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Leadership

  • Transparency and Risks with Segment-of-One Marketing

    Transparency and Risks with Segment-of-One Marketing

    The conventional wisdom is that segment-of-one marketing is the logical outcome of big data, and that the gains (more relevant targeting, more effective ad buys, lower costs, higher sales, etc.) far outweigh the risks. But have they? As organizations move to more sophisticated data-oriented marketing, it is all too easy [More]

  • Self-Made Scandals and the Long Memory of Social Media

    Self-Made Scandals and the Long Memory of Social Media

    And then, an old picture crops up, or an embarrassing tweet, or a tone-deaf social media post is surfaced. When this happens, your reputation — and a lifetime of good work — goes out the window. Yes, disaster. Yes, people change over the years, so what you said (or posted) [More]

  • Fake vs Authentic Corporate Communications: Can We Do Better?

    Fake vs Authentic Corporate Communications: Can We Do Better?

    Sadly, many organizations (and some individuals) want the former, but their words and actions demonstrate the latter. Why? When it comes to marketing, there is always a strong linkage to emotion, with significant effort spent building visuals and writing engaging copy. But when it comes to operational corporate communications, too [More]

  • Building Trust: Main Character or Supporting Cast?

    Building Trust: Main Character or Supporting Cast?

    Every character in a script needs to see themselves as a main character. But the skill of the writer is to balance all of these "main" characters throughout the arc of the story, to hold the attention of the reader. This is an exceptionally important concept for those looking to [More]

  • When You Get Hacked

    When You Get Hacked

    While every situation is different, these action points will help you both recover… and reduce the risk going forward. Use this list as a checklist for when it happens, or as the basis for a plan you put together in advance.• Immediately change all of your passwords to strong passwords, [More]

  • Brand Balance: Personal vs Organizational Brands

    Brand Balance: Personal vs Organizational Brands

    Smart leaders (and boards) recognize that brand balance choices are as strategic a decision as any other marketing one. Here are the five levels of brand balance, and why each may have a role. Level Zero, Irrelevance: At this level, a leader's brand makes no difference, internally or externally. While [More]

  • Nine Privacy Action Points

    Nine Privacy Action Points

    Many organizations have taken initial steps on this path, but most have taken a "risk minimization" approach, rather than seeing the effort being one of investment into their brand. Here are nine different ways that you can improve privacy within your organization — and build a higher level of trust [More]

  • Fourteen Digital Trust Killers

    Fourteen Digital Trust Killers

    Here are fourteen: Unnecessary web and app trackers: These ostensibly exist to allow better evaluation of marketing effectiveness at the macro level, and user behavior at the micro level. But as privacy — and transparency — are becoming more important with individuals (and regulators), these trackers are quickly being seen [More]

  • Insight: Dark Patterns

    Insight: Dark Patterns

    Dark patterns rely on a strong understanding of human psychology and online behavior to shuttle people along a path, usually with an unexpected outcome. Two examples come to mind. When one registers a domain name, there is usually a price attached to it, usually about $15. But on the way [More]

  • Shadow Profiles and Hidden Demographics

    Shadow Profiles and Hidden Demographics

    As should be obvious, both platforms make their money by selling access to their users: you are the product, and they are monetizing you. In the spirit of openness and transparency, they actually DO allow you to get a glimpse of the attributes that they track about you. They also [More]

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