Posts Tagged ‘Marketing’
090 Complexity Is The Enemy of Revenue: Why It’s Time to Shave The Marketing Dog
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If you’re currently doing a big initiative, say a new product launch, a new campaign, a sales kickoff or a lightning strike, let’s talk about why you are also, most probably, making a huge mistake. Shit sometimes, gets too complex and we know that complexity is the enemy of revenue. So on this episode, let’s talk about why it’s time to shave the marketing dog.
Doing Too Much
There’s 99.9% chance you are doing too much in marketing. Christopher candidly shares that sometimes in life, it is not about winning the activity. For contests, as a matter of fact, there is an inverse relationship between activity and results.
“I see this a lot in marketing, a lot of activity, a lot of moving, a lot of bands, bouncing and dancing, and there’s stupidities in marketing today. I hear stuff like, ‘Oh, you need to be everywhere. You need to be on every channel. You need to be putting out 200 pieces of content today across every channel.’ That stuff is ridiculous. All that stuff is bullshit.” – Christopher Lochhead
Where To Shave The Dog
Whenever Christopher is doing anything marketing related, he loves to pose the question, “where do we shave this dog?” He encourages every marketer to do a forced ranking of all the activities and choose top 3 (or more) that will guarantee the same level of results from doing a couple.
I learned everything I know about design from a couple of legendary designers and one of them is John Bielenberg. He’s an incredible business and corporate marketing designer. He has a perspective, he calls thinking wrong. The idea is this, when you do anything creative, ask yourself ‘what is 180 degrees from what everybody else would do? What is wrong? What would be the wrong way to go do this?’” – Christopher Lochhead
Activities That Multiply Outcome
Christopher also shares another thinking of pursuing activities that multiple the outcomes of another former activity. One should always ask, “does this component of our plan, materially multiply our chances of achieving the outcome we want from this marketing activity?”
“Shave the dog. Shave that doggy down. Practice getting everything out. Consider getting even more radical.” – Christopher Lochhead
To know more why Complexity Is The Enemy of Revenue and Why It’s Time to Shave The Marketing Dog, download and listen to this episode.
Bio:
Christopher Lochhead is a #1 Apple podcaster and #1 Amazon bestselling co-author of books: Niche Down and Play Bigger.
He has been an advisor to over 50 venture-backed startups; a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO and an entrepreneur.
Furthermore, he has been called “one of the best minds in marketing” by The Marketing Journal, a “Human Exclamation Point” by Fast Company, a “quasar” by NBA legend Bill Walton and “off-putting to some” by The Economist.
In addition, he served as a chief marketing officer of software juggernaut Mercury Interactive. Hewlett-Packard acquired the company in 2006, for $4.5 billion.
He also co-founded the marketing consulting firm LOCHHEAD; was the founding CMO of Internet consulting firm Scient, and served as head of marketing at the CRM software firm Vantive.
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on Apple Podcast! You may also subscribe to his newsletter, The Difference, for some amazing content.
083 The Problem With Your Marketing Plan
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On this episode, let’s talk about what the problem with your marketing plan might be in specifically three areas. Number one, calling it a “plan” might be a problem. Number two, it’s actually a legendary marketing plan that is about more than just marketing. Lastly, number three, your relationship with your CFO and finance team might be a problem, but I’m hoping it won’t be when we’re done.Create A Marketing Framework
Chris describes what a “plan” entails and how an actual marketing plan should be fluid and should be consistently open for changes and adjustments. He suggests calling it more of a “framework” than a plan. Lastly, he gave some important valuable points on which marketing activities to invest on.“So as you start thinking about planning and budgeting, put things into big buckets, but assume change. That’s why calling it a framework might be a more powerful thing.” – Christopher Lochhead
Involving Everyone On The Team
A marketing plan (or framework) is more than just marketing. Chris describes how you should have a valuable relationship with the Head of Product or Engineering and Finance in plotting your plans for the company.“Drive a highly cross functional process with the team, interacting with marketing, sales, finance, customer support, and potentially other organizations to gather their input.” – Christopher Lochhead
Develop a Relationship With The CFO
Collaboration with other executives within your firm is very important in executing your marketing framework. Chris shares first hand experience as a CMO and how he developed a relationship with their CFO. He has some significant tips on how to adjust marketing investments that ultimately benefit Finance.“If you work well with your CFO, marketing can be a place to park cash.” – Christopher LochheadTo know more about the problem with your marketing plan, download and listen to this episode.
Bio:
Christopher Lochhead is a #1 Apple podcaster and #1 Amazon bestselling co-author of books: Niche Down and Play Bigger.
He has been an advisor to over 50 venture-backed startups; a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO and an entrepreneur. Furthermore, he has been called “one of the best minds in marketing” by The Marketing Journal, a “Human Exclamation Point” by Fast Company, a “quasar” by NBA legend Bill Walton and “off-putting to some” by The Economist. In addition, he served as a chief marketing officer of software juggernaut Mercury Interactive. Hewlett-Packard acquired the company in 2006, for $4.5 billion. He also co-founded the marketing consulting firm LOCHHEAD; was the founding CMO of Internet consulting firm Scient, and served as head of marketing at the CRM software firm Vantive. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on Apple Podcast! You may also subscribe to his newsletter, The Difference, for some amazing content.079 How To Be A Legendary CMO w/ Dave Gerhardt
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In this episode, one of the most high profile CMOs in the tech world, Dave Gearhart, aka DG, CMO of Privy is here. We have a fantastic conversation from marketing, planning to category, design, and more.
Christopher recently guested on his podcast, which is called B2B Marketing Leaders. In a lot of ways, this conversation is a continuation of that conversation. It’s one younger CMO with one older CMO, we’ll let you decide who’s who. He’s also got an awesome new marketing group on Facebook called Digi MG.
To know more about how to be a legendary CMO, download and listen to this episode.
Bio:
Dave Gerhardt is a B2B marketing leader & widely regarded as one of today’s leading brand builders.
Prior to Privy Dave was VP of Marketing at Drift where he helped the company grow into one of the fastest growing B2B SaaS businesses of all-time.
His work has been featured in Forbes, Fortune, Inc., Entrepreneur, TechCrunch, and Harvard Business Review, and he’s the co-author of the definitive book on Conversational Marketing, which was a #1 new release on Amazon in Marketing & Sales and a top 20 business book in the U.S. He lives in Boston with his wife and two kids.
Links:
Linkedin: Dave Gerhardt
Twitter: @davegerhardt
The B2B Marketing Leaders Podcast
Patreon: @davegerhardt
Privy: Dave Gerhardt
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter,Instagram and subscribe on iTunes! You may also subscribe to his newsletter,The Difference, for some amazing content.
076 Fighter or Farmer Chief Marketing Officer
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In today’s episode, Christopher Lochhead’s answer addresses a listener question, “what kind of CMO should we hire?” He further discusses what’s the difference between a fighter and a farmer CMO and what you, as a marketer, should keep in mind when you plan to pursue this role.
Get Clear On What You Want
Christopher discusses two things: first, identify the background of the CMO. This is highly specific based on the company and the current stage of the company and its category. Secondly, Christopher points out that it’s very important that the CMO knows who he is, his strengths and weaknesses, and his specific legendary trait.
“What am I legendary at? What am I not? How do I build a team based on that, that multiplies or amplifies where I’m strong and that compensates for my weaknesses?” – Christopher Lochhead
A Fighter Or A Farmer CMO
If you have identified where your company stands, that is the best indicator of whether you should hire a fighter or a farmer CMO. Chris gives a specific discussion on the difference between a fighter and a farmer CMO in this episode.
“What are the skill sets that you think are critical? That’s important, but it’s not maybe as important as a lot of people think. Second, are they self-actualized? Self-aware enough to know where they’re truly strong and truly weak? Do they have the capability to build a team around their strengths and weaknesses? And probably most importantly, are they a fighter, or a farmer?” – Christopher Lochhead
Advice For Marketers
Chris shares that if you’re a CMO yourself, it is critical for you to figure out how to be self-actualized. It is important to realize, are you more of a farmer? Or are you more of a fighter?
“As a marketer, I think you’d have to decide ‘who am I,’ and again, I don’t think there’s a right answer, but I think you should know. The worst thing you can do as a CMO, or a wannabe CMO is go take a farmer job in a place that requires a fighter or vice versa.” – Christopher Lochhead
To know more about what is a fighter or a farmer CMO, download and listen to this episode.
Bio:
Christopher Lochhead is a #1 Apple podcaster and #1 Amazon bestselling co-author of books: Niche Down and Play Bigger.
He has been an advisor to over 50 venture-backed startups; a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO and an entrepreneur.
Furthermore, he has been called “one of the best minds in marketing” by The Marketing Journal, a “Human Exclamation Point” by Fast Company, a “quasar” by NBA legend Bill Walton and “off-putting to some” by The Economist.
In addition, he served as a chief marketing officer of software juggernaut Mercury Interactive. Hewlett-Packard acquired the company in 2006, for $4.5 billion.
He also co-founded the marketing consulting firm LOCHHEAD; was the founding CMO of Internet consulting firm Scient, and served as head of marketing at the CRM software firm Vantive.
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes! You may also subscribe to his newsletter, The Difference, for some amazing content.
074 Marketing is Sales at Scale
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Welcome to Lochhead on Marketing. In this episode, Christopher Lochhead answers the question, what is the most important skill for marketers to have?
Sales Skills
Christopher shares that his frequent answer to the most important skill for marketers to have is sales skills. He says that a lot of marketing people have no sales experience at all.
“Marketing is actually sales at scale.” – Christopher Lochhead
The Best Marketers Are Salesmen
Christopher recounts that the best marketers he know are those who have sales experience even at a young age.
“I think legendary marketers, and frankly, legendary executives, for that matter, regardless of what part of the business you’re in, have a base level of a solid foundation of sales skills. So if you can’t sell one on one, then you can’t market at scale.” – Christopher Lochhead
Marketing People Are A Joke
Second prime importance why sales is the essential skill to have as a marketer, is that many salespeople think marketers are a joke.
“I know this is harsh, but it’s true. And the reason for that primarily, is that many people in the sales organization realize that many marketers suck in front of customers. And if you suck in front of one customer, how can you market to thousands or hundreds of thousands of potential customers.” – Christopher Lochhead
To know more why marketing is sales at scale, download and listen to this episode.
Bio:
Christopher Lochhead is a #1 Apple podcaster and #1 Amazon bestselling co-author of books: Niche Down and Play Bigger.
He has been an advisor to over 50 venture-backed startups; a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO and an entrepreneur.
Furthermore, he has been called “one of the best minds in marketing” by The Marketing Journal, a “Human Exclamation Point” by Fast Company, a “quasar” by NBA legend Bill Walton and “off-putting to some” by The Economist.
In addition, he served as a chief marketing officer of software juggernaut Mercury Interactive. Hewlett-Packard acquired the company in 2006, for $4.5 billion.
He also co-founded the marketing consulting firm LOCHHEAD; was the founding CMO of Internet consulting firm Scient, and served as head of marketing at the CRM software firm Vantive.
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on Apple Podcast! You may also subscribe to his newsletter, The Difference, for some amazing content.
057 Why Most Marketing Is Bullshit: 5 Marketing Lies | Marketing PodStorm 19
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Christopher Lochhead debunks five marketing lies in this episode of Lochhead on Marketing. He talks about why so much of marketing thinking is actually bullshit.
Five Marketing Lies and Why
Number one, great marketing is about marketing into an existing market to increase market share.
“Most legendary innovators, creative creators, entrepreneurs, social change, agents, and so forth, did not play by the rules. They establish their own rules. They designed a new way of thinking As a result, they created new market categories. They did not compete in somebody else’s game by somebody else’s rules.” – Christopher Lochhead
Number two, marketing is about creating demand.
“The legends did not do that. They created demand. There’s a huge distinction between capturing and creating.” – Christopher Lochhead
Number three, success comes from building a brand.
“Category makes the brand not the other way around. Success comes from being the company or the individual that designs a new way of thinking about an opportunity, or a problem that creates a category and your brand is valuable based on the power of the category.” – Christopher Lochhead
Number four, winning is about beating the competition.
“If you’re competing in an existing market, you’re in competition. Winning is not about beating anybody. Winning is about introducing the world to a new way of thinking about a problem and therefore a solution. When the world gets your thinking, bam, you stand alone, you become known for a niche that you own and you stand above everybody else, as opposed to competing with everybody else.” – Christopher Lochhead
And number five, you’re going to win if you have the best product to market.
“As a marketer and an entrepreneur, I would much prefer to have a legendary product and pair that with legendary category design and marketing. That’s what we’re trying to do. Thinking or betting that all you have to do is have a better product. Not so much.” – Christopher Lochhead
To hear more about specific examples on the five marketing lies and why they are BS, download, and listen to this episode.
Bio:
Christopher Lochhead is a #1 Apple podcaster and #1 Amazon bestselling co-author of books: Niche Down and Play Bigger.
He has been an advisor to over 50 venture-backed startups; a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO and an entrepreneur.
Furthermore, he has been called “one of the best minds in marketing” by The Marketing Journal, a “Human Exclamation Point” by Fast Company, a “quasar” by NBA legend Bill Walton and “off-putting to some” by The Economist.
In addition, he served as a chief marketing officer of software juggernaut Mercury Interactive. Hewlett-Packard acquired the company in 2006, for $4.5 billion.
He also co-founded the marketing consulting firm LOCHHEAD; was the founding CMO of Internet consulting firm Scient, and served as head of marketing at the CRM software firm Vantive.
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes! You may also subscribe to his newsletter, The Difference, for some amazing content.
056 Legendary Marketing Copywriting w/ Cole Schafer | Marketing PodStorm 18
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Today, in this very special episode, we’re going to go deep on one of the seminal, most powerful marketing skills there is — copywriting. To discuss more, we have the OG of copywriting, Cole Schaefer of Honeycopy.com. Pay special attention to a particular legendary idea that Cole shares about how you can use your favorite book or books to transform your own writing.
Marketers Should Be Writers
Cole believes all marketers should also be writers. He believes this is of prime importance if you want to reach a wider audience. If more marketers would focus on writing, the messages will be a lot more clear, crisp and ultimately, customers will comprehend messages better.
“The vast majority of business writing and marketing communication, to be honest, it’s just really, really tough to read. I would say primarily because it’s just littered with sort of business jargon and buzzwords. I hate to say but kind of like the showboating is what I feel like when I read a lot of brand writing and it doesn’t feel that it can be understood by the wider audience.” – Cole Schafer
Writing in Third-Person POV
Another observation Cole shares is: brands write on a third-person point of view. Whether it is on their website or other communications, Cole says the rationale behind is the mentality of not being pompous.
“I think for us, any brand, be it big or small, the goal is for when someone sits down and reads their emails or their website, coffee or anything, we really want to feel like we’re talking to another human being. Right?” – Cole Schafer
Become A Legendary Writer
Cole gives out valuable copywriting advice for marketers or even aspiring writers. From knowing your voice and your audience to rewriting ads just like how David Ogilvy does it, Cole gives a rundown on his personal processes.
“I would tell people if whether it’s writing or podcasting or whatever, whatever craft you’re trying to do, just absorb really really, really good art in that specific field. If you want to become a great writer, don’t read bad writing. Pick up a really good book, look up the best writers of all time, start reading there and I think naturally it will imprint on your brain.” – Cole Schafer
To know more about Cole and how to become a legendary copywriter, download and listen to this episode.
Bio:
Cole Schafer likes to live fast, write often, and pet dogs.
He is a thinker, marketer, and writer that has been published in Business Insider, Entrepreneur Magazine, The Mission, Thought Catalog, and P.S. I Love You.
In addition, Cole is the Founder & Copy Chief at Honey Copy, a creative copywriting agency that helps big brands write valuable “stuff” that people actually want to read.
Links:
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes! You may also subscribe to his newsletter, The Difference, for some amazing content.
049 Do A Marketing Stunt | Marketing PodStorm #11
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In this episode, let’s talk about the power of a well-timed stunt to gain attention, rise above the noise, and drive revenue. This is how we get our creative juices flowing. Do something that is maybe a little provocative, maybe a little risque. It should be designed to get a lot of attention, and maybe even drive some PR.
Black Friday Sale, Not!
Christopher shares about different brands and their provocative stunts. Max Temkin, founder of the Cards Against Humanity appeared on Follow Your Different Episode 60. Max and his team probably are the masters in terms of marketing stunts when they jacked up their prices, on Black Friday Sale.
“As a way of sort of doing the opposite of what every B2C company and brand does — and as a way of sort of calling bs on consumerism — they increased the price of Cards Against Humanity on Black Friday, and got a ton of PR for it. People thought it was hysterical. They paid the price. They stood out.” – Christopher Lochhead
Sponsoring The Golden Gate Bridge
CarsDirect.Com also pulled off one legendary stunt when they sent out press releases about their proposal to sponsor the Golden Gate Bridge. This press release stirred up a lot of controversies and reaction from the media, but they still ended up getting a lot of publicity for it.
“Now notice, they put forward a proposal, it wasn’t actually happening. By putting that press release out, they caused a tremendous amount of controversy.” – Christopher Lochhead
Aliens Will Eat Fat People First
Another marketing stunt that got into a lot of controversies is the Ad of 24 Hour Fitness featuring an alien and caption that says, “when they come, they’ll eat the fat ones first.”
“Their CEO is interviewed on the news. And he was talking about how they’re just trying to have fun and shine a light on obesity and that people need to get fit and healthy and the like. And a lot of people were upset and there was all this kerfuffle again, but what were they talking about? 24 Hour Fitness.” – Christopher Lochhead
Christopher encourages companies to be provocative, be thoughtful be potentially willing to piss some people off (depending on your brand).
To hear more about doing a marketing stunt, download and listen to this episode.
Bio:
Christopher Lochhead is a #1 Apple podcaster and #1 Amazon bestselling co-author of books: Niche Down and Play Bigger.
He has been an advisor to over 50 venture-backed startups; a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO and an entrepreneur.
Furthermore, he has been called “one of the best minds in marketing” by The Marketing Journal, a “Human Exclamation Point” by Fast Company, a “quasar” by NBA legend Bill Walton and “off-putting to some” by The Economist.
In addition, he served as a chief marketing officer of software juggernaut Mercury Interactive. Hewlett-Packard acquired the company in 2006, for $4.5 billion.
He also co-founded the marketing consulting firm LOCHHEAD; was the founding CMO of Internet consulting firm Scient, and served as head of marketing at the CRM software firm Vantive.
Links:
Follow Your Different Episode 60 – Max Temkin
Times Cards Against Humanity Pulled Amazing Publicity Stunts
Our Favorite Crazy Stunts From Salesforce Leader Marc Benioff
WKRP In Cincinnati – Turkey Drop Scene
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes! You may also subscribe to his newsletter, The Difference, for some amazing content.
043 Drive Revenue Now | Marketing PodStorm #5
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Welcome to Lochhead on Marketing, where we are trying the first world’s Marketing PodStorm — 30 days of strategies and ideas to help you create the future that you want because we believe that nothing legendary is going to happen, at any kind of scale, without legendary marketing.
Today, let’s talk about a few, very simple ideas that can help drive revenue for both B2C companies and B2B companies.
Get Radically Visible
As we are trying to come back and slowly opening up the economy, Christopher encourages B2C companies to get radically visible in their communities.
“The way to do that is to be thoughtfully aggressive and radically generous. A couple of ideas, sponsor some shit, food bank fundraiser, any kind of charity fundraiser. Be associated with helping to make good things happen in your community in a way that is very generous and that let’s people know you are back in business.” – Christopher Lochhead
Get Practical and Tactical
On the B2B side, Christopher shares similar, simple thoughts. He encourages B2B professionals to go back to the old school: cold calling and cold emailing.
“If you are in the B2B space, I highly recommend you get on a named account model because, we could do a whole podcast on it, but the net of this is, when you are on a named account model, your salespeople and your marketing people know exactly who to go after, especially in this case, we’re trying to drive revenue now.” – Christopher Lochhead
Final Advice
Christopher gives out clear examples of what you can do for your business at this time, whether you are in B2B or B2C. He shares that there are potential buyer avatars out there that are willing to drive revenues for your company.
“Reach out and touch ‘em. Try to do something creative and something radically generous to get their attention and hopefully set up some phone calls.” – Christopher Lochhead
Bio:
Christopher Lochhead is a #1 Apple podcaster and #1 Amazon bestselling co-author of books: Niche Down and Play Bigger.
He has been an advisor to over 50 venture-backed startups; a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO and an entrepreneur.
Furthermore, he has been called “one of the best minds in marketing” by The Marketing Journal, a “Human Exclamation Point” by Fast Company, a “quasar” by NBA legend Bill Walton and “off-putting to some” by The Economist.
In addition, he served as a chief marketing officer of software juggernaut Mercury Interactive. Hewlett-Packard acquired the company in 2006, for $4.5 billion.
He also co-founded the marketing consulting firm LOCHHEAD; was the founding CMO of Internet consulting firm Scient, and served as head of marketing at the CRM software firm Vantive.
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes! You may also subscribe to his newsletter, The Difference, for some amazing content.
Gain the visibility and control you need in your business: https://netsuite.com/different
Turn data into doing: https://splunk.com/d2e
