Marketing Articles About Risk Search Results
Results for: risk
- Fast Talk Question - For sports teams, is substantially raising ticket prices to finance new stadiums worth the risk of alienati. For sports teams, is substantially raising ticket prices to finance new stadiums worth the risk of alienating long-term fans?
(08/30/08 09:00 PM)
- Morgan Stanley Invests Up To $1.9 Billion in New Hires–After Laying Off 4,800 People.
From the Financial Times:
Morgan Stanley plans to use up to $1bn saved from cutting 4,800 jobs this year to hire top-level executives and bolster its presence in areas such as derivatives, risk management and proprietary trading.
Morgan Stanley estimates it saved $1bn from this year’s compensation bill by cutting about 10 per cent of its workforce, [...]
(07/31/08 09:01 AM)
- Upgrading WordPress the Easy Way. One of the trade-offs involved with using blog software that resides on your server is that you may have to endure updates to add new features and fix potential security risks. Hosted services such as TypePad or Compendium Blogware simply push these live without any work on the part of the user. I for one [...]
(07/23/08 09:01 PM)
- The 5 Stars of a "Rockstar" Employee. When you say an employee is a “rockstar” you are saying they will have a great future. They are excelling in their job – that’s a given – but to be a rockstar is to say their career is expected to shoot up like a rockstar’s record on the charts! They will scale, and are competent and trusted enough to do well in almost any job. Obviously you want to be a rockstar and you want to hire a rockstar. So what does a rockstar look like? How do you interview for them? On the plane to San Jose this week I started thinking about this, as we’re doing a lot of hiring at Bazaarvoice. In my career I’ve worked with hundreds of people, interviewed a few hundred, and hired over 100 people. A minority of these folks (say 10%) were rockstars, a minority I’d never hire or want to work with (another 10%), and the rest are in the middle. From my perspective, these are the characteristics I saw in the top 10% whom I’d be honored to work with anytime. The 5 stars of a rockstar… 1) Initiative To me, maybe because I see what entrepreneurialism and change leadership can do for an organization, this is the most important characteristic. I’ve posted on this before with my 12 career tips, about taking initiative outside your "triangle" and taking bigger risks. Rockstars must have initiative because someday they will call the shots, and as such they need to be...
(07/22/08 09:00 PM)
- 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)
- A Free Web 2.0 Tool For Every Need. I was thinking of pulling together some of my favorite Web 2.0 sites and tools that could be used to run and market your business. Well, I can't get much more comprehensive than this...259 pages of Web 2.0 sites. The cover says these are social networking sites, but the list is much more broad than that. You can look at the full screen version here and just do a search for 'invoice' and you'll find 30 sites, or 'chat' (167 results). I'm becoming more and more convinced you could run an entire company on free tools. Question is, are you willing to take the risk....as most of these companies are unprofitable and will run out of VC money at some point. Read this doc on Scribd: Web2-Directory
(05/18/08 09:00 PM)
- Purchase the Marketech '08 Marketing Technology Guide!.
$19.99
Marketech 08: Using Emerging Media in Marketing - eBook - $19.99
Today's service industry organizations depend on deeper and more relevant customer connections to drive loyalty, retention, referrals and reactivation within their coveted client base. These companies don't just need technology however, they need a systems perspective on how to integrate the ever changing world of social media, social networking and Web 2.0 into their core business infrastructure to meet their customers in their medium, now and in the future.
Purchase Now to Discover:- 2008 Emerging Media Vehicles
- How to Use New Media Vehicles to Your Advantage
- The Latest Internet & Marketing Technologies that can Impact Your 2008 Marketing Plans
Your copy of the Marketech 08 Guide PDF will show you how to put these technologies to work for you.
This guide includes a service-organization perspective that will help you:
- Utilize relevant marketing & customer service technologies that today's leading service organizations employ to connect with their customers. This includes an overview of tools from social networking via Facebook, organic corporate networks and customer community programs to communication vehicles like blogs, online video and podcasting.
- Integrate with existing common customer loyalty, retention, referrals and reactivation initiatives.
- Identify benefits and risks associated with these techniques and technologies such as lower cost to service and increased referrals vs. loss of central control and the increasing customer control of your brand reputation.
- Discover who's doing this already examples and how is it working for them. We'll look at a myriad of case examples with learning's and action items than any organization can apply.
Instant Download in Adobe PDF
(04/04/08 09:00 PM)
- Marketech 08: Using Emerging Media in Marketing.
Marketech 08: Using Emerging Media in Marketing - AMA Members-Only Webcast
Today's service industry organizations depend on deeper and more relevant customer connections to drive loyalty, retention, referrals and reactivation within their coveted client base. These companies don't just need technology; however, they need a systems perspective on how to integrate the ever changing world of social media, social networking and Web 2.0 into their core business infrastructure to meet their customers in their medium, now and in the future.
Register now to discover:- 2008 Emerging Media Vehicles
- How to Use New Media Vehicles to Your Advantage
- The Latest Internet & Marketing Technologies that can Impact Your 2008 Marketing Plans
You'll also receive a complimentary copy of the Marketech 08 Guide PDF that shows how to put these technologies to work for you.
This program includes a service-organization perspective that will help you:
- Utilize relevant marketing & customer service technologies that today's leading service organizations employ to connect with their customers. This includes an overview of tools from social networking via Facebook, organic corporate networks and customer community programs to communication vehicles like blogs, online video and podcasting.
- Integrate with existing common customer loyalty, retention, referrals and reactivation initiatives.
- Identify benefits and risks associated with these techniques and technologies such as lower cost to service and increased referrals vs. loss of central control and the increasing customer control of your brand reputation.
- Discover who's doing this already (examples) and how is it working for them. We'll look at a myriad of case examples with learning's and action items than any organization can apply.
Date: December 6, 2007
Times: Session 1 - 10am PST/ 11am MST/ 12pm CST/1pm EST or Session 2 - 12pm PST/1pm MST/2pm CST/3pm EST
Register Here for the Marketech 08 Webcast.
Host: The American Marketing Association and Dana VanDen Heuvel, a highly recognized expert on blogging, podcasting, RSS and other interactive marketing trends and a frequent guest speaker at many AMA live training programs, including the recent premier Training Series: Technomarketing event.
(12/05/07 09:01 PM)
- Prioritize Like a P&L. Today I was having lunch with a friend who is VP of Marketing for a local startup. Small budget, lots to do...how to prioritize? In my experience, when you're trying to grow revenue as fast as possible with little time, money and resources, it's important to think about the after-launch resources a program will take. Think about any program or initiative as an ongoing P&L. The best projects will have sustaining value, like a business that has sustaining profits. In fact, you should first think about the projects that have a clear and direct impact on revenue or cost savings. Can you answer the question: "This program/initiative will have an impact on our bottom line because..." The biggest mistake in selecting programs is the costs of sustainment. Usually things get set in motion that take human capital as part of the processes. The ideal projects are those that are set in motion, sustian and/or grow in impact over time and require little resources to sustain. Many projects I've launched that risked failure and often got orphaned are those that required ongoing program management time and processes. If it was part of an existing process it was easier to absorb. Creating new processes, owners, measures, reporting, etc. and sustaining all of this is an investment – COGS and Opex in a P&L. Sometimes it's worth it...but most of the time we underestimate the cost of sustainment. So, look for the projects that can 'blossom' on their own. For example, customer created...
(10/19/07 09:00 PM)
- New Social Media Presentation Released.
I'm just putting the finishing touches on a new Social Media/TechnoMarketing presentation that I'm pretty excited about. For those organizations that make the distinction between a 'client' (long term relationship) and 'customer' (transactional relationship), I've developed a program that illustrates how to put the latest tools & technologies in play for your service organization.
Want more info? Drop me a line!
Social Media for the Service Industry Enterprise
Today's service industry organizations depend on deeper and more relevant customer connections to drive loyalty, retention, referrals and reactivation within their coveted client base. These companies don't just need technology; however, they need a systems perspective on how to integrate the ever changing world of social media, social networking and Web 2.0 into their core business infrastructure to meet their customers in their medium, now and in the future.
This program will provide a focused, service-organization perspective on:
- What are the relevant marketing & customer service technologies that today's leading service organizations employ to connect with their customers. This includes an overview of tools from social networking via Facebook, organic corporate networks, and customer community programs to communication vehicles like blogs, online video and podcasting.
- How do these integrate with existing common customer loyalty, retention, referrals and reactivation initiatives?
- What are the benefits and risks associated with these techniques and technologies such as lower cost to service and increased referrals vs. loss of central control and the increasing customer control of your brand reputation.
- Who's doing this already (examples) and how is it working for them. We'll look at a myriad of case examples with learning's and action items than any organization can apply.
Want more info? Drop me a line!
Check out my marketing speaker page more info on my other marketing related speaking engagements & programs.
(10/11/07 09:00 AM)
- Parallels: Investment Portfolios | Marketing Portfolios.
As many a marketing manager and media planner turns their focus to 2008 (in fact, I'm better that a fair number of you have already turned in some preliminary budget numbers for '08, if not your entire budget and marketing plan) we're all challenged with where we're going to allocate dollars for our anticipated returns and ROI.
An intriguing post over at Get Rich Slowly and a story on NPR about David Swensen, who, for the past 21 years been Yale Universityâ??s investment portfolio manager, garnering an average 16 percent annual return! This is astonishing in that most of us are fortunate to sneak by with an average 7 percent across our investment and retirement stockpiles.
What's more interesting is the connection that's made in the blog post between what David feels is a intuitively balanced portfolio and the types of index funds (ETF - Exchange Traded Funds) that the everyman (or woman) could safely invest in and secure a comfortable return.
The chart below represents Swensena's basic formula for creating an investment portfolio likely to give you good returns while still managing risk: (via Get Rich Slowly)
This got me to thinking, what's your marketing portfolio look like? When you look at how Swensen's investment percentages break down with 20% in Real Estate and another 5% in Emerging Markets, I can't help but think that there are parallels in our marketing portfolio to things like brand building and awareness (long-term, stability investments) and new media and social media (emerging markets, high risk, potential for high return) and the list goes on..
ACTION ITEM: What's your marketing portfolio look like? Do you have enough invested in stable, slow growth areas like branding and awareness building for the long term or have your been bit by the latest marketing trend bug and shifted your investments into higher-risk marketing vehicles? Are you investing enough in customer retention, referral and reactivation like we invest in government bonds to renew our country or have those areas fallen out of favor because of their seemingly modest returns?
Take another look at your marketing portfolio before the ink dries on next year's budget!
(10/04/07 09:01 PM)
- Parallels: Investment Portfolios | Marketing Portfolios.
As many a marketing manager and media planner turns their focus to 2008 (in fact, I'm better that a fair number of you have already turned in some preliminary budget numbers for '08, if not your entire budget and marketing plan) we're all challenged with where we're going to allocate dollars for our anticipated returns and ROI.
An intriguing post over at Get Rich Slowly and a story on NPR about David Swensen, who, for the past 21 years been Yale Universityâ??s investment portfolio manager, garnering an average 16 percent annual return! This is astonishing in that most of us are fortunate to sneak by with an average 7 percent across our investment and retirement stockpiles.
What's more interesting is the connection that's made in the blog post between what David feels is a intuitively balanced portfolio and the types of index funds (ETF - Exchange Traded Funds) that the everyman (or woman) could safely invest in and secure a comfortable return.
The chart below represents Swensena's basic formula for creating an investment portfolio likely to give you good returns while still managing risk: (via Get Rich Slowly)
This got me to thinking, what's your marketing portfolio look like? When you look at how Swensen's investment percentages break down with 20% in Real Estate and another 5% in Emerging Markets, I can't help but think that there are parallels in our marketing portfolio to things like brand building and awareness (long-term, stability investments) and new media and social media (emerging markets, high risk, potential for high return) and the list goes on..
ACTION ITEM: What's your marketing portfolio look like? Do you have enough invested in stable, slow growth areas like branding and awareness building for the long term or have your been bit by the latest marketing trend bug and shifted your investments into higher-risk marketing vehicles? Are you investing enough in customer retention, referral and reactivation like we invest in government bonds to renew our country or have those areas fallen out of favor because of their seemingly modest returns?
Take another look at your marketing portfolio before the ink dries on next year's budget!
(10/03/07 09:00 PM)
- Social Startups Kaboodle and Clipmarks Get Snapped Up By Old Media. Old media wants some of that Web 2.0 mojo. Hearst, the magazine company that publishes Cosmo, Esquire, and Seventeen, is buying social-shopping startup Kaboodle. And Forbes is reportedly closing in on a deal to buy Clipmarks, a bookmarking site that lets you clip, save, and share parts of Webpages you find interesting No official word on the purchase price for either one, but the word in the Valley is that Kaboodle sold for between $30 to $40 million. Why are media companies buying Web software startups? Because simply feeding people information—whether it's stock tips or style tips—is no longer enough. If media companies want people to stick around their Websites, they need to give them something to do. And that requires Web-based software. Clipmarks makes it easy for people to share information with each other, while Kaboodle lets them create virtual shopping lists. What is not clear is whether these Web services will be better off as captive arms of big media companies than they are on their own. For Kaboodle, the risk is that instead of becoming the general social-shopping engine of the Web (it's previous ambition), it will be seen as nothing more than a feature of the various Hearst magazine Websites. That opens up the field for other competitors such as ThisNext (see earlier post), StyleFeeder, or Stylehive to pursue that goal. For Clipmarks, selling might be the best move, since it doesn't seem to be gaining much ground on other social bookmark services such as del.icio.us...
(08/08/07 09:00 AM)
- 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)
- 3 Emotions to Drive Execs to Action. Yesterday I was on a panel for a Forrester bootcamp on Social Media. One of the common questions was how to convince senior management to agree to and resource these new emerging channels and marketing strategies. What moves consumers to action? Emotion. It’s not much different than with executives and managers…you just use data to create those emotions! In my experience, there are three emotions I’ve seen drive executive action: Fear – show the competition is having success with a strategy that you are not. I’m putting this first because fear is the biggest motivator in the human psyche. And the first reaction for executives when they see a competitor doing something successful is to react. I’m not suggesting this is always right, but it’s reality. It’s a call to action event. If a competitor is launching an emerging channel strategy, your executives have to decide to do something or nothing. Use this time to drive a recommended strategy. Excitement – show and prove the revenue impact from such a strategy. Changne resistance is typically due to prioritization and predictability. Corporations, and management in them, have a need to drive predictable growth and mitigate risk. Priorities are driven based on familiarity of strategies that drive confident results. Something that can be proved to drive better results and meet or beat forecast excites executives. Pride – most forward-thinking executives want to be first to market, forward thinking, innovative and cutting edge. Some want this because it is right for the company,...
(03/22/07 09:01 AM)
- Decker's 15 Career Tips. This concludes my series of career tips, which was prompted by a few friends reaching out to me for advice. I'm sure I could think of more, but these are the first 15 that came to mind...and 15 is a good place to stop. Here's the list with links: Find and Follow Your Passion and Strengths Create Soundbytes for Your Personal Brand It's WHO You GET TO Know Choose Who Your Work For Take Initiative Outside Your Triangle Inform Others Connect to a Visible Brand Learn, Challenge, Fun Feed Others Go Where There's Margin Growth Always Can Do Take Bigger Risks Answer First Show and Know Metrics Never Eat Alone...
(02/03/07 09:00 PM)
- How to Take Career Risks -- 7 Principles. A reader commented and agreed that taking risks (Career Tip #12) would be great, but wondered how he could take bigger risks. I think he’s asking how to manage the career risk / reward ratio in a rigid organization. Notwithstanding apathy, I think people avoid risks due to lack of confidence and/or lack of comfort and knowledge in the organization which has to accept their initiative. So how do you accelerate both of these? As I thought back to how I developed the confidence to propose bigger changes, I thought of a 7 principles that helped me: Focus on RelationshipsIt would be difficult and foolish to propose a major change in your first 90 days on the job. Who really knows and trusts you? How likely are people to accept your ideas? Focus on building relationships with colleagues and executives. Build up your political capital, which you will spend to make change happen. It is this capital that not only helps increase the acceptance of YOUR change initiative, but also the cooperation in execution. Know your StuffYou may have an idea and passion, but if you don’t know the business, your numbers and haven’t thought around most of the ‘corners’, then someone may try to throw a spear at your idea with an “edge case” scenario . The better you know your business, the easier it is to think through obstacles and increase your confidence proposing a risky idea. Get to know the PL. Get to know other groups’ objectives...
(01/21/07 09:00 PM)
- Career Tip #12: Take Bigger Risks. If change is not happening in your organization, it’s 99% probable that the company is on the decline. And if you’re the only one who knows this, start preparing your resignation letter now. Executives who land a high level position, play it safe, and clutch onto high salaries, need to be flushed out of corporate America. They have the triple impact of holding back innovation, sucking profits from bonuses, and demotivating great people who eventually leave. And, by definition, these executives reach a plateau. Whether you’re an executive or not, I suggest you take bigger risks to move your career forward (and for fun). Make big plays. Take initiative for change at a strategic level. Bigger risks help your career because you stand out, differentiate, and accomplish great things. Whether you’re an individual contributor or manager, anyone who takes initiatives and risks can become a leader. They are the ones who are break through the next level. Their reputation is lasting and their contributions are recognized and rewarded over the long haul. Plus, the accomplishments create great soundbytes! At Dell I led a small ‘big change’ team. We were responsible for Dell’s consumer CRM strategy, customer centricity, retail competitive strategy, Hispanic marketing, customer segmentation, and other large projects. All of these initiatives were not part of day to day operations. They had to be invented, sold, implemented and finessed into company operations over time. The challenge for each of team member, from a career perspective, was to get the perspective...
(01/17/07 09:00 PM)
- Career Tip #2: Create Soundbytes for Your Personal Brand. When word of mouth takes off on a product there is usually a small sentence, maybe a couple, that are shared about that product. “It was voted motor trend car of the year three times.” Or, “These are the shoes Jordan wears.”. Word of mouth is delivered in soundbytes. Word of mouth is THE way you are known and marketed inside and outside of a company. As such, your reputation is carried by a sentence or two. Typically, it’s what comes to top of mind for the person talking about you. For me, my soundbytes may be around authoring two books, running Dell.com, or my blog. For some my friends who graduated from Harvard, people may drop what we call the “H-bomb” in their soundbytes – “Harvard MBA”. Perhaps you launched a big project, your Dad is someone famous, you have some special skill, or you did something amazing with your hobby time. The best soundbytes are the characteristics they can say about you. Hard worker, rock star, salt of the earth, team player, sharp, super smart, get it done guy, etc. What characterstics stand out for you? How are you differentiated? How are you remembered? What unique or remarkable accomplishment will people always talk about? Don’t have any? Then take on something challenging, take some risks, do something different – lest you blend in. And even if you have something amazing, remember it won't mask over your character, integrity and overall performance. I guess the old adage is true...hard...
(01/09/07 09:01 PM)
- The Career Manifesto. From Michael via Hugh at gapingvoid. Excerpts: 1. Unless you're working in a coal mine, an emergency ward, or their equivalent, spare us the sad stories about your tough job. The biggest risk most of us face in the course...
(12/20/06 09:01 PM)
- Using Personal and Home Loans to Finance Your Small Business. If you own your own home and need to borrow money for your business, a home equity loan may be an option. As with any loan, there are risks, but home equity loans are unique in that if you default on ...
(08/28/06 09:02 AM)
- Ego Makes Entrepreneurs?. Ego Makes Entrepreneurs?
"Researcher Brian Wu says they aren't unusually risk tolerant. It's 'overconfidence in their ability' that allows them to take the leap.
Just how much appetite for risk do entrepreneurs really have? That's the question Wharton doctoral student Brian Wu began asking himself while examining their behavioral patterns. He found the general assumption to be that entrepreneurs are risk seekers -- but the empirical evidence suggests that, surprisingly, they weren't. But if entrepreneurs are more cautious than everyone presumes, then what accounts for their risk-bearing behavior?"
- I never felt that entrepreneurs had a greater tolerence of risk then the other guy. In fact I have always felt that entrepreneurs did everything that they could to mitigate and control risk. That being said, it looks like we are an overconfident bunch. I can handle that. I think confident people are happier and do more with their lives. Hey, that sounds like an entrepreneur to me! -ed. (07/29/06 02:29 PM) - How to Establish Credibility. How to Establish Credibility
by Michel Neray
"Look up 'credible' in Webster's Dictionary, and you'll find 'Capable of being credited or believed; worthy of belief; entitled to confidence; trustworthy.'
OK, so no surprise there.
Credibility gives you permission to speak, and gives the person you're speaking to permission to listen.
Regardless of whether you are in the service business or sell a tangible product, everyone needs to establish credibility, especially with prospective clients. But if you're a consultant, adviser or coach, then it's harder for your clients to evaluate the value of your advice and recommendations."
- Credibility is what Donald Trump has. It is his most valuable asset. Who else can say, "Lend me $320 million dollars so I can buy a casino with no risk to me." and get away with it. Donald gets people to do this for him because he has credibility. Donald never has to inform people of his credibility, they know. He just brings them solutions. This is what you should be doing and this is what Michael Neray points out so clearly in this article. -ed. (07/29/06 02:29 PM) - Do The Bellyflop You Fear. Growing up my father always quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson, Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain. Perhaps this was his favorite quote because he coached executive speaking...and studies say speaking is more feared than death! Here's a picture of my son launching into a bellyflop, who only two months ago was afraid of swimming without a vest. How he got to this level of comfort, I can't say. It just happened day by day, risk after risk. One day he was floating, the next day swimming, and somewhere along the way he figured out the belly flop. I certainly didn't teach him this! In a small way my son's progression of confidence and skill inspires me to get into taking on new challenges and trying new things. Leaving a successful 7-year career at Dell felt like this...for about a week. Now, I'm in a new pool and the water is warm...it's where I needed to be. Maybe you'll remember this picture when you're thinking of taking a risk, facing a challenge, or trying something new. And as painful as this looks, he didn't cry....
(07/29/06 02:28 PM)
- Is CPA helpful to B2B AdSense campaigns?. Perhaps you've heard of Google's mantra, "do no evil". I was concerned that their going-public would shift the focus of their company towards profiteering, if not evil. As it turns out, they seem to have been too clumsy (and blessed by Wall Street) to be digging for profits.
Staying squarely in the 'no evil' category, the big story this week is that they are testing AdSense payment based on "Cost per action", or CPA. A click-thru would not be enough, the visitor would have to 'convert', or achieve a goal on the website. Advertisers using this model would only pay for traffic that matters, and risk of click-fraud (i.e. evil) would go away. For the sites hosting the ad, a potentially higher pay-off should offset their PPC income.
This sounds great, but there are questions that seem hard to resolve, especially for advertisers like me (which is maybe why Google is only 'testing' CPA).
The obvious technicality is that for a lot of smaller & B2B businesses, the most common 'action' coming from their website is a phone call. And these are the people who also are paying much more per-click in their current PPC campaigns. Which means they have a lot more at risk for click-fraud yet cannot rely on CPA to help due to the untraceable phone call.
The other problem is simply numbers. AdSense needs thousands of impressions just to create PPC activity worth mentioning. And of those clicks, only another 1-2% are going to convert. And because that conversion for small or B2B businesses is not a sale, we aren't going to want to pay a high bounty for 'just a lead' (unless quality can be determined).
Russ Perkins, at InfoCommerce Group, points out a deeper issue in this week's newsletter, titled Does CPA Add Up To Trouble? that this would once-again upset the apple cart regarding the job of advertisers and the publishers carrying the AdSense ads:"If CPA takes off with advertisers, and I think it will, we have to watch it closely. If it remains limited to publishers getting paid (hopefully a lot) for generating hard sales leads, that's one thing, and a number of us could do quite well in this environment. If it morphs (as I predict it will) to advertisers demanding to pay only when they make a sale, we as an industry have to draw the line. The purpose of advertising is to stimulate interest, not guarantee profits."
While the CPA program may flourish with e-commerce businesses, I don't see it gaining a foothold in the B2B sphere.
In addition, I will go one further: As B2B advertisers look closer at their spending and conversion rates with AdSense (as compared to AdWords), they will start to pull out of AdSense.
The next smart place to try is Google's Site Targeting, which is paid on a CPM basis, but allows you to choose what sites to run your ad. That kind of human selection should provide a greater chance of clicks and conversions. (07/29/06 02:28 PM) - Managing cancer clients. Do have customers that you wish you didn't? Ones that flip-flop what they need halfway thru the project. Or worse, at the end. The revenue seems hardly worth the effort.
We had one recent client who said that we were complying with their safety rules for the equipment we were building. Until suddenly we weren't complying. "This needs to be resolved now", etc. Ugh!
Well Sean De'Sousa of Psychotactics.com made this suggestion in his recent newsletter titled How To Get Rid of Cancer Clients: The Riot Act:"'Ms. Client, we have a clause, called the Riot Act. We'll do everything in our power to do all of the above. And you in turn should do all in your power to help us do our job. The moment you run into issues with us, you have the right to fire us. The moment we run into issues with you, we have the right to fire you. Is that fair?'
Sean may have more flexibility to fire a services client than we can, because we are building something physical as a one-time project. But his point should be valid: the terms of the relationship need to be more explicit than seems necessary at the beginning.
Watch for the client's eyes to pop.
Watch as her jaw drops.
Watch as the pencil tumbles in slow motion to the floor."
Quotations, fine print, and unseen 'policies' are often used as CYA tools after the fact. But is there a step in your business process that outlines what you will and won't do?
I think it could be as easy as the salesperson highlighting lines in the quote prior to taking the order. I've felt better when salespeople I am buying from warn me about what will or won't happen 'back at the office'. At least I know where I stand.
But fear of losing a sale may cause them to keep their mouth shut. Then you are stuck with the 'cancer client'. That's why adding the 'riot act' as an explicit step makes sense. Maybe its smarter to have it come after the order, and from the 'home office', to squelch whatever the salesperson may have implied or promised, and to establish a tone of control. (Just don't sound evil when you do it, as I think that's a real risk.) (07/29/06 02:28 PM)
