Not just seen, but believed: trust is the new mandate for marketing and comms
Marketing and comms puts most of its emphasis on reach when we’d be better served by putting the emphasis on being believed The lack of trust that’s emerged in American society is pervasive. It’s woven into nearly every institutional pillar,...Read More
This report on sales messaging might turn B2B marketing upside down
Data analysis of 97.9 million sales messages sent by email shows talking about ‘pain points’ has an adverse effect on leads – and might set your deals back rather than advance them to the next stage Throughout my career in...Read More
A marketing and PR superpower [not another lesson from the election]
If marketing and PR have a superpower it’s the ability to put what you think aside and look at things from your audience’s perspective In the days following the 2024 election, I had to smile at the number of marketing...Read More
B2B marketing and the struggle to be different
Note to readers: the monthly PR tech sum will get back on schedule next week. You are not your target audience. Multiple cognitive biases from a “False Consensus” to “Dunning-Kruger” demonstrate that’s easy to say and hard to follow (a...Read More
Plain Language Usually Wins
Occam’s Razor is a law in problem-solving that means where there are a lot of competing explanations, the simplest explanation is usually the right one. I tend to think this notion is applicable to marketing and PR – it’s the...Read More
![You Are Not Your Target Audience [False Consensus Effect]](https://www.swordandthescript.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/You-Are-Not-Your-Target-Audience-header-670x500.jpg)
You Are Not Your Target Audience [False Consensus Effect]
Every now and then I’ll hear a marketer say, “I’m the target audience.” As such, the marketer assumes their target audience has the same view of the world as they do. The reality is, they probably don’t. This is a...Read More
Why “Disruption” is a Terrible Message for Prospects in B2B Marketing
Somewhere around 2014 or 2015, several colleagues and I stepped off a plane in San Francisco to attend an industry conference. We were eager to get to the conference center, but there was one big problem: the taxi line was...Read More
The Meaning of Staying “On Message”
Staying “on message” is about staying on meaning. It’s not about word choice. There are many ways to say hello that carry the same message. The purpose of messaging is to help a business speak with focus, cohesion and consistency....Read More
![Survey Research for PR Pros on B2B Messaging Pitches and Clickbait [UML]](https://www.swordandthescript.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Survey-Research-for-PR-Pros-on-B2B-Messaging-Pitches-and-Clickbait-UML.jpg)
Research for PR Pros on B2B Messaging, Pitches and Clickbait [UML]
Business leaders outside of communications struggle to understand messaging. It sometimes strikes people as a nebulous and becomes equated with PR or marketing snake oil. It is not. Messaging requires research inside the organization, research outside the organization, reflection and...Read More
