(2006-11-15) Ries Marketing Fiorina Trouble

Al Ries on Marketing. A slick marketer? A high-powered marketing whiz? A sales whiz known for high-profile Marketing events? I've written 11 books on marketing and spent more than 50 years in the marketing field, and I don't agree with anything Carly Fiorina has done involving marketing strategy at Hewlett Packard. "Synergies," according to Carla, would eventually make HP a leader in all of its businesses. What marketing expert runs around the country talking about synergies? Only CEO-s and Investment Banker-s do that... Marketing is 90 percent strategy and 10 percent execution. With the right name, the right target audience, the right position and the right timing, most marketing programs are bound to work. The difficult part is the 90 percent. The easy part is the 10 percent... Good Business Strategy improves execution. As a matter of fact, good strategy can be defined as a strategy that will allow better, more consistent Execution.