Understanding the Voice of the Customer resides at the heart of effective marketing and is directly relevant to the most basic business objective, i.e. profit, and it is worthy of attention from any company interested in improving performance.

Could Claude write your marketing strategy? I've been asked this question more than once recently, always by a CEO or founder of an IT business who has started experimenting with AI and is wondering whether it could replace the need for serious marketing thinking altogether.

Most IT businesses between £5m and £15m have brilliant technical leadership. And a significant gap where senior marketing should be. This piece looks at what a fractional marketing director actually does in practice, and why it tends to suit IT and software businesses particularly well.

A TV advert from 1986 reminds us how easy it is to misjudge intent. The same mistake happens every day when businesses assume they understand their customers.

One way or another, it’s a question that comes up again and again. The reason? Business directors know what they currently spend on marketing, but don’t necessarily know if it’s actually the correct amount to spend on marketing. Is it too much? Too little? There really isn’t a lot of guidance out there. So how much should a business be spending on marketing?