Setting Realistic Expectations to Drive Success
When it comes to planning and strategy, it’s important to properly outline and manage expectations. Looking forward to Q4, you’re surely aware of the value of this when it comes time to defining objectives and budgets for 2019. Failure to set proper expectations can cause frustration and roadblocks, even if you experience a modest and […]
Vertical Competition: How to Disrupt Vertical Disruptors
When most people talk about competition, they’re referring to horizontal competition— competition between similar companies at the same level. However, there’s another type of competition, known as vertical competition, which presents a greater strategic threat than horizontal competition. Vertical competition occurs along a channel or a value chain, where each stage of the channel or […]
Mapping Your Customer Journey
The customer journey is the complete sum of experiences that customers go through when engaging with your company and brand. Rather than looking at a part of a transaction or experience, the customer journey documents the full experience of being a customer. Think of it as a roadmap detailing how a customer becomes aware of […]
The Joys and Pitfalls of Online Travel Review Sites
Are you in the tourism industry? Or are you planning a vacation? If you said ‘yes’ to either (or both), chances are you’re intimately acquainted with online travel agencies and review sites. They’re central to the leisure travelers’ decision journey – and frankly, they’re rife with potential pitfalls.
Technological Innovation: It’s Critical To Your Survival
We are living in a particularly unique time, from a technology standpoint. The rate of innovation is staggering and companies of all sizes are leveraging technology to create massive gaps between themselves and their competitors. I can’t think of a single industry that has not been impacted, but I can think of dozens of case […]
Sales & Marketing – A Deeply Rooted Rivalry
Sales and marketing working together can create huge growth and prosperity– if they can just put aside their egos and accept the fact that they desperately need each other No matter the size of your organization, you will inevitably face some significant challenges between two perennial rivals, sales and marketing. The issues run deep, the force […]
The CMO’s Guide to Managing the Board
Earlier in my career, I had the opportunity to present to Boards in my capacity as a marketing agency lead. It can be daunting to stand up in front of a dozen accomplished, diverse, seasoned leaders and talk about marketing strategy, competitive landscape and consumer trends. Often the diversity can be the challenge. Without shared […]
Defining a Marketing Budget
Regardless of the size of your organization or the vertical that you operate in, a common question asked by many CMOs revolves around marketing investment and the optimal level of spending based on the size of the business. There are many variables that can have an impact on your budget, and there’s no right or wrong answer. We can, however, provide some strategic guidance in determining […]
The Importance of Challengers in the Age of Disruption
The terms “disruptor” and “challenger” have become buzzwords in the marketing industry. The words are not interchangeable and when it comes to marketing strategy, they are quite different. What exactly is the difference between a challenger and a disrupter? More importantly, must every challenger be disruptive and if so, what does this mean for their branding strategy? Challengers versus Disruptors Challenger brands bring innovation, enhancements, new pricing, or other tweaks to an existing […]
Finding Your Business’ Balance: Short vs. Long-Term Marketing Strategies
It’s the catch-22 of almost every business: your objective is to make your products fly off the proverbial shelves. In cases where traffic is slow to arrive, it could be because you haven’t invested enough in your brand-building initiatives. To tackle this, you slash your pricing — and the traffic trickles in. However, those that […]