Monthly Archives: April 2025

Clients aren’t cutting marketing because the economy is bad. They’re cutting marketing they don’t understand. They’re cutting marketing they can’t measure. They’re cutting marketing that feels like overhead, not growth. I don’t blame them. If we can’t show how it’s helping, it isn’t helping. If we can’t show results, we shouldn’t expect loyalty. Agencies loseContinue reading “It’s Not the Economy. It’s the Results.”

Thanks to AI, sales and marketing have never been better. Or worse. Sure, it cranks out content at lightning speed. Creating written work has never been easier. But it’s also making people complacent. Personalization has become an afterthought, and real connections are now hard to find. We’re automating ourselves into irrelevance. Don’t trade connection forContinue reading “The Human Edge”

When people say they’re cutting marketing because the economy’s down,they’re not slashing what’s working. They’re cutting what isn’t clearly driving sales. And honestly? I don’t blame them.If I can’t see the impact, I’d cut it too—or at least squeeze it. That’s on us as agencies: Because if we’re not proactive,we’re just overhead.

A website without a soul is a sad place to visit. Like an office park with no windows in the buildings. Not only does no one want to go there, no one wants to work there or be anywhere near there. So don’t just add some pretty images and fonts to your site and callContinue reading “More than pixels.”

Almost getting had by a con artist feels a lot like dodging a serial killer. If you’re a business owner, that is. Because the right scam can kill a business. Apparently, there’s one running around — and I barely dodged them. I got lucky. It all started with a second opinion. Something didn’t feel right.Continue reading “The Real Price of Dinner”

Two employees quit. I thought I was inspiring. I was creating fear. When I said, “If we can’t do better, we’ll be out of business,” I thought I was lighting a fire. What they heard was, “We’re going out of business.” They panicked—and left. This was 10 years ago. Lesson learned: Be transparent—but be carefulContinue reading “What They Heard”

Everyone has ideas. But most aren’t worth a damn if they can’t be delivered, day after day. Creativity is overrated. Discipline builds empires. The real secret weapon? Process. It’s boring. It’s thankless. But it’s everything. Clients don’t just buy creativity—they buy reliability. The best businesses aren’t the flashiest. They’re the most disciplined. If your resultsContinue reading “Want Better Results? Fix Your Systems.”

I had a professor in college — Dr. Hinsel. God rest his soul. Great guy. One of those you either loved him or hated him types. He taught an exit course on marketing strategy. Every week, he’d give us a business problem, and we had to come up with a strategy to solve it. Then,Continue reading “Don’t get married.”

Growth rarely happens in comfort zones. As a manager/leader, the hardest part isn’t solving problems— it’s letting the team make mistakes. It’s so tempting to step in and ‘fix it.’ I used to do this. I wouldn’t let anything go out the door unless I saw it. Other than becoming the super bottleneck, I robbedContinue reading “Let’m Fail”

People love to overcomplicate strategy. ‘What’s the best channel?’ ‘What’s the perfect campaign?’ ‘How do we hack the algorithm?’ But here’s the thing: It all comes down to trust. If your audience doesn’t trust you—your promise, your product, your delivery—nothing else matters. Trust is earned in the details: Forget the hacks—start with trust.