by Mark O'Brien | Dec 31, 2014
In the good old days (when were those?), companies differentiated themselves by purporting to be the best at what they did. One specialization. One concentration. One reliable deliverable or set thereof. That was then. This is now. Can a company that did one thing...
by Mark O'Brien | Dec 29, 2014
There are many reasons to be skeptical of the claims made by inbound marketing (or marketing automation — the terms are virtually synonymous). Here’s one. Here’s another. And here’s a third: Inbound marketing seems to be adopted by B2B companies that...
by Mark O'Brien | Dec 19, 2014
The story you’re about to read is more true than you might imagine. The names have been changed out of human decency. I’m IT Director for Megalosurance Worldwide Global International, a health insurer in Razor Bump, Arkansas (but we think big), writing coverage...
by Mark O'Brien | Dec 11, 2014
I recently listened as an experienced salesman, employed by a software and professional-services company, bemoaned the fact that his prospects don’t seem to answer the phone anymore. He wondered if the phone had outlived its usefulness, if Alexander Graham Bell...
by Mark O'Brien | Nov 25, 2014
Here are Immutable Communication Rules 1 through 3: We are not the target audience. We are not the target audience. We are not the target audience. Here are Immutable Communication Rules 4 through 6: If technical people could communicate with non-technical people, God...
by Mark O'Brien | Nov 21, 2014
Inbound marketing is a dangerous concept. There. I’ve said it. Combining pie in the sky, fantasy, delusion, and something like reckless lunacy, it panders to the misbegotten fantasies of every organization that thinks SEO and social media are latter-day...
