Marketing Articles About Economics

Marketing Articles About Economics Search Results

Results for: economics

29 items found:

What Kinds of Inventions Will the Economic Downturn Bring?. The Harvard Business Review’s David Silverman looked up companies founded during the Great Depression, as part of a post on economic downturns and innovation. Here’s what he came up with: * Motorola * Hewlett-Packard * Xerox * Ryder * Unisys [...] (09/04/08 09:00 PM)

Personal Income, Consumer Spend Down in July. Personal income decreased 0.7 percent in July, after increasing 0.1 percent in June, according to the "preliminary" estimates released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of the US Department of...

(09/04/08 09:01 AM)

Online Behavior Changed by Financial Worries. Brands that fail to embrace and engage in online consumer dialog are set be among those most severely affected by an economic downturn, according to research conducted in the UK by E-consultancy,...

(09/04/08 09:01 AM)

Metaphors and Defrag.

Eric Norlin - who runs the Defrag Conference - has a good post up today titled The metaphors we've outgrown. He riffs off of the Google Chrome announcement. At the end of it, he answers "what makes Defrag different."

People ask me all of the time what makes Defrag different? I kind of giggle and tell them that I’m proud that we’re not a conference loaded with case studies. Don’t get me wrong, that has a very useful place (in a nearly mature market). We’re just nowhere near that place. Defrag is about gathering to explore, imagine and build these new metaphors. The web should be getting smarter, more implicit, more enabling.

Let the rest of the world get mired down in economic uncertainty, productivity enhancement and cost reduction. There’s plenty of time for you to do that (trust me). Come to defrag and help us grow out of these metaphors. And then watch as the supposedly “pie in the sky” things you find at Defrag are suddenly “real world” things that you’re using and implementing everyday. Kinda cool, huh?

For all those interested, I'm still using Chrome - mostly enjoying it a lot but starting to notice the things it is missing, especially all those fun implicit web plugins I've been using.

(09/03/08 09:01 AM)

Early Stage Investing in an Uncertain Economy.

I'm on a panel on Tuesday September 9th from 5pm - 8pm titled Early Stage Investing in an Uncertain Economy. It's being sponsored by the Rockies Venture Club and is being held at the Denver Marriott City Center. If you are interested in attending, you can register here.

Since the Rockies Venture Club is largely targeted at angel investors and entrepreneurs it should be an interesting conversation. The TechStars Demo and Investor Day two weeks ago was packed and the 2008 TechStars teams are seeing very high interest in their early stage rounds. If this is a data point, it would indicate that the "uncertain economy" isn't having much impact.

As an early stage VC investor, I don't pay much attention to the macro economy. I've written about this in the past - some of our best investments have come during crappy economic periods (say 2001 - 2003). We are funding very early stage companies with an expectation that it will take them 5+ years to mature into a successful business. Lots can happen in 5+ years.

I'll save my snarkier remarks for the panel.

(09/02/08 09:01 PM)

Barack Obama successfully made the case that his economic policies are better than John McCain's..

During his acceptance speech in Denver last night, Senator Barack Obama focused on the economic failures of the current administration, and what he plans to do to change them. Specifically, Obama cited that he will try to revitalize the middle class and close Wall Street loopholes, and he also argued that Republican opponent Senator John McCain?s economic outlook is flawed, stating that McCain has said that ?our economy has made 'great progress' under this president. He said that the fundamentals of the economy are strong.?

(08/30/08 09:00 PM)

Top Internet Portals to Weather Economic Storm. Google's strong financial results for 2Q08 - including 27 percent growth in net US advertising revenues - is an indication that Google, Yahoo and MSN would continue to show positive results for all...

(08/22/08 09:01 AM)

How America’s Credit Crunch Made Europe Suffer More. The Economist claims that America isn’t getting the (disastrous) economic fallout it deserves for starting the credit crunch. Rather, it’s the Europeans who are suffering more: The credit crunch started in America, but Europe may yet prove the bigger victim. The housing bust across the Atlantic was the trigger for the credit crunch, so justice [...] (08/20/08 09:00 AM)

Another Recession Proof Industry: School Supplies. Today is the first day of school in our house. I sent the kids off with brand new back packs filled with grown-up scissors, wide and college ruled paper, and Vis-a-Vis markers. And I was not alone. Nielsen predicts consumers will spend almost $1.6 billion in back-to-school supplies this year. Despite economic concerns Nielsen forecasts [...] (08/18/08 09:00 AM)

Fast Talk Question - Is reducing employee work hours a viable alternative to layoffs during an economic downturn?. Is reducing employee work hours a viable alternative to layoffs during an economic downturn? (08/08/08 09:01 AM)

Lower gas prices are bad for the global economy..

The stock market saw its biggest gain in four months on August 5 thanks to falling commodity prices, especially oil. However, commodities have fallen because of a global slowdown in economic growth, which is only going to get worse.

(08/08/08 09:01 AM)

Fast Talk Question -Will Bush's economic stimulus plan hurt or help the economy?. Will Bush's economic stimulus plan hurt or help the economy? (08/05/08 09:01 PM)

How Venture Fund Economics Work.

Fred Wilson has an excellent post up today titled Venture Fund Economics. It appears to be the first of several posts he's planning to write on this topic.

"When I write about venture fund returns, there are always comments and questions that lead me to believe that the economics of a venture fund are not well understood. And since most of the readers and commenters on this blog are people who work in the startup ecosystem, I think its important that the economics are better understood. So I am planning on some posts on this topic in the coming weeks."

Everyone that is interested in venture capital in any way should read this post (and presumably the subsequent ones.) I'll try to remember to point them out when they appear.

(08/03/08 09:01 AM)

More Fred Wilson on Venture Fund Economics: Gross and Net Returns.

And post #2 is up (I guess post #1 went up yesterday and I missed it since I only read feeds in the morning.) Post #2 is titled Gross and Net Returns and - while it describes them - it has an excellent spreadsheet that go through the assumptions Fred and his partner Brad Burnham made on how they would invest their first Union Square Ventures fund. Fred uses this model as the basis for describing the math of Gross and Net Returns.

Excellent stuff Fred. Keep 'em coming.

(08/03/08 09:01 AM)

Brilliant Op-Ed Crushing McCain On The Economy.

My Sunday morning online scan of the New York Times turned up an awesome Op-Ed by Frank Rich titled It's the Economic Stupidity, Stupid. It's a scathing (er - "fucking brutal") criticism of McCain and his total lack of understanding of "the economy", how it actually works, and what he would do about it were he to be president.

While Rich takes a few cheap shots (hey - it wouldn't be a political Op-Ed without some gratuitous things) I think it's right on the money.

At the end, Rich makes a good argument for Michael Bloomberg as the VP Candidate. He also dismantles Carly Fiorina as a potential VP and suggests Romney would be a slightly less bad idea. I can't imagine either Fiorina or Romney as VP's - my mind just boggles. Bloomberg - now that's someone I could get excited about - for EITHER party. I hope the dude is at least answering his phone when it rings.

But the real message of the Op-Ed is how out to lunch McCain is on the economy. Taken at face value, it's terrifying. Of course, it's an Op-Ed so you can't take it at face value, but it's politics so that's what you get.

Time to go for a run and think about birds, the ocean, and happy thoughts. I'll drink some Pixie Maté first to fuel me while giving thanks to my latest 50 by 50 Marathon sponsor.

(07/20/08 09:01 PM)

Here Comes The Sun and More Daily Stuff.

If you follow my tweets you know that I am starting to get desperate for some sun. I could never live in Seattle. There's a rumor that we'll see the sun in Homer again later today - if it comes out to play I'll post a picture of it (did you hear that Mr. Sun - that's called a blibe ("blog bribe"). Here are some interesting things I've collected over the past few days of my cloud induced web reading.

Boulder Olympians weigh politics, pollution as they prep for Beijing: I'm really glad I didn't quality for the 2008 Olympic Marathon. If I had, I'd currently be struggling with whether or not to compete. I sure hope no one dies.

Frontier going under the knife: It looks like there might be more to the Frontier bankruptcy than Frontier getting shafted by First Data. Unlike Southwest, apparently Frontier didn't hedge oil prices (nor - apparently - did any of the other major airlines.) Oops. My prediction - Southwest cleans up in the Denver market and United goes bankrupt again.

Thank you, Adobe Reader 9: Here's a scathing review of everyone's favorite bloatware, Adobe Reader. Oh - it's also sort of a virus if you've ever gotten stuck in the "update - oops - didn't work - try again" infinite loop. I've switched to Foxit Reader - much nicer.

You Just Dont Get It: Outstanding short post from Mark Cuban. If you tell me that "I don't get it", you are either (a) being lazy or (b) being lazy. You are also indirectly calling me an idiot, which isn't necessarily a good way to get someone's attention for your idea.

Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis: I put this one in the "well duh" category. The real irony is that the World Bank - through a confidential report - suggests that global food prices are up by 75% due to biofuels, while the US claims the number is only 3%. Who knows what the real truth is - like most "economic indicators", we will only know what really is going on sometime in the future when we look at back and study the past. Regardless, don't believe everything you read and hear in the media or from our world leaders. "Well duh!"

Dispatches: A Post-Wimbledon Dialogue: I love tennis. I used to be really good (as a junior) - I'm now able to occasionally torture - but not beat - someone that is a 4.5. Watching Federer and Nadal play is a joy that harkens back to my childhood watching Borg and McEnroe play (I loved Borg because my game was like his but rooted for McEnroe because I was an angry and volatile tennis player.) This is a brilliant recap of some genius tennis.

Electronic Papyrus: The Digital Book, Unfurled: I love my Kindle (I haven't read a physical books since I left for Alaska last week.) I'm not sure that I love the Readius, but I'm definitely game to try it.

Time for a run. The sun is still not out.

(07/08/08 09:00 PM)

The Definitive Guide to Business-to-Business Marketing in a Recession. Does an economic slowdown necessarily mean that business-to-business marketers have to find even more ways to do more with less? Or can a downturn create opportunity for smart marketers to grow and thrive? (07/08/08 09:00 AM)

500 Square Miles of Forest In Montana To Be Permanently Protected.

I'm a huge believer in land conservation. I believe one of the best ways to protect our environment is to take wide swaths of land permanently out of circulation. I was delighted to read an article Amy forwarded me from the New York Times today titled Deal Is Struck in Montana to Preserve Forest Areas.

The Nature Conservancy and the Trust for Public Land have put together a deal to pay $510 million to buy about 500 square miles of forest currently owned by Plum Creek Timber. Half of the money will come from private donations; the other half will come from a new tax-credit bond mechanism that was recently passed. I'm delighted our government is spending - via a tax-credit bond - $250 million on land conservation. I'd like to allocate 50% of my taxes next year to stuff like that.

I've been involved directly in some land conservation; we have a conservation easement on all of our land in Eldorado Canyon, I am a trustee for the Colorado Conservation Trust, I'm a huge fan (and beneficiary) of all the Boulder and Boulder County Open Space activity, and I've been involved in several very contentious land use issues. The political and economical dynamics of public property rights, land use and development rights, and conservation are incredibly complicated and often extremely polarized.

It's gets especially messy in areas that are fragmented (or "checkerboarded") like the land in Montana. In these situations, the amount of work to figure out how to get all the land in one contiguous area into an actual deal can be mindboggling. The Nature Conservancy and Trust for Public Land are pros at this and it looks like they've pulled off something amazing this time around that will have long term benefits for a beautiful part of our country.

(07/06/08 09:00 AM)

Being First, The Economy Doesn't Matter, and The Origin of TechStars.

I've got three great posts for you this morning to interrupt the long essays that my marathon addled brain has been pumping out.

First Mover vs Fast Follower - Who wins? Don Dodge reprints a story he wrote three years ago about whether being first wins or being a fast follower wins. He adds some useful nuances for any entrepreneur (or VC) that is obsessed with the "we have to be first to market to win", "#1 takes most of the market, #2 takes the rest, and #3 to #n don't matter", and other such cliches.

The Downturn Is a Rounding Error: Since I'm not a macro guy, I didn't notice we were having an economic downtown. I guess I noticed that the price of gas was higher, but as Amy is fond of saying, "don't bother me about it until a gallon of gas costs more than a gallon of milk." Oops - getting close (I think Amy meant "organic milk.") Plus, our government is telling us that there is no "core inflation" (where "core inflation" doesn't include fuel or food.) Tom Peters helps us understand what he thinks really matters.

You gotta start somewhere: David Cohen posts an email to his business partner David Brown dated 2/08/06 that was the origin of TechStars. I checked my calendar and the first time I met David was at 4pm on 6/06/06. I find history to be fascinating.

(06/26/08 09:00 PM)

Top, Bottom, Middle, or Who Cares?.

Having been an entrepreneur and VC for over 20 years, I've now seen plenty of economic cycles - both at a macro level and specifically in the areas I invest in. As a result, I smiled when I received three conflicting pieces of information today from two people I know and like and one person that I don't know but know is respected.

Matt McCall at DFJ Portage calls the current VC cycle "dead" as of Q2 2008 in Rough Ride Ahead: Buckle Up & Get Your Money Now (if you can). He says it with conviction, although he does acknowledge that he hopes he is Peter the Wolf.

Fred Wilson at Union Square Ventures asks (and answers) the question Am I Bored With “Web 2.0”? Fred is heading off to Europe for a month with his family "to see how the web is changing the world and I want to see how entrepreneurs who are operating with a different worldview are thinking about the power and potential of the web. I could do the same thing in Asia or some other part of the world, but Europe is particularly easy place to do this because of the range of cultures and countries within a couple hours plane ride from each other."

Merrill Lynch's chief strategist Richard Bernstein in "Some thoughts on alternative investments (6/23/08)" says "The growth in alternative investments seems linked to the growth of the credit crisis" but then goes on to say "There may be two areas of alternative investments that seem relatively attractive in the current financial environment. In both cases, these are areas that might benefit from the tightening of global credit. The first is early-stage venture capital. ... If return-on-investment does indeed tend to be higher when capital is scarce, the significant tightening of traditional credit funding to smaller companies seems to make early-stage venture capital strategies more attractive."

While Bernstein's definition of "early stage venture capital" is mostly likely different than mine (given my interpretation of his assertion), knowing how sound bites work, the three tag lines are "VC is dead", "I'm bored of Web 2.0 and need more meaning in my investments", and "early-stage VC is attractive again."

Like Fred, I also am about to embark on a month outside of my normal context. Amy and I are about to head to our house in Homer, Alaska for the month of July. I'm looking forward to going to a place where the Supreme Court rules Homer voter initiative invalid and thinking big (but not big box) thoughts.

(06/23/08 09:00 PM)

Five Steps to Prepare Marketing to Demonstrate Value in a Tough Economic Climate. We may all be tightening our belts a bit more soon. As a result, our marketing budgets will be under even more scrutiny, and marketing professionals will be held even more accountable for the money they invest. The pressure for marketing to demonstrate the contribution and value it is making will increase... yes, even more. (04/08/08 09:01 AM)

Social Shopping and Getting Your Share of the $600 Stimulus Check.

Personally, I'm a huge fan of social shopping sites. Several times per year our family, just like everyone else, is tasked with purchasing various gifts for relatives, Christmas, birthdays and other such moments. Like most guys out there, I rarely, if ever know what to buy!

Enter social shopping sites. According to a recent AP article on MSNBC "Web surfers buying into social shopping sites":

Social shopping sites with such names as Kaboodle, ThisNext, Wishpot and StyleHive combine two of the Web's most prominent activities: engaging in commerce and chatting with like-minded folks. The sites don't directly sell things, but encourage users to share links to good bargains, obscure finds, products that work and ones that don't.

All of those sites are pretty sweet, if you ask me. While not a 'social shopping' site per se, I'm partial to using Gifts.com as well. I've gotten some solid ideas from there as well.

With Valentine's Day just around the corner (hmm...what should I get this year???), now is a great time to test out all of the social shopping engines to see what kind of goodies they recommend.

Personally, Kaboodle and Gifts.com had the most ideas for gifts I'd likely purchase. However, the others had some good ideas as well. Wishpot is actually powered by results from Shopping.com.

Now, how does all of this have anything to do with the likely "stimulus package" that we're about to receive? (If you've not tuned in to the $150B economic stim pack banter, here's a square assessment from the WSJ[sub]). Well, if you believe that Americans will follow a similar behavior pattern following tax refund time (Tax-refund season helps kick off the spring shopping season. Last year, retail sales jumped 12% to 20% in March), there's going to be a portion of us, 12% to 28% of us, depending on who you ask, who will go out and immediately spend the money, it's a marketer's world and the smartest marketer will win when seeking their fair share of the potential 'windfall' check that consumers are likely to receive this late spring to early summer. Here's where really knowing your customers and their behavior can pay off. A few ideas:

Go back to your customer or buyer profile and figure out who in your customer base will be getting the lion's share of the stimulus monies. For reference, families with <$110K in earnings and individuals with <$75K will be getting the most, while the lowest income and highest income segments of the population will be getting the least. Needless to say, this won't be the time to go after your high rollers who just got a check for $200...
Run a contest or a survey or something to get inside the heads of your customers. If you're doing a regular email newsletter, throw in a survey question or two that takes a fun approach at getting after "what they're going to do with their checks". Segment out those that intend to 'spend it' for a separate marketing effort around the time that checks are distributed.
Be mindful of all of the recession talk. People might not splurge on that big gas grill they've been lusting over, but they might be interested in securing a raft of gift cards or gift certificates to kick off their Christmas or birthday shopping. Now would be a great time to mention that yours have no expiration date and that they're a great way to stretch their dollars for themselves and their loved ones

Whether or not you agree with the efficacy of the stimulus package, if you look at this from the perspective of 'customer behavior' and tap into the most 'likely to buy' segment of your customer base, you're setting yourself up to capture your fair share of the $150B that's likely to be doled out.

(04/04/08 09:00 PM)

Prioritizing Marketers Top Priorities. This morning I got a research brief from Mediapost summarizing the findings from the Marketing Effectiveness Networking Group (MENG) and Anderson Aanlytics study. This study surveyed marketing executives to identify key trends and strategies of effective marketing. The subject line of the email said: "Marketing Execs Say Basics Are Most Important in 2008". By "basics" I thought they meant strategies such as becoming measurement-oriented, shifting ad portfolio, investing in email infrastructure, build operational data warehouse, and improve web site. However the 'basics' by definition from this study were more customer-centric and more concepts and objectives rather than strategies. And unfortunately for most companies, they're not all that 'basic' in achieving success. 60% of marketing executives said the following 'marketing basics' were important: Customer satisfaction Customer retention Segmentation Brand loyalty ROI I have a copy of the study. To be clear, the study asked marketing executives to choose from over 60 concepts or buzzwords (such as the 5 above) which were then categorized. Other categories, in order of votes, included: SEO (by itself) Personalization: concepts include Data mining, CRM, Lead Generation, Personalization, Ecommerce, Competitive Intelligence Green Marketing: Multicultural / Ethic issues. Breakdown of old media Innovative Branding Viral / WOM: concepts include viral, WOM, blogging New Media: concepts include Web 2.0, Mobile, CGM, Long Tail, Social Networking Macro Economics Tech Strategy Outsourcing Social Issues Other Now, as a marketer, if I participated in this study I may have answered the same way. After all, the 'marketing basics' are overarching objectives. What... (01/02/08 09:00 AM)

Altruism Before Capitalism.

Over past couple of months delivering the AMA TechnoMarkting seminar on social media, web 2.0 and the evolution of marketing and commuincation on the Internet, there's a fun phrase that I've been throwing around and beating up with audiences which I think needs a bit more explanation.

Invariably, when I throw out the "Altruism Before Capitalism" concept, it elicits one of two response types. The first, and most desirable response, is the one where people nod in agreement with the "oh, of course, I see exactly what you're saying" look. The other look is, of course, the look that indicates a complete lack of understanding of the words "altruism" and "capitalism" or a full grasp of the vocabulary but an utter disbelief that the concept can be even close to real.

It is real.

What is Altruism Before Capitalism?

Altruism is defined by Webster as:

1 : unselfish regard for or devotion to the welfare of others 2 : behavior by an animal that is not beneficial to or may be harmful to itself but that benefits others of its species

In short, this is simply an organization putting the needs of its constituents ahead of its own needs. Or, aligning itself with advancing the welfare of others before its own. Capitalism, on the other hand is defined as:

an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market