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What Is Marketing, Really? Why Founders and CEOs Must Lead the Most Misunderstood Function in the Business
This blog is part of Chief Outsiders’ Marketing Leadership for CEOs series, an ongoing examination of the critical dimensions of Marketing (the capital “M” is intentional, as you’ll see) that every CEO needs to understand.
Navigating Communication from Boomers to Gen Z
Thu, May 4, 2023 — Our friend Traci Philips, an exceptional executive leadership coach in Raleigh, NC recently attended a presentation by someone who called herself a “generational strategist.” Firmly in the camp of the organizational effectiveness crowd, she spends her days crisscrossing the country, visiting organizations where generational dynamics are creating a disconnect and affecting business.
Eliminate Marketing Info Overload with These 10 KPIs
Mon, May 1, 2023 — Not one of you reading this blog would disagree: We live in a world of information overload. At your company, data likely streams in by the petabyte – sales figures, consumer habits, competitive information, big picture, small picture, and so forth.
Meshing the Growth Gears for Sales and Marketing Success
Thu, Apr 20, 2023 — Why do the Marketing and Sales departments always have to be at odds, blaming each other for poor results? That’s the way it is in so many businesses. But it doesn’t have to be. As a company leader, you just want them to work together and get more sales, right? When the two symbiotic functions are working properly, they mesh like gears - Growth Gears - cranking out more sales power than either can produce separately. Take a brief ride with me to explore a model for making this work.
ChatGPT is a Silver Bullet (oh, the irony)
Tue, Apr 18, 2023 — I’ve wanted to write about the fallacy of a silver bullet in business for some time. Defined as “a simple and seemingly magical solution to a complicated problem,” the silver bullet – as I’ve learned in my “grinding-it-out” years in business – simply doesn’t exist.
A CEO’s Guide to Growth | Part 2
Tue, Apr 11, 2023 — Part 2: The Go-to-Market Pyramid – Five Steps for Scaling to Success Navigating the complex terrain of modern business can be a difficult path, with roadblocks, detours, and uncharted territory, but with the right guidance, you can reach your destination. As a CEO, you’ve been given an incomplete map for this journey, but often have been told that you have until yesterday (as if you were a time traveler) to reach the destination. It’s little wonder that CEOs like yourself struggle to find a path toward growth.
Revving Up Your 2023 Sales Pipeline Requires These Four “Rs”
Thu, Apr 6, 2023 — The past three years have been heady times indeed for sellers. From a global pandemic to a robust rebound, and a return to spending skittishness, it’s been difficult to pinpoint exactly how the market is going to react to the transaction of commerce. CEOs need a safe harbor because the marketplace represents a rolling sea of choppy tides. From my earliest days of selling, I’ve found calmer waters by sticking to the basics – a technique known as the four “Rs.”
Why Generative AI Will Eat Your Website and Change B2B Marketing Forever
Tue, Mar 28, 2023 — The Tsunami We’ll start with an opinion and put it upfront to save you time. B2B marketing is over as we know it. Full stop. A tsunami of buyer behavioral change is coming. Generative AI will truncate buyer research cycles and steal away with the first-party and third-party data that drives so much of our buyer engagement.
Four Ways that Fractional Leadership is Transforming a Resource-Starved World
Fri, Mar 24, 2023 — In a world where much is spoken about uncertainties, there still are many things that are as certain as ever. Despite the impact of a shaky global economy and a population still looking to shake off Covid’s impacts, hard work – and ingenuity – still rule the day. Individual efforts of unaffiliated workers comprise more nearly 60 percent of the U.S. workforce today, thanks to modern socio-economic values that embrace such flexibility. This also has given rise to a new trend -- building and leveraging common shared resources, especially at the upper tiers.
A CEO’s Guide to Growth | Part 1
Wed, Mar 22, 2023 — Part 1: Introducing the GROW Blueprint In less than 30 years, the lifespan of an S&P 500 company declined from an average of ~ 32 years in 1996 to a projected 19 years in 2023. By 2030, experts predict companies will last a mere 17 years. The trends will be no different for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).