My Favorite Posts of 2008

Return on Attention

Holy Crap!

Your Drive to Work
A couple thoughts from C.C. Chapman’s Managing the Gray podcast got me thinking earlier this week. Do you Dread Your Drive to Work? C.C.’s ramblings (and I mean that in a good way – he does it productively!) sparked this question in my mind: Which do you dread more: your drive

5 Tips on Selecting a Marketing Agency
Today turned into a “vendor relations” day for me, as I took phone calls and had onsite meetings with several agencies and partners that my company is currently working with or has worked with. As my interactions varied with each vendor, it became very obvious quite quickly what the best outcome could be for a vendor during one of these conversations: to get me excited about what could happen if I worked with them even more. Seems obvious, doesn’t it? The problem is that an agency’s presentation and conversation doesn’t always sync up with this ideal outcome. They might think they’re getting you excited, but their

When to Say No to Stock Photos
It’s just too convenient. You know exactly what I’m talking about. You need an image for a website, a flier, whatever. Organizing the resources and timing to get actual photography seems to daunting. So enters stock photography. Stock photography no doubt has its place. I’ve used a lot of services, and more times than not settle with Shutterstock unless I need to g

Internet Marketing is Still Dead
I claimed that Internet marketing was dead quite a while back. If you didn’t believe it then, surely you do now. The idea that we can segment marketing plans based on channels of communication is ludicrous and a rookie mistake. Sure, there are people who excel in using certain media to support marketing efforts. But to think you can just leave the web to a certain group on your team is extremely irresponsible and outdated. For example, if you’re a product manager, you should ….. be more savvy with Google’s keyword research tool than anyone else in your office (it should be a big part of your product innovation) be a passi

Opportunity Doesn’t Care
Opportunity doesn’t care about you. It doesn’t care about your processes. Or your timelines. Or your resources. Opportunity scoffs at your schedule. It never takes into account what else you have on your plate. It doesn’t fill out your silly forms, or take time to write requirements, or figure out how it strategically fits into your plan. Opportunity pays no attention to your budget, either. Opportu