08/29/09 08:31 AM Filed in:
New Economy
Millions of
Americans spent years tapping credit cards, stock
portfolios and once-rising home values to spend in
excess of their incomes and now lack the
wherewithal to carry on. Those who still have the
means feel pressure to conserve, fearful about
layoffs, the stock market and real estate
prices.
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Tags: Changing environment of
marketing
08/26/09 04:41 PM Filed in:
Internet
Trends
Marketers jobs
have changed from pushing and creating boring
marketing programs to becoming social consumer
councilors whose job is to listen, engage and react
to customer needs by solving problems. This is just
one of the nuggets from a new book called
Socialnomics
which should be
required reading for all marketers.
Read
More...
Tags: Internet stats
08/26/09 10:49 AM Filed in:
Twitter
Twitter has yet to
turn a profit but with a new CFO installed I
figured it would only be a matter of time before
they came up with a viable business model of
charging corporate Twitter users, and why not? If
in fact the number of people you reach is important
than Twitter has done that job well but if they
want to attract a lot of business users they need
more than just a corporate webpage.
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More...
Tags: Social Media
08/21/09 08:21 AM Filed in:
Social
Media
In case you missed
it a court ruled that Google had to turn over the
identity information of a BLOGGER who called a
model in New York a skank. Not much attention has
really been paid to this story but it could have
big implications for brands who are damaged by
social media posts of discouraged customers.
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More...
08/21/09 07:13 AM Filed in:
Branding
Starbucks
announced this week that it was raising prices on
coffee that its core loyalists tend to purchase and
lowering prices on beverages that casual coffee
drinkers tend to purchase. In an economic downturn
this brand strategy may backfire hurting a brand in
search of a brand identity.
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More...
08/18/09 04:40 PM Filed in:
Branding
I viewed a slide
deck today with over 200 slides, if you can believe
that, on digital marketing. To me there were a lot
of “been there done that “facts but what is more
disturbing, in addition to the number of slides, is
that people are still preaching this stuff which
should be marketing 101 to all marketing
people.
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08/18/09 07:09 AM Filed in:
Advertising
Just how bad a
shape is Sony in? A new campaign is taking a
light-hearted tack to stimulate demand during the
worst recession in decades for products like
camcorders, digital books, TV sets, Blu-ray disc
players, notebook computers and cameras. Is this a
way to position a premium brand like Sony or is it
a waste of money? I believe it is the latter as
Sony’s problems continue with a brand that is lost
in a fog.
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More...
08/16/09 07:35 AM Filed in:
Customer
Service
In a world where
consumers have all the power and are not likely to
forgive and forget customer service is becoming
more and more important yet so few companies know
how to do it right. It starts by putting yourself
in your customers shoes and not be satisfied unless
every brand touch point is an excellent customer
experience. Read
More...
08/13/09 09:31 AM Filed in:
Consumer
lifestyles
Two key reports
Thursday showed one thing: happy days are not here
again for American consumers. Retail sales fell in
July after two straight months of gains, the
government reported Thursday, a drop that surprised
economists. Without car sales from the "Cash for
Clunkers," the numbers would have been even
worse. Read
More...
08/10/09 07:59 AM Filed in:
Challenges
of Marketing
The savings rate
took a dip in July, job losses were better than
expected and the market is climbing again. Happy
days are here again !! Not bloody likely ! Take a
look at the numbers behind the numbers and you’ll
find that for the most part consumers are still
aprehensive about the future. A Twitter contact
recently suggested that consumers have short
memories and will start spending again but I
believe that is not true and that to some extent
consumer behavior has changed forever.
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More...
08/05/09 07:13 AM Filed in:
Consumer
lifestyles
As the economy
shows signs of recovery, economists don't see U.S.
consumers spending freely again for a while, given
the weak job market and high debt levels. So reads
the headline in a recent BW story and they are
correct consumers are not going to spend and it’s
going to be a hell of a long wait for marketers who
think that they can entice consumers with promises
of discounts or substandard branding. The reality
is that consumers are still paying down debt which
to me says “we don’t trust corporate American
anymore so we are going to take thinks into our own
hands”.
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08/04/09 08:33 AM Filed in:
Segmentation
Boomers
are researching products and services online
because their brand loyalty is up for grabs; they
are not brand loyal. Refuting a
popular marketing truism that older consumers
become more brand loyal, a 2008 AARP/Focalyst study
found that 61% of Boomers felt "it didn't pay to be
brand loyal." A more recent Nielsen analysis of
brand spending corroborated that finding: in March
2009, Nielsen reported that only a fifth of Boomers
were more brand loyal than their younger cohorts.
Why is this happening and what does it mean for
marketers? Read
More...
08/02/09 08:29 AM Filed in:
Consumer
lifestyles
What will it take
for consumers to emerge from their collective funk?
Their spending accounts for two-thirds of economic
activity, so restoring their confidence is vitally
important but contraction maybe a good way to
summarize the economy as we emerge from this
recession. The “good ol’ days” of free spending and
high debt are being replaced with consumers paying
down debt and spending money for necessities rather
than wants. Here is a list if what marketers need
to do know in order to get ready for contraction.
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More...
