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Category Archives: Light Side
Five Ways to Keep It Simple
Most engineering minds love to delve into the details. They want specs. They want operating parameters. They want exceptions. In marketing, you need to do the opposite. A positioning statement, a key message, an expression of a benefit — all of those are examples that require you to simplify, simplify, simplify. To discuss details is to waste people’s time. Marketing is about not wasting people’s time. Continue reading
Posted in Dark Path, Dark Side, Light Side
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Getting Your MBA in Naming
Remember my suggestions for coming up with that perfect name? No? That’s because I didn’t do everything I could to make those suggestions as memorable as possible. In this post I detail how I edited my previous two posts to tell a better story, thanks to the use of the “MBA” acronym as a mnemonic. Continue reading
Posted in Dark Path, Dark Side, Force Training, Light Side
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Practicing How to Come Up with the Perfect Name
In my previous post, I suggested you try and answer the question of how to name a given software feature by using your “MBA.” Message: You needed to figure out for yourself what you’re trying to say about the suggested feature. Brainstorm: come up with a list of words to meet that goal. Assemble: Evaluate and combine words until you pick 3-5 potential names for the feature. Here’s how I followed my own process to come up with my suggestions, and some extra hints about sanity-checking your answer. Continue reading
Posted in Dark Path, Dark Side, Force Training, Light Side
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Coming Up with the Perfect Name
Names matter. They immediately convey a message, before you even make it to a positioning statement. Even engineers aren’t immune, as they are often responsible for naming features or elements of a product… names in code that may stick in documentation or turn up in the UI somewhere… and before you know it, they’re terms being used by customers. So how does one come up with a name? Here’s how to get your “MBA” in naming. Continue reading
Posted in Dark Path, Dark Side, Force Training, Light Side
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Keeping Your Evil Scorecard Straight: Even More Flavors of Marketing (Part 2)
Many people, especially engineers, assume that the marketing department is one giant mass of marketers, all sitting around trying to come up with new ways to waste time and money. Part two of this evil marketing scorecard will help you navigate your marketing department when you want to go beyond recreational complaining about how much “marketing sucks.” Continue reading
Posted in Aliens, Light Side
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