Argentum Blog

Argentum's blog, Marketing Op-Ed, highlights interesting, real-world examples of marketing with a little bit (okay, a lot) of opinion thrown in.  It's written by Susan Silver, President of Argentum Strategy Group, with the occasional guest blogger added to the mix.

Time to Add a Marketing Strategy Resource to Your Team?

Time to Add a Marketing Strategy Resource to Your Team?
I recently had lunch with Ankur Gopal, an entrepreneur who whose B2B technology company, Interapt, is growing rapidly. It was exciting to hear about what he’s been learning as his business grows, and when our discussion turned to marketing, he asked me two great questions: 1. TIMING: How will he know when it’s the right time in his...

Be Everything to Everybody

Be Everything to Everybody
One of the most memorable Saturday Night Live skits from my childhood was the commercial for the made up product Shimmer featuring Gilda Radnor and Dan Akroyd. Perhaps I can even trace my marketing beginnings to that long ago parody – it certainly stuck in my memory! The premise of the commercial was that NEW Shimmer could be used as both a...

Great Creative Needs Time

Great Creative Needs Time
A friend recently shared this simple but brilliant video. It was created by the Hungarian marketing communications magazine, Kreatív, to help its clients understand why better work requires time. It’s been a great tool to help our clients understand the creative process a little better, and our agency partners love it. See the video.

[Podcast] How to Craft Your Company’s Positioning Statement

I was privileged to be a guest on a Vistage Executive Street podcast last week! In the podcast, I discussed market positioning with the program’s host, Srinivas Rao. We talked about practical steps companies can take to develop their positioning statement. We also talked about the parts of the positioning exercise that typically give our...

Positioning Process Overview

Last month I was preparing to conduct a positioning workshop for a client. The CFO sent me an email that said: “Is it possible to give me an example of what a positioning statement looks like? I think I understand the concept, but not sure how it looks or will be used…” It occurred to me that my response to him could be useful for...

More Powerful Elevator Pitches

I perfected my elevator pitch 6 1/2 years ago when I started my company. The marketing expert in me was proud that it is succinct, descriptive, and tied directly to my positioning. Last week communications expert Mark Wiskup poked it full of holes. OUCH. In front of a group of 20 potential customers and referrers. Double OUCH. But he was right....

Don’t Let Cool Be The Enemy Of Clear

When I was first starting my company, a friend was also starting a company at the same time. Her husband gave her a terrific piece of advice. He told her not to let great be the enemy of good. Let’s face it, there are many circumstances where good is a completely acceptable result. I see so many people spending precious time and resources...

Ho Ho Holiday Cards

‘Tis the season to send holiday cards! Holiday cards with a hand-written personal note inside, that is. This is one of my most favorite marketing tactics for just about every business, but especially for consulting companies like mine. It is also fabulous for people in transition, and that’s when I originally became enamored of them....

Cupcake Marketing: Sweet!

I am a sucker for a good cupcake and am fortunate to live in a city with many delicious options. And while I realize that the whole cupcake craze is just that – a fad, I love how several cupcake bakeries are pushing the marketing envelope in big ways and small. Big ways: In case you missed the news, Sprinkles, the CA-based chain with truly...

Entrepreneurs: Don’t Write That Survey!

I am an advisor to lots of start-ups. Lately I seem to be spending my time fielding enthusiastic questions from them about the kind of survey questions they would like to ask their customers. Here’s a typical recent email I received on this topic (names are changed to protect the innocent) from a marketing employee at one of these...