Marketing Craftmanship

JUNE 28, 2016

Misguided “eco friendly” practices (notably, failure to appreciate the paper industry’s stellar record of sustainable forest management) have fostered a generation of lifeless marketing collateral that’s either viewed onscreen, or downloaded and printed in PDF format on office printers.

B2B Marketing 100

B2B Marketing B2B Paper Work Management 100

Marketing Craftmanship

FEBRUARY 13, 2015

If a hedge fund is unwilling to provide on its website essential information related to its capabilities and credibility, then the firm is not really serious about market communication. Twitter can be a great information source, and most hedge funds should use it exclusively for that purpose: to listen rather than to speak.

Transparency 100

Transparency Thought Leadership Planning Enterprise Management 100

Marketing Craftmanship

JANUARY 10, 2015

In terms of marketing sophistication, the hedge fund industry lags far behind all other financial and professional services, across every sub-category. If a hedge fund is unwilling to provide on its website essential information related to its capabilities and credibility, then the firm is not really serious about market communication.

Practices 100

Practices Planning Enterprise Management Transparency 100

Marketing Craftmanship

SEPTEMBER 12, 2016

If you’re unwilling to provide insights, information and recommendations without making yourself the hero, or without directly plugging your firm’s products / services, then you’re not really practicing Thought Leadership. You lack original or interesting ideas. You’re not a true student of your craft.

Thought Leadership 100

Thought Leadership Enterprise Management Work Management Opinions 100

Marketing Craftmanship

SEPTEMBER 2, 2014

Prospective customers now turn to their personal networks and publicly available information — via digital and social media channels—to self-diagnose their problems and to self-prescribe their own solutions. does not guarantee marketplace attention.

B2B Thought Leadership 100

B2B Thought Leadership WOM B2B Marketing Thought Leadership 100

Marketing Craftmanship

AUGUST 14, 2015

Business owners across all industries and professions start companies because they have a specific expertise or interest – whether it involves trading currency futures or replacing car mufflers – and eventually discover that selling their product or service is neither in their wheelhouse, nor something they enjoy doing.

Paid Search Agency 100

Paid Search Agency Advertising Agencies Planning B2B Thought Leadership 100

Marketing Craftmanship

SEPTEMBER 1, 2015

Cutting through the vast amount of information that clients receive each day. You can measure client sentiment on an informal basis, similar to Ed Koch; but you’re more likely to yield meaningful results if you conduct a formal survey either online and / or by telephone. No detail is unimportant. .

Ad brokers 100

Ad brokers Business Loyalty Opinions 100

Marketing Craftmanship

FEBRUARY 6, 2016

White papers and editorial content are poorly disguised sales pitches, and offer no helpful information or insights. Lots of time is devoted to winning industry recognition; far less time is invested in managing the customer experience or supporting the sales force.

Marketing Management 100

Marketing Management Paid Search Agency Marketing & Strategy Paper 100

Marketing Craftmanship

JANUARY 16, 2013

Blogs and newsletters demand original, timely content; not canned information. Over the course of this six-month campaign, which effectively combined two marketing tactics—media exposure and direct mail—this accounting firm netted two new pharmaceutical industry clients. Schedule ongoing maintenance of the activity.

Tactics 100

Tactics B2B Marketing CPA Cost per Acquisition 100

Marketing Craftmanship

NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Unlike law, medicine, accounting or engineering, it’s difficult to define or validate expertise in public relations – as evidenced, for example, by the volume of information and disagreement on issues as fundamental as press release protocol.

Public Relations 100

Public Relations Work Management PR Ethics 100

Marketing Craftmanship

NOVEMBER 29, 2013

In his column, New York Times’ David Segal reports that he has removed his contact information from the 5 leading media database companies. Why should serious PR practitioners care about the behavior of the growing number of people within their profession who display no regard for fundamental media relations protocol? Any other ideas?

Public Relations 100

Public Relations PR Blast Campaigns Press 100

Marketing Craftmanship

MARCH 16, 2013

Their corporate profiles often do not contain adequate information, they do not merchandise blog-related and other relevant content, fail to connect through industry user groups, and their employees’ profiles are inconsistent and sometimes unprofessional.

Social Media 100

Social Media Media Merchandising B2B 100

Marketing Craftmanship

AUGUST 7, 2011

Don’t tell them what to say, but do provide them with the specific information (or send a page link) they will need to post their positive opinions where it will have the greatest impact. The problem is that brand terrorists are always more motivated to trash your brand than your brand ambassadors are likely to praise it.

Brand Identity 100

Brand Identity Branding Viral Marketing Opinions 100

Marketing Craftmanship

MARCH 27, 2013

The original purpose of white papers as a B2B marketing tactic was to produce objective information, packaged as quasi-academic research, that might validate a company’s or product’s value proposition. And there are still many companies that produce legitimate white papers containing helpful, objective information.

Paper 100

Paper Paid Search Agency Advertorials Allocation 100

Marketing Craftmanship

APRIL 12, 2011

Nearly everyone understands why positive media exposure is a good thing; it provides current and prospective clients with some comfort that they are making a smart, informed decision. The assumption: if Forbes has covered your company, it must be legitimate. And most CMOS would prefer continued employment.

Merchandising 100

Merchandising Verticals Press Marketing Prospects 100

Marketing Craftmanship

MARCH 7, 2016

Entitled “ Everyone’s Tweeting About Hedge Funds, Except for Hedge Funds ,” here are some of that study’s “key findings” and recommendations ( …complete with my sidebar commentary ): Mentions of hedge funds on social media in 2015 were up 46% over the prior year (… and I’m at a loss to understand why this information has any value.).

Social Media 100

Social Media Work Management Marketing Management Media 100

Marketing Craftmanship

FEBRUARY 16, 2013

The industry term “masthead value” can be defined broadly as the level of stature, credibility and influence associated with a specific media source. Based on how people gather information, simply typing, “from The New York Times ,” or a similar attribution, is about 75% less effective than actually depicting the New York Times logo.

Merchandising 100

Merchandising Lead Scoring Lead Ranking Public Relations 100