Did You Rush Out and Buy A Mercedes?

Mary Schmidt

Feb 04, 2013

From my “Advertising Isn’t Marketing” File…

There was some sort of big sporting event yesterday. More importantly, a whole bunch of commercials!  We simply don’t see enough of those. And, there were ads right in your Twitter feed! Real! Interactive! We love you; you love our ads! (Now, please, go buy something already…)

LOS ANGELES – Super Bowl sponsors are touting a new rationale for the record $4 million they’re spending on some 30-second spots this year: that viewers of the

In Marketing Troubleshooting, Pet Peeves, Social Media Reality Checks

We’re All In the Service Business.

Mary Schmidt

Jan 10, 2013

Like it or not. High Tech. Low Tech. No Tech. Start-Up. Fortune 50. Retail. Online. Brick & Mortar.  Donuts. Smartphone apps. We’re all in the service biz.

We can talk about product design, branding (ack) and such all day long.  But at the end of the day, it still all comes down to: How do you treat your customers? 

Not what you say in your marketing materials. Not what you post on your website. Not what you have on your customer service recording. How do your customers feel when they

In Marketing Troubleshooting, Pet Peeves

Why Social Media Doesn’t Get (Deserve) Any Respect

Mary Schmidt

Jan 08, 2013

“I have only one prediction for you, and it’s basically this: there is a very good chance that 12 months from now, we will learn that 90% of CEOs have lost faith in marketers.” - Olivier Blanchard,  2013: The Year 90% of CEOs Will Lose Faith In Marketers?

I’ve started putting together my next social media workshop for ASP (Santa Clara. March. Stay tuned) in which we’ll be focusing on management and measurements. So, I’m doing a lot of deep dive reading (again). What’s working. What’s not.

In Marketing Troubleshooting, Pet Peeves, Social Media Reality Checks

How Do They Know I’m Awesome?

Mary Schmidt

Nov 26, 2012

Recently, I got one of those emails in which someone who has never met me, never talked to me, never interfaced with me in any form (online or off) started out, with “Mary, You’re awesome!”

Well, yes, my (ahem) mother thinks so…but who are you, Mr. Stranger with My Email Address? Whatever he was selling, I wasn’t buying.

Then there’s “exceptional,” “terrific” and any number of other hyperbolic words terms that are so abused and misused, they become meaningless. 

There’s a big difference

In Marketing Troubleshooting, Pet Peeves

“That’ll NEVER Happen!”

Mary Schmidt

Nov 15, 2012

History is full of examples of “never happens” that actually happened. Dormant volcanoes that weren’t dormant. Governments that’d never fall that fell. Armies that’d never lose that lost. The civil war general whose last words went something like, “They couldn’t hit an elephant at this…” right as he was killed.  Pretty much any gob-smacked political candidate. (The look on Paul Ryan’s face on election night? Total stunned disbelief. President Obama re-elected? That’d never happen!) 

Your

In Start-Up Sanity Checks, Marketing Troubleshooting

Big Money Marketing

Mary Schmidt

Nov 12, 2012

“We turned off the ringer in July.”
“I leave the room.”
“We’re only watching Netflix.”
“I made my decision months ago so I’m not paying much attention.”

In this election cycle, a lot of money was basically wasted trying to reach people who weren’t listening, didn’t care, or had already made up their minds. 

Classic case of throwing big money at big numbers, with little to no thinking behind the throwing. (Just as some B2B tech marketers get suckered into doing Super Bowl ads.)

Huge

In Start-Up Sanity Checks, Marketing Troubleshooting

If The GOP Had Hired Me

Mary Schmidt

Nov 07, 2012

No, this would never have actually happened (something tells me my voting record would kill the deal…) But why - with all that money - can the GOP not hire some professional marketers?  That said, let’s play pretend. Here are the first two pieces of advice I’d have given. 

1.  Check your assumptions. Talk to people who don’t agree with you. Be prepared to find your blind spots.  Just as I tell would-be entrepreneurs, your mother (sister, wife, father, best buddy) may love the idea, but that

In Start-Up Sanity Checks, Marketing Troubleshooting