Articles / Thought Leadership

What everyone's saying: publish less, prune more, fix your content operations. Every content strategist worth their salt has the same 2026 to-do list: Audit the blog, kill the zombie pages, tighten the editorial calendar. It's good advice. It's also missing the point. Here's the spin: old content isn't clutter anymore. It's a liability with your name on it. When a prospect's AI assistant answers a question about your company, it doesn't know your content is old. It just finds

Budget season has a familiar ritual. Every line item has to earn its place again, and brand is usually first on the chopping block. Not because anyone thinks it's worthless, but because it's the hardest one to defend in a room full of people who want a number. So the brand marketer reaches for the usual defense: awareness lift, share of voice, impressions. Finance nods politely and cuts it anyway, because none of those numbers tell them what they actually care about, whether

Open a new tab. Ask ChatGPT what your company does. Not a trick question. Not a stress test. Just the question a prospect might actually type in before a first call with your sales team. Read the answer back slowly, the way you'd read a review of your own restaurant. Might be a bit uncomfortable, but do it anyway. There's a decent chance it's wrong. Not maliciously wrong, but out of date wrong. It names a product you sunk two years ago. It describes you as a scrappy startup t

The strategy problem we already had a name for, now with a new tool attached. You know the phrase "random acts of marketing." A webinar because a competitor ran one. A trade show booth that was critical because XYZ would be there but no one supported the plan behind it. Individually, each one seemed reasonable. Granted, these are all mostly reactive, not strategic. However, together, they add up to a lot of activity and not much momentum. We've been talking about that problem

Why so much content feels like "AI slop," and how marketing leaders can get back to work that actually helps the reader. Open LinkedIn and scroll for about thirty seconds. I'll wait. You probably saw something like this: "In today's fast-paced landscape, leaders must navigate unprecedented change." Insert your own jargon as you like…Then a list of five tips, each starting with an emoji. Then a post announcing that something is "not just a tool, it's a mindset." Then three mor

Why "What's the ROI on AI?" is the wrong first question for marketing leaders, and what to ask instead Let's try a little thought experiment. Say your team's AI tools saved 400 hours this year. (I made that number up, but stay with me. For a lot of teams it's conservative.) First drafts in minutes instead of days. Research summaries that used to eat a Friday afternoon. Twelve versions of an email for twelve segments, done before lunch. Now the awkward part: where did those 40

If your 2027 marketing plan is on version 14, you’re not alone. Every time it gets close to final, something changes. A new AI model launches. A platform rewrites its algorithm. A competitor announces another “agentic” something. Leadership questions things and the plan goes back into draft. Planning in this environment can feel like assembling furniture while someone keeps swapping out the instructions. After more than 20 years in B2B marketing, here’s what I’ve learned: the

I don’t know about you, but across all social media platforms and the news this weekend, I kept coming across the "Jimothy" story. For my global friends and colleagues who haven't met him yet: Jimothy is a wild raccoon in Seattle who has a rare spinal condition (short spine syndrome). Because of it, he has a uniquely compact, almost orb-like body and a distinctive little waddle. An innocent local video posted online went viral, and suddenly Jimothy was everywhere—getting fan

Why "Data Debt" is the biggest obstacle to building a privacy-first brand. In my last post, I talked about the shift from being a Data Mercenary to a Data Guardian. We established that the future belongs to brands that protect their customers. But for many enterprise leaders, the intention to be a "Guardian" hits a massive, invisible wall: Data Debt. You might want to protect your customer's data. You might want to be transparent. But if your organization is acting like a D

Every brand story needs a hero, but in 2026, the hero isn't the product. It’s the philosophy. For years, the digital economy rewarded the Mercenaries . These were the companies that viewed customer data as spoils of war—something to be captured, exploited, and sold for maximum short-term profit. Their strategy was "smash and grab": extract the value, ignore the privacy risks, and move on. But the script has flipped. We have entered the era of the Guardian Brand . The Villain:

Facts Tell, Stories Sell For decades, the executive resume has been a document of "fact accumulation." We listed our titles, our tenures, and our degrees, assuming that the person with the most facts wins. But we need to recognize ta fundamental truth of human psychology: Facts tell, but stories sell. In 2026, we have entered the era of the "Creator Executive." Talent, investors, and customers aren't looking for a list of skills; they are looking for a character they can b

The December Paradox The allure of the "Clean Slate" of January. We can all fall for this. As leaders, we can feel a compulsive need to wrap up every loose end, answer every lingering email, and attend every "project wrap-up" before the holidays. We convince ourselves that if we just work hard enough to clear the decks , we will walk into January with a fresh mind. This is a lie. In reality, December becomes the "Graveyard of Strategy." We get so busy finishing the tacti

Business leadership and marketers alike are all fighting for the same thing: mindshare of our audience. In a world saturated with...

In an ever-changing business landscape, the ability to adapt, innovate, and thrive isn't just a desirable trait in Marketing—it's a...

Every marketing leader has faced it: the creative slump. It may be due to quick deadlines or overload - the creativity feels trapped....

Senior leaders have perspectives that go beyond daily operations. In this critical role, your personal brand is not a peripheral concern;...

Often areas of Marketing can fall into silos. It is important to ensure to have a holistic view across brand, content and go-to-market...

Data has always been critical for marketers to inform their strategies. The challenge is having the right data that is easily accessible...

Many of us say this all the time. “It is so busy!” This used to feel like a badge of honor, to show that you had so many responsibilities...

In order to get results from content it needs to deliver value and should tell a story and help prove valuable. It may not include your...