Blog

Effective strategies for running high-impact customer co-marketing programs. It’s been nearly five years since I first penned a blog reflecting on how so many companies struggle with running effective, scalable — and genuinely high-impact — customer reference programs. I felt it was important to revisit the topic and offer some sharper perspective and advice forRead more

We at Big Valley get a lot of satisfaction from helping B2B tech companies inject new life into moribund blogging programs. Time and again, we’ve helped companies embrace an “outside-in” editorial model to attract a bigger, more engaged audience that develops more long-term affinity for the brand. The recipe works, and we aren’t the onlyRead more

Five Tips for Executives In Search of the Right Ghost Writer I expect many tech executives must largely live in fear of ghost writers. Putting your name to someone else’s writing is a scary prospect, particularly when so many writers miss the mark. I should know. Earlier in my career, I opened an email fromRead more

Why Do So Few Break Through? When I started out in tech in the Valley, we were still producing physical clip reports using x-acto knives and Elmer’s paste. The office memo was far more commonplace than a relatively new innovation called email. There were dozens of industry publications dedicated to the burgeoning PC revolution, withRead more

It’s not easy for a b2b tech company to break through in a media environment that spends such an inordinate amount of time reporting on the big tech companies, scandals, and, well, big tech companies involved in scandals. Editorial teams continue to shrink and very few dedicate resources to product news anymore. Real-world customer stories stillRead more

I recently binge watched Amazon’s new take on Tom Clancy’s CIA-analyst-turned-field-operative, Jack Ryan (played by John Krasinksi, formerly John Halper in “The Office”). Early in episode one, when the higher-ups at the C.I.A. strongarm Ryan to strap on a SIG-Sauer P226 and hop on a plane to fight terrorists in Yemen, he delivers his takeRead more

To my ear, tone-deaf communications reached new decibel levels in 2018, with the tech world contributing mightily to the noise. It was a shrieking cacophony of a year, brimming with inept statements, videos, tweets and posts that offended, hurt, angered or baffled the intended audience—inevitably, to the utter amazement of the tone-challenged communicators. “Tone-deaf” inRead more

I had the opportunity to attend my first Content Marketing World in Cleveland a few months back and I was really energized by the quality of the sessions, the closing keynote by the inimitable Tina Fey, and also just the sheer number of attendees. So many content marketers, all eager to share best practices andRead more

I recently helped my folks pack up and move to a new place. During the packing and purging of decades of accumulated stuff, my Mom invited me to peruse the bookshelves and take anything of interest—one of my picks was Deadline Artists, an anthology and celebration of some of America’s greatest newspaper columns throughout history.Read more

I had the chance to catch several interesting sessions at the bigger-and-badder-than-ever SaaStr 2018 in San Francisco last week. I was pleasantly surprised to see and hear content coming up more and more in the panels and conversations. Pixar and Prezi talked about the power of visual storytelling. Various CMOs on different panels talked aboutRead more