Marketing for Success - Mike Vilimek

Pragmatic Marketing

I recently attended a seminar put on by a company called Pragmatic Marketing. The seminar was titled Practical Product Management; however they offer others such as Effective Product Marketing and New Rules of Marketing.

The seminar I attended was taught by Barbra Nelson and covered a number of topics ranging from strategic product direction to more tactical marketing activities. While there was a tremendous amount of useful content and take-home templates, there were 2 main points that stuck with me, and that I believe all marketers should live by:

1.       The answers to your questions are not in the building. Get out and talk to, or better yet, listen to your market.

2.       Ensure that your product strategies are aligned with your company’s core competency.

Obviously there’s no such thing as a golden rule(s), that if followed will undoubtedly lead to success. But the above 2 rules will certainly point you in the right direction.

If you can get a seat at one of their next seminars, I would highly recommend it.

2008 Word of the Year

Every year there seems to be a new buzz word that Marketers love to use. Often they are externally focused and used to describe products or entire companies. Throughout 2008, there was an internal word that I either read or heard or used myself virtually every single day (Okay…maybe not on Sundays, but certainly every other day).  That word was “Resonate”.

Definition provided by The Free Dictionary

1. To exhibit or produce resonance or resonant effects.

2. To evoke a feeling of shared emotion or belief.

3. To correspond closely or harmoniously

Ask youself, "Does our message RESONATE with our target market?" It's one of the most fundamental questions Marketers should ask themselves, or better yet, ask your market.