Installment 9 in a 10-Part Series In this #strategicplanning series I’ve been drawing on knowledge gained over my #marketing and #consulting career seeing #planning processes break down and fail. I’ve shared specific insights into where and why it happens and offered counsel around various pieces and parts in hopes of helping you experience greater planning success. I addressed how budgeting cultures suffocate planning; showed the benefits that can accrue when a planning cul

Installment 8 in a 10-Part Series Warren Buffett said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” You can argue the time frames but there’s no challenging the admonition. Millions of interactions among humans and brands occur every day. This is where expectations that have been created, and promises that have been made, are met and kept (or not). Brilliant ideas, years of research and development, hundreds of millions of dollars of investment in

Installment 7 in a 10-Part Series Installment 7 in a 10-part Series I spent 25-years in three really good advertising agencies. Early on, we were strictly selling products and services. The focus on the product spawned the #UniqueSellingProposition (USP). It taught you to identify that one thing that would clearly differentiate your product versus your competitive set. Then came #RiesandTrout. They taught marketers the value of occupying a richly-rewarding #position in a