Whatever happened to IMC?

I remember when Integrated Marketing Communications was a big thing. Today, it may not be dead, but it's buried beneath an avalanche of content marketing, revenue marketing, account based marketing... I could go on. Instead, let's consider what's happened to the marketing practice that once spawned libraries of books. Or, put another way, why do marketers no longer want to be known as IMC experts vs. experts in content marketing or account-based marketing or (insert even trendier terminology here)?

Yes, I Once Hired Bob Newhart

Cool things happen when you move – like finding things you’d forgotten. In 2005 at Unisys I used co-funding from Microsoft to create a campaign aimed at proof-of-concept for Windows as a datacenter operating system (OS), hosted by super-expensive 32-processor Unisys servers. The problem: nobody trusted Windows as a datacenter OS.

Is the culture in tech companies especially cutthroat?

As one with little experience outside the technology industry, I don't know. Yet, I've been asked this question, and perhaps I can shed some light. Assuming you are a career-minded person with some ambition, and given my experience in tech companies, I suggest the following.

If a campaign fails but no one is there to measure it, did it ever really fail?

Years ago, while spending some days in a hospital (never mind why, it wasn’t my fault), I roomed with a retired junior high school math teacher. When he introduced himself as such I recoiled, shaking off some nasty memories. But as time passed, with little else to do, we began conversing.

Read this 3 times (it's short)

Marketers (at least good ones like us) keenly appreciate repetition in our messages. And we’re on it. It’s been reported that a city dweller sees up to 5,000 advertising messages per day. And that was over 10 years ago. We're not repeating our messages because our audiences are thick headed. It's tough out there. Repetition is the necessity of a business landscape that is oftentimes cluttered.

Go-to-Market: It looks easy, doesn't it?

I once drove demand generation globally for four product programs. Each program had a marketing director who led a small team of marketers. They were responsible for product use cases: disaster recovery, applications, databases, and business intelligence. The marketing directors developed unique value propositions, messages, proof points, customer success stories, and target lists of buyers and influencers for their programs. They also provided direct support of sales activities, and served as industry pundits. And, they came to me to generate demand so their programs' value could be measured in leads, opportunities, and sales revenue.

It was chaos.

Perspectives of an Evolving Worker

The author in a "democratized learning and teaching" session on "Take Your Dog to Work Day."

Infographics are great communication tools. I really enjoy creating them, and as a marketer I've seen great results from them. (In a future post I'll share more of this experience.) For example, here's a cool one that I stumbled across on a topic we can all relate to.

When do trade show T-shirts make sense?

I once witnessed a spirited debate between a campaign strategist and a marketing agency presenter. The presenter was one of the best direct marketing minds at perhaps the greatest agency of that time. (I won’t name names, but the agency’s founder wrote the book on “being direct.”) The subject of the debate was offer repetition. (Nerd alert.) The question: should every direct marketing touch contain an offer?

ROI @ QBR: Tactics vs. Campaigns

Marketing ROI discussions are de rigueur at quarterly business reviews (QBRs). And the parade of pundits is close behind, alternatively equipping and lashing marketers with knowledge, opinions, and analyses on how to measure and improve ROI. For example:

When SAP Careers Hit the Mud

[This is a blog I wrote for an SAP careers firm.]

Here’s a getaway idea for those of you who enjoy driving off road, or would like to give it a spin. SAP customer Jaguar Land Rover offers an Experience Drives platform where, at 50 centers around the world, customers can test drive a Land Rover over inclines, descents, and side slopes; through water obstacles, and across muddy terrain – all with an expert coach who’ll keep you from getting in too deep.

My blog on AI and Machine Learning

A blog on machine learning (the original was linked here).

"Alexa, tell me a joke"
"Siri, what´s the weather going to be like in London tomorrow?"

These are everyday questions, asked by humans, answered by Artificial Intelligence (AI). Siri and Alexa are automated personalities, integrated into the domestic sphere. Imagine a world, where your alarm clock tells the coffee machine to ensure a cappucino is ready by the time you reach the kitchen. A world, where cars no longer require a driver. A world, where board members are replaced by AI.

Silver bullets or arrows for the quiver? The value of SAP certifications

My latest SAP-related blog for client Red SAP Solutions is posted here, and also shared below. (I'm publishing this as published, with the inclusion of my British editor's UK spellings and punctuation.)

# # #

Add Some Magic to Your SAP Career

I'm sometimes invited to contribute blogs to other companies. The invitations may come from the company itself, or via a marketing consultant or agency. Responding to requests like these requires some research on my part, as it typically takes me into a new content zone; but doing so is a refreshing exercise that I've learned to enjoy. It helps activate my brain a bit more. Here's an example, a blog I wrote for a company that is focused entirely on careers for SAP professionals. (While this one passed muster with only slight editorial touches, I'm taking the liberty of restoring my original title. The actual blog post can be found here.)

You Can Build a Content Marketing Machine in Just 5 Steps

During live Q&A in a webinar on a marketing topic last year, I was asked how my company, RES, produces a high volume of marketing content to feed our campaign, social media and media relations machines. I only had a few seconds, so I responded by saying it wasn’t especially difficult but it requires a team approach.

Once Every Friday

I write a lot of white papers here at RES. But we have a lot to talk about, and many of us have unique perspectives to offer. For years, we’ve built our team with people from many countries who can really light the fuse when it comes to transforming how IT serves the business. That team includes software developers, support engineers, professional services, and many supporting people. It also includes the people in our Marketing and Sales teams who listen to buyers every day. We do it to understand their needs and to convey the RES vision to them in the most relevant, impactful way.

Things You Can't Make Up

As a professional storyteller, I have hoarded an abundance of anecdotes throughout my career: anecdotes in which I’ve either been a player or a witness. And each one of them can begin with this preamble: “you can’t make this stuff up.” Here’s one from my years as a marketer of thin client solutions. With the company long gone through acquisition, perhaps now it’s safe to tell.

At Last! I've Graduated

While rifling through a stack of papers, I discovered this blast from my past (and a legacy of my cherished years at Arthur Andersen LLP in the 80's and 90's). Do you remember CI? Continuous Improvement holds a place of honor as a business approach; it's earned its chops in many of the world's greatest firms. But there's something about that line on my certificate "a process from which (s)he will never graduate" -- words written over 20 years ago now -- that got me thinking.

Teach Your White Papers to Walk

I've spent much of my career writing, beginning with advertising and direct response copy for print in the early years (including those wonderful, four-page direct mail letters that were so much fun to write), and transitioning to digital copy that empowers the writer to produce anything from highly constrained tweets (I think of them as ugly haiku) to point-of-view white papers. Now that digital publishing has broken the restraints of publication length, shoving production considerations into the back seat, communications have become much more message-driven. And that's a great thing.

The Growth of a Metaphor

I wrote a white paper last year to articulate my company's vision and capabilities in the identity and access management segment of the IT industry. (Now, Gartner and other folks are calling this category "Identity Governance and Administration," and I'm sure there are great reasons for doing so -- none of which I'll debate here.)

Demand Generation is Not Pretty

After the first few decades in the marketing profession, many of us will have tinkered with consultative work at some point. Often, it will happen along the sidelines of a steadily progressing corporate career. (Some call it “moonlighting” but I prefer the term “beer money,” which more suitably invokes the actual liquidity of such labors.) At other times, it’s the result of a deliberate shift from salaried to consultative roles: a shift that can be long- or short-term as desire and opportunities dictate.