This is laugh-out-loud funny. Especially love Kermit selling under pressure.
Nominal business observation: do you think this would work at your company’s meetings today? Many corporate executives want both the company’s and their own personal brands to have gravitas. The Muppets don’t bring gravitas to a brand, but they make it accessible.
More about brands, selling, and [...]

Amid seismic shifts in technology and the macro economy, at least 3 gaps are emerging between marketing leaders.

SAP may be an old-line vendor in the technology space, but along the way to the top of the stack they figured out how to talk to their customers.
This SAP ad on Youtube does NOT talk about bits and bytes. It talks about what the tech can do for the biz AND for [...]

Which of these is true for your company? How are you going to fix it?

Your customers are focused on their own issues — and don’t see you as relevant to those concerns. Are you talking to the wrong people or companies? Are you trying to sell too broadly? Do you simply need to better [...]

As a matter of fact, and especially in the B2B world, people CAN buy a product or service from you – and not know you exist. And in any B2B sale I can think of, and also many consumer purchases, awareness is not enough.

Widget makers have it easy. Plaster photos on the website. We.Are.Selling.This.Thing.  It.Looks.Like.This.  (Do you want it painted in Autumn Glory, Technicolor Stainless, or Urban Soot?)
For those of us who sell things whose souls cannot be captured in a photograph, it’s not quite so literal.
Here are six reasons why your erstwhile customer can’t figure out what [...]

Some readers may feel that the next two statements contradict each other.
1. Let people say what they’re going to say to you.
2. Don’t just cede the conversation to whoever walks by.
I would argue that grassroots feedback loops (including most social media conversations) entail doing both.
Leading involves listening, following, knowing when it is not your turn [...]

Pretty marketing:
…Does all the things it’s supposed to do.
…Is entirely unobjectionable.
…Often passes extensive legal and functional reviews with flying colors.
…Probably follows the brand standards and logo usage guidelines pretty well.
…May be professionally produced.
…Looks great.
Unfortunately, it also sounds just like everyone else in our space. Maybe it doesn’t even clearly state what the company does.
Gritty [...]