Archive for January, 2009

Bad Attitude – Everyone has a bad day, but if the customer sees your staff as more human, they are more likely to forgive

Not Willing to Seek a Solution – When customers don’t think you are putting your best effort forward and have no one to talk to about it, they often feel out of control and can be very negative. A community community should allow for a open line of contact continue

Today Threadless.com kicked off a Facebook fan push by posting a new and fun video every hour. The hosts in the video pick one and sometimes up to 3 fans to give away tee-shirt, a promotional code for merchandise and sometimes a flash drive with the Threadless.com logo. continue

Online advertising is something that is not only increasing rapidly when all other advertising forms are decreasing, it is the future of advertising. The message still seems to be that it’s ineffective. I think this is partially due to it’s non-intrusive nature and the lack of creativity that is inherently associated with it. I also feel it is the traditional marketing and advertising agencies not focusing on the future potential of online advertising. continue

It is my humble opinion that no other time in the last 60 years have small and medium sized businesses had more opportunity to gain market share through marketing. Today there is a wealth of free or very low cost ways to reach customers effectively on the web and through social media outlets. Traditional media has seen rapid decline and consumers are becoming more savvy to tuning out television advertising. The engagement, conversation and cost of social media is designed for small and medium sized businesses. continue

I love this video because it is as real as it gets. Lund isn’t risky. He is himself. He does not know any other way to live than by the seat of his pants. There is always opportunity in this world and people like Morten Lund will find it first, make it special and make it fun. continue

Several times a day I run into writings and tweets about how marketers can get a message out without being “salesy.” We know this is a delicate situation. How do you have a call to action without turning off your social media audience? continue

I thought this was a brilliant little article about having fun with bad news. I usually don’t re-blog, but I thought this was too much fun and too good to try and opinionate(not a word) it. continue

I had a thought last night before I turned the lights out.

“Why don’t easy purchase decision products advertise more frequently?”

I was thinking about it, what businesses typically advertise the most and are the easiest purchasing decision (under 20 dollars)? I came up with a list:

1. Unilever 2.1 billion: The biggest mediums are network TV, accounting for $300 million, and magazines, $219 million. I can see most of these being branding campaigns with little call to action, newspaper inserts (which we know are loosing circulation), and new product launches.
2. Johnson & Johnson 2.3 billion: Focusing its efforts on network TV ($468 million) and magazines ($316 million), the company’s top spending on brand name ads was for Tylenol ($156 million), Neutrogena ($152 million) and Aveeno ($121 million).
3. Walt Disney Co. 2.32 billion: Most of its spending by far is used to promote its Buena Vista movies ($441 million).  (tickets)
4. Procter & Gamble Co. 4.9 billion: With three huge ad mediums totaling over $800 million each – cable TV ($809 million) magazine ($839 million) and network TV ($967 million) – Procter & Gamble is the biggest spender by far. With 4 brands over the $200 million mark (Olay, Crest, Gillette and Pantene) the long list of notable brand names under Procter & Gamble’s corporate belt understandably makes for huge ad spending.

The retailers that sell their products advertise much less because the margins are not built in their favor. Retailers know they must indicate they have have the product, but they leave the description and branding to the manufacturer.

Here is where I see the retailers, both large and small, retaking control of the broadcast mediums. With social media being so cheap, retailers can now increase margins by using just-in-time broadcasting to increase purchase conversions. They in turn can request better pricing through volume from the manufactures and either increase profits, or lower prices and increase market share.

Retailers can harness just-in-time broadcasting through social media and reach more customers when they are making an easy buying decision.

Here’s an example: I’m in the mood for a sandwich for lunch. At 11:30 I start thinking about my options. I could go to the heavily branded Subway down the street where I know I will get a decent sandwich for $5, or I could look around for a local place to eat with the potential of paying more.

Now lets try the example again with social media. I’m hungry at 11:30. I’m also following my favorite local grocery store on twitter. I want to spend $5 on a sandwich. I know I can go to Subway, but right as I am grabbing my jacket to go, I get a message on twitter from the grocer saying they have a special on sandwiches for $5. I know their sandwiches are good and I like to keep it local, so I buy from the grocer and also pick up a few things while I’m there.

This is the power I see as marketers in social media. Relevent, time sensitive calls to action.

Explaining social media can be very difficult to someone that has not been active online in awhile. To make the transition from a static, concrete website (information does not change) to a dynamic, flexible website (blogs, social networks) can be a little abstract sometimes. continue