Creating sales tools are one of the essential functions of marketing. Why, then, are they so bad?

There’s been a lot written and spoken about the relationship between marketing and sales. Too often, this relationship amounts to a battle for supremacy within a company with each side pursuing goals mostly unrelated to the other.

I was recently interviewed for a podcast on the always-good Salesopedia. You can check out the interview: "Sales vs Marketing".

It's easy enough to say. Before working on any strategy, you need to know about reality—the facts. Otherwise, you risk creating a bad strategy. It's hard enough to do this. Yet, even this isn't enough. You really need to measure twice before you strategize once.

At first, you probably will say "Yes!". It's sort of an eating-your-own-dogfood thing. I think the opposite is true. Chances are, you're not good at your own marketing.

Marketing in the academic world should be simple and effective. We'll tell you why it isn't ... and what you can do about it. Download the podcast

Branding is the most expensive, most cost-effective, and least understood marketing discipline. When done correctly, branding decreases the cost of future tactics and increases the effectiveness of communications.

Postmodern marketing breaks down traditional barriers, especially between the enterprise inside and customers outside. It also shows us how other traditional divisions can be eliminated.