This Guy Gets It...

Thank you Mr. Lee, for the very solid advice presented in,  Hey CMO, want to generate strong leads? Well, then you have to be relevant.

 I personally love #5: Embrace a culture of taking risks.  Competition is stiff, markets are unpredictable. Organizations must entrust their marketing teams to make the right decisions in acting as the face of the company, but also in leading the company to growth.  Strategy is important, but there are so many moving parts in engaging the right audiences and generating leads, that risk and flexibility are also a great asset.

Additionally, this article is simple, but needed reminder to the c-suite that the marketing department's main goal is very clearly to generate leads and needs to be perceived and treated that way from top-down to be successful.

Public Relations on an Upswing?

If you're an agency pro, like me, you have probably been having this conversation with yourself and with your co-workers for weeks and months on end.  Followed by the question, "So, why don't my clients see us this way?"  or "How can I more effectively stress the value of total PR/Marketing integration?"

It seems perhaps our time is finally coming and clients are just a little slow to the uptake.  Read the article linked above for some points in guiding the conversation as you continue to gain ground in the marketing departments of your client organizations.

Another Acronym Gone by the Wayside

I guess when the experts are saying it, it must be true.  I caught this article that features some pros who have mastered the various ins and outs of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) during it's relatively short-lived glory.     Good SEO rankings have been a hot topic and coveted achievement across the marketing world in recent years.

In the article, The Death of SEO: The Rise of Social, PR and Real Content, as seen on Forbes.com., experts in the field discuss how this flash in the pan solution is now giving rise to traditional media, in a sense.  As search engine providers wise up to the tactics of SEO gurus, content in the form of original articles, news media and videos regain value as the only means for reaching targets online.

Content which is informative, relevant and shareable continues to be the most effective means of marketing a brand, whatever the distribution channel.