Lori A. Rochino - With over 7 years of marketing communications experience, Lori has worked in a variety of industries, including finance, publishing, and fashion. She is currently a marketing specialist at an e-commerce firm and manages web content for the AMA Boston Chapter. She resides in Natick with her husband.

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Lori A. Rochino - With over 7 years of marketing communications experience, Lori has worked in a variety of industries, including finance, publishing, and fashion. She is currently a marketing specialist at an e-commerce firm and manages web content for the AMA Boston Chapter. She resides in Natick with her husband.

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TOPIC: When Do Ads and Campaigns Cross the Line?
Date: Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Produced by the Boston Chapter of the American Marketing Association

The Boston Marketing Club: A social gathering with a topic

Register Now!

Price: $10 for AMA members. $30 for non-members.

Place: Brandy Pete’s
267 Franklin Street
Boston, MA 02110
Directions

The Boston Marketing Club: A social gathering with a topic

Register Now!

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As I’m working on a marketing plan for a client, it strikes me how these five words can strike fear and doubt into so many executives - “How do you define yourselves?”

It is a painfully simple question, but the answer is so important.

Many hours can be spent on this question. In workshops, when I ask this question, the initial answer client’s give is often the most honest. Someone in the room inevitably blurts out the answer, and I write it down. Then someone else inevitably adds that the first definition is too limiting, and provides a different definition. Often a much broader one.

To give an example, I once worked at a very large company where the executive in charge decided how to define our business. His definition was the equivalent of defining a bakery as a “flour, water and eggs mixed together and baked for 12 minutes” business. Much easier to say, “We are a bakery.” His answer created confusion. Customers wondered what we were talking about.

Why all of the confusion? Many people, and companies, want to appear to be more than they are. They get caught up in internal thinking, strategic thinking and politics.

For lack of a clear definition, companies broaden their definition to a higher level in an attempt to cast a larger net. As with my example, this only ensures that no one will have any idea what they are speaking about.

So is this a complex question? It does need to be. Customers are looking for a simple answer. They are tired of trying to sort out what companies actually do versus what their Web site says. Give them a break - give them the simple answer. Save the complexities for internal documents.

One obvious question lies in waiting - how do you define yourself, or your business? If you are using more than ten words to define yourself, then you should do some editing. Write back to me and tell me your definition.

-Steven Halling, President

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-Steven Halling, President of AMA Boston 

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The Boston Chapter is searching for a few more candidates to fill out our 08/09 board of directors, and for candidates to serve in elect positions for 09/10.   This is your chance to get involved with a growing number of top marketing professionals to shape the chapter and grow your career!   Here is the one statistic you need to know - over the past two years, 7 out of 10 chapter board members have either:

1. Seen a significant advancement in their careers.
2. Found great new opportunities for their businesses.

It’s not hard to figure out.  In this connected world of personal branding and Google searches, it looks darn good to see your name attached to a brand like AMA’s.   

Boston is one of the largest single concentration of AMA members in the country. We have it all - higher ed., market research, branding, strategy, marcom, events, and on and on. AMA Boston envelops every discipline of marketing under one organization.  Don’t miss this opportunity!  

- Steven Halling, President of AMA Boston 

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Have your salespeople told you lately that they love you? Are you sure you’re doing everything you can to help them close the Big Deal?Join us for a lively, informative and entertaining keynote from Jack Falvey, sales guru, media commentator and contributor to Newsweek, The Boston Globe and The Harvard Business Review. Drawing on his four decades of sales management experience, he will tell you how collaborating with your sales pros can turn your company into a revenue-generating juggernaut!

REGISTER NOW!

We expect this special event to sell out quickly.

SPECIAL OFFER: All registrants receive a PDF copy of Falvey’s book Freelance, a compilation of his most memorable articles written for The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s - FREE!

Falvey has also lent his wit and insight to network broadcasts including:

• ABC’s Good Morning America
• NBC’s Today Show
• Fox TV’s Evening Business News

“Jack Falvey is a delightful cross between the gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson and the management guru Peter F. Drucker.”
~Roger Ailes, President, Fox News

If your salespeople have ever called your marketing department a cost center, join us and unlock the secret lives of sales stars with Jack Falvey - and prove the naysayers wrong!

Date:
Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Time:
11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Registration - Begins at 11:30 a.m.
Buffet Lunch
Keynote Speaker - 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Q&A - 1:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Price:
$35 for AMA members; $60 for non-members; $25 Student Members.

Place:
Marriott Newton
2345 Commonwealth Avenue
Newton, MA 02466
Complimentary on-site parking is available.

Directions

REGISTER NOW!

Speaker Profile:
Jack Falvey is one of the most widely published speakers and freelance business writers in the world. With 33 Wall Street Journal editorial page “Manager’s Journals” and many business book reviews for their Leisure and Arts pages, his name is known to professionals wherever serious business news is read.

His client list is a who’s who of successful organizations accumulated in over twenty years of consulting and speaking assignments. A 1960 graduate of Boston College, he has taught sales management as a member of the adjunct faculty at the University of Massachusetts at Boston.

Event Sponsor:

http://www.funmanpromotions.com/

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Congrats Josh!

Tracie Hebert 
VP of Brand, AMA Boston

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At the retreat, the conference leader promoted the AMABoston.org as the best chapter Website and referred to it as a model to be followed.  There are 78 chapters internationally.  The chapters in attendance were Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Richmond and Central Virginia.

Learning about the unofficial accolades through word-of-mouth was a great honor and although we still have a lot more we want to do with our Internet presence, my only hope is that our members are getting as much value from our site as possible. We really appreciate the efforts of everyone who continues to contribute to it’s success on a daily and weekly basis.

Even with such a complement from the international association, we are actually working right now on a redesign for the interface of our site.  Aloft Group is the agency we selected for the redesign and we are looking forward to what’s next!

In related news, Boston will enjoy the honor of hosting the 2009 Northeastern Leadership Retreat next fall.  Chapters are expected to attend from Providence, Hartford, Albany, Rochester, Montreal and Toronto.  We will welcome them to our city and hope to show them a wicked good time!

Myles Bristowe
President-elect, AMA Boston

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Myles Bristowe
President-elect, AMA Boston

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