When Marketing is Too Easy

Over the last year, I have performed several marketing diagnostics for various companies.  I spend anywhere from 2 days to 2 weeks with a company and provide a broad analysis of their marketing efforts, a plan for moving forward, and, often, on-the-spot training.  It’s one of my favorite assignments, and one of the services I provide that I feel truly helps companies be more successful.  Because, one of the things I have discovered, is that marketing is too easy…

What Happens When Sales Hears “No”

Today I got forwarded a “sales tip” that talked about “Being OK with No.”  The gist of the piece was that sometimes it is better to walk away than waste your time on a prospect that 1) said “no” or 2) isn’t right for you in the first place.  Let it be a learning experience and move on.

Gary Vaynerchuk is Paris Hilton

Friday night I went to a local Boston social media event hosted by Jeff Cutler and Mike Langford, two of my favorite Boston-area social media buddies.  As far as I am concerned, Jeff and Mike could host a sandwich bag opening and I would be checking my red  Franklin Covey planner for availability.  And, I had heard so much about @GaryVee that I figured I had a good opportunity for a high value event.  But I have to make a […]

The Carlton Internship Methodology

Over the years I have had dozens of interns, probably hundreds, from colleges all over New England.  Sometimes I have had one intern at a time.  Other times I have had up to nine interns working for me simultaneously.  I’m still in touch with lots of my former interns – some of them, more than 20 years later.  They are a great group of people and I am honored I got to work with them. Over the years I have […]

Just a game? The Quest for Innovation

On Friday I was part of a team involved in The Quest for Innovation — a unique initiative bringing together the New England innovation economy to celebrate entrepreneurship and innovative advances in Boston.  The  MassInno team — brought together under the flag of the innovation-focused event I run monthly in Waltham, was evenly divided between entrepreneurs and marketers — and we were able to do this with our team of 7 because some of the marketers are in the midst […]

TGIFriday’s Fan Woody Fail

I watch how the big boys play the marketing game.  Sometimes I learn stuff and sometimes I am not amused, nor impressed.  The recent campaign from TGIFriday’s, its let’s get 500,000 fans on Facebook project, is an example of the latter.

Brogan and Smith Use the Vowel Method

I just finished “Trust Agents” by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith and am happy to see they used the “Vowel Method” of  Business Book Writing.  Here’s how you write a truly terrific and useful business book using vowels — and based on some of the business books I’ve read, all business book writers should employ this method and far too many don’t.

Ford Tweetup – Lessons Learned

This week Jeff Cutler (@jeffcutler) and Christine Koh (@bostonmamas) were the oh-so-gracious hosts for the Boston #fordtaurus Tweetup (see the new Ford Taurus SHO and drive it!)  The local event was part of a grand tour (The Summer of Taurus) for the new cars, pairing the vehicles in different cities with local Twitterati/bloggers and a (semi-random) Ford executive.  (Boston’s event brought Corporate Counsel David Leitch out from Detroit.)  There were lots of interesting PR, Social Media, events and business lessons […]

Are You Prepared to Present?

As you probably know by now, I created a monthly product launch party and networking event called Mass Innovation Nights.  It’s a free opportunity for innovators and inventors of every kind to launch their products in front of social media enthusiasts and get some visibility.  Before I dive in on this topic, I want to make sure everyone understands that this blog post is NOT referring to the presenters at my event because, unfortunately, I’ve never actually SEEN any of […]