Strategy

While a growing number of businesses today are starting to use social media in marketing their business, there is always a risk of putting execution before strategy. This is a real danger with social media because too many businesses realize too late that once you begin a social media initiative (such as a Facebook Fan Page, Twitter account or YouTube channel), you’ve got to refresh it with new content on a regular basis as well as monitor it for comments and spam. Otherwise, you would have been better off not doing anything.

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Mary T. Morgan during the recent P&G Alumni Reunion held in Toronto, Canada. Mary and I worked in Brand Management together at P&G.

 I just got back from my first ever SXSW event. They are celebrating their 25th year as a Music Festival and 15th year as an Interactive Gathering (the “Davos of Digital”).

As we enter the new year, I wanted to share some "fun facts to know and tell" as well as some personal observations on how social media is impacting marketing and businesses:

Social media and mobile devices have become a common way that people engage with each other and with brands; brand marketers need to be proactive about leveraging this accelerating trend

Over the past year I’ve been working with Thomvest Ventures (check out the website at www.Thomvest.com) as a Venture Partner (in addition to my regular consulting and seminar business). One of my responsibilities is to sit in on the pitches from entrepreneurs asking for initial or additional funding.

This is Part II of a two-part blog that explains what a communication brief is, why it’s important and what it contains. I’d like to thank Norm Levy from P&G for teaching me these principles when I was in brand management as well as his continuing teaching of these ideas at the U.S. Marketing Communication College.

In Part I of this blog entry, I described what a Communication Brief is and reviewed part of what’s in it (i.e. Project Description, Target Audience, Specific Objective, Background/Competitive environment and Consumer Insights).

This is Part I of a two-part blog that explains what a communication brief is, why it’s important and what it contains. I’d like to thank Norm Levy from P&G for teaching me these principles when I was in brand management as well as his continuing teaching of these ideas at the U.S. Marketing Communication College.