ARE YOU DOING A SERVICE OR DISSERVICE TO YOUR BRAND?

We need to get beyond the product we sell and think about the experience we deliver. The whole product—tangible features and intangibles that add value to your offering—shape the customer experience.  Service is intangible. However, it has a tangible impact on the customer experience and, therefore, the ultimate satisfaction with your brand.  Imagine going to […]

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HOW TO JUDGE SUPER BOWL LV ADS (OR, FOR THAT MATTER, ANY ADVERTISING—INCLUDING YOUR OWN)

This DISPATCHES’ article is an annual update to remind all marketers of the professional way to assess advertising. Super Bowl LV will kick-off on Sunday, 7 February, to decide the champion for the NFL’s 2020 season. It pits the Tampa Bay Buccaneers led by veteran Quarterback (QB) Tom Brady against last year’s SB champions, the […]

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CHECKLIST FOR MAKING YOUR MARKETING STRATEGIES MATTER MORE

I’m experimenting with something new, a video-based Marketing Matters blog. While I’ve shared video in the past, this one is direct from me to you.  This video debut is about what you can do to make your marketing strategies matter more. Specifically, it covers the 5Cs checklist. Please let me know what you think: Do […]

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GO AHEAD AND OBSOLETE YOUR BRAND!

Being the one who makes your product, process, or service obsolete is the only way to prevent your competitor from doing so. Peter F. Drucker, THE DAILY DRUCKER Yes, I read THE DAILY DRUCKER: 366 DAYS of INSIGHTS and MOTIVATION for GETTING THE RIGHT THINGS DONE. Yes, I read it daily, highlight passages, and make notes […]

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AT P&G, THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS “BACK” TO BASICS

We’ve never been shy about recalling our earliest days as marketers working for Procter & Gamble.  Our longtime readers know only too well the many proven principles, quality processes, and best practices that we espouse–and attribute to our P&G training, experiences, and successes.  Though we haven’t been under their employ for well over forty years, we continue […]

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“STEEL MAN” YOUR MARKETING STRATEGIES FOR BETTER OUTCOMES

Steel man — Argue against the best form of your strategy Steel manning your marketing strategy is a practice to help make your best strategic thinking even better. It is an effective way to pressure test your work before you launch it into the market to support your brand and business. It deals with strengthening […]

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DARE TO PUT YOUR MARKETING ON TRIAL?

If you were to put your marketing on trial, would it be convicted of being dumb? While you might feel offended by the question and vigorously protest that your marketing is not dumb but, in fact, smart, we’d venture you are probably self-delusional. You are not objective. If you are so sure of your marketing, […]

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IS MARKETING A COST OR AN INVESTMENT?

Investment: Allocating money for the purpose, and with the expectation, of it generating a substantial future financial return. There’s a difference in opinion about whether marketing is a cost or an investment. Indeed, corporations treat it as a cost for accounting purposes and write it off as such for tax relief. However, to perceive marketing as […]

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BRAND MARKETING VERSUS SERVICE TO SALES

“Marketing” doesn’t function in the same role in the same way throughout business enterprises. In practice, it doesn’t even have the same meaning. What role does it play in your company? What does marketing mean to you? To me, marketing is about “creating brand loyalty,” the title of the first marketing book I wrote, with […]

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MEGA-MISTAKES MARKETING THE MASK

“Masks are the best vaccine we have right now.” It was late February, in Bangkok, news of the creeping Corona Virus beginning to buzz around the city.  In high-people-traffic places, like the BTS Skytrain stations and platforms, the government was already handing out free masks to passers-by.  Along the crowded main street sidewalks, however, perhaps no more […]

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