Lochhead on Marketing

One listener writes: “This is such a confusing time and people are on edge. There's a lot of arguing and mistrust in the US. It seems like we see more people acting out. In our case, we've had some customers behave really badly. When is it okay to turn a customer away?” In this episode, Christopher shares his views on this matter about your right, as a business, to refuse service to customers. What The Law Says The law states that you are allowed to refuse anybody’s service, but you can't do it on the basis of color, race, gender, sexual orientation, and other subjects along those lines. What Christopher advises is to seek legal advice and make sure to have consistent guidelines to enforce on your business, so your employees are well-guided. “I think it's okay to refuse service to Anybody who's being a shithead and we had a situation happen here in the Santa Cruz Monterey Bay Area.” - Christopher Lochhead Kicked Out Due To Bad Behavior  Christopher shares an incident that happened recently in a restaurant in Santa Cruz Monterey Bay Area called Bernardus Lodge where an Asian-American was spending their Fourth of July holiday. A Tech CEO, named Michael Lofthouse, who was also dining in, gave out racial slurs to the family. The restaurant attendant, Gennica Cochran, immediately asked Michael to leave the premises to protect their customers. “Number one, the folks at the who run the Bernardus Lodge have some core values and that in one way or another, whether it was formal or informal, they had communicated to their team, including, of course, Gennica Cochran and that there were certain behaviors they would tolerate. Racism, acting out and being an asshole clearly was something they were not going to allow. Gennica felt empowered to do that. I don't know if she asked for permission. I don't know what she did. But she took action.” - Christopher Lochhead Please Wear A Mask Christopher also shares some of his personal experience with enforcing wearing a mask. He is  a strong supporter of this and he has received some backlash because of being vocal about it “If you don't like me, or you don't want to listen to my podcast, because I'm trying to promote wearing masks in the United States, that's okay. I think whatever the issue is, there comes a time in our lives as people and as business leaders, where we have to be clear about our core values and stand up for them.” - Christopher Lochhead To hear more about having the right to refuse customers, download and listen to this episode. Bio: Christopher Lochhead is a #1 Apple podcaster and #1 Amazon bestselling co-author of books: Niche Down and Play Bigger. He has been an advisor to over 50 venture-backed startups; a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO and an entrepreneur. Furthermore, he has been called “one of the best minds in marketing” by The Marketing Journal, a “Human Exclamation Point” by Fast Company, a “quasar” by NBA legend Bill Walton and “off-putting to some” by The Economist. In addition, he served as a chief marketing officer of software juggernaut Mercury Interactive. Hewlett-Packard acquired the company in 2006, for $4.5 billion. He also co-founded the marketing consulting firm LOCHHEAD; was the founding CMO of Internet consulting firm Scient, and served as head of marketing at the CRM software firm Vantive. Links: The Right to Refuse Service: Can a Business Refuse Service to Someone? San Francisco tech CEO kicked out of Carmel Valley restaurant following racist rant caught on camera Ford CEO defends law enforcement use of Police Interceptor vehicle Ford CEO Jim Hackett We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes! You may also subscribe to his newsletter, The Difference, for some amazing content.

For the first time ever, we are dropping an episode from one of Christopher’s favorite podcast, Marketing Over Coffee, with host John Wall. Recently, they did an episode with the legendary author, Kevin Maney. Kevin, as you probably know, is a multi-time successful, bestselling author. He's one of the co-authors of Play Bigger with Christopher. In this episode of Lochhead on Marketing / Marketing Over Coffee Crossover, Kevin talks about his recent book Unscaled. They also talk about what that means and how powerful it is. And of course, category design and many other things. Category Design and Play Bigger Kevin shares about category design and his co-authored book Play Bigger. He also shares how the book led to the creation of Category Design Advisors. He further discusses his new book Unscaled – how world-changing technologies are taking apart scaled up industries. “We started to go down that road together, the four of us meeting out at Chris's wonderful house in Santa Cruz, California, riding our bikes to the beach in between long conversations. Over time, we tease out this idea of category design, which didn't exist before. We all got together and started talking about this stuff.” - Kevin Maney on planning for the book Play Bigger  Unscaled Kevin describes how he ended up writing the book Unscaled, which was about how all of these new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, 3D printing and genomics, and these world-changing technologies, and how they're all coming together to allow us to reinvent our current systems.  “We got together with Stephen Klasko, who's the CEO of Jefferson Health, one of the bigger health care systems in the country based in Philadelphia. Steven came out and I took that healthcare chapter of Unscaled to write a, what we actually call a manifesto. It's about 60 pages long, describing how all these new technologies can take apart the old healthcare system, which was really based on taking care of people after they were sick.” - Kevin Maney on his book Unscaled Other Noteworthy Topics Kevin and John discussed a whole lot more noteworthy topics ranging from the IoT in health data, the economics of it all and the rise of telehealth. They also touched on the topic of shifting to online education and the history of IBM. “I tend to look at almost everything anymore through the lens of health, either category design or upscaling, because I do believe that those are the two things that are going to drive technology, and create the most interesting technology companies of the next decade.” - Kevin Maney To know more about Kevin Maney, download and listen to this episode. Bio:  Kevin Maney is a bestselling author, award-winning columnist, and partner at Category Design Advisors (CDA). He co-authored Play Bigger: How Pirates, Dreamers and Innovators Create and Dominate Markets, which gave birth to the discipline of category design. His book The Maverick and His Machine: Thomas Watson Sr. and the Making of IBM is the definitive biography of the man who built IBM. Maney has been a contributor to Newsweek, Fortune, The Atlantic, Fast Company, Strategy + Business, HBR.com, CNN and ABC News, among other media outlets. Additionally, he was a contributing editor at Conde Nast Portfolio during its brief run from 2007 to 2009. For 22 years, Maney was a columnist, editor and reporter at USA Today. He’s appeared frequently on television and radio, including CBS Sunday Morning and NPR, and lectures at conferences and universities, including New York University, UNC in Chapel Hill, and his alma mater, Rutgers.  Links: Kevin Maney.com Marketing Over Coffee: Kevin Maney Talks Unscaled Marketing Over Coffee: Christopher Lochhead on Play Bigger, and Legends and Losers Marketing Over Coffee: Niche Down! We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!

In this episode, Christopher answers an email question from an entrepreneur who wants to become an author. We dive deep into the process of becoming an author, from pitching to publishers or agents, to actual writing, to marketing and promoting. He also talks about the pros and cons of self-publishing versus or seeking the help of top-tier publishers. The Process of Becoming An Author Christopher shares the question he recently received: “Did you write a book proposal before getting started on the writing? Or did you write the book first? What were your first steps in acquiring representation, slash a publishing contract?” “It's important to note for Play Bigger, we used an agent and a traditional publisher. For Niche Down, we actually went the self-publishing route.” - Christopher Lochhead Christopher gives an in-depth explanation of his process for both books in this episode. Traditional Publishing vs. Self-Publishing Christopher also touched on the pros and cons of traditional publishing and self-publishing, He shares that publishers handle the publication and distribution of the book, but does not touch on marketing. The author has to promote to boost book sales.  “The other thing about self-publishing, you have a lot more control than you do. When a publisher has your book, you decide what the books gonna look like, the cover art, all that stuff, you decide what kind of paper is going to be used. And of course, the obvious one is you have all of the economics.” - Christopher Lochhead Get The Ball Rolling: Drafting Content Answering another set of questions about content creation, Christopher shares their actual process for Play Bigger. Since the book has four authors, they decided who will have the last say in terms of content. They started with writing outlines from their brainstorming/jam sessions and Kevin Maney writes the draft and the rest gives their feedback.  “What we decided to do was get together in person, which we did at my house for a few days. We had a ton of fun. we brainstormed, we talked, we shared stories and all this. Kevin is the professional author captured all of that.” - Christopher Lochhead To know more about how to write a book, download and listen to this episode. Bio: Christopher Lochhead is a #1 Apple podcaster and #1 Amazon bestselling co-author of books: Niche Down and Play Bigger. He has been an advisor to over 50 venture-backed startups; a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO and an entrepreneur. Furthermore, he has been called “one of the best minds in marketing” by The Marketing Journal, a “Human Exclamation Point” by Fast Company, a “quasar” by NBA legend Bill Walton and “off-putting to some” by The Economist. In addition, he served as a chief marketing officer of software juggernaut Mercury Interactive. Hewlett-Packard acquired the company in 2006, for $4.5 billion. He also co-founded the marketing consulting firm LOCHHEAD; was the founding CMO of Internet consulting firm Scient, and served as head of marketing at the CRM software firm Vantive. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes! You may also subscribe to his newsletter, The Difference, for some amazing content.

We are on our 30th episode of the World's First PodStorm! We would like to thank everyone who went through the storm with us! Today, Lochhead on Marketing producers Jason DeFillipo and Jaime Jay joins us and takes us behind the mic. We go deep into the challenges, the wins, and the lessons in creating this PodStorm. We talk about a lot of other matters which you’ll find relatable! Challenges with Production Making a podcast comes with its challenges, even more so if it's the world’s first 30-day PodStorm. Timing is one of the main challenges in production. Jason DeFilippo shares that the hard part was dealing with unplanned life events. He seriously advises anyone to take this into account if they want to pursue podcasting.   Although they faced challenges, this 30-day marketing discussion proved that the Podstorm is a new category of a podcast activity.  “It is basically a roadmap for anyone who wants to do any kind of marketing in their business.” - Jaimie Jay Category Design Christopher mentions that Podstrom is all about marketing and category design. The PodStorm encourages marketers to create their category and to differentiate themselves in a niche that they can own. They discussed further category design and rising above the challenges despite the situation the world is at.  “In the midst of the greatest economic crisis and the greatest healthcare crisis of the modern era, you transformed your business and you are absolutely positioning yourself to be in that 10% that gets stronger as a result of the recession.” - Christopher Lochhead Success of PodStorm Jaimie Jay celebrated the fact that LOM Podstorm gained an 80% increase in listenership. One of the reasons for this series’ success is the format—  it’s quick but is jam-packed with information. “The thing that makes this successful is that they are short. So every day, you can pop it in, get it done, and while you’re sitting there having your eggs for breakfast or outside taking a walk with a dog and you learn something and it is a very laser focus.” -Jason DeFillippo More About Business and Current Events The trio discussed a lot more that is 100% relatable to any businesses. They talk about trying to help companies against recession brought on by Covid-19 and touched on the topic of the murder of George Floyd and the role of marketing in social justice and making social change happen.  To know more about the legends behind the mic, Christopher Lochhead, Jason DeFilippo and Jaime Jay, download and listen to this episode. Bio: Jaime Jay Jaime is the managing director and founder of Bottleneck Virtual Assistants, LLC.  The organization offers professional growth opportunities for ambitious leaders by creating an efficient and systematic approach to identify, hire, and cultivate team members who focus on specific roles and responsibilities. Jaime Jay is the co-owner of Podcast Pilot which handles the technical execution and website for Follow Your Different and Lochhead on Marketing. Jason DeFillippo Jason has been building websites since the early days in 1994 for clients that range from small businesses to million dollar websites for blockbuster films to his own start-ups.  In 1995 a new media company in Santa Monica moved him out to Los Angeles to build the first website for Epson America.  Since then Jason has launched over 250 websites for major corporations like Paramount Pictures, Sony, Warner Brothers, and Disney.  He also created the two time SXSW Weblog Award-winning Blogrolling.com as well as co-founded the global blog network Metroblogging.  He has worked at several startups in San Francisco including Technorati.com and 8020 Media, the publishers of JPGMagazine.com and statistical aggregator Metricly.com.  Currently, Jason is a full-time podcast producer and editor. Links:  Bottleneck Virtual Assistant - World’s First Dedicated Distant Assistant Provider Grumpy Old Geeks We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™!

https://lochhead.com/peanut-butter-lightning-sandwich-a-new-model-for-marketing-execution/ We get a shit ton of marketing messages a day. Some experts say we get 40 to 60,000 messages a day if you include everything — from banners on the internet emails, logos on coffee cups, t-shirts, you name it. Today, let's talk about the typical marketing execution. It's predicated on a model called reaching frequency. It's a very old idea that states the more people see our brand, hears our message, hears our point of view, the better. Let’s find out what peanut butter and lightning sandwich is and why that's a new model for marketing execution. Frequency and Reach If you’ve ever been to Cuba, you’ll realize how much we are bombarded with advertising in the Western world. In Cuba, there are no billboards, no giant signs, no logos in coffee cups. This only shows that frequency and reach are not applicable to everyone. “You are either rising above the noise, or you're just part of the noise.” - Christopher Lochhead Lightning Strike Christopher dedicated one episode of Lochhead on Marketing on Peanut Butter vs Lightning Strikes. Lightning strikes are a concentrated set of marketing activities in a very short period of time, against a very tightly defined audience or target market. “I would rather dominate somebody's mind space for a day or two, then be mostly irrelevant most of the time.” - Christopher Lochhead Peanut Butter Christopher notes the mistake he sees in virtually every marketing plan and every marketing budget. A disproportionate amount of investment and effort is spread equally over time, over product lines, and so forth.  “You can't stand out if you do that. You're going to disappear the noise if all you do is reach and frequency inspired.” - - Christopher Lochhead To hear more about peanut butter and lightning sandwich as the new model for marketing execution, download and listen to this episode. Bio: Christopher Lochhead is a #1 Apple podcaster and #1 Amazon bestselling co-author of books: Niche Down and Play Bigger. He has been an advisor to over 50 venture-backed startups; a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO and an entrepreneur. Furthermore, he has been called “one of the best minds in marketing” by The Marketing Journal, a “Human Exclamation Point” by Fast Company, a “quasar” by NBA legend Bill Walton and “off-putting to some” by The Economist. In addition, he served as a chief marketing officer of software juggernaut Mercury Interactive. Hewlett-Packard acquired the company in 2006, for $4.5 billion. He also co-founded the marketing consulting firm LOCHHEAD; was the founding CMO of Internet consulting firm Scient, and served as head of marketing at the CRM software firm Vantive. яндекс We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes! You may also subscribe to his newsletter,The Difference, for some amazing content.

During the PodStorm, we're doing a live Facebook Question and Answer session, every Friday, 11:30 a.m. PST. We are now on our last week for PodStorm Q&A and we hope to hear from you if you want us to do more live Q&As! Today, podcast living legend Jason DeFillippo of Grumpy Old Geeks joins us to answer some questions about the importance of internal communications, how public relations and investor relations should work together, and a whole lot more! Importance of Internal Communications One listener asked about Christopher’s thoughts on the importance of internal communications and what function inside the company should own it. He narrated how Steve Jobs is the perfect example of this and how his words “there are no phenomenal products in our pipeline” was a self-fulfilling prophecy. “I think the role of marketing internally is at least equal to the value externally. In some ways more, when people pick up a newspaper or read something online, and they hear, for example, your CEO talking about the company's mission, or talking about a new product that you just launched, and how it's going to transform the category and make a difference to a giant number of people, things along those lines are my favorite examples.” - Christopher Lochhead Public Relations and Investor Relations Christopher shares candidly that IR and PR, Investor Relations and Public Relations need to be deeply connected. Although it is highly unusual to have IR in marketing since it is always in Finance. However, Christopher shares some instances where Finance would find the Marketing team handy. “The best CFO I know are way more than accountants. They're strategic minds. They're great at mergers and acquisitions and operations. So a lot of companies, if they're smart, have a very big, big, big time CFO, and I think that's, particularly if you're planning on going public.” - Christopher Lochhead When do we change the logo? Unless it's ugly and bad, Christopher believes changing the logo is a strategic mistake, particularly in your first six months. It sends a message to a lot of people that you are tinkering with the creative, as opposed to getting deep in the business.  “You don't want to be seen as the moron who's like tinkering with the colors. When there's some big problem that needs to get addressed. Make sure we're getting on with the business at hand. You want to be seen as somebody who's deep in the business, making a giant difference, particularly for the field sales organization, and then the product and engineering organization.” - Christopher Lochhead To hear more about the Facebook Live Q&A with Christopher Lochhead, with Jason DeFillippo, download and listen to this episode.  Bio: Christopher Lochhead is a #1 Apple podcaster and #1 Amazon bestselling co-author of books: Niche Down and Play Bigger. He has been an advisor to over 50 venture-backed startups; a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO and an entrepreneur. Furthermore, he has been called “one of the best minds in marketing” by The Marketing Journal, a “Human Exclamation Point” by Fast Company, a “quasar” by NBA legend Bill Walton and “off-putting to some” by The Economist. In addition, he served as a chief marketing officer of software juggernaut Mercury Interactive. Hewlett-Packard acquired the company in 2006, for $4.5 billion. He also co-founded the marketing consulting firm LOCHHEAD; was the founding CMO of Internet consulting firm Scient, and served as head of marketing at the CRM software firm Vantive. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes! You may also subscribe to his newsletter, The Difference, for some amazing content.

During the PodStorm, we're doing a live Facebook Question and Answer session, every Friday, 11:30 a.m. PST. We are now on our last week for PodStorm Q&A and we hope to hear from you if you want us to do more live Q&As! Today, podcast living legend Jason DeFillippo of Grumpy Old Geeks joins us to answer some questions about social cause marketing, lightning strikes, and a whole lot more! What have you learned after Calling For Unity? Christopher shares that he received a number of backlashes after he called for unity on his post A Call For Unity. Likewise, he also received a lot of hugs and support for his cause. This is expected as he believes when try to do something as positive and warm-hearted as possible, you still are going to piss people off. “The reality is when you say anything, topics like racism, or the police, or society or anything that anybody else might consider political, you're going to piss some people off. But that said, what I'll tell you is, I don't think I've ever done anything that got such an extraordinary overwhelming positive response.” - Christopher Lochhead Can you recap, what is a lightning strike? Christopher gave a definition and description of what lightning strike is, for new listeners. We live in a world today where we get between 40 to 60,000 marketing messages a day. Reach and frequency is virtually undoable for anybody today, even the biggest marketers.  “A lightning strike is about ⁠— rather than spreading peanut butter reach and frequency style ⁠— we pick maybe one, two, or at most three times a year, a big company might do one a quarter, but something in that range, where for a few days or a week, we are going to go big. If you are in our target audience, our demographic, you are going to hear from us. You are going to know where they are. The thinking is, ‘I'd rather be deeply present in front of my core audience, my core target customer for a short period of time and own their mind space for that short period of time than disappear into the noise all of the time.’” - Christopher Lochhead CEO and CFO don't believe in marketing The question, which has been asked recurrently, was answered in a different light. Christopher made sure to snide in some personal stories which you definitely need to hear.  “Get out. There's no resolving this. There's no strategy. I've tried this a million times in my life, it's like, we'll just convince these guys to get it with marketing, we'll get them to read such and such a book, or take such and such. They're just some people who think that marketing is bullshit and not worth very much. If you're at a company run by executives like that, you're at a deep, deep disadvantage.” - Christopher Lochhead To hear more about the Facebook Live Q&A with Christopher Lochhead, with Jason DeFillippo, download and listen to this episode.  Bio: Christopher Lochhead is a #1 Apple podcaster and #1 Amazon bestselling co-author of books: Niche Down and Play Bigger. He has been an advisor to over 50 venture-backed startups; a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO and an entrepreneur. Furthermore, he has been called “one of the best minds in marketing” by The Marketing Journal, a “Human Exclamation Point” by Fast Company, a “quasar” by NBA legend Bill Walton and “off-putting to some” by The Economist. In addition, he served as a chief marketing officer of software juggernaut Mercury Interactive. Hewlett-Packard acquired the company in 2006, for $4.5 billion. He also co-founded the marketing consulting firm LOCHHEAD; was the founding CMO of Internet consulting firm Scient, and served as head of marketing at the CRM software firm Vantive. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes! You may also subscribe to his newsletter, The Difference, for some amazing content.

In this episode, Christopher Lochhead shares a secret hack to become a #1 author and podcaster in 13 minutes or less. Basically, the secret hack is to hire a 16-year-old Tiktoker and let her create funny content for you. You can also explore posting provocative poses, drinking provocative drinks, and being in provocative places. If you know Christopher well, you will be certain, there is sarcasm in the above paragraph. Today, he will discuss the real deal on reaching the top of your game. It doesn’t include any secret hack or how-to of sorts, but a real-life narration of his personal experiences on how he did it. No Secret Hack There is no secret hack. In Christopher’s case, he did not experience a major breakthrough or a celebrity moment that kickstarted his career. We usually see influencers who brag about being on the “Oprah List” or have guested on big podcast shows. Christopher advises you that this is not the only way to the top. “In my life, but I've always been somebody that's had to carry a lot of water to get any kind of a result. So the answer that I'm going to share with you today is both not satisfying — because there is no secret — and fantastic at the same time. I'm going to tell you right off the top, it's disappointing and empowering.” - Christopher Lochhead Three Things That Matter There are three things that matter if you want to become a content person. Number one category design. What's the category? What makes you different versus better? So that category design needs to get done for your book for your podcast for you.  Second, you got to do the work. Christopher cites the specifics on this point and third is you have to have a radically generous mindset. No Self-Made People Christopher also talks about how we can achieve success: that is through the help of other people. There are no self-made people because a huge chunk of success comes from customers, fans, family and friends who share your product or service (word of mouth). Aside from word-of-mouth, Christopher also discusses the importance of paid advertising. “There's no secret. You got to do the work. You got to invest. You're going to have to do some paid marketing. Some of the top digital celebrities out there want you to believe that they just became that way with no marketing at all because they have legendary products,” - Christopher Lochhead To listen to the real secret hack to becoming a #1 author and top podcaster, download and listen to this episode. Bio: Christopher Lochhead is a #1 Apple podcaster and #1 Amazon bestselling co-author of books: Niche Down and Play Bigger. He has been an advisor to over 50 venture-backed startups; a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO and an entrepreneur. Furthermore, he has been called “one of the best minds in marketing” by The Marketing Journal, a “Human Exclamation Point” by Fast Company, a “quasar” by NBA legend Bill Walton and “off-putting to some” by The Economist. In addition, he served as a chief marketing officer of software juggernaut Mercury Interactive. Hewlett-Packard acquired the company in 2006, for $4.5 billion. He also co-founded the marketing consulting firm LOCHHEAD; was the founding CMO of Internet consulting firm Scient, and served as head of marketing at the CRM software firm Vantive. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes! You may also subscribe to his newsletter, The Difference, for some amazing content.

https://youtu.be/eCp9QLs340s In this episode, let's talk about the magic triangle — how the company, the product, and the category come together to make you the category queen or category king in your market category. Product Design Product design is the purposeful building of a product and an experience that solves a problem. Most companies, though, opt for a product-market fit. Christopher believes it a dangerous idea because it insinuates that there's a market out there who would automatically consume whatever is offered to them. “Typically what happens is: entrepreneurs start with a problem or something they're working on or tinkering with, and they get obsessed with the thing. That of course, is the product.” - Christopher Lochhead Company Design Company design is the purposeful creation of a business model, and an organization with culture, a point of view that fits the category. In a recent episode of Christopher about BHAGs, you'll see how a point of view with a big hairy audacious goal can come together and become a powerful motivator, driver, and unifier of culture.  “If you get category design, right, and you lock and load on a provocative point of view, that is deeply rooted in something you care about, such that you, your co-founders, your colleagues, your co-workers, the other executives in the company, etc. are on a mission centered around that point of view, it changes culture.” - Christopher Lochhead Category Design Category design is the mindful creation and development of a new market category. Successful category design will result in the consumers demanding the product from you and crowning you the queen.  “In marketing terms, category design is the ultimate air wars as distinct from ground wars. It's about winning the war for public opinion. It's about teaching the world to abandon something old and embrace something new. Category design builds the profile of the space while drawing attention to the company. Legendary companies market the category first and the company second.” - - Christopher Lochhead To hear more about the magic triangle and specific examples for product, company, and category design, download and listen to this episode. Bio: Christopher Lochhead is a #1 Apple podcaster and #1 Amazon bestselling co-author of books: Niche Down and Play Bigger. He has been an advisor to over 50 venture-backed startups; a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO and an entrepreneur. Furthermore, he has been called “one of the best minds in marketing” by The Marketing Journal, a “Human Exclamation Point” by Fast Company, a “quasar” by NBA legend Bill Walton and “off-putting to some” by The Economist. In addition, he served as a chief marketing officer of software juggernaut Mercury Interactive. Hewlett-Packard acquired the company in 2006, for $4.5 billion. He also co-founded the marketing consulting firm LOCHHEAD; was the founding CMO of Internet consulting firm Scient, and served as head of marketing at the CRM software firm Vantive. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes! You may also subscribe to his newsletter,The Difference, for some amazing content.

https://youtu.be/Rk9HcOU80Rs In this episode, an incredibly important topic, we discuss how to be a category designer. Moreover, we dig into how to become the person that drives a new strategy for your company and introduces the world to something new, something different, something that makes a giant difference. Category Design: A Discipline Christopher narrates a portion of the book Play Bigger which states: "Category design is the discipline of creating and developing a new market category and conditioning the market so it will demand your solution and crown your company as its King." “A category designer leads a company-wide strategy with the goal of becoming a category Queen of high value, high growth market category of your choosing.” - Christopher Lochhead In the same book, Christopher and his co-authors did research and found out that in the tech space, one company takes two-thirds of the economics. As more and more companies behave like tech companies, more and more companies are taking two-thirds of the market. Category Design: All-Encompassing Category design is a discipline and for many a career. Christopher has mastered this discipline and has become a huge differentiator for his career as a 3x CMO and as an advisor.  “A category designer brings together all the critical functions in a business — the key strategic activities across your company, aligning sales, marketing, product development/engineering, and even HR — with the single focus of becoming a category queen.” - Christopher Lochhead Category Design: The Drivers of Change Category design is a collaborative effort between the CEO and all other Chief Officers of the company. Christopher digs deep into the process and how to go about designing your category. “Now, category designers bring together the whole business. They help create a blueprint, a visual representation that generates a belief that you have a solution to an urgent problem. So they build this blueprint. They are the creators, and at least co-authors, if not primary authors of the provocative and engaging POV point of view that you're now going to evangelize.” - Christopher Lochhead To know more about becoming a category designer, download and listen to this episode. Bio: Christopher Lochhead is a #1 Apple podcaster and #1 Amazon bestselling co-author of books: Niche Down and Play Bigger. He has been an advisor to over 50 venture-backed startups; a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO and an entrepreneur. Furthermore, he has been called “one of the best minds in marketing” by The Marketing Journal, a “Human Exclamation Point” by Fast Company, a “quasar” by NBA legend Bill Walton and “off-putting to some” by The Economist. In addition, he served as a chief marketing officer of software juggernaut Mercury Interactive. Hewlett-Packard acquired the company in 2006, for $4.5 billion. He also co-founded the marketing consulting firm LOCHHEAD; was the founding CMO of Internet consulting firm Scient, and served as head of marketing at the CRM software firm Vantive. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes! You may also subscribe to his newsletter, The Difference, for some amazing content.