Frank Strong

Atlanta, United States

Father. B2B Tech. PR+MKTG. MA+MBA. Blogger+Podcaster. Scuba+ Skydiver. Veteran+X-Marine+US Soldier. Ret. Mustang. Critical thinker. Karate+BJJ. PatsNation.

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Articles

Marketing budgets, as a percentage of revenue, are recovering, CMO survey says

1 week ago | swordandthescript.com | Frank Strong

Spending on CX drops and so too does customer retention; marketing leaders aim to hire but hesitate on other marketing spend amid economic uncertainty Marketing budgets are beginning to inch up again. It’s good to see because it’s long overdue. It might even have been anticipated given a round of marketing surveys published last fall forecasted that budgets would recover some.
10 statistics that drive home why business needs to refocus on trust

3 weeks ago | swordandthescript.com | Frank Strong

When experience matches expectations, we build trust; all the other benefits of marketing are contingent on that trustTrust from customers has never been a given in business. It’s always been necessary to work on building trust. But that need has increased, as distrust has grown. It used to be marketing and communications from business started with a blank slate. Customers and prospects neither trusted you nor distrusted you – but they’d give you a chance to earn it.
Sword and the Script

3 weeks ago | swordandthescript.com | Frank Strong

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Analysis of 97 million sales emails shows customers don’t respond to ‘pain point’ messages

4 weeks ago | customerthink.com | Frank Strong

Data analysis of 97.9 million sales messages sent by email shows talking about ‘pain points’ has an adverse effect on leads – and might set your deals back rather than advance them to the next stageThroughout my career in PR and marketing, I’ve always made an extra effort to be aligned with sales. There are several reasons for this. First, sales alignment has been an issue for a very long time. It was a hot topic in the trade media when I first started my career and remains so today.
Not just seen, but believed: trust is the new mandate for marketing and comms

4 weeks ago | swordandthescript.com | Frank Strong

Marketing and comms puts most of its emphasis on reach when we’d be better served by putting the emphasis on being believedThe lack of trust that’s emerged in American society is pervasive. It’s woven into nearly every institutional pillar, and for business, it comes at a high cost. People are less likely to buy from a business if they don’t trust you. It takes more convincing, more touches, and more proof to create a customer. That extra effort drives up costs.
Study demonstrates that a trusted brand is a prerequisite for organic and paid search

1 month ago | swordandthescript.com | Frank Strong

You flood the market with paid search ads or dump money into SEO to rank on page one, but if you want people to click, you need them to trust you; the way you build trust is by building a trusted brandIn December of 2023, I fell for a scam published on Google Ads. I was looking for a deal to restart my subscription to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and found an enticing one for 90% off. Google ads are paid ads, not organic search results and appear at the top of every search.
Will chatbots be the primary interface for PR software [PR Tech Sum No. 61]

1 month ago | swordandthescript.com | Frank Strong

Summary of news from PR software vendors: SignalAI rolls out a chatbot; Dazzle unveils 2.0; PRophet adds influencer marketing; Equiniti (EQ) to Acquire Notified; Semrush names Bill Wagner new CEOOne of the biggest technology vendors in the communications space was talking about a new interface for PR software years ago – but it’s the startups that seem to be making it a reality. As you’ll see below, two startups that have come out with a chatbot.
Hello! Your Tuesday Daily PR Brief has arrived - March 25, 2025

1 month ago | dailyprbrief.com | Matt Albasi |Frank Strong |Casey Weldon |Justin Hall

Read some of today's best PR and Comms industry news clips: New report: The State of Work-Life Balance in Journalism 2025 (Muck Rack - March 25, 2025) TV Producers Just Revealed What They Really Want from PR (CommPRO - March 24, 2025) The surprising reason marketing leaders get fired (Sword and the Script - March 25, 2025) Trade associations: PR's secret weapon during tariff battle (PR Daily - March 25, 2025) 5 Key Takeaways from Muck Rack's State of AI in PR Report (PRNEWS - March 24, 2025)...
The surprising reason marketing leaders get fired

1 month ago | swordandthescript.com | Frank Strong

Rather than measurement, the biggest reasons marketing leaders get fired tend to center around communication and collaborationTwo of my favorite hobbies are SCUBA diving and skydiving. Both activities come with certain obvious risks, though I’d insist there’s more risk in your daily commute. That’s not just my opinion either because the statistics prove it. Each sport has a safety organization that documents accidents, compiles data and reports on incidents.
It’s not the success that makes for a good business story, it’s the setbacks

1 month ago | swordandthescript.com | Frank Strong

“All overnight night success takes 10 years.” That snappy quote is widely attributed to Jeff Bezos, who of course founded Amazon. It famously took Bezos and Amazon close to a decade before it turned into a profit. Today, in 2025, it’s on pace to surpass Walmart in sales, which would make it the largest retailer by that measure, according to The Wall Street Journal. Success often looks like it comes overnight, however, that’s rarely the case.