May The Best Brand Win

Reputation comes from the Latin word reputationem, which means "consideration." It's how people consider, or label, you — good or bad. Every choice along the way matters and either builds it up for you or your company or tears it down. We’re gonna talk about conscience and reputation this week and I’ll give you a few tips for building a great one and not screwing it up with your marketing.  We’ll also drill into who’s winning and losing this week on another GRAMMY award winning episode of May the Best Brand Win on Entertalk.  

Marketing means a lot of different things to different people but everyone who does it long enough develops a few tricks or hacks that REALLY work well. I’m going to share my top 10 list of marketing hacks and we’ll also have time to dig into who’s winning and losing this week in marketing & communications on another CMA winning episode of May the Best Brand Win on Entertalk.

It seems like every day is Halloween in the world of bad marketing with more creeps, ghosts and ghouls in your in-box and social feed than you can stand. So let’s talk about it — What approaches are super creepy and WAY over the line? — and how do you stay assertive for your clients and companies but still back off to let the relationship live and breathe? We’ll hit this spooky topic along with a fresh scary batch of winners and losers on the next award-winning May the Best Brand Win on Entertalk.

Understanding (aka comprehension) is the most desired outcome of effective communications. But a lot of companies are in a BIG hurry to sell you something and they won’t let a little thing like YOUR preferences or needs get in the way of THEIR goals. So to help out here, I’m going to focus this episode on the things you need for people to REALLY understand a message. We’ll also dive headfirst into who’s winning and losing this week in marketing & communications on another fun-filled, Razzy-award winning episode of May the Best Brand Win on Entertalk.

There’s a disruptive storm coming to California in January of 2020 and it’s a big one. The brand spankin new CA Consumer Privacy Act goes into effect and organizations are going to have to get IT, legal and marketing in the same room to manage it. I recommend the donuts with sprinkles to get this done cause everyone likes those. Before the storm hits, I’m going to go through the new law from the marketing point of view and tell you what you need to know. Better bring a poncho! And of course, I’ll dig into who’s winning and losing on another action-and-info packed rendition of May the Best Brand Win only on Entertalk.

Oh it’s all the rage in the gig economy, fractional executives.  That’s right, you too, can purchase a fraction of a senior execs time, tap into that expertise and NOT have to invite them to the holiday party so more booze for you!  Returning with me on the show will be senior marketing guru Seth Avergon of Avergon Marketing to discuss the idea of fractional marketing executives (or any executives really) and why it can be the right choice for some organizations.  Of course, Seth and I will tag team who’s winning and losing on another Emmy-award winning edition of May the Best Brand Win on Entertalk.  

Brand reputations are hard fought and won over time and usually the most valuable assets any business can possess.  After all, if the brand is the sum total of EVERYTHING, then everything is now on the line when reputation is threatened. With more photos and videos being convincingly faked via new tech, how will companies find ways to maintain brand reputation? We’re going to talk about deep fakes and big mistakes and still have time to hit who’s winning and losing on the next CMA-Award Wining episode of May the Best Brand Win on Entertalk.   

We’ve talked about the importance of using intelligence in marketing before. And there are some who think using artificial intelligence can “improve the customer journey” and other BS-sounding phrases meant to lull companies into a sense of security for putting their most important assets in the hands of the same things that tried to kill Sarah Conner and end humanity. Want the real truth about the fate we make? Then tune in to another Peabody-Award-Winning episode of May the Best Brand Win on Entertalk. 

Episode 132: What Winning Brands DoThere are thousands of brands out there all vying to be top in their categories. My company’s tag line and the name of this radio show is May the Best Brand Win so sometimes I get asked, so...HOW do we win? Well, we’re gonna talk about it and I’m going to leave you with my best tips for building a trusted, beloved and yes, winning brand. And we’ll also see who’s winning and losing out there in the world this week. So join me for another fantabulous award-winning episode of May the Best Brand Win only on Entertalk. 

At its core, marketing is pretty simple.  Learn what customers want, deliver it better than anyone else and build a strong relationship.  Easy, right?  But the marketing we see on a daily basis isn’t this at all - it’s dumb ads, robocalls, telemarketing, awful salesy emails and pitches on social media.  Why the disconnect and what can be done about it?  We’ll hit this topic today along with a freshly baked batch of who’s winning and losing on the next Oscar-nominated episode of May the Best Brand Win on Entertalk Media. 

Episode 130: Summer NAMM 2019Yee to the haw, the music products industry just got back from its annual hoedown in Nashvegas called Summer NAMM.  The new bachelorette party capital of the world was completely saturated with new guitars, amps, tech products, straps and even a very cool tip jar named Phil.  I interviewed a bunch of them on the floor and we’ll go through them along with a fresh, hot collection of winners and losers in the world of marketing.  It’s gonna be another CMA-award winning episode of the May the Best Brand Win on Entertalk. 

As we know, a publicity stunt is a planned event designed to attract the public's attention to the event's organizers or their cause. Publicity stunts can be professionally organized, or set up by amateurs. In PR, we know there are two types of people — stunt people and non-stunt people.  So let’s dig into stunts and see which ones worked and which ones really didn’t.  Plus, lots of companies out there winning and losing to cover on another post-vacation edition of May the Best Brand Win only on Entertalk Radio.  

Episode 128: Crisis Me a RiverIn this day and age when it seems everyone is just waiting around to be offended by something YOUR company said or did, CRISIS public relations is pretty important. Joining me on the program is crisis PR expert David Oates. Oates helps organizations repair their brand's reputation in the press and online. David Oates can handle any Crisis PR situation and train others to do the same. As a U.S. Navy Public Affairs Officer and a corporate PR professional, he dealt with a broad range of Crisis PR issues. These include mass layoffs, large-scale accidents, product recall, inappropriate acts by executives, and more. David and I will tag team who’s winning and losing this week and he’ll leave you with his best crisis PR tips and tricks on the next Silver Anvil award-winning episode of May the Best Brand Win only on Entertalk Media.

It’s big, it’s loud, it’s just like a teenager who won’t leave his/room, it’s E3 and your favorite inciteful roving reporter of marketing was there to take it all in, talk to some cool companies and of course, play the latest games.  Join me for another boss level episode of the program and we talk E3 as well as which companies were winning and losing this week in marketing & communications.  

If you’re a music artist in 2019, the world is very different today than it’s been.  There are no record labels to pay you, guide you (and take the vast majority of your money) You’re pretty much on your own.  But an OC-based startup called Octiive has some resources and the passion to help artists succeed.  Joining me on the program is their CEO, Javan, to talk about what they’re doing and how they’re trying to change things.  Of course, Javan and I will tag team who’s winning and losing in marketing communications this week and everyone will learn an important lesson by the time this very special episode draws to a close. So join me for another stellar May the Best Brand Win on Entertalk Radio. 

Ding — you have a new LinkedIn connection request.  Few things can be as exciting!  "Wow, they want to connect with little ol’ ME!," you say as you click the ACCEPT button. And then, like clockwork, you get a template message from them selling their crap and completely ignoring who you are and your wants, needs, etc.  Happens all the time and it’s really annoying. LinkedIn can be a very powerful tool, but you’d better use it correctly or you will wind up lonelier than Charlie Brown on Valentine’s Day.  We’re gonna talk LinkedIn for real and I’m going to show you how to really use it well.  We’ll also tackle who’s winning and losing this week on another fun-filled award-winning episode of May the Best Brand Brand on Entertalk.  

One of THE biggest misconceptions about PR is that PR pros have buddies working in the media, pick up the phone and just GET media coverage through friendship.  Where did this nonsense come from?  Why is it bad to actually believe this?  We’re gonna talk about public relations and our buddies out there in the press and give you the REAL story about what makes PR work.  We’ll also hit who’s winning and losing in this very special Tony award nominated episode of May the Best Brand Win only on Entertalk.

As Google will be quick to point out, yes, a machine can more quickly identify shapes, categorize things, and not miss any. Much better than our feeble human brains can do these simple tasks. But here comes the million dollar question — IF marketing organizations had more personalized, custom information about their customers, would it REALLY matter? Would we REALLY be smarter? Or would we still send out more e-mails, cram people into funnels and really use the technology to just do more stuff, more frequently and poorly. Because as I see it, that’s what is happening with machine learning.  Listen to me rage against this machine that will be used to further destroy marketing’s reputation out there.  Oh, and of course, we’ll bake up a fresh batch of Winning and Losing this week as you join me for another fantastical episode of May the Best Brand Win on Entertalk.  

Did you know that six large companies control more than 90 percent of what Americans read, watch or listen to? It’s changed quite dramatically since the early 1980’s when more than 50 companies were in charge of things. As a marketer, you MUST know the media landscape and so we’re gonna put on our digital waders and dive deep into the stats, who owns what and since when and by the time we’re done, you’ll know. And G.I. Joe once said that “knowing is half the battle.”  The other half is not doing anything stupid and we’ll cover that during the Winning and Losing segment.  So join me for another informative, quasi-entertaining, award-winning episode of May the Best Brand Win only on Entertalk Radio.

It’s not only what you say but exactly HOW you say it that deepens marketing relationships and the tone a brand uses to communicate can be a very important choice at the beginning and throughout the company’s life.  So many approaches are completely tone deaf or lack any real sense of tone and that is a missed opportunity. We’re going to dig deep into brand tone, talk about who’s doing it right and who needs some lessons as well as a whole slew of winning and losing examples on the next Nobel Peace Prize winning episode of May the Best Brand Win Only on Entertalk Radio!