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Winning the Fraud and Cybersecurity Race: A Go-to-Market Blueprint for Competitive Edge
Fraud and cybercrime have become a systemic, trillion-dollar drag on the global economy—but the fight to turn the curve is more than a market opportunity.
Over the past few years, I have worked alongside cybersecurity and fraud-management teams in government, banking, and payments, and nothing is more satisfying than seeing a new solution stop a romance scam or prevent a pensioner from losing their life savings.
Building a Long-Lasting Relationship Between Hispanic Consumers and Your Business
Tue, Sep 18, 2018 — When a business looks at how to approach the U.S. Hispanic consumer, it is quite easy for it to rely on commonly known facts: Family is important to them, their households are larger, and they over-index usage of mobile devices to gather information and shop online. Let’s not forget that they love soccer – and are deeply religious. However, to develop the most meaningful connection, it’s essential to dig a little deeper than the obvious. The same analytical rigor and behavioral curiosity we apply to our core US consumer (also known as the general population) needs to be involved in studying the Hispanic consumer and how they relate to your category. First, we’ll begin with an examination of the data, then uncover insights to understand what truly matters to this exquisite target.
The US Hispanic Consumer Cultural Evolution: You CAN Have Your Cake and Eat It Too
Tue, Sep 4, 2018 — Hispanics, or Latinos (which kindly includes my native country, Brazil, where we speak Portuguese), have been a strong influence in the US economy for decades. As an integral part of the workforce seeking the “American Dream”, more and more Latinos tried, as time went by, to “fit-in” to the American culture to succeed and achieve that Dream. Latino parents would only speak English with their kids, so they would fit-in in school. When American neighbors came to visit, they made sure to serve peanut butter and jelly sandwich for the kids and hot dogs for the adults (“keep the tamales in the fridge, Mi Amor!”). You get the picture. The process of trying to “fit-in” to an alien culture is called acculturation. It does not have much, if anything, to do with which generation you belong to, but it is a phenomenon statistically proven to be correlated with two major variables: How easily you flip-flop from your native language to the country language. In this case, how effortlessly a Latino goes back and forth between Spanish (or Portuguese) and English, and; How similar the purchase basket is of a Latino family or individual to an American one.
An Executive’s Guide to Using Video to Win Business and Influence Deals
Tue, Jul 17, 2018 — First in a 3-part series on Growing Revenue in the Digital Age. Video works. It’s a powerful way to tell stories, position products and engage viewers. Most importantly, video can directly help companies grow revenue, increase pipeline and build awareness. It appeals to both the rational and emotional ways we make decisions. It’s also a preferred way to consume content. Face it, no one wants to read long whitepapers any more. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO, recently said “Video is a mega trend, in a decade, video will look like as big a shift in the way we share and communicate as mobile has been.”
CEOs: What’s your Competitor’s Plan to Win?
Wed, Oct 18, 2017 — Part 4 of Creating Sustainability for the Business “How could she not see this coming?” Look in the mirror. Armed with a strategic plan built on the foundation of purpose and stocked with customer insight, it’s now time to look closely at the competition. Learning how your competitors plan to defeat your strategy will fortify your plan to achieve long-term success.
CEOs: Go Deep for your Customers!
Mon, Aug 14, 2017 — Part 3 of Creating Sustainability for the Business A Sea of Sameness “So, what do you think of our website?” This was a new client—at my first on-site meeting with the CEO. “You have great product merchandising, well-written features and benefits. Could use some work on the ecommerce side,” I replied. “What I’m not clear on, though, is this, ‘Who is your customer, and how do you help them?’”
Sales and Marketing Synergy: Why Cross-Functional Alignment is No Longer Just an Option
Thu, Jul 20, 2017 — As a CEO, you strive for harmony among your functional teams. It’s a comforting feeling during those weekly leadership meetings to hear that sales and marketing efforts appear to be coordinated – key personnel are collaborating on projects, keeping each other informed, using a common language, and possibly even delivering cross-functional reports from Salesforce and other analytical tools. But beneath this veneer of peaceful coexistence, are your sales and marketing teams truly integrating their efforts in a way that will add impact – and revenue – to your bottom line?
Driving Toward the Long Game: Is your Business Geared for Lasting Success?
Fri, Jun 9, 2017 — In business, the road to financial success, it can be agreed, isn’t always paved in gold. Whether pocked with potholes, laden with land mines, or strewn with stones, the goal isn’t just to keep all four tires on the highway – instead, it’s to ensure you arrive at the destination. One question that you must continually ask yourself along the way – is your business built to go the distance? Understanding whether you’re playing the long game, or the short game, in business can be the key to weathering the road hazards beneath you, or the storms above.
CEOs: What do You Stand For and Who Cares?
Thu, May 25, 2017 — Part 2 of Creating Sustainability for the Business I often work with CEOs who have created an idea and started a business. They grew sales and needed to hire more people along the way, even managers. Most loved the creative journey of getting the business off the ground. They started out thriving as an expert in a business function or leading the development of a product or service. Over time, they grappled with the increasing demands of managing a business with many other function or process leaders. Some have grown the business to the point where they decided to bring in a President to do much of the leading and managing of the business for them. This is the time when answering the question, “What do you stand for?” becomes critical.
What B2B E-commerce can Learn from Consumer Retail
Tue, Apr 25, 2017 — The world of consumer retail is in the midst of rapid transformation. Traffic in brick-and-mortar stores is decreasing. Consumers are moving away from shopping malls. Traditional advertising—whether via direct mail, TV ads or newspaper and magazine ads—is losing its relevance.