In the six years since I first visited Red Hat’s user show,  open source software has become the default choice for enterprise applications and the cloud infrastructures on which they run. This year’s Red Hat Summit provided a  good look at how the open source vendor’s products are evolving and being marketed as it prepares […]

Whenever a buzzword gets hot, you can expect lazy marketers to start pasting it on every product or service in sight. When two buzzwords get popular at the same time, expect double the hype. So it is with the two hot high-profile trends of security and artificial intelligence (AI). Security is a big deal because […]

News flash (or not): Too much of our marketing content stinks. Who says? More than 250 global technology decision makers surveyed by Forrester Research. 57% said “most of the material is useless.” 66% said “vendors provide me too much material to sort through” 60% said they get most of their information from other sources. What’s […]

Between waves of new technology and political and economic jitters, 2019 will be an extremely noisy marketing environment. Getting and keeping the attention of IT buyers will be harder than ever. Here are three of the biggest IT growth areas I’m seeing from my work with clients, and suggestions for practical messaging that will lift you […]

There’s a lot of talk about the need to make marketing content funny and edgy enough to rise above a sea of “me-too” blather. Yet too many of my clients continue to play it safe – too safe, to my mind, to accurately describe the real business problems they help their customers solve. If, for […]

With winter coming, it’s time to think about soups. Not as in savory stews, but in the unsavory slop we dish out when we carelessly talk about “transformation.” Blending the various definitions without thinking dilutes the message and leaves prospects confused, rather than wanting to learn more. More than seven years ago (yikes!) I first […]

Many of my small to medium size clients, such as regional IT service providers, struggle when I ask them what differentiates them from their competitors.  The best they can come up with is often: “We really listen to our customers’ needs.” “Our staff really cares about our customer’s success.” “We take a consultative approach, rather […]

Demand for IT marketing content remains as strong as I’ve ever seen it. But not all tech categories are as healthy as others, and in some ways, creating quality content is becoming harder and harder. Among the changes I’m seeing and some tips for coping: Email struggles: Clients are getting more sophisticated in their use of […]