When you have a top social media page but your brand is sucking wind

07/30/09 09:43 AM Filed in: Social Media

inside-facebook-leaderboard-page-retail-july-2009

A quick glance at the brands with top Facebook pages clearly shows what happens when you dive into social media without having a clear concise business objective in mind. Number one example is Starbucks who ranks first in Facebook brand pages but is a brand trying to bale water with a small bucket as their brand sinks. Then there is the Cheesecake Factory which has to resort to half price slices of cheesecake and whose online experience can best be described as laughable. Yeah I’ll pay $50 plus shipping to harden my arteries and eat more calories than one should do in a week ! Read More...

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Knowing something doesn't get it done

07/26/09 11:59 AM Filed in: Management Marketing

Earlier this year a friend of mine was called into a room and told that he no longer had a job after 8 long years with the same company in a marketing role. As he later told me “it was a really bad day and the first thing that went through my mind is who the hell is going to do this job?”. After being out of work for a month he finally took a lower paying job at another company and I was surprised to hear him say that he really liked his new job. “People listen to me and I am making a difference everyday, he told me, my boss is wonderful she listens and actually asks me for my opinion on different things”. What really made his day however was that his former boss called him up and almost begged him to come back because they were having problems implementing some marketing programs. You can guess what his response was... Read More...

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The beginning of the end of the recession maybe in sight but consumer behavior has changed forever

07/25/09 08:25 AM Filed in: Consumer lifestyles

Fewer American households appear to be falling behind on their debt payments, according to a new study and the American recession appears to be nearing an end, but only after it has become the deepest downturn in more than half a century. The index of leading indicators, which signals turning points in the economy, is rising at a rate that has accurately indicated the end of every recession since the index began to be compiled in 1959. With all this good news however marketers would be foolish to think the “good old days” of consumer spending are going to return. The fact is that consumerism as we know it has changed forever.

Top Facebook page does not rescue a brand in trouble

07/24/09 12:06 PM Filed in: Social Media

From Online Media Post comes this little nugget; Giveaways pay on Facebook. Starbucks has surged past Coca-Cola to become the most popular corporate brand on the social network, powered by its recent free pastry promotion. OK, and that means what for sales? Last time I looked Starbucks was still a brand in trouble and is not toying with the idea of serving beer and wine at some locations. Their lack of a coherent branding strategy and poor vision of who they are has contributed to the brands decline but at least they can say they have the number one Facebook page !!

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What's the point of this conversation?

07/22/09 06:41 AM Filed in: Social Media

The so called social media experts will tell you to engage your audience and talk with them but let’s face it every conversation has to have reason to “engage”. Can businesses really afford to have endless conversations with prospects who may never become customers? Do consumers really want to have a conversation with a soda or pizza company? Even conversations we have at cocktail parties don’t last all night and have a purpose but some social media conversations do nothing but take up company resources. Read More...

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Strategy is easy...execution is the tough part

07/17/09 01:18 PM Filed in: Management Marketing

Coming up with promotional ideas is easy, the hard part is ensuring that the execution of these ideas is done with simplicity and flawlessly. You would think that AT&T and Infiniti would know this but apparently they do not as I found out today when I tried to redeem an AT&T Reward and validate an Infiniti Visa gift card. The process left me angry and took up way too much time and is proof that executives are clueless when it comes to execution of business programs. Read More...

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Get rid of customers? A list of what business needs to do during economic uncertainty

07/14/09 06:50 AM Filed in: Customer Service

Consider getting rid of some customers and some product lines to reduce complexity, increase efficiency, and conserve cash. Can this be true? The answer to that is yes. Managers today need real-time metrics to determine which customers are profitable and which ones strain the system that the increased costs do not make them desirable or profitable. Read More...

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Developing a best in class website that provides business solutions

07/09/09 06:24 AM Filed in: Internet Trends

Facebook and Twitter have a lot in common but the one thing that they probably would not like to share is that they have not yet figured out how to monetize their social media sites to provide an ROI. The key lesson here is that ROI measurement and tools have to be integrated into the strategy BEFORE you launch an online program. The model of “build it, get the audience and add ROI later” doesn’t work because more and more users control the web not you.

Developing a best in class website

This recession is not only changing consumer attitudes, it's changing employees as well

07/04/09 10:35 AM Filed in: Consumer lifestyles

Many people have come to the conclusion that they don't want to work for "the man" anymore. They want to work for themselves or someone they know and trust. It's as a marketing specialist told us recently: "My husband was fired. My hours were cut in half," she said. "As soon as we get on our feet, we're starting our own business. We're never going to let ourselves be vulnerable again." This is a quote from an essay written by Jack Welch in the latest issue of Business Week entitled “Winning back the workforce”. We are seeing not only a change in consumer behavior because of this recession we're talking about a serious trend. This recession has left a deep scar on the psyche of working people. Previous recessions came on more slowly, their layoffs occurred more gradually. And previous recessions didn't leave most people blaming business, especially Big Business, for what went wrong.

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Consumers are not going to spend us out of this recession and the bailout is not working

07/02/09 06:28 AM Filed in: Consumer lifestyles

The headlines in today’s newspapers said it all “Job losses rise unemployment at 9.5%”. While many are asking themselves what is going on here I have been saying all along that consumers are not going to spend us out of this recession and that the bailout plan is going to do nothing to regain consumer confidence or reverse the trend of job losses. Banks and financial institutions are already mobilizing their efforts to fight the formation of a consumer agency to watch over their lending and credit card practices and to get around the “bonus” outrage they are now offering employees 50-80% raises. Here in California the state is now issuing IOU’s to vendors and unemployment is closer to 15% in the 8th largest economy in the world. Read More...

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A passionate marketers point of view