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What is a Monograph?

I have to admit, I had to look up the definition of a monograph. A monograph is a “detailed written study of a single, specialized subject.” This book is precisely that – a detailed study of all the marketing mistakes that I’ve made. I suspect you’ve made some of them too. Before I go into that, however, let me tell you what prompted me to do something like this.

In 2007, I was hired to be the CEO of a marketing agency by a Private Equity Group (PEG) and tasked to turnaround an ailing marketing company. It was losing $800k per year. We managed to grow the company to nearly $12M in revenue, with an annual profit of around $2M. It was a real struggle to grow the company.

We took steps to fix many of the company’s problems (which took some time), but the one thing we couldn’t fix was the agency model. Marketing agencies were becoming obsolete, even back then. So, my marketing agency, like so many others, was caught in the crosshairs of a changing market. And, despite the turnaround, the PEG demanded even better results. I was stuck.

Have you ever felt like you couldn’t go forward, and you were scared to death of going backward? I kept thinking there had to be a ‘silver bullet’ that would get us to the next level. I kept trying more silver bullets – not many of them worked.

The problem is there are all sorts of new technologies and skills needed in today’s marketplace. Here are just a few of the roles I had in my old company: customer experience manager, digital marketing specialist, director of marketing analytics, statistician, application developer, and marketing strategist. There’s no way a small agency can be good at all of these. In my experience, trying to do too many things results in mistakes and wasted money.

Not long after this experience, I began a quest for a better way for small businesses to do marketing. When I went into coaching after running two different marketing agencies, I tried to market my own company. After all, I was a marketer for my entire career. If there’s one thing I should be able to do, it should be marketing.

I made even more mistakes – lots of them. I also realized that many other entrepreneurs were making the same mistakes as me. I started keeping track of all my screw-ups because I certainly didn’t want to make them again. That’s the story behind this book, 99 Marketing Mistakes You Can Avoid. Use this book as a reference on what not to do. I’m biased, but my Lean Marketing Process is an excellent way to do this.

I hope you enjoy the monograph, commiserate with me, and learn from the experience.