KPI Facts and Myths
I do not know that there is a marketing phrase more abused than KPI. Everybody wants KPIs. Everybody wants a dashboard. Everybody wants the numbers. And to be clear, I am not anti-
When the OOO Replies Start Rolling In
Last week’s Brief was about the XYZ’s of marketing. The things at the end. The details companies usually do not think much about until they start causing problems. The boring s
The Marketing Experiment
Next week, the United States turns 250. That is a strange number to think about. At some point, it stops feeling like a birthday and starts feeling more like a question. How does a
Hands-On vs. Hands-Off Marketing
This week I have been traveling what feels like all over the Midwest, sometimes with a client and sometimes without one, gathering media packages for a new website buildout. A lot
The Salsa of Marketing
Alright, I do not know about you, but I absolutely love making homemade salsa. It just tastes better to me. Not to mention, it feels like you can make four gallons of salsa for the
Marketing Built for the Future
Last week, I wrote about the marketing experiment. The idea was simple enough. Companies need to test, learn, change, adjust, and keep moving. But if they do all of that without kn
The Buffer Before the Bad Day
Every company eventually has a bad day. A job gets lost. A product breaks. A deadline slips. Communication falls apart. A client gets frustrated. A customer’s customer gets frust
The New SEO
Generative search is shifting the rules from simple rankings to recommendation-readiness, creating a real opportunity for smaller companies that are clear, credible, and easy to un
Trust the Ugly Middle
Good marketing often feels expensive before it feels effective. The real question is whether the process is building something or just draining resources.
The Death of the Mass Market
The mass market did not disappear. It fractured. And that changed what effective marketing now requires from everyday companies.