Consumer spending up, for a month anyway. What should marketers take away from the latest news ?

03/13/10 08:16 AM Filed in: Consumer spending & The Economy

The Commerce Department on Friday reported that retail sales increased a seasonally-adjusted 0.3% in February from a month earlier, despite winter storms across a large swath of the country that analysts thought would keep shoppers home bound. Retail sales excluding the volatile auto sales increased 0.8%. Compared with a year ago, sales rose about 4%. However, before you pop the cork on that champagne not that consumer confidence figures, which have been around since the late 1960s, show widespread skepticism. The consumer confidence index calculated by the Conference Board is now at 46, an extraordinarily low level. Last month, 6.2 percent of people surveyed by the board said business conditions were good. That is the lowest level ever recorded. Read More...

Tags: Economy

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Twitter user profile: Is your audience using Twitter ?

03/13/10 06:23 AM Filed in: Social Media #socialmedia

Believe it or not there are some old rules of marketing that still apply. One of the oldest that is still applicable is "go where your audience is". Right now Twitter is NOT where your audience is for a lot of companies and allocating resources to Twitter maybe a waste of company dollars. Read More...

Tags: Twitter

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Marketers most important buzzword this year ? ROI

03/12/10 11:49 AM Filed in: Social Media #socialmedia

Marketers are tired of hearing about social media & Twitter. They are tired of hearing about engagement. Why? Because management is on their ass and everything they do has to have an ROI. A new Anderson Analytic report sheds some light on what's important to marketers and number one on the list: ROI. Read More...

Tags: ROI & Social Media

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Why you should be testing all the time and why you need more than one homepage

03/11/10 09:32 AM Filed in: Website development

“Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection." -Mark Twain. It seems that many companies, however, don't believe in this philosophy when it comes to their websites. They don't test often enough and most have just one homepage. They are missing a valuable opportunity and it clearly shows they have a long way to go to master online marketing. Read More...

Tags: Testing & Optimization

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Why I won't be purchasing an Apple iPad

03/09/10 03:06 PM Filed in: Products that are nice to have but that you don't need

"After working on its highly-anticipated tablet device for three years (or more), Apple unveiled an expensive e-reader. While there's no doubt that this is just the first model of Apple's new tablet family, the iPad is a disappointing effort that fails to live up to the hype. The iPad is both an oversized iPod Touch and an under-powered netbook."-The Street Read More...

Tags: Apple

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If you think consumers are going to go back to their free spending ways, think again

03/09/10 11:30 AM Filed in: Consumer lifestyles

Companies need to recognize that there will not be a wholesale return to a pre-recession shopping mode and will need to adapt to the changed behaviors and patterns to win in today’s changed marketplace. That is a quote from a new report on consumer behavior from Kantar Retail. In summary: you had better start changing the way you brand and market today because tomorrow maybe too late. Read More...

Tags: Consumer spending

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Companies don't want Linchpins they want sheep

03/08/10 02:03 PM Filed in: Working in corporate America

Seth Godin's new book "Linchpin" is a good read. In short the book makes the case that you should be indispensable and stand out to make a difference even though it may mean "you will no longer be loved" by coworkers and managers. On paper it's a good argument, in reality too many organizations want people who will do a decent job, not make waves and do it for less money than others. Read More...

Tags: Linchpin

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Still a lot of really bad marketing and advertising out there

03/07/10 06:24 AM Filed in: Really bad marketing

There is so much really bad marketing out there today and unfortunately some of it keeps coming up like a really bad meal. Here is my list of some really bad marketing campaigns that are wasting a lot of dollars and only making their ad agencies richer. Read More...

Tags: LAck of marketing talent

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Creative use of advertising gets editors upset

03/06/10 09:14 AM Filed in: Print Ads

There is creative use of advertising then there are people who just don't get it. Yesterday's LA Times had a front page that featured a picture of Johhny Depp dressed as the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland. It was colorful and a creative ad but the top editor of The Times, Russ Stanton, and several of his deputies vigorously opposed the ad before it was published because they felt it would "diminish the brand". Obviously Mr Stanton is from the old school when it comes to media. Read More...

Tags: LA Times

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Microsoft vs. Apple in the tablet wars: Who will win ?

03/06/10 06:35 AM Filed in: #apple #ipad

Apple has its hype machine in overdrive as they prepare to start taking orders for the iPad. Only Apple could generate such buzz around the fact that people can order a product for April delivery. What is success for the Apple iPad and is Microsoft's new tablet much better? I have seen the video of the new Microsoft tablet and it is in fact much better than the iPad. Read More...

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Why agencies don't understand metrics and why creative people hate them

03/05/10 11:39 AM Filed in: Creative people don't get it

Metrics. To a lot of marketers on the hot seat metrics are all that's important today. Management is looking at the value of marketing and all too often the marketing that's being done does not lead to the hard metrics that senior management wants and needs. Read More...

Tags: Working with agencies

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Management: Where incompetent people hide ?

03/05/10 09:18 AM Filed in: Working in corporate America

What's so sad from this Dilbert comic strip is that once again Scott Adams has keen insights into business today and sadly this is why so many brands and businesses are in real trouble right now. Read More...

Tags: Management (or lack thereof)

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