Semantic confusion surrounding modern marketing

There are numerous marketing terms that are being misused so often these days that I often find it necessary to give a quick lecture on semantics before presenting, training or consulting with clients. If this is not done from the get-go, then consensus within a group is nearly impossible to attain. Even if two people fundamentally agree on something, they have no way of knowing due to the fact that their initial paradigms are different. A great visual example of this is the famous illustration of the old lady/young lady I have included in this post.

Two upcoming niche events catered to the public sector that I highly recommend

Every year I attend and/or speak at numerous conferences, events, and seminars related to marketing, communications, social media, technology and government.  While they all seem to bring value to the table, certain ones stand out from the crowd. Two of these are taking place within the next month.

Government obsession with newspaper coverage

I asked a senior government communications employee for their communications objectives the other day. Their response was ” to be on the cover of The Globe & Mail” (our national Canadian newspaper). A few weeks ago another client gave me a similar response: “To have an article written about us in the Ottawa Citizen” (our nation’s capital newspaper). When I asked them about their digital presence, they replied that they already have a website (which by the way, appeared on the 8th Google search result page for the most important key phrase relating to their initiative) .

This is usually the time that I take a deep breath…