In my new role as Director of Marketing and Sales for MB Foster Associates Limited, I’ve been reading and writing a lot of presentations. Like many, Microsoft PowerPoint ends up being my tool of choice. I’ve sat through thousands of presentations. Having been bullet pointed near to death, I decided that it was time that my presentations get a boost in style and impact.
There’s nothing like combining my passion for sailing and marketing with an incredible photograph and story that highlights both. The photo is of Alex Thompson wearing Hugo Boss clothes on his IMOCA 60 sailboat Hugo Boss. The marketing messages grab my attention on multiple levels:
In 1936, Dale Carnigie published his book How to Win Friends and Influcence People. One of the most influential self-help books of all time, it has sold more than 15 million copies. Dale Carnigie’s advice applies today as much as ever. Here is a reminder of the principles that his book tells us to live by:
Creating the right marketing message is always a challenge. As part of my work around petabyte sized data problems I’ve run across three different blog postings this week that talk about being crystal clear in positioning and messaging high tech products. The lessons learned are good reminders to all of us of how important it is to create a believable story that shows prospects and customers the value of what you deliver.
I recently interviewed Stephen Northcutt, President of the SANS Technology Institute, about how the security problems have remained the same for the last twenty years. He reminded me of the SANS 20 Critical Security Controls: