Marketing Articles About Research

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Future Science Now. CNN reported today that a woman successfully received a transplant of a section of trachea made from her own stem cells. That's right. Doctors grew her a windpipe grown in a lab. For years, scientists have been saying stem cell research ...

(11/19/08 09:00 PM)

European Social Alarms Markets Offers An Analysis Of Key Market Drivers. This research service titled European Social Alarms Markets offers an analysis of key market drivers, technology trends and market shares of major participants in the market. In this research, expert ... (11/17/08 09:00 PM)

Reasonably Priced Diving Gear for Scuba Divers. Prior that you purchase any scuba diving equipment, one will be requiring to do research related with prices on the various types of equipment which one can purchase. This will save you hundreds of do... (11/11/08 09:00 AM)

One-Third of Web Users Watch TV While Surfing. Nearly 31% of people who went online at home in October were also watching television simultaneously, demonstrating that web surfing and TV watching are complementary behaviors, according to research...

(11/10/08 09:00 AM)

Understanding Ignorance and Humility.

I've made a large number of mistakes in my life. My goal when I make a mistake is to understand what I did wrong, learn from it, pick myself up, and move forward. When I've made the same mistake for the third time, I usually finally figure out what I'm doing wrong.

While I've also had plenty of success, I never get confused about where most of my lessons come from. In case this is ever ambiguous from my writing, I learn the vast majority of my lessons from my failures. I also have learned what I don't know, and have figured out that I shouldn't venture into areas where I'm clueless unless I am willing to spend a lot of time up front researching them - at least to the point where I'm no longer completely clueless.

Matt McCall points us to a great essay by James Montier from Societe General titled Mind Matters: An admission of ignorance; a humble approach to investing. I thought it was right on and was nicely reinforced by Matt's very personal post titled Ignorance and Humility.

(11/09/08 09:00 AM)

Standing Near a Coupon-Cutter Makes You Look Cheap. Although more of us are cutting coupons these days, the practice is still looked down upon. The Chicago Journal of Consumer Research explains: …the innocuous behavior of coupon redemption is capable of eliciting stigma by association. The general finding across four studies shows that the coupon redemption behavior of one consumer results in a second non-coupon-redeeming [...] (11/06/08 09:00 AM)

Comparison-Site Sales Rise as Consumers Scavenge for Deals. Online retailers increasingly benefit from marketing products on shopping-comparison sites as cash-strapped consumers seek bargains online, according to research published by E-consultancy and...

(11/06/08 09:00 AM)

Election 2008: The Social Networking Roundup. Before ballots were counted yesterday, Sen. Barack Obama led race for President across social network by nearly all measures, according to social computing expert and Forrester Research analyst...

(11/05/08 09:00 PM)

Thinking Of Starting A Biz?. BloggingStocks: No doubt, major companies like McDonald’s and Starbucks spend millions on finding the right locations for their stores. It’s critical to their success. In fact, in today’s turbulent economy, location is probably even more important. OK, but what if you don’t have a huge budget to research the location of your new business? The good news is [...]
(11/04/08 09:00 PM)

Email Deliverability Is in Your Hands. Deliverability is high up on the list of an email marketer's concerns. In fact, a recent report from Jupiter Research, the 2008 Email Marketing Buyer's Guide, found that deliverability is the number-one consideration for marketers when selecting an email service provider (ESP). Unfortunately, the best ESPs on the market can do only so much to aid in getting marketing messages to the inbox. The majority of the control lies in the hands of the sender. (11/04/08 09:01 AM)

SocNets Help, Not Harm, Modern Businesses. Research by Demos and Orange Business found that permitting, and even encouraging, companies to use social networking technology can help businesses, not harm them, Reuters reports. Online social...

(11/04/08 09:01 AM)

‘Buyology’ Offers Peek Inside Buyers’ Heads. USA TODAY: Picture a mad scientist in his laboratory, cackling with glee as he tries to unlock the secrets of the human mind. Now, consider the unsettling possibility that the scientist may be on to something. Marketing expert Martin Lindstrom is that scientist, caught up in the excitement of research in his new book, Buyology. Lindstrom first [...]
(11/04/08 09:01 AM)

8 Tips for Selling Social Marketing to CFOs. Marketers are usually challenged to justify word of mouth social media marketing programs to the finance department. With economic challenges ahead, your job doesn’t get easier. As someone who’s focuses on both creative and measurement, and as Interim CFO at Bazaarvoice, I started thinking more about the question of what marketers need to sell CFOs on the social marketing opportunity. Ultimately everything comes down to the bottom line – drive revenue, margin or costs down – but every marketing strategy has a different familiarity, timeline to ROI, or measurements that have to tie back to the P&L. So the approach to start, grow and sustain social marketing through the eyes of the finance department will differ from doing business as usual. And the justification needs to span beyond the numbers to get the entire management team to understand the ‘ecosystem’ effect of how customers make purchase decisions in a networked world.I posed a question on LinkediN question to my marketing peers and colleagues: With the economic downturn, how will you convince the CFO that "social" marketing is a priority?I’ve summarized the 25 answers to the question into these 8 tips: Provide financial leaders with hard facts—give numbers representing the anticipated dollar value of social media marketing compared to its cost (ex: anticipated ROI) for your company, cite research on the proven effectiveness of social media (ex: reviews/testimonials turn potential customers into actual customers, which is crucial, especially during an economic downturn) and emphasize that a company should always aim to... (11/02/08 09:00 AM)

I'm a PC...and I Fund Crazy Ideas that Might Save Millions of Lives. Now there's a line that would fit nicely in Microsoft's unusually moving new ad campaign. This week the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced that it had spent $10 million on 104 global-health research projects considered too risky for ...

(10/27/08 09:00 AM)

Assistive Technology, . Customized Text: The Technology Behind the Company Research in the field of reading has helped to delineate aspects of the structure of text our eyes and brains draw upon most as we scan letters an... (10/19/08 09:00 AM)

McCain and Obama Tax Plans 101. Ever since the candidates started debating I’ve wanted to understand how their respective tax plans stacked up. I have heard too many people repeating what one or the other of the candidates have SAID about their tax plans. But what will the candidates really DO? A little preliminary research revealed that the full picture is [...] (10/08/08 09:00 AM)

Maximizing Lead Generation Marketing ROI (Part 1): Lead Quality Counts. Marketers responsible for lead generation are all too familiar with some common challenges?getting closed-loop feedback from the sales organization, measuring marketing effectiveness beyond just lead quantity and cost per lead, and building strong alignment with the sales organization. As presented in the MarketingProfs' research report, "B-to-B Lead Generation: Marketing ROI and Performance Evaluation Study," effective lead-generation marketing is very much tied to overcoming these challenges to prioritize lead quality over lead quantity. (09/23/08 09:01 AM)

Small Business: Your Employees and Politics.

I was poking around on the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) website this morning doing some client research and found this helpful page on 'how to educate your employees about politics". Namely, how policies affect small business and thus how they affect your employees.

Great resource - check it out here:
Get Ready for Election 2008: Educate Others - NFIB

Factoid: Did you know that of the 45 million Americans with no health insurance, 51 percent are small-business owners, their employees or dependents. Wow...

[UPDATE] Better yet, check out the 'Protect Free Enterprise' site and the NFIB YouTube Channel!

(09/11/08 09:00 AM)

Are We Products of Our Entrepreneurial Environments?. This content from: Duct Tape Marketing Are We Products of Our Entrepreneurial Environments? I’m not sure why this riff keeps running around in my head, but I thought I would pose it to my readers as a kind of fun, but potentially telling bit of research. Owning a business, marketing a business, horn tooting, innovating, fearlessly charging into [...]
(09/02/08 09:01 PM)

Direct-to-Consumer PR Reflects Power of Do-It-Yourself. With the rise of search engines, Wi-Fi, and a Do-It-Yourself mindset, today's consumers are more empowered than ever before. They not only believe that they're entitled to information but also have unprecedented access to information on a global scale. An increasing number of consumers turn first to the Internet when they want to make a purchase?even if the product will be bought offline. That's why any PR strategy focused solely on media gatekeepers is missing a large piece of the market. While there's still value in sending your message via traditional media, more and more prospective customers are doing their own research online, bypassing newspaper, magazines, radio, and TV complet (09/02/08 09:01 AM)

Why should you use a Public Domain to research your article. You dread writing articles because you find researching for the topic and writing down original materials will be too taxing on you ? Downloading an article would be plagiarism ? Not exactly. ... (08/20/08 09:01 AM)

Copywriting Tips: How research can help you . Excellent copywriters too have had their nightmares. In the field of sales copywriting, success isn't just about being able to write well. Knowing how to write a good sales copy based on the market pu... (08/13/08 09:00 PM)

Lead Nurturing Best Practices Research and Data. MarketingSherpa just published data on lead nurturing best practices based on a survey of 1,000 marketers. Sherpa's research focuses on the following nurturing best practices: Using multiple tactics rather than relying on email only Timing of teleprospecting response to web... (08/08/08 09:00 AM)

My podcast on lead generation with Dave Stein. I was was recently interviewed by Dave Stein, CEO and Founder of ES Research Group, and author of How Winners Sell (a great book by the way). During the interview we talk about the following topics: What works to get... (07/25/08 09:01 PM)

Online Research Traps That Can Derail Your Marketing Strategy. It's hard to believe how different it was, just a mere fifteen years ago, to conduct secondary market research. There was no Internet, no Yahoo!, no Google search, no Web-accessible databases to tap. How times have changed. But, not always for the better. (07/22/08 09:01 AM)

A Three-Step Product Commercialization Insurance Policy: How a GM Can Overcome the Odds. Bringing a new product to market is one of the most costly and risky activities that any GM faces. Voice-of-the-customer research and stage gate reviews have improved the odds of achieving success. But do they go far enough? Three important tasks are frequently overlooked even though they offer the ability to identify weak links early on. So, how can you overcome the odds? Arm your team with a three-step commercialization insurance policy designed to identify and assess risks. (07/08/08 09:00 AM)

Four Steps to Writing Search-Engine-Optimized Press Releases. More than 90% of journalists go online to find story ideas, with 73% specifically researching press releases. With Really Simple Syndication (RSS) and free automatic email alerts from Google News so readily available, it makes sense that the Web is a prime source of consistently updated information for busy journalists. So how can your organization capitalize on these trends? (07/01/08 09:00 AM)

Simplicity Is the Nature of Great Emails. The modern email inbox is a perpetual promotion machine of colors, styles, and sales pitches all fighting to be seen. In an attempt to break from the herd, many email marketers ironically adopt a herd mentality of more clutter, more content, more, more, more. This misguided pursuit of increased visibility merely leads to increased invisibility. Before joining the invisible ranks of the "clutter cult" of email marketers, consider that a huge body of marketing research demonstrates that the human mind is a sucker for simplicity and focus. The eye embraces that which can be easily digested. Less is more. (06/10/08 09:00 PM)

Insight for Ad Agencies - Listen or Go Back to Print.

This is quite possibly the most timely and exciting article I've read as of late (come to think it, this I've been rather busy and this might be the only thing I've read of late...nope, this really is the best).

Joseph Dumont penned a piece for Imedia entitled "Why Agencies are Failing" in it, he lays out several of his own observations that are founded in a report from Forrester (might be worth the $279 price tag if you're seeking some Forrester Research Therapy for your agency) and compiled from his keen insights into the agency world.

This article really hits home as it comes at a time when I'm doing a bit of work with a few agencies that I regard with the utmost respect and I can't help but see some of their challenges echoed in this article. Those are the agencies that are truly students of advertising, marketing, customer behavior and have a genuine purpose in this world. They will succeed because they can learn, they can grow and like energy (you know, never at rest) they are always moving and changing and they're on the right path.

On the other end of the spectrum are agencies who are truly stuck. They're afraid of stepping outside of their comfort zone, afraid to admit that they need help, don't have a mastermind group internally that's challenging their age-old positioning and their clients are suffering as a result by way of crusty old strategies, reheated ideas and basically an ignorance of the end customer that we're all trying to reach. Those agencies will fail a they aren't even on a path - they're standing still.

Here are a few observations that I took from Joseph's article. I really recommend read though it with you highlighter handy - there are some real nuggets in there. If you're an agency, take this to your next staff meeting and discuss it. It's that important. If you like, buy the Forrester report (and tell me if it was worth it!)

1. Damnit, get out there and do the hard work to really understand how your client's consumer has changed their habits, where they hang out and what they want to hear from you. Media kits are for armchair advertisers. You need to get out there, listen, react and move. Oh, and get your client's leadership and front line folks on the same page too. Customers are smart. They see through the disorganization.

2. Watch political marketing. I've said this for years and I'll say it again "the harbingers of the next generation of marketing are working in politics". Watch all 3 candidates and how they leverage the digital space. Also, pay attention to their budgets. They're moving mountains and spending very little (comparatively) online...they reach the masses on TV and the influencers through digital (online) means...it's a great country we live in!

3. Interactive does NOT mean Internet. It means really in-ter-acting... get people involved, acting and interacting and engaging. Most of what's called "interactive" is anything but.

4. User generated content is not the holy grail. User generated genuine interest in a brand that excites consumers and pushes their 'loyalty button' is what we're really seeking. There are many UGC campaigns that are bolt on piles of crap... If UGC is not aligned with your brand and the only respondents are professional contestants, you should rethink things a bit. Just because it's cool doesn't mean it's you (or that an agency should sell it to you)

5. I actually think that we're in pretty good shape - there is BRILLIANT marketing going on out there (just read iMedia, Marketing Sherpa and others to see the kick ass campaigns and strategies that are rocking the marketing world)...but there's always room to do better. Both agencies and internal marketers can't afford to get lazy. The entire profession of marketing is founded on a "faith in the future" perspective! That's why we market - for the future...so hurry up and let's all get there!

(06/09/08 09:00 AM)

Insight for Ad Agencies - Listen or Go Back to Print.

3. Interactive does NOT mean Internet. It means really in-ter-acting... get people involved, acting and interacting and engaging. Most of what's called "interactive" is anything but.

(05/29/08 09:00 PM)

The Gap in Customer Engagement. Late post from the Forrester Marketing Forum Conference I attended a couple weeks ago. The topic was “Customer Engagement”, which is heralded by many publications as the new marketing buzzword. I love buzzwords…they get buzz! Which gets people talking, which gets people trying things, which causes failures, which creates learning, which (hopefully) creates better companies. I digress. The primary research and paper behind customer engagement was conducted by Brian Haven, who’s a great Forrester Analyst. I’ve known him for years and spoken in his workshops on Social networking and UGC. I’m a big believer in the idea of customer engagement. But I have 2 cents to add on where customer engagement comes from and where the gap is in achieving this goal in organizations. The conference was a balance of ideas to measure customer engagement, with tools, principles and experiences that result in more engaged customers. During the show I posted to Facebook “Customer Engagement is a more measured way of defining Customer Experience”. Said another way, Customer Engagement is an outcome…and outcomes (as well as inputs) are measurable. There are a lot of metrics that can point to engaged customers. I don’t think the absolute figures of these measures matter as much as trending to understand if you’re winning or losing customer engagement. But what is a point of customer engagement worth in revenue, margin or saved costs? Some of the metrics for customer engagement – such as time on site, Net Promoter, or Brand awareness -- could track... (04/23/08 09:01 PM)

9 Guerrilla Marketing Answers. A few weeks ago I was on an Austin Technology Council panel for the topic of Guerilla Marketing (YouTube Videos here). I’ve always loved Guerrilla marketing, and wrote a book on Guerrilla and Word of Mouth Marketing in 1997 with foreword from Jay Conrad Levinson, the "father" of Guerilla Marketing. I also have this unpublished book of 193 Clever marketing ideas ... I’m not going to do anything with it, so I posted it to Scribd for people to read for free. I made a few notes to answer the questions the moderator was going to ask for the panel. I’m on a long flight back from London right now...a good time to expand these notes and publish them... 1. What criteria do you use to choose where to spend marketing dollars for new technology companies? Start with sales first. You need very little marketing in the beginning. They are the most productive form of research and recon for the market, because they're selling at the same time, adapting the message and learning what works. From this intelligence you build your foundation for the marketing plan and priorities. The bulls eye spend is on establishing outside credibility, typically through press and case studies. Also identify the customer objections from the sales team and work on overcoming those first. Finally, build and leverage partnerships. Leverage their spend and be associated with brands that are larger and more credible than yours (for now!). 2. What is the most efficient way to get... (04/21/08 09:01 AM)

Workweek.

Is "workweek" one word or two? I think it used to be two, but has now morphed into one. Or maybe not. Anyway, there's a lot going on out here in proposal land. Over the weekend I finished up revising the Corporate Experience section of my law firm client's resubmission and e-mailed it to her. Due to the nature of that resubmission, my client ended up with over 400 pages that had to be scanned and put on a CD to send off to the government. She also needed to reproduce the entire proposal and submit a hard copy to accompany the CDs. It took her all weekend to get everything together and then, of course, the scanner broke down. I could have told her this would happen.

I'm now preparing the technical section of a DOD proposal for a long-time client. Much of it is similar to a proposal I helped prepare for her late last year, so I can recyle parts of it. But I still need to do some background research and gather information on the local market for a couple of categories of healthcare specialists. My client doesn't like to do this research, and neither do I. But I'm doing it anyway.

Then on Monday, re-compete #3 arrived. Oh joy. It is due at the end of May, so we have six weeks to work on it. My client sent me the RFP, which I haven't read yet. I did open the file, but when I saw that the RFP was over 125 pages, I closed it up without actually looking at it. Maybe I'll read it today. My client and I have been playing telephone tag, so we haven't talked about the proposal yet. But this assignment will keep me pretty busy for the next month and a half.

Then maybe I can take a little vacation.

(04/16/08 09:00 AM)

Private Bid Notification Services.

In addition to the government's bid notification services from FedBizOpps and Grants.gov, there are many private firms that provide these types of services. You can find some of these firms by doing a Google search on phrases such as "find RFPs" and "bid notification."

Although you have to pay for it, there are several advantages to using a private bid notification service:

Many of these services can also provide you with information on solicitations issued by state and local governments. While more and more state and local governments are putting their bid opportunities on the Internet, not all of them have geared up to do this.
Since FedBizOpps and Grants.gov may not cover all all bureaus and departments within each federal agency, you may be able to get access to these bureaus' bid opportunities via a private service rather than having to search for them by going to individual websites.
If you are interested in seeing bid opportunities at two or three levels -- federal, state and/or local -- you can may be able to receive these opportunities via daily e-mails or through online access. This can be a real time-saver.

One of the private serices that has been around for a long time is Bidnet (see clip below), which offers customizable packages to meet your specific needs and interests. However, since Bidnet is only one of many private services, it will probably be worth your while to research and compare these services with respect to their prices and offerings.

clipped from bidnet.com

With BidNet, you will have access to Government Bids from thousands of Federal, State and Local agencies, and see bid opportunities you won't find anywhere else. Our diverse network of agencies will give you the competitive intelligence needed to compete effectively for the nation's largest buyer of goods and services - governments across the nation and right in your hometown.

(04/02/08 09:02 AM)

Site Update and New Feature.

This weekend I spent some time adding some great new resources to my site. Check out my What's New Page to see what I've added.

I've also instituted a new feature for these and subsequent new resources. Recently, I discovered Clipmarks, a tool you can use to clip and stash snippets from Web pages. I've been trying to come up with a way to incorporate Clipmarks on my site and decided to begin using it to highlight the new additions. A possible other use might be to incoporate it in this blog, maybe for a "Site of the Week" or "Site of the Day" feature. I'm still thinking about this, so stay tuned.

Now what you will see when you go to a page on my site where I've added a new resource is something like what is shown at the bottom of this post -- a clip from the Foundation Center website.

To see the clips for the new resources, go to any of these pages:

Business Plans
Grant Writing
Small Business
Grant Subjects
Grant Samples
Legal, Financial & Contracts

What do you think?

clipped from foundationcenter.org

"The subject of this short course is proposal writing. But the proposal does not stand alone. It must be part of a process of planning and of research on, outreach to, and cultivation of potential foundation and corporate donors."

(03/24/08 09:01 AM)

Referrals From Great Sites.

Every once in a while I take a look at the Google Analytics reports for my website. These reports provide detailed statistics about the number and type of visitors to a site, where they came from, what pages they visited, etc. The reports contain a lot of data and take a while to review, which is why I only look at them occasionally.

But one of the reports I do like to look at is the Referring Sites Report, which indicates which sites referred people to my site via a link. And if you are interested in grants (both government and non-government grants), grantwriting, or grant research, you'll want to take a look at some of the websites that send the most visitors to Proposalwriter.com . Among my top 10 referring sites are:

The Grants Information Collection at the University of Wisconsin. This fabulous site has a wealth of information on grants, funding, and other related topics. I'm delighted to say that they link to my site on four different pages. They have consistently been my #1 referral site.
My #2 referral site is The Foundation Center, which sends visitors to my site via links on 3 of their many pages. If you want grant-related information from the nation's leading authority on non-profits, The Foundation Center's site is one of the first places you should investigate.
The third site that sends the most visitors to my site is the US House of Representatives. Somewhere among the its many pages there has been a link to my site for several years. Except I don't know where it is, and oddly enough the link is to my Guestbook. I've never taken the time to try to figure out how people get to my site from this site.
#9 on the list is the University of Michigan's Proposal Writing Help Page, which of course contains info and links on proposal writing.

In addition to Google Analytics, I use Google Webmaster Tools to find out how many other sites have links to mine. At present, Webmaster Tools shows that there are over 4,100 external links from other sites to the various pages on my site. But this number seems to include quite a few dupicates, so it's hard to tell what the real number is.

Nevertheless, I'm pretty satisfied.

(03/06/08 09:01 AM)

Keeping Up (Not).

I'm behind with everything, and this blog seems to get pushed down on my priority list. I don't want it to, but even so, I just can't seem to find the time to get the blogging done. Still, people keep reading it and signing up for my subscription notification form. So now I feel guilty for not writing anything here for a while.

I have been bogged down with work and more work. First, I finished the little sole source proposal that I wrote about earlier. My client submitted it to the federal agency, which liked the proposal but didn't like the cost. So my client is having to revise his numbers and re-submit. One of my colleagues, a CPA who specializes in government costing, is working with him on this. My client is certain to get the contract, but not before the feds make him jump through a few more hoops.

Second, I've been working on a USAID proposal. Somehow, I got assigned to prepare the largest section of that proposal and it took longer than I anticipated (no surprise there). As soon as I finished it, USAID issued a one-week extension. My client is happy to have this extension, but I'm not because it means that I might have to do more work. I'm waiting to hear from them maybe today. In the meantime...

I've moved on to starting yet another assignment that I put off because I had to finished the USAID stuff. This is what I am behind on now. It is a very large proposal for NIH -- a services project, not a research project. The technical section consists of 5 separate volumes: Personnel, Technical Approach, Management Plan, Past Performance and Work Samples. I'm almost done with the Management Plan and it is about 50 pages in length. My client is working on the Personnel Section, and I am going to have to move on to the Technical Approach section probably beginning tomorrow. NIH wants lots and lots of details about everything, and there are no page limits to any of the volumes.

So, I just continue to plod along here in my little world of proposals. Sometimes I wonder how I ever thought that this would be a good career. A lot of people think it is, but frankly I'm not sure. It's a good career if you want to be under a lot of stress all the time and if you like having one deadline after another -- deadlines that rarely slip. Ugh, I can't really even think about it right now because I have to get back to my writing. I have a conference call with my NIH client later this morning.

Later...

(03/01/08 09:01 AM)

Learn Word of Mouth Marketing -- WOMM-U, May 8-9. This year the Word of Mouth Marketing Association is doing something completely different (disclosure: I'm on the board). It will be WOMM-U (Word of Mouth Marketing University), the first training-based conference full of case studies, operational cookbooks, and practical advice to make Word of Mouth Marketing work in your organization. The tracks will include topics on Managing a blog program Activating WOM in Social Networks Building a Sustained WOM Program Measurement: The ROI of Fans Selling into the CEO ...and much more. Keynote presenters includes my friend Joseph Jaffe (author of "Join the Conversation") and Jeffrey Graham, who leads research for NYTimes. Join me at this unique conference, May 8, 9 in Miami. Register here. (02/28/08 09:01 PM)

Keeping Up (Not).

Later...

(02/21/08 09:01 PM)

VP of Marketing Responsible for Shipping & Logistics?. Harry Joiner, a marketing recruiter and good friend, asked me to comment on his blog regarding what a VP of eCommerce or VP Marketing candidate should be asked or should answer regarding shipping & delivery logistics. Here's what I said... As you know, I believe word of mouth is the most powerful form of marketing and sustainable growth. So, a VP of marketing candidate needs to have an appreciation for the overall customer experience. Shipping logistics are a huge part of that experience. You can weight the satisfaction and loyalty impact of each part of the customer experience – researching products, buying, receiving and using a product (support). The weight of impact is correlated to the the emotional residual for that part of the experience. Shopping and research is a relatively forgettable experience, unless there is severe frustration. The buying experience is overshadowed with the emotional weight of the receiving and the out of box experience, as well as resolving customer service and support issues (downstream activities). Amazon is consistent with shipping and logistics. Apple and Chumby have great out of the box experiences. So, word of mouth and branding (and thus, top line revenue over the long term) are driven from upstream decisions (great products, packaging) and downstream logistics (shipping, service, support). A great VP of marketing should realize they have to balance between immediate, short term tactics to drive revenue and the sustainable long-term activities that may even be out of his direct control. In this case, marketing... (01/31/08 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)

Future of Online Retailing -- Four Predictions. Forrester and Jupiter report that more than 70% of online shoppers seek out user reviews before making a purchase decision. MarketingSherpa reports that 84% of consumers prefer the opinion of other consumers vs. experts. Hundreds of retailers including WalMart, Best Buy, HP, and the Home Depot have followed Amazon’s lead by allowing their consumers to review products in the online channel. Consumers demand social commerce solutions and retailers are driving measurable results. As consumers are presented with increasing choices, channels, and messages, they will continue to turn to peers to discover, research, and make decisions about products and services. Retailers will need to utilize technology and best practices to provide authentic, relevant, and effective social commerce solutions to retain their customers into the future. 1) SOCIAL CONTENT IS GOING MULTI-CHANNEL The future of reviews and social content is going beyond the product page and into other channels such as mobile phones, kiosks, print collateral, online advertising, and social networks. It is clear that consumers rely on social content to make purchasing decision. They will expect to be able to access to this content regardless of channel in order to inform their purchasing process. The retailers that provide this multi-channel access will develop competitive advantages in their markets to attract and retain consumers. Additionally, more retailers will see the value of integrating social commerce with CRM and other “back-end” channels. Retailers will start to leverage social content as a key input into driving decisions in marketing, sales, advertising, customer support, and... (12/09/07 09:01 PM)

It's Saturday, Do You Know Where Your Competitors Are?.

I'm doing a bit of CRM research this morning and found, what I think, is a nice little strategy that Salesforce.com is exploiting that I was unable to find any replication of in a quick search in a couple of other sectors. This is stone-simple, but no one's doing it. Trademark infringement? Not likely, at least under the current laws and legal precedent (GEICO vs. Google)

So, what is it? Have a look.. It's what I generically call the "Competitor vs. Salesforce.com" strategy. Here's an example of their AdWords ad based on a search for SugarCRM:

How cool! And, it leads to a proper landing page (of course, you knew it did!)

I know, simple, but effective. If you're involved in an AdWords campaign, why are you letting your competitors get their unfair share of all the clicks?

(11/10/07 09:00 PM)

Brand Management Position Available in Eau Claire, WI. Hey Folks, I recieved an email today seeking some referrals for a brand management position in Wisconsin. The role is based in Eau Claire, WI If you're interested, please contact: Leasa Sanders McIntosh leasa [at] shouldbeskiing.com 303-757-4103 Position Details:

Develops marketing strategies and programs to drive corporate revenue and communicate corporate vision/strategy.
Leverage market knowledge, customer understanding, marketing research, competitor assessments, and analysis to develop clear customer acquisition, retention and recapture strategies.
Partner effectively across the organization, including corporate sales, development, operations, technology, and finance.
Manage multiple projects simultaneously with attention to detail, tenacity, and a focus on results.
Identify new product and market opportunities and develop/execute plans to realize revenue goals.
Analyze program results using qualitative and quantitative techniques.
Develop and manage marketing budget.
Works to build and maintain relationships with all internal management team members to provide the highest level of service to our clients and their consumers.
Provides feedback, including appropriate reporting to key management personnel in order to identify continuous quality improvement opportunities.
Develops sales support materials, including presentations, brochures, and proposals.
Develops materials to support internal communications and strategies.
Develop client communications and strategies.
Performs other duties as assigned.

(10/04/07 09:01 PM)

Thought Leadership Marketing is Market Focused.

Steven Van Yoder posted an excellent summary of how Cisco embeds thought leadership marketing into its culture and plays off this philosophy as its marketing mainstay.

Most companies give lipservice to TLM the same way that few marketers understand the fundamentals of marketing in that the 'product focus' mentality of the twenties is dead and that we're still very much in the era of 'market focus'.

Therein lies the inherent power of Thought Leadership Marketing - It's market focused and puts the needs of the market first. More to the point, it puts the credibility, reputation and growth of the company truly in the hands of the customers. Thought Leadership is bestowed upon a company by its customers - it cannot be created in a vacuum without an intuitive revervence for the market or markets served.

Specific to Cisco, and others that use Thought Leadership Marketing, there are a few keys that make TLM what it is:

Leadership demands that every executive establish and nurture his or her own reputation for thought leadership
Pursue blogging, public speaking, and writing articles
Become an industry purveyor of executive thought leadership
Align your website with with links to research reports, papers, podcasts, interviews and other content from around the industry which supports and furthers your TLM position
Publish newseltters for customer segments and the industry in general
Host thought leadership events that bring together academia, industry, goverment and customers to address very specific topics related to your business and industry

That is not a be-all end all list to be sure, but it's a heck of a start on your Thought Leadership Marketing strategy.

(10/04/07 09:01 PM)

It's 2007, do you know where you local Internet listing is?.

Being involved in a business that deals in what I call 'intensely local' websites (many of our customers pull from a radius of less than 20 miles, some have business jurisdictions that are fractions of that). When you look at the accuracy of your average Google Local or Superpages search, it's not bad, but I'm amazed on a daily basis how many businesses simply haven't taken advantage of putting their URL, or even correcting their business information in Google or any of the other online directories.

Imagine my surprise when I was doing some research for an upcoming seminar, trying to highlight our local Internet prowess, only to find out that our own Chamber of Commerce has one major flaw with it's Google Local listing... It's LINKED TO ANOTHER WEBSITE! Now, it's not all bad, at least the link goes to the local newspaper, and the chamber listing does show up in the organic search as the first listing (one would hope that it should), but nonetheless, the URL is wrong in the listing.

Don't bother contacting them, I already have. However, it will be interesting to see how long it takes them to correct it. This reminds me of a presentation I saw recently over at MarketingProfs where Stephan Spencer and Brian Klais of NetConcepts mentioned a local hospital which has some material that was commented out which said something like "Jack designed this website with a swiss-army knife and a pack of gum" or something like that... The point is, you can't put your 'stuff' out on the Internet and then go on vacation.

ACTION ITEM: Go Google yourself. Then, check the local directories. If anything about your information is incorrect or incomplete, get it corrected. If your URL is not listed, but it could be, get it in there...
> Google Local
> Superpages.com
> Yellowpages.com
> Yahoo Local
> Your listing on websites in your local area...

(10/03/07 09:00 PM)

Yahoo Prez Susan Decker Bets $1 Million On Its Stock. Yahoo President Susan Decker is buying up shares the company's beaten down stock (YHOO), to the tune of $1 million. CNNMoney reports:The buy was Decker's first ever open-market stock purchase, according to filing tracker InsiderScore.com, and came one-day after the stock fell to $22.44 - its lowest level since March 2004. Decker's buy was just the fourth by any Yahoo insider in more than four years; and, the largest by any Yahoo insider in more than four years, InsiderScore analysts wrote in a research note FridayThat's quite a vote of confidence. Is she just trying to shore up the stock, or does she know something we don't?... (08/10/07 09:01 AM)

Tips for CIO / CMO Relationships. Forrester just published an in depth research paper titled Partnering for Success: The CIO - CMO Relationship They interviewed me months ago for this paper based on my experience working with IT in startups and Dell. Bottom line: the most important aspect to good relationships is open and frequent communication. Here was the sidebar on my answers to these questions:How can CMOs and CIOs build a more effective partnership? In my experience, there are four key principles for a culture ofeffectiveness: 1) agreement and accountability, 2) face-to-face work with no “over the fence” mentality; 3) open communications andsharing of plans and results; and 4) investment by the CIO, CMO, and their employees to build relationships. What can marketers learn from their IT peers? Marketers can learn that IT is interested in how its solutions impact the business and customer, and, by sharing this, IT is more invested in their work and have a better understanding of requirements. IT thinks in terms of architecture and how things are done. It needs to fully understand the spirit, intent, and detailed requirements of what needsto be done in order to avoid missteps. The more that marketing shares with IT, the better.... (07/18/07 09:01 AM)

Microsoft Plays With P2P TV. Video: LiveStation Demo Microsoft Research (MSFT) and a UK-based company called Skinkers are developing peer-to-peer software called LiveStation for streaming live television over PCs. Think of it as a Slingbox Without the Box. (See demo video above). Except that TV stations would have to sign up to stream their broadcasts over the service. Using P2P networks is the most bandwidth efficient (and least costly) way to deliver video over the Internet. Joost, Babelgum, and Veoh also all use P2P distribution techniques in one form or another. But they all deliver videos that are already stored somewhere (their servers or the computers of their members), as opposed to live streams. I'm not sure how difficult it would be for any of these services to offer live streams as well. It doesn't seem like that big a deal. Joost, for instance, is working on (or already has) the ability to synchronize the streaming of a particular show so that you and all of your friends can watch it at the same time while chatting over Joost. Making that a live stream should be easy enough. The bigger question is: On the Internet, does live TV even matter any more? The TV schedule is a product of the historical limitations of broadcast television, where you have to broadcast the same shows to everyone at the same time. But those limitations are falling away. Even in cable and satellite TV, the growth of pay-per-view and on-demand channels proves that if you give consumers more... (07/06/07 09:01 AM)

Yahoo's SmartAds Offer Better Targeting. Yahoo is slowly but surely trying to make its display ads just as relevant and targeted as Google's search ads. It is beginning to test what it calls SmartAds, graphical Web ads that can be customized in an automated fashion to the demographics of the audience most likely to see them. Cnet gives this example:For instance, instead of just seeing a generic ad for a Toyota Prius, a woman in San Francisco who conducts research on hybrid cars on Yahoo Autos could be served an ad for a local San Francisco dealer, along with information on the types of Priuses in stock and their purchase price. The ad, which is configured on the fly, could also feature a background color targeted for women in her age range, as well as a Golden Gate Bridge logo.In order for this to work, however, the advertiser must provide all the different variations and permutations of the ad it might want to show That could get complicated. Will Toyota have to prepare iconic logos for every city—the Gateway Arch for St. Louis, the Sears Tower for Chicago—as well as different colors and copy for each demographic slice it is targeting? A typical Google AdWords campaign can involve hundreds of thousands of different keywords. There is a practical limit to what an ad agency can gin up for one campaign. Still, even if advertisers come up with just 5 or 10 different combinations of the same online ad, in theory it should be more effective... (07/02/07 09:01 PM)

Notes on "The Likeability Factor" (Tim Sanders at Austin Texchange). Last week I became president of Texchange, a local association of Technology entrepreneurs and executives. At our June event we had Tim Sanders, formerly of Broadcast.com, Yahoo, author of Love: The Killer App, and more recently The Likeability Factor. He spoke to a June audience of 130 entrepreneurs and shared some sobering statistics, research, and recommendations. Thanks to Josh Toub at BluefishGroup and Secretary of Techange, I can share these notes for you. [Note: if you are an Austin-based technology entrepreneur or in a Austin-based startup, email me to join]. Biology behind increased importance of emotion in business and everyday life The amygdala (part of brain in charge of emotion) has grown ~1% in the lat 35 years Makes liking the people you do business with much more important than it once was EVP When Tim evaluates a company to invest in or do business with, he evaluates three things: What is the emotional value proposition What is the emotional cost of ownership What is the emotional compensation plan Did research at Yahoo about the essance of loyalty--it's all about emotional attraction In life, the likability factor is almost always the tie break Every presidential election since 1976 has been won by the likability factor. What is likability? Not about charimsa Not about being popular It's about reciprocity, not attraction Emotional Attraction (EA) Leadership An emotionally attractive salesperson will gross 40% more than a neutral person 3 benefits: Reduced risk Doctors who smile are much less likely to get sued... (06/18/07 09:03 PM)

Small Business Fundamentals - The List. When I went through business school I wasn't taught the fundamentals of small business. It wasn't until I started researching online business after graduating that I came across practical advice regarding the core facets of successful small business. There was one thing in particular that was continually hammered into me as I read more and more about building profitable businesses - the targeted mailing/contacts list is vital - and the web is the perfect vehicle to collect and maintain a list whether your business operates on or offline. List Based Direct Marketing As I delved further into online marketing I... (04/06/07 09:01 AM)

Keeping Up (Not).

Later...

(12/12/06 08:42 AM)

Future Marketing Thoughts From Forrester's Consumer Form. A couple weeks ago I spoke on a Word of Mouth panel at Forrester's annual Consumer Forum in Chicago. Attendees were senior marketers, online/ecommerce executives, and CMOs. The theme was Humanizing the Digital Experience. The tracks were: Experience-based Differentiation Devices Everwhere Next Generation Branding Social Computing I don't really like Social Computing...but you can pretty much pick the term you like: Long Tail Folksonomy Word of Mouth Crowdsourcing Prosumerism P2P Marketing C2C Marketing Listenomics Social Media Social Computing Social Networking Citizen Marketing Open Source Marketing User Generated Content Customer Created Content Consumer Generated Media To me all these underscore the same theme: Consumers are in more control than ever (their voices are amplified) and they are taking a bigger role in creating the consumer experience and content. As part of Forrester's follow up they posted all of the presentations here, host a blog here (here's the summary of my panel), and are hosting an open Wiki here. Here are some of the themes from the conference, a la their wiki: YouTube things are going to happen. How do you set standards that define your brand as you want? The product must speak for itself. Listen to what’s out there and understanding the negative and positive. Research cost benefits, insight methods. Blogs as a tool for brand analysis. Chance to engage pissed off customers. Chevy Tahoe Apprentice—create your own ad. Environmentalists were creating bad ones. The world didn’t end.It blew over. Most of the discussion about the brand is actually positive... (11/06/06 09:00 AM)

Tuesdays Contract Management News and Comment (22nd August 2006). Inaugural Call for Papers: The W. Gregor Macfarlan Excellence in Contract Management Research and Writing Program (PR Newswire via Yahoo! Finance) The National Contract Management Association is pleased to invite the submission of high-quality papers in the inaugural solicitation for the W. Gregor Macfarlan Excellence in Contract Management Research and ... (08/22/06 09:01 AM)

Nailing Down the Best Deal When Buying a Car. Whether you've found the vehicle you want through your own research or have been steered to a dealership by a buying service, you're still going to have to do some negotiating before you drive away i ...

(08/22/06 09:00 AM)