Beating the Billable Hours Behemoth

My heart goes out to those professional services marketing mangers who are constantly having to cajole partners in their firm to contribute something to the company blog.   “I’m tasked with hitting my billable hours, not writing window dressing for the website” goes the standard rebuttal.   And if you live or die in a …

Who does the boss turn to for advice when they run out of bosses?

Most of us, at most points in our careers, have a boss to turn to for advice.   Whether we’re faced with a tricky client, or a challenging colleague, or a seemingly unsurmountable task, we can generally ask the boss for help.   And whilst they might not necessarily take all our troubles away, a …

Why gated B2B white papers can lead to fewer sales, not more

Imagine you need to buy some double glazing.   Apologies if the thought brings you out in hives, but I’m guessing that the anxiety you’re feeling right now has far less to do with cost, and far more to do with fending off endless calls from pushy reps keen to sell to you their wares …

When the secret of successful brand research really is simplicity

There’s an awful lot of brand BS spoken by “practitioners” who deliberately muddy the waters with endless funnels, spidergrams, flowcharts and the like.   It’s almost as if they thrive on confusion rather than clarity.   Those “practitioners” (I use the word advisedly) would be dismayed to learn that perhaps the most powerful piece of …