For more than three decades, I’ve been interested in one fundamental question: How can organizations better understand the people they serve? That question began with buyers. It expanded to audiences and communities. Over time, it led me to something broader: Human Understanding. In my previous essay, I made the case that Human Understanding should be
What Is Human Understanding? Read More »
Every successful organization intentionally develops capabilities. Some invest in Strategic Planning. Others strengthen Organizational Development. Many embrace Design Thinking, Systems Thinking, Leadership Development, or Organizational Learning. These disciplines exist for a reason. They help organizations think better, plan better, innovate better, and lead better. But over the past several years, I’ve found myself asking a
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Organizations have never had more information about the people they serve. Research. Dashboards. Analytics. Artificial Intelligence. Yet many people still feel misunderstood. I believe organizations sometimes mistake knowing more for understanding more. They’re not the same thing. Information helps us know people. Understanding helps us serve people. That distinction has been at the center of
Human Understanding Insight Read More »
How twenty-five years of Buyer Personas led me to Audience Personas, Community Personas, and the emerging discipline of Human Understanding. Twenty-five years ago, I introduced the concept of Buyer Personas because I believed organizations needed a better way to understand the people they served. At the time, marketing was becoming increasingly driven by technology, automation,
Buyer Personas Began with Buyers. It Was Always About People. Read More »
GTM Strategy Requires Deep Understanding of Buyers On Thursday, December 8, I will be giving a 45-minute talk on the importance of understanding buyers today to meet GTM Strategy challenges in a post-pandemic world. It is a pleasure to accept this invitation from BrightTALK and TechTarget. Two supporters on the need for insights and the
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Commercial and Political Responses Must Resolve to Stop Russian Aggression Nearly ninety years ago, we saw a forceful head of state annex what he called “homeland” territories. Made sham promises to countries such as England. Invade countries under false pretexts such as Czechoslovakia. The threatening clouds of his real designs were visible yet deemed as
The World Must Respond Commercially and Politically to Threats Against a Free World Read More »
Buying Decisions Are Affected By Intensified Buyer Activism Sentiments During the past decade, we have seen a significant rise in consumer activism. And that has translated to a rise in both brand activism as well as shareholder activism. We have seen consumers changing buying behaviors with their pocketbooks. Refusing or boycotting certain brands due to their social or
Buyer Activism Will Rise Among B2B Buyers Read More »
Businesses Will Need To Reassess ESG Stance Beyond Just Environment The Russia-Ukraine conflict is ushering in a new world order of business. While our eyes were focused on whether we will enter a post-pandemic or an endemic way of handling the COVID-19 virus, another tectonic shift was happening. It happened this past week with the
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B2B Buyers Will Endure Ongoing Challenges Ahead From an overarching perspective, some industries have enjoyed a robust recovery coming out of the pandemic while others are still in a slow slog. In engaged B2B buyer research I have been conducting, there appear to be strong headwinds ahead for buyers to contend with. Inflation will only
4 Headwinds B2B Buyers Will Face in the Future Read More »
Earned Buyer Insights Are Critical to Being Relevant to Buyers At the start of the year, I elaborated on the idea that empathy is derived from a place of deeper understanding. In today’s business climate, the right to gain this deeper understanding must be earned. For leaders, it is easy to say to their teams
Why Earned Buyer Insights Are Vital to the Future of B2B Marketing Read More »
