Thoughts on Marketing

Does Content Marketing still move the needle?

For a lot of B2B companies, marketing has been narrowed down to a simple flow:

Create Content → Push it on Social → Feature in Google Searches → Drive traffic to your website

But there’s a problem. Each part of that chain is rapidly decaying, thanks to AI tools and shifting customer behaviors

Which means what worked a year ago, isn’t going to make the cut any more.

If everything is ‘dead,’ then what actually works?

In the last few weeks, the following have landed in my inbox:

“Death of the Keyword”

“Why One-Pagers are Dead”

“Did ChatGPT kill SEO”

If you’re a casual viewer of marketing trends, you could easily be fooled into thinking that nothing is working any more.

What’s your ‘one thing’ for this year?

One of the biggest challenges in Marketing is focus. Or rather, the lack of it. There are so many ways to reach potential customers, and it’s tempting to try a little bit of a lot of things.

The end result? It’s really hard to make an impact.

Working with Creatives

Creativity is at the core of Marketing. And working with creative folks is one of the most rewarding parts of the job. But whether you’re working with an in-house team or freelance talent, success is often built on the strength of the Creative Brief.

So what should the creative brief cover?

Plus – did you made it past Quitters Day?!

Productivity Hacks for a New Year

At the start of a new year, many of us set an intention to be ‘more productive’ this year (whatever that may mean!)

There are a ton of articles and books about productivity. I’ve read (and forgotten!) quite a few of them. So here are a few that I think are worthwhile, if you do want to get a bit more disciplined this year:

Consumer vs Business Emails

Some companies get upset when their email lists are full of gmail accounts. Others know that their particular audience might have a legitimate reason to use something other than their business email.

I’ve noticed my cybersecurity clients have a tendency to expect more gmail and protonmail accounts than more traditional B2B companies.

So how do you decide if they are spam, or valid customers?

Holiday Gifts that Get noticed

How many corporate gifts have you received that you actually remember. And do you remember who sent them to you?

If you’re spending time and money to send a thank you to your customers, make sure the gesture sticks!

Perplexity – My new AI assistant

If you’re still using ChatGPT as your ‘go-to’ AI assistant, it might be time to take a look around.

Perplexity – at least as a search engine – is far superior to ChatGPT. And it’s pretty handy at some other writing/editing tasks too.

Plus, I talk to Kris Ruudegraap, CEO of Sendoso, about his Founder journey.

The Social Media Albatross

Social media isn’t a natural skill for many CEOs for Founders. Yet for many of them – at least in the early stages – it’s a necessary part of the growth model.

So if you really don’t want to be spending your time crafting the perfect social media post, what’s the alternative?

Plus, some thoughts on the ever-expanding landscape of non-alcoholic beers.

The ROI of Events (Part 2)

Why are you attending a particular event? Who are the audiences you’re there to see? It’s too easy to sign up to a tradeshow because ‘everyone else will be there,’ or ‘we’ve always done it.’

But if someone asked you “how do we drive value from this event,” would you have an answer (that doesn’t include the phrase ‘number of leads’)?

Plus – a visit to Great Jones Distilling in Manhattan,