Blog
Thinking. With opinions.
The TRCH blog: what sits underneath the work, and how it actually gets done.
Pinned series
The Executive Operating System
Ten pieces on how a company's leadership should think about marketing, one decision at a time. Nine published, one to come.
- 01Kill the Noise
- 02Decide the Game You’re Playing
- 03Position Before You Promote
- 04Marketing is Capital Allocation
- 05Remove Before You Add
- 06Incentives Run the Company
- 07Distribution Beats Brilliance
- 08Attention Runs the Market
- 09Constraint Is Strategy
What should it cost you to acquire a customer?
Put in your numbers and see the range you can afford, where you sit against it, and how much room you have. Run the calculator
All posts
Everything on the TRCH blog, newest first.
- What should it cost you to acquire a customer?Put in your revenue per customer, margin and retention, and see the CAC range you can afford, where you sit against it today, and how much room you have.
- The Executive Operating System 9 of 10 – Constraint Is StrategyThinking Pattern #9: Your refusals are your strategy Every strategy document that hits my desk is a list of yeses. Constraint is strategy. The refusals are…
- The Executive Operating System 8 of 10 – Attention Runs the MarketThinking Pattern #8: The market chooses what it sees I've heard the same sentence from too many CEOs to count. Same tone every time. Half pride…
- The Executive Operating System 7 of 10 – Distribution Beats BrillianceThinking Pattern #7: Visibility outweighs perfection. The truth hurts (and I'm late). I checked the stats - the gap since the last piece? Pure, unadulterated executive…
- The Executive Operating System 6 of 10 – Incentives Run the CompanyThinking Pattern #6: People do what pays them. Not what you say. Not what you present in strategy decks. Not what you repeat in leadership meetings…
- The Executive Operating System 5 of 10 – Remove Before You AddThinking Pattern #5: Remove before you add. After you spend enough time inside enough companies, you start to see the same pattern play out whenever performance…
- The Executive Operating System 4 of 10 – Marketing is Capital AllocationThinking Pattern #4: Treat marketing like an investment portfolio, not a department expense. Most executives say they want growth then they treat marketing like overhead. In…
- The Executive Operating System 3 of 10 – Position Before You PromoteThinking Pattern #3: Market clarity before amplification. Most companies don’t have a demand problem. They have a positioning problem. And they try to solve it with…
- The Executive Operating System 2 of 10 – Decide the Game You’re PlayingThinking Pattern #2: Decide the game before you optimize the moves. Most companies don’t lose because they lack effort. They lost because no one stopped to…
- The Executive Operating System 1 of 10 – Kill the NoiseExecutives do not scale by adding. They scale by eliminating. Most leaders underestimate how much cognitive drag they carry. I certainly did. Tiny decisions. Micro-approvals. Slack…
- POCs Are a Polite Way to Let Prospects Fail Your Product in PublicPOCs are killing deals. And too many operators pretend they don’t know why. A Proof of Concept is a test. By definition, a test implies a…
- Emotion Is the Difference Between “Nice Ad” and “Take My Money.”People don’t buy products. They buy feelings. I’ve seen it firsthand in high-end sales. Someone doesn’t spend ten grand on a watch just to know the…
- The Rhythm of Leadership: Lessons from Behind the KitI recently joined a new band. First and foremost - hell yeah, so fun! 🤘 With a couple gigs under my belt, I’ve been reflecting on…
- Why B2B Lead Gen Feels Broken & What To Do About ItLet's get to the point: we're dealing with the triple threat of zero-click chaos, garbage leads, and AI buzzword overload. The whole B2B lead-generation engine that…
- What AI Can’t Do: The Human Skills That Will Always Matter in MarketingKey takeaways: AI isn’t replacing marketers. It’s reshaping our roles by automating execution, not interpretation. Tasks rooted in creativity, empathy, and judgment remain hardest to automate…
- You Should’ve Fixed Your Website Yesterday: Why ADA Compliance Can’t WaitADA website compliance. Here’s the truth: ADA website compliance isn’t a tech chore or a nice-to-have. It's a legal, ethical, and business imperative. And with all…
- People Judge Your Brand in 5 Seconds. Here’s How to Pass the Test.Let me say this up front: I didn’t start in marketing. I started in high-stakes sales, closing deals where every detail mattered - from the first…
- Crafting Content with AI: Lessons from 9 Months in the TrenchesOne day my boss gave me a wake up call. I was producing some assets to promote a webinar and she stopped me cold: What would…
- We Made Strategic Laziness WorkEveryone’s busy optimizing for attention. We optimized for laziness. Strategic laziness. Because here’s the truth: nobody wants to work for your funnel, not even your most…
- Top of Inbox, Top of Mind: Email Marketing EtiquetteLet’s be honest: email marketing isn’t always sexy - but it works. That is, until it doesn’t. One bad subject line, a poorly timed blast, or…
- Competitive Advantage Is Never PermanentThe Competitive Advantage of First to Market (and Why It’s Fleeting) There’s fortune and glory in being first. First to solve a nagging customer problem. First…
- The Only Content Calendar Template You’ll Ever NeedIf you’re googling “content calendar template,” chances are your current content efforts feel more like a scramble than a strategy. Been there. Done that. Got the…
- How the AI-Culture Is Eating Strategy for BreakfastWhat Peter Drucker might say if he saw ChatGPT leading your brand workshop. "Culture eats strategy for breakfast." This famous phrase, often attributed to Peter Drucker…
- High-Impact Growth Marketers Are Systems Thinkers, Not Task RunnersEffective growth marketing today doesn't come from throwing more people at a problem. It comes from hiring high-impact growth marketers — systems thinkers with sharp judgment…
- The Quad Shot Marketing FrameworkA Marketing Framework for Brands Who Can't Afford to Miss In a market where even your media buy has an ego, growth has become expensive—and mistakes…
- Interdisciplinary Marketing: The Operating System for Modern MarketersGreat marketing isn’t just about branding, data, or creativity in isolation—it’s about interdisciplinary marketing. The best marketers integrate psychology, business strategy, and technology to create campaigns…
- Overuse of Discounts is Killing Your E-commerce BrandPromotions and discounts have long been staples of e-commerce marketing. Flashy banners boasting “20% OFF TODAY ONLY!” or “BUY ONE, GET ONE FREE!” seem like a…
- Why a Long-Term Marketing Strategy Beats Instant Results Every TimeWe live in a world where a package can arrive at your door before your coffee gets cold. Amazon’s two-day—and now same-day—delivery has rewired our brains…
- Become a Ruthless EditorRewriting is at the heart of editing: the process of refining ideas into compelling stories. But sometimes, this process can feel like a battle between protecting…