Articles by Ian Lurie

This post is written by Todd Clarke. Todd’s… it’s hard to explain, but he believes IT departments can add tons of value and do brilliant stuff. And he helps them do just that. He writes the blog Fire Under Every Butt and generally dispenses great wisdom to anyone in a company that relies on technology. [...]

A marketer walks into a meeting, ready to see the newest designs for their client’s site. The new design is beautiful. It makes everyone weep with joy. It’s also totally devoid of text. The marketer (or SEO, or copywriter, or strategist) walks back out of the meeting, punches a wall until their hand flattens, and [...]

By Bruce Lee, marketing copywriter “Anyone who says that they understand Quantum Mechanics does not understand Quantum Mechanics”- Richard Feynman Yes, I am about to draw a comparison between marketing and quantum physics. (I’ll wait a moment for those of you who believe you came to the wrong classroom to head for the door.) Quantum [...]

Most marketing agencies are filled with the stench of fear. I’m not talking about that energized we-have-a-lot-to-do-get-moving feeling. I’m talking about “Oh, crap, what if I work here for the rest of my life?” fear, compounded by the “Oh, crap, what if the CEO decides he wants a bigger bonus this year?” fear. I’ve worked [...]

During the holidays I tend to blog less often. In case you miss me, here’s a nice widget one of my staff cooked up, so you can warm your hands in the glow of my sarcastic teachings: For more marketing genius, visit:

Yesterday I wrote about how agencies can’t use typical project management methods. Those methods fight interruptions. We have to build interruptions into our work style. Here’s the real meat-and-potatoes stuff. This is the set of rules and guidelines I wrote for the Portent team, nearly un-edited, plus examples. I talk tools, rules and exactly how [...]

Companies like 37Signals talk about their workflow: Efficient, uninterrupted sprints, team rotation, and projects finished in days instead of weeks. Guys like David Allen write about ‘Getting Things Done‘ and the importance of eliminating distraction. I admire them and their success. I spent years trying to implement their working styles at my company. It’s frustrating [...]

This post is by Bruce Lee, marketer and marketing writer. Here’s the short version: Knowing that someone has disposable income doesnʼt tell you what they want to spend it on. I used to work for a (retail) company that had fairly deep pockets. Occasionally, we would reach into those pockets to buy market research. Our [...]

In the last month there’s been a lot of hand-wringing about search engines changing their algorithms, social media sites tweaking their privacy settings and other ‘game changing’ internet marketing kerfuffles. I picked 6 of the alleged changes that have folks talking, from SEO to social media, and rated each one on my personal truthiness scale: [...]

Back in 2001, I sat down at my blazing fast Pentium computer and started writing a book about internet marketing. Brainstorming it with John Cass, we realized “Hey, the internet is kind of two-way, like a conversation…” and that led to the title Conversation Marketing. Little things like babies slowed me down a bit, but [...]