What’s New
Article: Who's Winning? Lessons from The Government Shutdown Crisis. Linda Popky discusses how the heat of friction drives innovation on Commpro.
Article: Cut Through the Noise: Traditional vs. Digital Marketing Part II by Carie Ferg, Manta Contributor, Midlands Directory. Linda Popky discusses whether to use traditional versus digital marketing based on your audience and prospects.
Podcast: "We Built This City" - Linda Popky shares stories about her 40+ years in tech marketing in Silicon Valley. She says, "Don't ever listen to somebody who tells you you can't do something." - Listen!
Podcast: Interview of Linda Popky about Using Friction to Improve Your Marketing by Gene Hammett on Leaders in the Trenches.
SAC® Press Release: "Successful Businesses Leverage Culture to Get Results" - Linda observes that brands don't create cultures - they reflect culture that already exists. – Read release.
Podcast: Linda Popky interviews Marcia Daszko who discusses the key factors that allow an organization to create positive transformation. - Listen.
Take our Marketing Above the Noise Assessment.Video: Just a Moment for Marketing: Friction Point: From Success to Stagnation. Don't lose your company's edge. Encourage constructive friction. – View the video.
NEW eBOOK: Top of Mind: 101 Insights to Transform Your Business
Purchase PDF or ePub book.
Book Video Trailer How can your message be heard in today's crowded, chaotic environment? Learn more about Linda Popky's new book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters, in this short video trailer.
Harvard Business Review: "Identify the Marketing Metrics That Actually Matter" by Linda J. Popky - Read article
Subscribe to the Top of Mind Thursday Newsletter
Free articles download with sign up
Marketing Above the Noise
Introducing Dynamic Market Leverage™, an approach to help cut through the clutter, stand out, and effectively build business.
Available in Hardcover and eBook formats
Top of Mind Thursday January 17, 2018: The Best a Brand Can Get
Gillette, the 117 year old producer of razors and shaving supplies, startled audiences this week with a new ad celebrating the 30th anniversary of their slogan “The Best a Man Can Get.”
The new web ad, called “The Best a Man Can Be,” addresses such negative behavior as bullying, sexism, and “male toxicity,” and encourages men in this #MeToo era to practice more positive behavior in order to be their best. Shavers and blades are barely mentioned.
It’s a daring move, and, as might be expected, it has generated much controversy. Some people think it’s great. Others hate it. Still others think it’s a nice try but poorly executed.
It’s too soon to know if this will be successful. But one thing is certain: People who haven’t thought about Gillette for years (or ever) are now talking about the brand.
In this industry, the razor is usually given away to sell the blades. Once they’ve got Gillette’s razor, they’re hooked. Except that today there are more interesting and lower-cost offerings, like Dollar Shave Club and Harry’s, aimed at younger men. Millennials likely aren’t hooked on Gillette products and probably haven’t been thinking much about Gillette at all–until now.
One way to be heard above the noise is to do something different and a bit outrageous. Yes, you run the risk of getting cut when you shave too close. But is it better to slip away into obscurity because you’re afraid to sharpen the blade?
Contact me to find out how to get heard above the noise.
Limited time to devote to marketing? Check out our weekly Just a Moment for Marketing videos. They only take a minute.
Check out our marketing thought leadership podcasts.
Check out the new video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
Let us help your business rise to the top.
linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com
Top of Mind Thursday January 10, 2018: Come Fly Away
Herb Kelleher, the founder of Southwest Airlines, passed away last week at the age of 87. Though he had passed on the mantle of active leadership over 10 years ago, he remained involved with the company until his death.
In 1967, Kelleher and a colleague sketched out the concept for a low-cost airline service Texas. It took 4 years of legal battles with existing airlines before they could take their first flight. Today, the airline has 58,000 employees serving 4000 flights per day.
What hasn’t changed in that time is Southwest’s commitment to not just low cost fares but also a culture where employees don’t take themselves or their jobs too seriously. There’s no first class on a Southwest 737 (and that’s the only plane they fly), but there’s also the feeling the crew is enjoying their job and glad you’re there with them.
On a recent flight, the captain came on to tell us, in a most serious voice, that he was sorry to say that he’d just heard the weather in Seattle was horrible. We all looked at each other strangely–until he added, “Good thing we’re not going to Seattle!”
That kind of fun attitude has never caught on with the mainstream airlines. When was the last time you saw a United or Delta captain joke like that? I imagine if they did, they might no longer be employed when they landed.
It’s this kind of attitude that has consistently made Southwest one of the most admired companies in America.
RIP, Herb Kelleher. Your vision continues to soar 4000 times each day.
Contact me to find out how to get heard above the noise.
Limited time to devote to marketing? Check out our weekly Just a Moment for Marketing videos. They only take a minute.
Check out our marketing thought leadership podcasts.
Check out the new video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
Let us help your business rise to the top.
linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com
Start by Stopping: How to Develop Natural Leadership with Fewer Failures
Marcia Daszko
Marcia Daszko & Associates
www.mdaszko.com
The founder of Marcia Daszko & Associates, Marcia Daszko began working in the management consulting field in the 1980s. She co-founded the Bay Area Deming User Group (BADUG), and a non-profit called In2In Thinking. Today, she speaks and teaches executive teams and MBA students a new way to think about leadership—without management fads and “best practices.” She is the author of Pivot, Disrupt, Transform.
In this podcast, Marcia discusses the key factors that allow an organization to create positive transformation. She tells us why adding best practices without a compelling purpose creates complexity but not success, and why it’s important to stop using a language of failure and create a language of success instead.
Listen to this podcast.
Top of Mind Thursday January 3, 2018: Letting Go
We’ve all seen it happen: People stake out a strong position and get so tied up in what they’ve publicly said that they can’t consider better alternatives.
It’s human nature. We do this in our personal lives and in professional settings as well. When we dig in our heels and refuse to change, very often the people who are most impacted have nothing to do with the original issue.
We’re doing this on a national scale with the partial shutdown of the US government, now in its second week.
Both sides have entrenched positions. No one wants to be the first to blink. Meanwhile nearly 800,000 federal workers are impacted. Many have been furloughed; others (such as law enforcement, air traffic controllers, and the TSA) are working without pay. All of them have bills to pay and financial commitments they can’t meet without the paychecks they rightfully earned and expected to get.
Each side believes they are right, but the result is something that’s very wrong. Until both groups agree to let something go, this impasse will continue. Negotiators will tell you the best way to solve a stalemate is to find a way for each side to have some kind of win. I-win-you-lose may work in the short-term, but only builds ongoing resentment and the desire for retribution in the future.
How often do we have a “shutdown” of sorts in our business or personal lives? How can we work to create more win-win situations? Where should we be letting go for the better of all involved?
Contact me to find out how to get heard above the noise.
Limited time to devote to marketing? Check out our weekly Just a Moment for Marketing videos. They only take a minute.
Check out our marketing thought leadership podcasts.
Check out the new video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
Let us help your business rise to the top.
linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com