility into all of the communication channels your customers use. This applies to everyone who faces your customers, whether they are […]
The world was stunned this week by the sudden death of David Bowie. He released an album only last week (on his 69th birthday) and from this fan’s perspective it was great to have him back in the spotlight. Bowie defied almost every convention over a five-decade career that spanned multiple music genres, movies, theater, […]
Six strings, four strings, it’s all the same, right? Wrong (imagine Dana Carvey as John McLaughlin in his most bellicose bellowing)! The ukulele and the guitar may both be stringed instruments, but there are many differences in how they are strung, tuned, and played. I’ve been playing guitar for decades and can voice most chords […]
The other day I attended an excellent webinar by Grant Leboff named What the Sex Pistols Can Teach You About Marketing. That’s right – The Sex Pistols. Johnny Rotten, Steve Jones, Paul Cook, Glen Matlock, and his replacement Sid Vicious. As a fan of the group, whenever “Anarchy in the UK” is on the airwaves I […]
These days I am in full-time job search mode, which I would not wish upon anyone. This is an emotional roller-coaster. You spend your days developing and maintaining contact lists, spending hours applying to positions, wrestling with applicant tracking systems, making follow-up phone calls, preparing for interviews, (if you are very lucky) interviews, and trying […]
A client recently asked us to develop a PR plan. Great, we can work with them to develop their key messages and help influence how their audience perceives them. Later that day, the same client asked for a social media plan as well. Wait a minute, shouldn’t they be one plan? Sure, you can involve […]
My favorite band, The Who, is now in the final throes of their 50th anniversary tour. Half a century together, and half of the band is still with us. “5:15” is one of my favorite songs by The Who, and for many reasons. We the listener are treated to Chuck Berry-style guitar riffs, a cascade […]
Everybody is busy. Your boss is busy. Your colleagues are busy. Your customers are busy. The people who cut the grass, the mail carriers, the construction workers waving the flags. Busy. Even the cat is busy, if the task of converting everything in the house into a cat toy can qualify. Why we are all […]
The concept of the webinar has been with us for more than a decade. The whole idea, as its name implies, is a web-based seminar. I am proud to say that I’ve introduced the concept to two different companies and consider it a communication channel of choice. You can gather as many people as your […]
The London Olympics, incredible as they were, are now just a memory. Something struck me during the opening ceremony and then the closing one – there were more people-of-a-certain-age involved than I ever remember seeing during a Games. The opening ceremony called to attention the several athletes who were in their sixties and even older. […]
Remember the “forgot password” button that used to be on most websites? The one that used to send you your password if you couldn’t remember which one of the dozen you used? Forget it, it is about as dead as Milli Vanilli. What replaced it is a “forgot password” button that forces you to reset […]
Driving in to the office this morning, I heard the Coldplay song “Viva La Vida” on the radio. So naturally I turned it up loud and sang along; the band is one of my favorites. Their creation story – four guys who met at university freshman orientation went on to form a band, and steadily […]
One of the earliest comments my parents made about me was that I “always had my nose in a book.” That is still true today; I am often reading one book for professional development and another for pleasure. One recent book – Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead by David Meerman Scott and Brian Halligan […]
Everybody has one. There is one brand that you will buy no matter what. Perhaps they dazzled you with great service, or their reliability is out of this world. Maybe their stuff is just plain cool. I have a couple of irrational brand attachments for very different reasons. The first one is Dell. I have […]
Begin at the beginning, but visualize the outcome. Decide who you want people to know you for and then build toward that goal. Here is an example. My previous employer was doing many innovative things with their products (in fact, beating the 800 pound and 500 pound gorillas to these innovations by a year or […]
An utterly priceless baseball quote is “…hit ‘em where they ain’t,” which is attributed to baseball immortal Wee Willie Keeler. At roughly 5’4” and 140 pounds (small even by 19th century ballplayer standards), Keeler was one of the smallest men ever to play the game; despite his stature, he was an incredibly resourceful hitter. Keeler’s […]
Think back to the good old days. Remember when you used Twitter as the bastion of refuge from the clutter of other channels? Time to think about that channel plan again. Twitter has more than 120 million users and adds at least 6 million new ones per month. Even with only one tenth of its […]
This must truly be the end of an era. Or is it? General Motors recently distributed an internal memo, instructing employees to “communicate our brand as Chevrolet,” effectively stopping the use of the name Chevy when referring to their long established Chevrolet brand. Then, they backtracked. Claiming that their original memo was “poorly worded,” General […]
Ann Curry’s gaffe and subsequent apology provide valuable lessons for PR professionals.
Make sure everyone in your organization not only understands but lives and breathes your marketing message.
You never know when or where you will meet a friend. When I was first establishing my cadre of vendors in Dallas, I received a call from someone who sells marketing specialties. You know, stuff with your logo on it that you give away at trade shows (or trade them with fellow exhibitors if the […]
Did you ever think you would learn about respect for your customers at a rock concert? Let me tell you about it. In November 2003 I attended a Duran Duran concert at the Warner Theater in Washington, DC. The original lineup of the band had reunited after nearly twenty years, and they were playing smaller […]
Searching for a job is hard work. Perhaps the hardest part is the countless hours on the telephone. This directly relates to the vanishing voice of the customer, so please read on… I recently saw an ad for a position with a telecom service provider for which I would be ideally suited. The ad clearly […]
Has the voice of the customer disappeared? I am beginning to think that it has. Recently I sought contractors to fix my hail-damaged roof. When I presented a quote to my insurance company, they questioned why I chose the contractor. My sad reply – they were the only one that returned my phone call! For […]
Welcome! My blog will cover a range of topics that are pertinent to marketing communications, media relations, social media, lead generation, and sales tool creation. Although the purpose of marketing is to sell stuff (or services), the purpose of this blog is information rather than the slinging of hash. Your comments are most welcome.